Toddler Theme: Valentine's Day

We prepared for Valentine's Day and the Lenten season this week as we learned about love & mercy.  I'm noticing more and more squabbles between the girls as Millie becomes more independent so learning about mercy is entirely appropriate right now.  Add to it that Pope Francis has designated this year as the year of mercy and he wants us to focus on it during Lent (which started Wednesday), and I'd say the timing was down right perfect.  We talked about what mercy is (in simple terms: not punishing someone even though they deserve it) and how we can show it to little sisters that knock down block towers and run off with our cheese snacks.  And as an extension, we started picking one person to pray for as a family before dinner each night.  We're planning on carrying that exercise out all through Lent.  Interestingly, we learned about the difference between grace and mercy one night because we couldn't think of a person to list in our prayer for mercy (Millie was really good that day and I must have been on top of my mom game. Ha!).  Grace is receiving a blessing even though we don't deserve it.  We all need grace so that opened up a lot of people to pray for!

We read the Parable of the Prodigal Son as an example of mercy & love and that got Mia thinking about taking care of someone/thing.  She has been really into nurturing her stuffed animals the last few months.  She calls them her babies and always makes sure they are swaddled & warm.  To capitalize on this, I took her shopping for her very own plant to care for and love.  She picked out a succulent and we planted it in a tiny pot deemed "cute" enough.  I showed her how plants have to be cared for and shown love daily so they can grow.  She started showing an interest in helping with all of my other plants too, so I got her a special spray bottle to water them each day.  This was a bonus because not only is she learning about nurturing, consistent love but also honing fine motor skills.  Using a spray bottle builds dexterity that will help with handwriting later on.  As an easy themed way to practice sight words this week, I filled a bowl with candy conversation hearts.  I wrote a few of the phrases largely on some sheets of paper and let her find the candy heart matches.  We also pulled out a few high powered magnets and learned about magnetic attraction. 

This week's big activity, though, was creating Valentine's for friends...of course!  Mia wanted to make necklaces for her girlfriends so we found some letter charms and glow-in-the-dark beads at Hobby Lobby.  After we had her list of recipients, we came up with words to spell out for each necklace.  Mia found all the letters and laced them in a pattern -- letter bead, glow-in the-dark bead, repeat.  I made a simple little card for her to decorate and attach the necklaces to.  It says, "You're charming, Valentine."  You can download the card printable here if you want to make your own charm necklace Valentine's. 

For the special guys in her life, Mia selected little notebooks and we attached a card that says, "It's been noted, you're one cool Valentine."  And for all of our new neighbors, we potted succulents with cards that read, "Our street would succ without you."  We're punny, we know!  Ha!  

If you need something last minute or for a younger child, you can check out last year's Valentine's Day theme week for our really simple art-themed valentine.  My super easy homemade pop-tart recipe is in that post, too!  Happy Valentine's Day!

A summary of all Valentine's week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Potted succulents and learned how to take care of something,  Explored magnet attraction and repulsion, Practiced sight words by matching written phrases to ones on candy hearts

ART PROJECTS: Practiced the alphabet and made letter charm necklace Valentine's for friends (download the 4" x 6" card printable here)

BOOKS: Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, One Love by Cedella Marley, All My Kisses by Kerry Brown

BIBLE STORY: The Parable of the Prodigal Son, Learned about mercy and grace...practiced both throughout the week

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).

Follower Feature

I loved seeing all of the photos that have been posted to my Facebook page and you guys have some really great ideas that need to be shared!  Thought it might be fun to periodically feature your photos.

LOVE WEEK

Look at the Boddy kids' heart-shaped after school surprise pop tarts!  It (almost) makes me want to buy cookie-cutters.

 And little Elliot is in heaven with her homemade pop tarts.  She & her mom Leslie did a great job!

ART WEEK

Penelope worked on her own pointillism project this week.  And you've gotta see her Matisse-inspired collage.  Good idea, Meghan!

 

Lola's Mimi is an artist and she made up an art museum scavenger hunt by giving her artwork postcards to find during their visit.  And check out all of Lola's art-themed books!  Her mom Sarah has picked out some great titles (in case you are looking to add to your library list).    

