Toddler Theme: Wild West

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).

Toddler Theme: Under the Sea

Growing up, I was always intrigued by the ocean and the creatures that lived in it.  Mia is no different.  It's like a whole new world and we spent this week focused on finding out what's Under the Sea.  Not exactly an ocean-themed book, but we read Where the Wild Things Are and it ended up spurring a whole session of boat pretend play.  Mia found all kinds of items around the house to assemble her boat and I cut out a little flag for her.  Millie naturally fell into the role of pirate, trying to climb aboard the boat and ruining all of Mia's fun.  Little sisters...sigh!

Boats have been fascinating Mia lately, so I grasped onto that and ran with it.  I found a cool wooden balloon-powered boat at World Market for under $5.  We also Googled how to fold our own paper boats.  With our two types of boats in hand, we went down to the creek to play.  We hiked a bit upstream and launched the paper boats from the edge and ran back downstream to catch them as they floated along.  The balloon-powered boat is pretty fun but you'll get the full effect if you try it in a non-moving body of water.  We had to bring it back home and try it again in the bath tub.  It definitely provided a little learning moment about currents, though!  Colorado is about as landlocked as it gets, but I managed to find a little lake beach for the girls to play on one morning.  We went to the swimming beach on Big Soda Lake at Bear Creek Lake Park, but Chatfield State Park & Cherry Creek Reservoir both offer good options as well.  And we also made a trip to the Denver Aquarium this week.  I personally enjoyed the jelly fish tank but I'm pretty sure Mia's favorite was the mermaid show in the big tank.

My husband just bought a GoPro camera for ski season but seeing as though that's not for several more months, Mia and I took it into the pool to play with it.  LifeProof sells waterproof iPhone cases that you could also use for underwater photos, if you were interested.  The GoPro doesn't have a feedback screen so we just snapped a bunch of little sis Millie splashing around and then shared giggles as we looked through them on the computer later that night.

We also did a more traditional art project this week -- a paper plate mosaic sea turtle.  I pre-cut a bunch of green shapes and a turtle head/flippers/legs/tail.  I set Mia up with the cut-outs and Elmer's School Glue and let her apply them to the underside of a paper plate.  Googly eyes completed the look.  Last year, we made a sponge-painted jelly fish during this theme week.

A summary of all Under the Sea week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Pretended to sail the high seas with items found around the house, Played in the creek with paper boats and balloon-powered boats

ART PROJECTS: Made a paper plate mosaic sea turtle and a sponge-painted jelly fish, Took funny underwater pictures at the pool with our GoPro camera

OUTINGS: Checked out life under the sea at the Denver Aquarium, Spent the day at the swimming beach at Bear Creek Lake Park

BOOKS: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, If You Want to See a Whale by Julie Fogliano

BIBLE STORY: Jonah and the whale

BABY BONUS: Water sensory play with assorted sponges and foam letters on a cookie sheet

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: Body Parts

We had to take our dogs in for their annual check up and also little sister Millie in for her follow-up flu shot so it seemed like the perfect week to explore Body Parts.  That's the trick to easy theme weeks...match them up to things you are already doing.  Keep it simple, right?  I told both the veterinarian and the pediatric nurse that we were learning about body parts and they jumped right in to help.  The vet pointed out the different canine body parts she was checking and told Mia about the tools she was using.  The pediatric nurse gave Mia all kinds of goodies -- tongue depressors, swabs, masks, a specimen cup -- to play with at home.  While Mia was eating lunch one day, I set up a whole doctor pretend play area.  I've heard this technique called "an invitation to play" (you know, on Pinterest and stuff) but it's one of my favorite things to do for Mia.  After my initial setup & maybe a brief introduction, she'll go for hours (I did something similar for the Manners week teddy bear tea party).  I pulled together her doctor kit, the real items from the kind nurse, and a few goodies from our own first aid kit.  Oh, and you gotta lay down a piece of tissue paper because no doctor's office is complete without the noisy paper.  Here's what my setup looked like:

She immediately ran to find a patient, Froggy (yes, we're original with names around here).  Her favorite thing to do was take his temperature so she did that about 30 times.  She listened to his heart, checked his blood pressure, covered him with bandaids, gave him shots, and fed him vitamins.  And her bedside manner is pretty awesome...she gave him a kiss during his shot.  Does your kid need some x-rays for his doctor kit?  I found those pics during a google search and then printed & laminated.  Staples will print on transparencies for you, if you want to go the ultra authentic route.

We had a play date with Mia's pal Olivia at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science this week, so we made sure to check out the Expedition Health exhibit.  Everyone receives a card upon entry and you sign in with some basic info like your age, gender, and name.  Then you can record different health stats at stations as you learn about body parts and systems.  At the very end, they give you a printout with all your information.  Mia checked her heart rate and danced around in front of the x-ray simulator.  Olivia looked at her skin with an ultraviolet camera.  Then her mom gave her some sunblock and we got to see how that works to protect the skin.  Pretty cool!

