Toddler Theme: Calendar

There were a couple of unique calendar-related events this week so we decided to devote the entire week to learning about calendars and days of the week.  The first event was the snow moon, February's full moon, on Monday.  I like to play around with backyard night photography and Mia is always right beside me.  The trick to night photography is knowing how bright the moon is going to be and I like to use the Moon Connection website to help me keep track.  They also have some great diagrams of the lunar cycle.  This week, Mia and I took a closer look at the moon each night and observed the cycle with our own eyes.  For instance, we realized that after Monday's snow moon, the moon began to wane each night.  It will continue to do so until the new moon or dark moon, and then it will become a waxing moon until it's full again.  That's one full cycle.  We decided that both the waxing and waning crescent moons look like the Cheshire Cat's smile.

Speaking of the Cheshire Cat, Mia and I have started reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.  She's seen the Disney animated version and loves the story.  Her favorite part is the Mad Hatter's unbirthday party.  I've been toying with the idea of throwing an unbirthday party for quite awhile now.  You see, there is a bit of a birthday drought in our family.  We're talking nearly 9 months (three whole seasons!) without a birthday to celebrate, and no birthday means no birthday cake.  How terrible!  And then I realized that we have a whole extra day this year because of leap year.  Seemed a pity to waste it, so Mia and I designated Leap Day our official 2016 unbirthday.  As a little exercise in time management, I walked her through planning her unbirthday party.  One day, we brainstormed what things she would need for her party: decorations, tea, cupcakes.  Then we made some doodles of what her decorations and cupcakes would look like so that we could plan the shopping list.  She decided that she'd rather model her cupcakes than doodle and pulled out her Duplo blocks.  She has a set that includes ice cream cones and "scoops" of ice cream.  She had it in her head that she wanted to do ice cream cone cakes and made mock-ups all week.  Like every single day "Here mommy, I made this for you."  I must have been gifted over 20 unique Duplo ice cream cone cakes.  I loved how she took our original idea and ran her own direction with it and then ended up being consumed by it all week.  I remembered one of my childhood friend's mom making cupcakes in ice cream cones when we were younger, so I figured out how to make them, too.  On leap day -- the day our party planning calendar said it was time to make the cupcakes -- we mixed up cupcake batter and filled ice cream cones.  After baked & cooled, we topped them with ice cream-looking dollops of white frosting and then drizzled with melted chocolate chips & sprinkles.  The resulting sundae cone cupcakes blew her mind.  She could not wait for daddy to get home to show him her design come to life.  

"A very merry unbirthday to me.
To who?
To me.
Oh you! A very merry unbirthday to you!"

Some other activities we did this week include making our own monthly calendar with the free printable from A Little Pinch of Perfect blog and learning this simple days of the week song (link here).  And lastly, we read Matthew 4:1-11, the temptation of Christ, together.  The scriptures say that Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights so we pulled out a big calendar and counted off 40 days.  That is a long time to go without food, we decided.  Mia tried to see how long she could go without food that afternoon and didn't quite make it 40 minutes.  Must have been all that talk about ice cream cone cupcakes. ;)

A summary of all Calendar week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Celebrated Leap Day with an "unbirthday" party, learned about the lunar cycle and observed the snow moon, Learned a days of the week song (link here), 

ART PROJECTS: Created our own monthly calendar with a free printable from A Little Pinch of Perfect blog (link here)

BIBLE STORY: Mapped out on a calendar how long Jesus fasted in the wilderness (40 days & nights)

If you'd like to share a photo of your kid doing theme week activities, you can email it to me (email button in the left menu) or tag me on your Facebook photo or use the hashtag #weeklytoddlerthemes on Instagram (if you are private, just make sure I'm following you or tag me in the photo).