 

If you have a photo you'd like to share, you can email it to me (email button in the left menu) or tag me on your Facebook photo or even use the hashtag #weeklytoddlerthemes on Instagram (if you are private, just make sure I'm following you or tag me in the photo).  I'll feature a few each month.

Toddler Theme: Love & Valentine's Day

This week, our theme centered around Love as we prepared for Valentine's day.  Mia enjoys having  time to color & draw everyday so I created a minimalist Valentine's card with that in mind.  I printed them out on blank 4x6 index cards.  Did you get some of those yet?  I linked the printable in the summary list below.  Each day I gave her a few to color and by the end of the week, I had a nice big stack.  Since she's still working on some of her fine motor skills, we also made a paper heart chain.  I prepped a stack of paper strips the night before, but I let her help with the folding and creasing.  You'll have to help your kid with the assembly part because it's tricky to fold over the ends of one strip while also lining up the next strip, but stapling is fun!  And fine motor skill building.  Bonus!

Mia's not really one for obvious signs of affection so I made up a game to help illustrate the concept of physical love -- Animal Kisses.  It's simple, all you do is come up with an animal and a sign of affection for your child to act out.  How does a monkey give kisses?  What would a snake hug be like?  Show me how a Tyrannosaurus rex blows kisses.  It's pretty hysterical and you can play this game anywhere.  Another simple activity we did is create a We Love/I Love chart together (I linked a printable below).  This could be a good one for one parent to do with your kid while the other is preparing dinner.  Get the whole family involved in this similar/dissimilar exercise.  I asked Mia what things she loves and then I talked about whether or not it was on my list of loves.  We agree on our love for cheddar garlic grits and daddy, but she's on her own with the bug love!  Oh, and if your kid is into letter recognition, then you might like these Brach's alphabet candy hearts I found in the seasonal aisle at Target.  

Love week wouldn't be complete if we didn't practice showing love by doing nice things for people.  The way to Mia's heart is through her stomach so it resonated with her to take a surprise lunch to dad at work.  She also enjoyed helping me make homemade pop-tarts for friends.

Wanna try?  They're really easy to make.  All you need is ready-made pie crust, jam, an egg (optional), powdered sugar, lemon (optional), milk, food coloring & sprinkles (also optional).  Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees.  Unroll your pie crusts (KISS Tip: put down parchment paper first for easy counter & pan cleanup).  Using a sharp knife cut the 2 circles down to rectangles.  Give the side scraps to your kid and let them make worms or whatever (i.e. keep them occupied while you assemble).  I can usually cut the 2 larger rectangles into about 16 smaller rectangles.  This will then yield 8 small pop-tarts.  Put a spoonful of jam in the middle of half of the rectangles, then brush the edges with the egg.  The egg isn't totally necessary since you're pressing the edges later but I like to do it.  Old habits.  Place another rectangle over top and then use a fork to press the edges.  Poke a few holes in the tops, too.  Transfer them to your cookie sheet and bake for about 12-15 minutes.  The glaze is just a mixture of powdered sugar, a touch of lemon juice, and enough milk to get a slightly runny consistency.  You can add food coloring if you'd like.  Let the pop-tarts cool completely before glazing but add sprinkles right away before the glaze hardens.  Enjoy!  I mean, give them to your friends to show them how much you care.

A summary of all Love week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Played the animal signs of affection game, Made a We Love/I Love chart (here's a printable), Practiced letter recognition with Brach's alphabet candy hearts, Did something nice for someone else (check out this great list of ideas!)

ART PROJECTS: Colored "i heART you" valentines (get the 4x6 printable here) for friends & family, Made a paper heart chain

OUTINGS: Took a surprise lunch to Dad at work, Heart scavenger hunt around the house or neighborhood

SNACK: Made homemade pop-tart treats for a friend

BOOKS: Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne

BIBLE STORY: Jesus loves the little children (the song, too!)

Happy Valentine's Day, friends!