Toddler Theme: Tropical

I credit my mother for instilling such a strong desire to learn within me at a very young age.  That desire has fueled me well beyond my school years and even inspired these toddler theme weeks.   I can only hope that I am able to create the same fascination with learning and exploration in my own two girls.  When Adam & I asked her to watch Mia & Millie while we went to Hawaii for a week, I should not have been surprised that she wanted to do her own toddler theme while we were gone -- Tropical week.  

Of course, Colorado had a blizzard right after we left but Nana & the girls were all comfy inside pretending they were on an island.  They dressed up in grass skirts, leis and sunglasses and danced to traditional Hawaiian music on Pandora.  We sent back lots of tropical animal photos & video clips to support Nana's efforts, and they researched them further in books.  Mia specifically enjoyed researching whales, the largest mammal in the world, and the life cycle of the sea turtle.  On the days that Adam & I visited Volcanoes National Park (and sent back photos like the one below from Kilauea's crater), the girls were learning about mountains and how some were formed by volcanoes.  They also watched the Lava animated short film that is included with the movie Inside Out to get a better visual before creating their own volcano with baking soda & vinegar.

Nana made the girls super special tropical juice drinks with paper umbrellas and she created a palm tree island made with kiwi, banana, and orange slices.  One afternoon, they cut up a pineapple and talked about how it's suited to grow in tropical environments.  They also did two fun art projects together.  The first was a puffer fish painting using a fork to make the spines.

The second project was a rainbow fish mosaic created by gluing together lots of paper scraps.

When we got home, I let Mia look through all of the rest of my photos and she was an excited wealth of information about lava, craters, and how volcanoes form.  She even taught me a few things.  Hopefully she stays curious and finds herself driving all over the Big Island one day in search of her beloved volcanoes, too.  And in that moment, Nana's legacy will have passed on to yet another generation.  We love you Nana!

A summary of all Tropical week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Learned about lava & volcanoes and then crafted a baking soda & vinegar volcano, Researched the tropical animals Mom & Dad saw on their trip, Played dress up with grass skirts and flower leis

ART PROJECTS: Made a fork-painting puffer fish, Created a mosaic rainbow fish collage

SNACK: Tropical mocktails garnished with Swedish fish and paper umbrellas, Celery sticks with peanut butter and goldfish crackers

BOOKS: The Magic School Bus Presents Volcanoes and Earthquakes by Tom Jackson, How Mountains are Made by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld, Blue Whale Babies by Matt Reher, Sharks by Gina Cline, This is an Ocean by Gina Cline, The Life of a Sea Turtle by Gina Cline, National Geographic Kids United States Atlas

BIBLE STORY: Jonah & the whale

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).