The toddler theme this week was Wild West and it was inspired largely by where we live, Colorado. Originally from the Midwest, the whole history of Denver's early foundation with its gold rushes and migration of people westward is fascinating. I still get excited when I come across cacti growing wild along my path. At the toddler level, this week is all about dressing up with cowboy hats, bandanas and sheriff badges like Woody from Toy Story, but we were able to sneak in some learning, too.
My favorite field trip for this theme week is the History Colorado Center. The exhibits there cover so many different aspects of our state's history but the Living West one, in particular, is good to see. We learned about Pueblo life in Mesa Verde and living in shelters built into the sides of cliffs. Eventually, I'd like to take the girls to the actual Mesa Verde but this exhibit does the job well and gets us home before nap time. The Destination Colorado exhibit was made specifically with kids in mind and they can see for themselves what life was like for the early settlers. There's a (fake) cow to milk, a general store to run, and even an outhouse for some extra giggles. We also visited the Four Mile Historic Park. This is one of my favorite places to let Mia loose to explore because it's wide open yet not too large that I can't keep up and it's hardly ever crowded. Her favorite spots are the horse barns and the miner's camp with the tents and teepees. Some other great field trip options are the town of Golden (there's a small historical village next to Clear Creek and you can feed the chickens for a quarter) or even the Argo Gold Mines in Idaho Springs. If you are up for a longer road trip, then there's also Mesa Verde National Park.
For our art project, we decided to paint rocks to look like various cacti. Mia has been collecting quite a stash of rocks these days and she really enjoys painting them (as you saw in our Fathers week), so this seemed perfect. I set her up with different shades of green acrylic paints and let her go to work. The next day, we sat together while I drew various prickly patterns on the green rocks with a white paint pen. While those dried, Mia filled a few small clay pots with gravel and then we added the cacti rocks. They turned out so well that Mia's dad ended up taking one for his desk at work.
Last year, I cut out a simple cactus shape out of green construction paper and let Mia paint glue onto it and then sprinkle rice "prickles" over top. It was a messy -- yet fun -- project but you can contain most of it if you set it all up in a baking sheet. PS - Look how little she was!
A summary of all Wild West week activities with links:
ACTIVITIES: Played Wild West dress up (bandanas, cowboy hat, boots),
ART PROJECTS: Painted rocks to look like various cacti, Glued rice onto a cutout cactus
OUTINGS: Visited the Four Mile Historic Park by our house but other great Denver options are the History Colorado Center, the town of Golden with their historical village beside Clear Creek, or even the Argo Mines in Idaho Springs
SNACK: Made s'mores
BOOKS: Armadillo Rodeo by Jan Brett
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).
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