We have been having some really cold temperatures lately and Hailey has really been wanting to play in the snow.  But it’s just been too cold to even be outside.  So, I brought the snow inside.

I put some towels down and gave Hailey one bin full of snow and an empty bin.  I also gave her some cups and spoons for digging.

We later added some cars and people to the snow.  And Hailey wanted to see what the snow felt like with her bare hands.  We were going to make a snowman but it was not snowman building snow, so we’ll have to try that another time.

When we finished playing with the snow we put some snow in one of the cups and kept an eye on it for the rest of the day.

A little while later there was still a little bit of snow left but most of it had melted.

The next time we checked our cup the snow was gone and it was all water.  Hailey said, “Ooooo.  The snow melted and turned to water!”

Adventures of Randy the Raindrop

Randy the raindrop lived in a cloud
the heat from the sun made him big, strong, and proud!
He got bigger and bigger until one day – Oh My!
He fell through the floor of his house in the sky!
Randy was scared, then he noticed more raindrops falling,
“Hey Randy, isn’t this fun?” they were calling
Then onto a leaf with a splash Randy fell,
and what happened next is a strange thing to tell.

Randy was made up of water, you know,
a part of him went to help the tree grow.
The rest of him went into a puddle so round,
then the sun came out and shone on the ground.

The sun warmed Randy and he started to change,
He became water vapour – My isn’t that strange?
Little drops of water, too tiny to see
Floated into the sky- yes that was Randy!

Randy’s home once again was a cloud in the sky,
He was a raindrop once more, but then by and by…
The sun made him bigger and bigger and then….
He fell through the floor of his house once again!

(This is from one of my Mailbox magazines)

In keeping with the theme of Spring I did an Umbrella Painting project with Hailey yesterday.

What you’ll need:

• -paper plate cut in the shape of an umbrella
• -card stock in the shape of a J for the handle
• -finger paint
• -smock
• -a place set up to put the project to dry when you’re done

Let’s get started!

Hailey had never finger painted before, so she was a little unsure of touching it at first.

Soon she was enjoying herself.

Finally she really got into it and got both hands covered in paint.

While Hailey was painting I kept a little dialog going with her.  I started out with some simple questions like, “What are we making,” “What color is this” etc.  And then I moved on to some more open ended questions.  Open ended questions are important because they enhance your child’s language.  Rather than a simple answer they have to think about their response.  Some good open ended questions to ask might include “What does it feel like,” “Why do you think the red and yellow turned orange” and ”What do you see.”  With a toddler you aren’t going to expect complex answers but you are still helping to expand their vocabulary and thinking skills.

Hanging the pieces up to dry.

The finished umbrella.

I try to do other things with Hailey, besides the crafts that I take pictures of to share here.  So, I thought I’d give a brief summary of the non-craft activities we have done or that I plan to do with Hailey this month.

• I created cards with pictures of adult and baby animals on them.  Then we matched up the babies with their mommies.
• We are going to plant some grass seed and take pictures as it grows.  (It’s still been a little bit chilly here, but hopefully we can start this in the next couple of weeks.)
• Play matching and sorting games with these umbrellas.
• I have a Randy the Raindrop story that I am going to use on a flannel board (that I still need to make).  I’ll take pictures of it when I actually do it.
• Make dice with farm animals on them.  Then sing “Old MacDonald” and roll the die to see which animal we will use for that verse.



• Raindrop writing- practice the letters in Hailey’s name using these raindrops.  The reason the raindrops are white is that is the color I am focusing on this month.

 That’s all for now.  I’ll be back to share more ideas as I come up with them.