Toddler Theme: Oktoberfest & Germany

This is one of those toddler themes that is made easier by exploiting community activities.  In this case, we leveraged local Oktoberfest celebrations as we learned about Germany.  Denver hosts Oktoberfest over two weekends in September each year.  We went late morning and it wasn't too crowded yet which made it easier for us to sample lots of traditional German foods -- wursts & kraut, spaetzle, boiled potato salad.  The German music intrigued Mia...or maybe it was the lederhosen the band was wearing.  Her curious stares as she tried to make sense of it all were pretty funny!  

Another great time of year to learn about Germany while utilizing community activities is near Christmas time.  Denver hosts a Christkindl Market downtown between Thanksgiving and Christmas and I'm sure other cities do as well.  I've been to a few of these famous markets in Frankfurt & Dusseldorf and one thing I particularly loved is the way people congregated and drank glühwein (mulled red wine) huddled together on a cold winter night.  Inspired by that, we made our own kid-friendly version of glühwein.  I picked up a huge jug of apple cider from the orchard last week and Colorado peaches are in their prime right now so we put those two items plus some cinnamon sticks in a heavy pot and let it simmer on low all afternoon.  It made our apartment smell so good!  The key to glühwein is serving it in festive ceramic mugs so I pulled out our pair usually reserved for hot cocoa and we enjoyed a nice warm pre-dinner treat.  Once the girls went to bed, my husband and I added a nip of bourbon and enjoyed a second mug.  Totally not German mulled red wine but we just couldn't let this mulled cider go to waste.  Just in case you needed some ideas for leftovers, too.  Wink, wink.

Another popular German street food is soft pretzels.  They are very dense and chewy and delicious.  There are quite a few recipes available online for replicating these at home but you know how I like to keep things real simple...We just used a tube of Pillsbury pizza crust to create our own pretzels.  I divided the dough into 4 pieces -- two for Mia & two for me.  We worked on rolling them out into long snakes and then I showed her how to fold it up into a pretzel shape.  I dissolved about 2 tablespoons of baking soda in 2 cups of hot water and we gave the pretzel shapes a quick dunk and then laid out on a baking sheet.  We sprinkled them with some coarse salt and baked in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.  Once they were done, I brushed them with some melted butter.  They were yummy!  Although, I'd say our pretzel rolling & twisting skills need some work!  Ha!

On one of my many visits to Germany, I picked up some traditional children's books for the baby growing in my belly (Mia!).  This week we pulled them out and read them together.  Mia's favorite is Der Struwwelpeter written by Heinrich Hoffman in 1845.  It's a collection of 10 short stories with morals, one being about the title character Der Struwwelpeter (or Shockheaded Peter) who doesn't keep himself groomed and gets teased.  I'll warn you that they are a tad morbid as was the style when it was originally written.  If you've read any of Grimm's Fairy Tales, then you won't be surprised by this style (the brothers Jacob & Wilhelm Grimm were German, too).  Since this book is so old, I was able to find it online with the original illustrations so you can check it out for yourself (find it here).    

Our own last name is German and after doing some research, we learned that a schlosser is a locksmith or one who works in a castle (a schloss).   Last year we made a lock & key charm necklace so this year we thought we'd try a castle art project.  My plan was to cut out various shapes and let Mia piece together her own castle but she wanted to draw with me so we ended up collaborating on a castle.  I drew it out under her very careful art direction and she watercolored it.  During the whole process, we were able to talk about shapes and different types of lines & patterns.  It was really nice to work on this so closely together and I think it turned out quite well.  You could do a German castle art project, too.  Did you know that the German castle Schloss Neuschwanstein (translated as New Swanstone Castle) was Walt Disney's inspiration for the design of Sleeping Beauty's castle?  And lastly, we did our usual Children of the World art project and watercolored the German flag (you can find country flag coloring sheets here).  

Until next week, tschüss! (said like juice with a ch- instead of j- and means bye!)

A summary of all Oktoberfest week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Learned a few German words and the translation of our own last name

ART PROJECTS: Drew & painted our own schloss (castle) by using different shapes, Painted the German flag (find the printable here), Made a schlussel (key) charm necklace after learning that our last name means locksmith

OUTINGS: Attended the Denver Oktoberfest and sampled different types of German food while listing to traditional music

SNACK: Made non-alcoholic glühwein with apple cider and soft pretzels

BOOKS: Der Struwwelpeter by Heinrich Hoffman

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).

Toddler Theme: China

This week, we added a new country to our Children of the World series -- China.  My Instagram friend Sam (find her on IG here) is an expat with 5 kids who's been living in China and she helped me piece together a really fun week for Mia.  She suggested the book Through the Mist by Jan Abbott and we found that along with a few others at the library to get us started.  We also pulled out our trusty copy of Maps to see where in the world China was located.  Sam & her family live in Hong Kong which is very densely populated and the majority of people live in tall tower apartments.  Mia could relate to this because she also lives in a tall tower apartment.  We learned that the Buddha is very prevalent in Chinese (and Asian) culture, so we spent some quiet moments this week in meditation, thinking about things that make us happy.  And on Sam's suggestion, we also practiced some yoga stretches.

