Jun
Cheeseburger Loaf
This is a yummy, easy and quick recipe.
Isn’t that great?
In a large saucepan, cook beef and onion over medium heat.
Add soup, garlic salt, salt and pepper; simmer, uncovered for 5-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, slice the top third off the bread. Hollow out bottom half of loaf, leaving a 3/4-in. shell (discard removed bread or save for another use). Spread butter on cut side of bread. Place loaf on an ungreased baking sheet and broil 4-in. from the heat until lightly browned.
Enjoy the yummyness.
Jun
Fun With Sidewalk Chalk
A very simple and fun activity to do with your toddler is using sidewalk chalk.
Hailey and I spent a very long time the other morning writing with sidewalk chalk. She directed me to write all of her favorite names. (Brooke, Dottie, Daddy, ‘Ga,’ ‘Pa’) We drew shapes and just spent time coloring. Hailey loved it!
We didn’t do it this time, but if you wet the chalk before you write with it the colors will be much more vibrant.
**One thing to keep in mind is that if the chalk breaks it can pose a choking hazard to toddlers who are still putting everything in their mouth. So, this activity needs to be very closely supervised.
Jun
Planting Activities
I used to spend time doing some gardening- planting flowers, pulling weeds, all of that good stuff. Having a toddler makes it a little more difficult to get that kind of stuff done. But rather than not doing it anymore I decided to involve Hailey in taking care of the plants.
We had a deck in our back yard that had to be taken down and new deck was built in a different place. So, where the old deck was we planted some grass. Hailey and I have been checking the progress of the grass and I talk to her about how the grass needs sun and water to grow.
She also helped me pull all of the weeds out of our flower beds in our back yard. She thought that was fabulous! Hailey has her own little gardening set that uses to dig in the dirt to pretend to plant. One of the tools is a watering can which she uses to help water the flowers.
When we are outside doing our gardening I talk to Hailey about how the flowers smell and feel. She does not have a lot of toys for outside, but rather spends most of the time exploring. Simple things like leaves and rocks can be turned into a learning experience for a toddler.
Give your toddler a bucket to use for collecting leaves and then talk about how they feel, look, smell, etc. Let your toddler tear and crumble the leaves. Collect rocks that are big enough to not pose a chocking hazard- meaning they can not fit through a toilet paper roll. Talk about how the rocks feel. Let your toddler take them in and out of containers. Put the collection of rocks into a container that can be closed (ex- old coffee container) and shake for a fun noise. You can also let your toddler wash the rocks. All of these things will provide a lot of entertainment and learning for your toddler.
Anything hands on in nautre is a great way to teach your toddler. And the more they participate in what they are doing the more they will learn and remember from the experience.
Tags: free toddler activity, planting with toddlers, toddler leaf activity, toddler rock activity
May
Sponge Painting
I have done several finger painting projects with Hailey and I decided it was time to try something different. So we did some sponge painting. Sponge painting is a great activitiy to try with a toddler. Sponge painting can be done with all sorts of different materials but I picked a regular old sponge. Since we are working on learning shapes I cut the sponge in half to make two squares.
A very easy set up:
- Paper plate
- Paint
- Sponge(s)
- Painting paper
Then I put Hailey at the table and just let her explore the paint and the sponges.
The sponges have an interesting texture and leave an interesting print on the paper. Hailey enjoyed painting for quite a long time.
Then she started finger painting on the plate that I had put the paint on. Hailey was drawing lines on the plate in the paint. So, I started writing letters for her since I am working on letter recognition with her.
Then Hailey wanted me to write her name and Brooke’s name.
Then we used the sponge as an eraser and wrote more names and letters. She loved it! When she was done we let the plate dry with Brooke’s name on it and it turned out great.
From this project I thought of a new project to do- we are going to finger paint on paper plates. When Hailey is done experimenting I will write a letter on the plate and leave it to dry. Eventually we will have the entire alphabet.
