May
Pig Craft
This week I have been concentrating on farm animals with Hailey. She loves anything and everything that has to do with animals, so this is definitely a lot of fun. There are tons of books about farm animals that we enjoy reading. The other day we made a pig using a variety of shapes. When I was teaching pre-kindergarten I always did this with my class. It’s easy and cute and helps reinforce the names of the 
shapes.
What you’ll need:
- pink paper in 2 or 3 different shades
- scissors
- glue
Because Hailey is too young for scissors I cut everything out ahead of time. If you were doing this with preschoolers I would recommend letting them do the cutting.
I let Hailey do all of the gluing- which she loves to do. She always cries when it is time to put the glue away. As she was gluing the pieces I talked about the shape of the piece she was working on and encouraged her to try to say the name of the shape too.
Once she had the glue on her piece I pointed to the place on the pig where the piece should go and she did the positioning of the pieces. I try to let her do as much of the actual project as possible.
The finished pig
Apr
Toddlers and Solo Play
I was reading an article today about the value of solo play for children. I found it to be very interesting. Of course as parents we know that it is important to spend time with our children. But, it is also important for children to learn how to entertain themselves. The age of the child will determine how long you would expect your child play alone. According to the article at 6 months old a child may be content by himself for 5 minutes; at 12 months, for 15 minutes; at 18 months, about 15 to 20 minutes; and at 2 years, for about half an hour. Check out the entire article right here.
Tags: Toddlers and Solo Play
Apr
Pizza Sauce Recipe
Last night we were going to have pizza and then we realized that the pizza sauce we had wasn’t any good anymore. So, I found a recipe for some pizza sauce that was really good, so I had to share it.
Ingredients
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
2 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons dried parsley flakes
4 teaspoons dried onion flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
2 cups water
Directions
1. Combine tomato paste, garlic, parsley flakes, onion, oregano, basil and water in 2 quart saucepan. Cook over medium high heat until mixture boils.
2. Reduce heat to low and simmer 10 minutes.
3. Cool a little and spread on your pizza crust and proceed with remainder of your toppings.
When I made this I actually doubled it so that I could have extra sauce to freeze. We used one last night and I put the extra in Ziploc bags to freeze for future pizzas. Although the recipe doesn’t call for it, we added some salt and some garlic salt to it for some extra flavor. It was really good and so easy to make.
Tags: Pizza Sauce Recipe
Apr
Umbrella Painting
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.
Tags: finger painting with toddler, free toddler activity, umbrella craft, umbrella painting
