Sheet Day

April 24, 2020Leave a comment

Sheet Day (3)

In life with a toddler, it’s easier to do a chore (any chore!) if you turn it into a game. Here’s my hack for making it feel less like drudgery on the day I wash the sheets.

Strip the bed, but don’t toss the sheets into the washing machine right away. First, make a fort! You can mix things up each time, but ours always involves some variation of the couch cushions, cozy pillows and blankets to sit on, and the sheets strung across the top.

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Veronika loves to pretend this is her house. A little pillow makes a handy “door” for coming to visit. “Ding dong!” she says for the doorbell.

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Inevitably, it just becomes a cozy place to crawl in and hide.

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Or relax and read!

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Don’t forget about pillowcases. They are perfect for playing peekaboo.

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Or for wearing as superhero capes.

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When we’re done, I ask for Veronika’s help to throw all of the sheets into the laundry basket. She loves this part!

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The sheet day fun is complete, and so worth it that I don’t mind making the beds up after.

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Simple Sorter

April 23, 2020Leave a comment

Simple Sorter (2)

Veronika has started to recognize shapes. Although right now she calls almost all of them “stars”, what she’s exhibiting is an awareness that the world is made of shapes. She’s just starting to say triangle and circle, too! So I grabbed at the chance for some early learning today, by making a shape “sorter” with only one shape.

She has a toy bucket and lid that features a variety of shapes, but this can make it confusing for toddlers who are just learning the vocab. Instead, the sorter I made her only contained circles. I cut holes in the lid of a clean non-dairy yogurt container. Ideally you want your cut-outs to be a perfect circle, although this was tough to achieve with the knife I used.

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I gave Veronika the can and lid, along with soft yellow golf balls to push through.

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Since it was all circles, I could help her say “circle, circle, circle” over and over as she pushed each one through.

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She used a round milk carton cap a few times, too, which roughly fit the circle theme.

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The golf balls were just the right size though, such that she had to give each one a little push to make it pop in. She seemed to enjoy that sensation!

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It seems like we’re all about inserting into containers and dumping these days, but whatever keeps her toddler hands busy is fine with me!

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Clothespins and Containers

April 23, 2020Leave a comment

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Clothespins plus containers are a match made in heaven, perfect for keeping little hands busy. Today, Veronika and I played a few variations on the game.

We started with an empty almond milk jug, which was perfect because it had a lid that Veronika could easily twist on and off, plus the hard plastic sides meant that clothespins inside would make a nice jangling noise.

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I simply showed her how to drop clothespins in.

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And she took it upon herself to dump them out again!

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For variation, seal it up and shake it like a maraca. For further variation, drop something else inside! We decided metallic spoons might be too loud, but give them a try if your kids like things really noisy.

As an alternative clothespin game, I showed Veronika how to pinch spring-type clothespins around the rim of an empty coffee can.

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The pinching motion proved to be too advanced still for her at seventeen months, so I’ll probably return to this game down the road.

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But when I cut a hole in the center of the coffee can lid, she loved dropping clothespins inside!

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She needed help to remove this lid, but then could dump the clothespins out and begin again. The can also makes the perfect place to store clothespins, when we’re ready to put the game away.

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As a side note, coffee cans are also great for filling with rocks.

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Drop them in, put on the lid, and shake away for a noisy maraca! This was a great way to extend some recent rock play.

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Creepy-Crawly Pranks

April 23, 2020Leave a comment

Creepy Crawly Prank (1)

Travis got silly today tricking other members of the family with a few buggy pranks! This was a nice change of pace from home school work, and it felt good to make him laugh.

For the first prank, we simply placed an empty paper cup on daddy’s desk with this note: Do not lift. Huge spider underneath.

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Of course there was no spider; it was just about the anticipation. But Travis cackled with delight when his dad opened it up to find nothing creepy waiting beneath.

Then we made a buggy snack! Draw little ants (or other bugs) with a black sharpie on a plastic snack bag.

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Fill with food and leave out where the recipient can find ants having a picnic.

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The third prank was the best one by far: a giant bug shape that Travis colored in. I cut out the shape and we taped it to the inside of a lamp.

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When the lamp turns on, your prank victim will see the large bug shadow. This one definitely got a yelp of surprise! All in all, Travis loved making everyone laugh with these pranks.

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Does your child have a favorite prank? Please share in the comments!

Kindergarten Home School Week 6: Wednesday

April 22, 2020Leave a comment

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We went even lighter on the school work today, halfway through “vacation week”. I think it’s safe to say this mama teacher needs a bit of a break, too! For what it’s worth…

9-9.30: ELA. Doing the V and W letter pages in his workbook received lots of protest from Travis, but he was proud to reach the end of the next level in his Lexia computer program.

9.30-10: Math. Travis worked on patterns and adding on Dreambox for about 15 minutes.

10-10.30: Field trip! We “flew” over Bryce Canyon through the National Park’s website. It’s safe to say I thought this was cooler than Travis did.

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10.30-11: Art. Travis painted drip pots, which was a neat method. Baby sister was busy painting rocks.

The “school day” ended there. A long lunch sort of derailed us all. We spent the afternoon without structure, but Travis had fun building with Magna-tiles, doing a story yoga about Harry Potter, and visiting with relatives online.