There are so many easy activities you can do, too.  I pulled out Mrs. Potato Head & a magnetic face game for Mia to play with during the week.  We sang songs like "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" and "The Hokey Pokey."  I cut out random body parts from magazines and let Mia make a body collage (I included a printable link below if you don't want to cut up magazines).  And this last activity is fun as a pre-bedtime family game.  Give your kid a sheet of stickers and challenge them to put a sticker on daddy's nose.  Put a sticker on baby brother's foot.  And on and on.

A summary of all  Body Parts week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Played Doctor with stuffed animals, Sang body parts songs like "Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes" and "The Hokey Pokey," Played with Mr. Potato Head and a magnetic faces game, Labeled body parts on family members with stickers

ART PROJECTS: Made a face collage with magazine cutouts and household items (string, pasta, beads, etc)...Here's a printable from Picklebums if you don't want to cut up magazines 

OUTINGS: Explored the Expedition Health exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, Took the dogs to vet for their annual appointment, Supported little sister as she got her follow-up flu shot

BOOKS: When I Was Born and At Our House both by Isabel Minhos Martins, Tickle Monster by Josie Bissett

BIBLE STORY: Eve was made from Adam's rib

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: Manners

This week was all about manners.  Not that we don't talk about manners allllllll the time, it's just that this week was an extra concentrated dose of etiquette.  Teaching my children manners is very important to me.  Sure, I love that Mia's proficient use of please & thank you in public makes me look good, but that's not why manners matter.  It's critical that I arm my girls with the know-how and ability to navigate life's tricky social situations.  Whether they find themselves defusing a tense playground situation or taking a new client to lunch, they should be confident.  But most important of all is the underlying sense of personal & social awareness that good manners imply.  To say thank you means you feel gratitude.  To look someone in the eye and say hello means you acknowledge others.  To hold the door for someone means you feel compassion for others.  Gratitude, humility, compassion...those are the building blocks of genuine happiness.  I can't make my kids happy all the time, but I can guide them down the road to lifelong happiness.  And it starts with a simple "please."

It goes without saying that I should model any behavior I expect from my kids.  And with manners, this is especially powerful.  You want to know how my parents taught (and drilled) basic greetings and conversational manners?  They signed themselves up as greeters at our church.  Every week, we arrived at church a few minutes early so they could open the door & welcome the families.  There was nothing else for us to do, so my siblings and I joined in.  As very young children, we just helped Mom hold the door and accepted praise and hair rufflings from the passersby.  With age and practice, we began locking eyes and offering our own greetings.  Maybe even a cool handshake like Dad.  Mia and I completed this same exercise in our high-rise this week.  We went down to the lobby one evening and held the door for our neighbors returning from work.  Naturally, we received a lot of attention so Mia was able to get in a lot of conversational practice.  Plus, the praise from others made her feel good and positively reinforced her behavior.  We did have a few neighbors who just rushed by without so much as a "hi" or even eye contact.  She was disappointed but it was an opportunity to show her how to respond and to teach her how important it is to acknowledge others.  It doesn't feel good to be ignored.    

Role-playing and pretend play are great ways to model & practice manners.  We dug out the play phones and role-played phone conversations.  This is an especially good way to practice if your little one freezes up during actual phone conversations.  Another afternoon, we threw a teddy bear tea party.  I was so surprised by how much Mia got into this one.  "This is a lovely tea party," she told her bear.  "And one for you," she said as she handed out the cookies (two for herself, of course).

This week, I also started teaching Mia how to set the table for meals.  I was originally planning on making a trip to IKEA to pick up a set of the KLISTRIG place mats, but we didn't make it.  They are really inexpensive ($3 for 4) and they illustrate an informal place-setting.  Instead I improvised and we made our own place-setting place mat with a piece of white card stock, glue, and this Martha Stewart printable.  With this, setting the table becomes a matching game.  And while we had the glue out, we did one more art project -- artwork thank you cards.  I've been saving a stack of Mia's more colorful doodles & artwork for just this project.  I cut her art into 2" squares and she glued those down on white paper.  I then cut those out again, leaving a thin border of the white paper.  She applied more glue and we pressed onto blank note cards.  Viola...kid art thank you cards!  If your child is a little younger or more into drawing, you could have them color this simple "thanks" card (get the 4x6 printable here).  KISS Tip: Keep a pre-printed stack of these handy for pre-dinner coloring and then you'll always have a thank you card when you need it...and maybe a few minutes of peace as you prepare dinner.  Or not.

A summary of all Manners week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Role-played phone conversations with toy phones, Practiced informal greetings by holding the door for others, Hosted a teddy bear tea party to practice table manners, Played the game "Mother, May I"

ART PROJECTS: Learned how to set the table by making a place-setting place mat (find the printable & instructions here), Re-purposed kid artwork into thank you cards (or you could print these simple "thanks" cards on 4x6 note cards)

BOOKS: Please, Mr. Panda by Steve Antony, Gaston by Kelly DiPucchio, What Do You Say, Dear? by Sesyle Joslin, Advice to Little Girls by Mark Twain, How to Behave and Why by Munro Leaf 

BIBLE STORY: Job's patience

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).