Kids in China commonly eat congee -- rice porridge -- for breakfast, so we made some, too.  I found an easy recipe on The Kitchn (find it here).  Mia's favorite breakfast food is cheddar garlic grits so as a nod to that, I made our congee with chicken broth and then topped with a poached egg and green onion.  You could also make it sweet with fruit and other toppings.  Sam also suggested we try dried seaweed.  I found some at Whole Foods and also World Market.  Mia wasn't so sure about the seaweed but Millie liked it!  Other dietary staples are soups, fish, vegetables, and noodles.  Did you know that eating noodles on your birthday is considered good luck?  As a little fine motor skills activity, we practiced using chopsticks to pick up pom poms and put them into a bowl.  Mia was actually doing a pretty good job figuring out the chopsticks but I also found a set of the spring-loaded kid ones from World Market.

I found a website that has country flag coloring sheets (find it here) so Mia was able to watercolor China's flag.  We talked about the shapes and colors on the flag as she worked.  Sam told us that the dragon is very important in Chinese culture and suggested that we make dragons out of play dough.  Another fun idea is creating a dragon out of cardboard boxes and household items.  This is the one her kids made.  Isn't it cool?  If you live in Denver, a fun themed outing would be to go to the Dragon Boat Festival at Sloane's Lake.  It's in early July each year.

And lastly, we learned a few words in Chinese.  Hello is ni hao (pronounced "nee how").  Goodbye is zàijiàn (pronounced "si chen").   Mia isn't really writing English letters yet, but as a fun activity we collaborated on a few word banners with Chinese characters.  Mia painted the backgrounds and helped me find the correct Chinese characters to use based on the letter.  Can you tell what we spelled?   

Thank you, Sam!  This was a really fun week and we learned a lot.  If you live in another country and want to help us plan a Children of the World theme week, please let me know (I promise, it's very little work on your end). 

A summary of all Asia week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Used chopsticks to sort pom poms by color as a fine motor skills activity, Learned a few phrases in Chinese, Learned a few basic yoga moves and practiced a few meditation techniques

ART PROJECTS: Tried painting our names in Chinese characters, Painted the Chinese flag (find free country flag coloring pages here), Sculpted dragons with play dough 

OUTINGS: Dragon Boat Festival at Sloan's Lake (usually in early July)

SNACK: Dried seaweed snacks, Congee for breakfast (get the recipe here)

BOOKS: Chopsticks by Amy Krouse Rosenthal, The Dancing Dragon by Marcia K. Vaughan, Tikki Tikki Timbo by Arlene Mosel, Through the Mist by Jan Abbott

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).

Toddler Theme: France & Bastille Day

This was a pretty busy week with our family visiting from out of state, but we still managed to sneak in some toddler theme exploration.  And this week we added another country to our Children of the World series -- France.  It's perfect timing for learning about France, too, because they celebrate French National Day, or Bastille Day, on July 14th.  This date commemorates the start of the French Revolution.  Coming on the heels of American Independence Day, it gave me a little bit of a reference point for explaining to Mia the significance of this holiday as well.  

As a fine motor skills building activity, we worked on building structures with marshmallows and toothpicks.  Once Mia got the hang of it, we set to work building an Eiffel Tower-shaped structure.  We also attempted an Arc de Triomphe but ran out of marshmallows.  I'm not going to name any names (cough, Mia), but someone was eating on the job.

Another day, I surprised Mia with build-your-own crepes for breakfast.  My crepe making skills are sketchy at best, but World Market sells a pack of pre-made ones that you just heat & fill.  I set up those, strawberries, bananas, and Nutella, and then let her assemble her own.  I gave her crepes (she went back for seconds) a little dusting of powder sugar just for good measure before she devoured them.  I filled all of the leftover crepes with ham and shredded Gouda cheese and we saved them for lunch.           

Lastly, we learned a couple of words in French.  This is our first country in the Children of the World series where English is not the native language, so we first had to discuss the idea of other languages. I'm not totally sure she grasped that concept, but we did have fun practicing how to say hello and goodbye -- bonjour & au revoir.

A summary of all France & Bastille Day week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Tried to build a replica of the Eiffel Tower with marshmallows & toothpicks, Read about France in our Maps book                  

ART PROJECTS: Watercolored the French flag, the Tricolour

OUTINGS: Went to the French bakery for some bread and treats

SNACK: Filled our own crepes with fruits and Nutella

BOOKS: Henri's Walk to Paris by Leonore Klein, Eloise in Paris by Kay Thompson, Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, Oops! by Jean-Luc Fromental & Joelle Jolivet

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).

Toddler Theme: U.S.A. & Independence Day

This is one of those toddler themes that is made easier by exploiting community activities and store offerings.  And in all honesty, I stuck to just those things for our explorations this week.  Keeping it real simple over here!  We celebrated our independence by watching our local fireworks and learned the Pledge of Allegiance during that dreaded wait time between snagging a good seat and the start of the show.  