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Can Towers

April 22, 2020April 22, 2020Leave a comment

Can Towers (6)

A big shipment of cat food arrived today, and before I put the cans away, I had a feeling they would make perfect toddler building blocks! Boy was I right. No sooner did I put the boxes of cans down on the ground than Veronika had her hands on them and started stacking.

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These were 3-ounce cans, which I would declare the perfect size for toddlers; I didn’t worry about them being too heavy if they fell. You can play this game with more standard 15-ounce cans, but if so I would recommend making sure your child has shoes on, in case of dropped items. Alternatively, play with larger cans that are empty, but then you’ll need to make sure you’ve duct-taped over any sharp edges.

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Meanwhile, these little cat food cans did away with any of that prep work! She loved building high, and seeing how many she could stack. And then of course she loved the kaboom of knocking her towers over.

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The game looked like so much fun that big brother Travis came over to join in. The kids had a competition to see who could stack higher of course!

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Bigger kids might get fancier with their blocks creations, too.

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After a while we even had “bulldozers” to help clean up the debris from our toppling can towers.

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In sum, little cans make great “blocks” for small hands.

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Rock Play

April 22, 2020Leave a comment

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When Travis was little, there was a fire pit in our apartment complex filled with rocks, and he could literally spend hours standing at the edge and playing with them. Sorting them, taking them out, tossing them back in again, finding favorites, you name it. I lament sometimes that Veronika doesn’t have access to the same great game! So today, we brought some rocks inside to play.

After a walk at a nearby garden, we returned home with a big bounty of rocks. Make sure that you choose ones that are too big to be a choking hazard, but not so heavy that they’ll hurt a little toe if dropped.

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First we gave our rocks a bath! Veronika loved swirling them in a little tray filled with soapy water, and helping pat them dry.

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I then gave her a few buckets that she could transfer them into. She loved taking them in and out.

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Next she started to fill her dress-up purse with the rocks…

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…and even headed off for a walk with her rocks tucked inside!

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For some artsy fun, we then pulled out paints and I showed her how to dab at the rocks with a paintbrush.

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This was good fun…

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…until she decided it was more fun to paint her hands, of course.

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I let the paint on the rocks dry and set them aside for later use, because I know we’re far from done with them. There will be lots more rock play in Veronika’s future!

Kindergarten Home School Week 6: Tuesday

April 21, 2020Leave a comment

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Well, the big news here is that Travis won’t be returning to school this year, due to Covid-19. I’m processing all the emotions that go along with this, even as I’m grateful for my family’s health. We went light on school today, since technically it is “vacation” week. So as a surprise we started with…

9-11: Movie morning! A special treat on a rainy day.

11-11.30: ELA. Travis is nearing the end of his letter workbook (T and U) and did 20 minutes on Lexia with topics like story sequencing and vocab building.

11.30-12: “Field Trip”. We took two virtual trips thanks to online videos, one near (the Great Lakes) and one far (the Borneo rainforest). I thought Travis would be interested, but I think the morning off derailed his momentum. You’ll notice he’s lying on the floor in protest.

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12-1: Lunch/free play.

1-1.30: Math. Travis did 20 minutes in the online Dreambox program.

1.30-2: Cooking! We rocked out to pop music as we made popcorn.

2-2.30: Social studies. A nature craft was perfect here on the day before Earth Day.

2.30-3: Storytime. We discovered the delightful resource Circle Round, featuring stories and activities to go with them. Travis could color in a picture as he listened to a read-aloud of The Money Tree.

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Beanbag Games, Two Ways

April 21, 2020Leave a comment

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Beanbags are a classic toddler toy, with almost endless variations on how you can use them. Here are just two fun ways Veronika and I played with them today!

First, I simply placed a basket a little ways away and asked Veronika to put a beanbag into it.

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Then I asked her to bring one back to me.

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Of course at seventeen months old she didn’t always follow “directions,” but this can lead to endless variations on transferring beanbags in and out of the basket. Your child can throw them, or toss them, or place them gently – whatever they like best!

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Then we made things sillier with a beanbag crawl. Encourage your little one to get down on all fours and put a beanbag on his or her back.

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Seeing big brother Travis model this helped her get the idea!

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Then she was off and crawling!

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Obviously it was difficult for her to balance the beanbag, but she got a big laugh out of it every time it slipped off.

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She kept asking for my help to return it to her back: “More more crawl!”

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Maybe we’ll even turn it into a racing game when she gets older. How does your child play with beanbags? Please share in the comments!

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Nature Earth Craft Challenge

April 21, 2020Leave a comment

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Tomorrow is Earth Day, and although we can’t celebrate with others this year, Travis and I talked today about ways we can help the Earth as a family. This month’s craft challenge from Highlights magazine – to create an Earth with items from nature – was the perfect end to the lesson!

First we needed to head outside and gather materials. I challenged Travis to think of what colors the Earth needed: blue and green of course! We looked for tall green grasses and little blue wildflowers (which were hard to find), and came home with our treasures.

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Travis actually loved the fact that we had more green than blue. He decided our planet was more grass than water, and had so much fun with it.

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We made a big circle of glue on poster board, and then he was able to sprinkle down handfuls of the grass, or press the blue flowers in more carefully in other parts.

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