April Plans

Each month I like to pick a few themes and then plan some activities around them for Hailey and I to do together.

For the month of April our themes are going to include weather, spring and farm animals.  Stay tuned for the different activities and crafts we do this month.

In addition to that I will also concentrate on the number 1, the color white and the shape oval.  Every two weeks I also introduce a new letter.  I have a little area set up in Hailey’s playroom with the different number, color, shape and letter I am focusing on.

I will try to keep up and post the activities we do each day.

Tags: April toddler activities, Colors, farm animal activities, free toddler activity, Numbers, Shapes, spring activities, Toddler and Preschool Activities, umbrella activities, weather activities

Playdough Fun

This year the Easter bunny brought Hailey some playdough.  Now I think I know what lots of moms out there are thinking- it is just so messy- why would anyone ever give their child playdough?

Having worked in day care and pre-k, I do know that playdough can create quite a mess.  But do you know what else I have learned about playdough?  It can usually buy several minutes in a row of quiet play.

I think that around 18 months is a good time to introduce playdough. At this stage your toddler will probably just want to pat, poke and squeeze the playdough. So, we got the playdough out the other day for Hailey to try it out.

Toddlers like to taste everything, so I expected that Hailey would have to try a bite of her playdough.

 Once she realized how bad it tasted that put an end to that.  

Hailey loved playing with the playdough and it kept her entertained for nearly an hour.

Toddlers will also like finding things hidden in the dough, and pushing things into it (straws, macaroni, popsicle sticks, plastic figurines, pretty much anything you can think of).  Using cookie cutters to cut out various shapes is fun too. 

There are a lot of great activities you can do with playdough.  Since this was Hailey’s first time using it I decided to keep the activity completely exploratory.  I will post other activities that you can use for playdough as I introduce them to Hailey. 

Tags: fine motor control, free toddler activity, Playdough, small motor control, toddler activitiy, Toddlers and playdough

Bunny Ears

We I made some bunny ears for Hailey.

It was very simple to make.

How to make it:

1. Cut a strip of poster board about 2″ wide by about 24″ long.
2. Cut out 2 ears out of poster board each about 8 1/2″ long x 3 1/2″ wide.
3. Cut out 2 smaller ears out of white construction paper.
4. Glue the white ears inside the pink ears.
5. Glue the ears inside the band, positioning to fit behind the child’s head.
6. Let the child decorate the head band with stickers, markers, crayons, or colored pencils if they wish.
7. Tape or staple the band to fit the child. Cut off any excess.

Hailey thought it was more fun to try to get Dottie to wear the ears than for to leave them on.

Tags: Easter Bunny Ears, Easter craft, free toddler activity, Toddler and Preschool Activities