Our friends live in a suburb of Denver and they invited us out to watch their Independence Day parade with them.  The Target Dollar Spot is loaded with all kinds of red, white, and blue goodies and I found a 3-pack of mini American flags (KISS Tip: Pick up a bunch of glow sticks and light up toys from the Dollar Spot and then pull them out when you are at parades and fireworks shows so you don't end up paying 10x the price there).  On our drive to the parade, Mia and I examined the flags --  counting the stripes and some of the stars, discussing colors and shapes, etc.  We also talked about flag etiquette and why it's so important to honor the flag.       

I'd say Mia is pretty familiar with life as a kid growing up in America, but I also used this week to focus on the U.S.A. as part of our ongoing Children of the World series.  We pulled out our beloved copy of the book Maps and studied our own country's page.  We also watercolored our own flag using our miniature versions as a model.  And we cheered for our ladies in the red, white & blue in the World Cup Semi-Finals & Finals.  U.S.A!  U.S.A!   

A summary of all U.S.A. & Independence Day week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Learned the Pledge of Allegiance, Learned a little about our flag & etiquette, Played a Red, White & Blue color-sorting game

ART PROJECTS: Painted a watercolor of our flag

OUTINGS: Watched our local Fourth of July fireworks, Went to see an Independence Day parade

BIBLE STORY: Moses freeing the Hebrews from Egypt

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).

Toddler Theme: London Calling

This is the first of many "Children of the World" toddler theme weeks.  Toddlers live a very ME-centric life but I wanted to start planting the seed of diversity early.  I'll stay really superficial and high-level with these particular theme weeks, because toddlers.  But, in general, you can expect a little exposure to language (if applicable), snacks & food, childhood games & activities, weather, and other country identifiers like flag, currency, etc.  And this is the really cool part...I've made several mama friends all over the world on Instagram and some have graciously agreed to help me with these themes.  For this particular week, Laura-Jane Mcdonnell (check out her IG here) provided all kinds of great ideas.  She even mailed out a postcard from London to Mia.  Thanks friend!

We started this week by checking out the United Kingdom page in the book Maps.  We learned about a few native animals, famous personalities, traditions, and some pastimes.  This book is a true treasure and we spend many rainy mornings looking through it, so it's worth checking out if you don't already own it.  I traveled to the UK several times while I was pregnant with Mia and I picked up a copy of The Paddington Treasury by Michael Bond.   It was fun to finally read through it with her all this time later.  Plus, she was pretty excited to see a picture of me I had taken at the actual Paddington Station.  She was there, too -- in my belly!  Laura-Jane also recommends Julie Donaldson books (like The Gruffalo) and Roald Dahl books as favorites.  

One afternoon, we pulled up a picture of the flag on the iPad and painted a watercolor version.  We also talked about the weather in London as compared to ours here in Denver - much more rain and cooler temperatures year round.  I showed Mia how you would dress appropriately for the rain -- wellies & an umbrella.  And they may speak the same language we do but we were able to explore the idea of accents.  A tad hard to explain but we watched the movie Mary Poppins so that she could hear the difference.  But mostly, I've just been eager to watch that movie again -- one of my childhood favorites!  I also taught Mia the song "London Bridge is Falling Down" and we had fun catching little sis Millie under the bridge.  To explore currency, I pulled out a few British pounds I had from my travels and we compared them to ours.  We discussed the physical similarities and differences between the pound and a US quarter.  And then I very vaguely introduced the concept of currency conversion by letting her count out the number of quarters it would take to equal the pound (Note: at the time of this post, GBP = $1.49US).  Since you may not have foreign currency lying around, I created this printable you could use to explore the same with your child.   

And since the real way to a toddler's heart/brain is through their stomach, we made a special meal -- bangers & mash -- to learn what a kid in the UK might have for dinner.  I prepared mash (similar to mashed potatoes and you could also stir in a soft cheese), baked beans, and sausages.  Laura-Jane said that many moms spread the mash on the plate and make a face on top of it with the beans and sausages.  Part of the fun is seeing what face you get.  She also said it's common to have tea and biscuits as a snack.  The tea is just warm milk with a couple of dunks of the tea bag to make it more official.  And biscuits are similar to cookies here in the US.  She specifically mentioned McVitie's Digestives biscuits and I was able to find those at World Market along with a pack of Walkers shortbread fingers.  Plus a tub of ABC cookies from Trader Joe's.  Never can have too many cookies, I always say!

What do you think about this "Children of the World" series?  Do you have any countries you'd like to see explored?  Do you want to provide input for a future one (I promise it's minimal effort)?  Please comment below or email me.

A summary of all London Calling week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Sorted British currency and compared to US currency (or use this fun printable), Played/Sang "London Bridge is Falling Down," Learned about typical weather in the UK and how to dress for it, Watched the movie Mary Poppins and noted the different accent

ART PROJECTS: Watercolored the flag of the UK

SNACK: Made bangers & mash for lunch, Had afternoon tea

BOOKS: The Paddington Treasury by Michael Bond, This is London by Miroslav Sasek, Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska & Daniel Mizielinski, Any Julie Donaldson books but most notably The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom, and Stick Man

BABY BONUS: Read BabyLit boards books -- Alice in Wonderland and Pride & Prejudice -- by Jennifer Adams & Alice Oliver

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).