Toddler Theme: Dinosaurs

It's DINOSAUUUUUUUUUUUUUR week!!  Which is very exciting, if you can't tell. ;)  We borrowed a bunch of dinosaur books from the library and the biggest hit was Dinosaur Farm by Frann Preston-Gannon.  The book inspired a lot of quiet indoor pretend play with all of our dinosaur figures & the farm set.  A huge blessing since it was a rainy week.  Thank you, Frann!  In one of the dinosaur reference books, we learned that many dinosaurs had scaly skin like we see on today's lizards.  That gave us an idea for a special art project.  We looked through a bunch of old magazines for green and brown pictures.  Mia had the color identifying job, and then I cut out lots of paper scales from those pictures.  Once we had a good pile established, I cut out a rough dinosaur body shape from white card stock.  Armed with a wide brush and Modge Podge, Mia attached the scales to her dino.  She completed the project with a googly eye...and a prompt bath (it's a sticky project!).  If you don't want to buy Modge Podge, you could water down some Elmer's School Glue.

To make bath time a little more interesting this week, we tossed in all the dino figures and colored the water green with bath tablets I found in the Target Dollar Spot (they have Elsa and Ariel on the front of the package if you're looking for them).  There isn't a green tablet, so you have to use both a blue and yellow one but it's a great early lesson in color mixing.      

One morning, we took a field trip to Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison.  It's free to hike up the ridge and scope out real dinosaur tracks and fossils.  If you prefer, you could buy tickets for a driven tour, but we liked getting the fresh air and walking out some sillies.  Several types of dinosaur fossils have been found in this area and they are still discovering Stegosaurus bones now.  There is a section of the wall where you can actually touch the exposed dinosaur bones.  Perhaps the coolest area, though, is the section of the Dakota hogback with visible dinosaur tracks along the surface.  These prints date back to around 100 million years ago.  They've identified several different types of dinosaur tracks and you can actually see the run patterns.  A few of the tracks are available to touch and this was a very big highlight for Mia, literally and figuratively.

To wrap up our fun week, we made dinosaur track cookies by pressing the feet of Mia's various dinosaur figures into cookie dough before baking.  To keep baby sister Millie occupied and out of trouble while we did this, I prepared a simple dino sensory bin for her -- uncooked oatmeal with buried plastic dinos waiting to be discovered.

A summary of all Dinosaur week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Played dinosaur farm (based on the book) with all of our little dinosaur figures, Took green dinosaur baths all week

ART PROJECTS: Created a scaled dinosaur collage with green & brown magazine scraps and Modge Podge

OUTINGS: Hiked up Dinosaur Ridge

SNACK: Made dinosaur tracks cookies

BOOKS: Dinosaur Farm by Frann Preston-Gannon, How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? by 

Jane Yolen & Mark Teague

BABY BONUS: Oatmeal sensory bin with buried plastic dinosaurs

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: All About Me

Mia's third birthday is coming up in the next month and she's changing so fast these days.  I'll admit, this All About Me toddler theme might be just as much for me as it is for her.  It was fun taking the time to celebrate the little person she is right now.  To kick off our week, we pulled out a bunch of Mia-centric books -- her baby book, an ABC book I created for her, and her My Very Own Name book from I See Me (they offer such cool personalized books and this one is a favorite gift).  She really enjoyed seeing her baby photos and often claimed they were her sister Millie.  It delighted her to find out that she was a baby once...but not anymore because she's a "big girl now." <insert mom tears>

There are so many fantastic All About Me interview forms out there -- just search on Pinterest -- but I thought I'd share two of my favorites.  The first one is an editable PDF download available from Paper Nook (get it here).  I've actually saved off a copy for both girls and I plan to fill it out annually...it goes up to age 18.  The second is a fun printable from Tiff at A Day In My Life blog (find it here).  It's two pages and she's included a section for their signature, handprint, favorites, a photo, and interview questions.  We worked on filling this out all week...a little bit each night before dinner.  One of my favorite, and unexpected, answers was her reply for favorite book.  She told me it was "Jesus" and when I questioned further for clarity, she ran and got her special storybook Bible.    

We also used this theme week to start covering some locational identity items.  She's still a little too young to memorize her address but we worked on recognizing which button to push in the elevator for her floor (we live in a high rise).  I also created an Elevator Safety Plan with her in the event that the doors ever close before Mom or Dad make it on.  Yes, it's already happened once.  Ha!  If you're wondering what that plan looks like, I taught her to look for the elevator button with the star on it and to wait there for us to catch up.  The star is a universal symbol for the main floor so it's easier to remember to look for that rather than a 1 or an M or L...or whatever other designation is used.    

Next, we dove into a little learning about where we live -- Denver, Colorado (we'll cover the U.S. in a few weeks).  One afternoon, we did some iPad research and discovered that our state flower is the Columbine, our fossil is the Stegosaurus, and our state flag has a big C on it.  We got out that paints and tried to recreate the flag for ourselves.  Flags are good for painting because they are usually pretty simple in design and you can talk about shapes.  And lastly, we took a field trip to Four Mile Historic Park to explore what life was like for Denver's earliest settlers.  The Four Mile House is Denver's oldest standing structure and served as a stopover for travelers on the Cherokee Trail.  The park is perfect for an afternoon picnic and lots of toddler exploration.  There are chickens, goats, and horses.  Lots of cool structures to explore as well -- an old schoolhouse, a teepee, a miner's tent, etc.         

