The books my toddler likes sometimes surprises me. They are catchy in a certain way and that's why I am sure she likes them, but they are not always my favorites...although sometimes we both enjoy them equally.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Cleaning Activity
Sweeping / Mopping
Our toddler loves to help clean up. She wants to be the one to sweep and mop, which is kind of tricky. I have to quickly do the work first and tell her that she can have a turn when I finish. Then I give her the broom or mop. I have her stand on a dry towel when I hand her the mop so she doesn't slip on the wet floor.
Putting Clothes Away
When I put clothes away I try to get our toddler involved. I give her socks or something she can put away, then we walk into her room together and I show her where the items go that she is holding. I give her a lot of praise after she helps and she seems to really enjoy helping.
Washing
Sometimes when I'm cleaning up in the kitchen, I will hand our toddler a dry rag and ask her if she would like to wash something specific. She really enjoys helping out in this way.
Putting Dishes Away
Lately, I have been putting the silverware organizer on the door of our dish washer so that our toddler can unload the silverware and put it away easily. She isn't able to put the utensils in the right direction or even in the right spot within our organizer, but I let her unload the utensils the best that she can. Then I put the organizer back in our drawer and quickly move things around into the correct place. This has been fun for her. I unload the rest of the dishes.
Toys
I sing a song when we put toys away that goes "toys away, toys away, lets put all the toys away." Sometimes I'll sing another song that goes "clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere, clean up, cleanup, everybody do your share."
Kitchen Activity
I was really wanting a kitchen play area for our toddler, but we just don't have the space for it right now. So, one day I decided to get our some of our pots, pans and cooking utensils and let our toddler play with them in our front room. It was a lot of fun and I realized that we don't need to get a baby kitchen just yet.
Library
The library is great for a number of reasons.
1.) Books
This is the biggest reason we use the library. You can put up to 25 books on hold and we often have our limit maxed out. Our toddler loves books, but it's hard for them to sit still through reading time. So, I usually read to them while they eat lunch in their high chair.
2.) Summer Reading Program
For our toddler, we just had to read to them for 10 hours and they were able to go to a carnival at the end of the summer. There were other optional activities that we did to that allowed them to be eligible for winning other prizes.
3.) Story time
A volunteer will read and sing songs with the kids. They get to shake these musical toys for one of the songs. I like how it brings kids of certain ages together too.
4.) Discovery Room
There is a large room in the library that has toys and activities for kids to play. The theme changes. The theme for this summer was the "discovery/science" room theme. There was this water play area that was fun.
They also had a tent full of plastic balls and other play areas.
5.) Toys / Puppets
The libraries usually have puppets and other toys to play with inside in the main areas too.
1.) Books
This is the biggest reason we use the library. You can put up to 25 books on hold and we often have our limit maxed out. Our toddler loves books, but it's hard for them to sit still through reading time. So, I usually read to them while they eat lunch in their high chair.
2.) Summer Reading Program
For our toddler, we just had to read to them for 10 hours and they were able to go to a carnival at the end of the summer. There were other optional activities that we did to that allowed them to be eligible for winning other prizes.
3.) Story time
A volunteer will read and sing songs with the kids. They get to shake these musical toys for one of the songs. I like how it brings kids of certain ages together too.
There is a large room in the library that has toys and activities for kids to play. The theme changes. The theme for this summer was the "discovery/science" room theme. There was this water play area that was fun.
The libraries usually have puppets and other toys to play with inside in the main areas too.
Hair Curlers Activity
A few weeks ago our toddler dumped my hair curlers out onto the bathroom floor. I asked her if she could help me clean them up, and thats when I discovered that putting the hair curlers away was a fun game for her.
So, I started to use it as an infrequent activity to sharpen her fine motor skills.
So, I started to use it as an infrequent activity to sharpen her fine motor skills.
Friday, July 25, 2014
Songs to Sing
Here is a list of the songs that I have complied over the last year or so.
1) My Hands
2) Rain is Falling All Around
3) Little Birdies Song (We don't sing the last verse)
4) Alligator Song
5) I'm a little Cuckoo Clock
6) Frog Song
7) Six little ducks that I once knew
8) I'm a mean old witch with a hat
9) Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
10) Smiles
11) Rock-a-bye baby
12) Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
13) Pat-a-cake
14) Trot, Trot Pony
15) Left foot in, Left foot out
16) To do song (i.e. mopping the floor is fun to do)
17) Hey Little Bopidy Bop
18) Clean up song
19) Once there was a snowman
20) Itsy Bitsy Spider
21) Bee Song
22) The wheels on the bus
23) Popcorn popping on the apricot tree
24) Spaghetti Meatball song
25) The Ants go Marching
26) Birds and the Bees
27) 3 little fishes
28) k-k-k-katie Song (use childs name)
29) If you're happy and you know it
30) I'm a little tea pot
31) Walking, Walking
32) If all of the raindrops
33) Red Wagon
1) My Hands
2) Rain is Falling All Around
3) Little Birdies Song (We don't sing the last verse)
4) Alligator Song
5) I'm a little Cuckoo Clock
6) Frog Song
7) Six little ducks that I once knew
8) I'm a mean old witch with a hat
9) Head Shoulders Knees and Toes
10) Smiles
11) Rock-a-bye baby
12) Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
13) Pat-a-cake
14) Trot, Trot Pony
15) Left foot in, Left foot out
16) To do song (i.e. mopping the floor is fun to do)
17) Hey Little Bopidy Bop
18) Clean up song
19) Once there was a snowman
20) Itsy Bitsy Spider
21) Bee Song
22) The wheels on the bus
23) Popcorn popping on the apricot tree
24) Spaghetti Meatball song
25) The Ants go Marching
26) Birds and the Bees
27) 3 little fishes
28) k-k-k-katie Song (use childs name)
29) If you're happy and you know it
30) I'm a little tea pot
31) Walking, Walking
32) If all of the raindrops
33) Red Wagon
Make a Snack Together
My toddler and I made cookies recently. I didn't think making cookies with a 18 month old would be possible, but I was motivated to try it after learning that "making a snack together" was one of the activities for the summer reading program at the library.
I choose to make a simple recipe - fruity oatmeal cookies. The recipe has 4 ingredients - oats, applesauce, banana, cinnamon (See recipe at end of post.)
I had everything set up on the floor.
I let our toddler dump the ingredients into the big bowl. Each ingredient was sampled first, but after some encouraging, most of the ingredients made it into the bowl. Next time, I will make sure there are handles on each measured ingredient to make it easier for our toddler to grab/dump.
I did most of the stirring, while our toddler sampled the batter, which is actually pretty good.
Of course, I did the oven part. We both munched down on cookies afterwards and I was surprised by how big of a success the activity was. There may even be more snack making in our future.
Cookie Recipe
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 small banana, mashed
1/4 cup apple sauce (more or less depending on consistency)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Mix all the ingredients together. The consistency should not be too wet. You want it to be a little dry, but not so dry that the cookies won't hold together. I measure out the cookies to be 1 Tbsp in size. I bake them for 8 min at 350 degrees.
I choose to make a simple recipe - fruity oatmeal cookies. The recipe has 4 ingredients - oats, applesauce, banana, cinnamon (See recipe at end of post.)
I had everything set up on the floor.
Cookie Recipe
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 small banana, mashed
1/4 cup apple sauce (more or less depending on consistency)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Mix all the ingredients together. The consistency should not be too wet. You want it to be a little dry, but not so dry that the cookies won't hold together. I measure out the cookies to be 1 Tbsp in size. I bake them for 8 min at 350 degrees.
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