A summary of all All About Me week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Made an All About Me poster (check out this printable from Paper Nook or this one from A Day In My Life blog)

ART PROJECT: Painted the Colorado state flag

OUTINGS: Visited the Historic Four Mile House to learn more about early life in Denver

BOOKS: Read through her baby album and several other books made specially for her

BIBLE STORY: Jesus loves the little children and the song "Jesus Loves Me"

BABY BONUS: Made a 1 year handprint to save for the baby book and then finger painted with the rest of the paint

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: Feelings

This week we explored the theme Feelings.  But really, isn't every week Feelings week when you have toddlers around?  Ha!  Jokes aside, that's why there are so many children's books on this very topic.  I listed a bunch that we have in our little library in the summary below.  We pulled all of these out Sunday night and then worked through them over the course of the week.  I also taught Mia the song "If You're Happy and You Know It."  She's a physically active kid so this was a big hit and she had me making up lots of new verses to keep the fun going.  Song writing and, let's be real, singing are not my strong traits -- okay, I'm awful -- so I came up with an animal emotions dice game.  You don't even need to make it as complicated as a dice game...just pair up an animal and an emotion and challenge your kid to act it out.  We made dice because it added to the game-ness (not a word, I made that up) of the activity and kept Mia engaged longer.  I used 1" wooden cubes from the craft store and then Modge Podged several animals & emotions I had printed out.  Since I already did the work, I thought I'd share the printable but you could just write on the blocks with a marker.  Easy!

If you want to explore Feelings with a more art-focused approach, then there are some neat and free options available on the web.  Mr. Printables has a printable for a cool 'Make a Face' emotion toy.  You just need a few brad fasteners and card stock.  We made that one last year for this same theme and Mia loved it.  I also like the blank faces drawing page from Dabbles and Babbles.  It's the same one we used during Detective week, but this time around I drew different types of facial expressions and had Mia guess the emotion.  Another simple thing I do when the opportunity presents itself is help Mia identify emotions in real life situations or on real people's faces (on television, for instance).  I might say something like "Mia, I think something is bothering your little sister...is she upset?"  "How do you know she's upset?"  Ultimately, I'm trying to help her gain not only a better understanding of her own feelings, but also a social awareness of emotions in others (her Emotional IQ).  And empathy, lots of empathy.

A summary of all Feelings week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Sang the song "If You're Happy and You Know It," Played an animal feelings dice game (Want to make your own dice? Get the printable here)

ART PROJECTS: Made the 'Make a Face' emotions toy with the printable from Mr. Printables (get it here), Drew & guessed emotions using the blank faces drawing page from Dabbles and Babbles (get it here)

BOOKS: In My Heart by Jo Witek, Little Owl Lost by Chris Haughton, A Boy, A Dog, and a Frog by Mercer Mayer, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen, Happy Hippo, Angry Duck by Sandra Boynton, Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

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: Mothers

Photo Credit: Kourtney Hand Photography

With Mother's Day coming up, we made our focus Mothers this week.  I decided that this would be a perfect time for this mother to take a mini blogging break.  So while we still celebrated this theme by reading mother-centric books, I nixed structured activities in favor of some extra snuggles with my girls instead.  I did, however, want to share our little Mother's Day gifts craft project.  I found a tutorial for heart thumbprint charms on the That's What Che Said blog (see it here).  I followed her directions pretty closely except that I bought gold polymer clay which eliminated the whole painting step.  You know how I like to keep it simple and all.  The heart is made up of both Mia & Millie's thumbprints and maybe it's just me because I'm their mother, but gosh, these made me smile.  Oh, and I bought all of the supplies at Michael's for under $10 (polymer clay, DMC floss, mini heart cutter as part of a 6 piece Wilton set...look in the baking aisle).  If you include the pack of Spritz blank note cards from Target that we used to package the gifts all up, then this whole project came in under $15.  We ended up making 7 charm necklaces for all of the great-grandmothers, grandmothers, and godmothers.  Then Mia wanted her own so we made an extra set for both sisters (does this count as their first best friends necklaces?).  I laced ribbon through a couple to use as Christmas ornaments later this year.  So, all in all, we made 12 charms and still had leftover supplies.

BARGAIN NOTE - I just noticed a slew of cool new art supplies in the Dollar Spot at my local Target.  There were all kinds of paints, dabber paint markers, textured paint brushes, sand play clay, pony beads, bath paint, etc.  We're going to be having Texture week soon so not a bad idea to snag some cheap supplies ;)

A summary of all Mothers week activities with links:

ART PROJECT: Made polymer clay fingerprint heart charm necklaces for grandmothers, aunts, & godmothers (full tutorial here)

BOOKS: I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt, Olivia by Ian Falconer, My Mom Snaps by Kari McGrath, Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman, I'll Love You Forever by Robert Munsch

BIBLE STORY: Jesus' mother Mary

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: Clothing & Dress Up

This week we focused on Clothing & Dress Up.  Spring is a great time for a theme like this because we are getting some wild weather -- snow one day, rain another, and even some blue skies & sun.  Mia isn't really into picking her clothes out (and I'm very thankful for that extra bit of simplicity in my life) but all this week, we played a weather & clothing game.  Each morning, we went out on our balcony and felt the temperature, made a note of the sky conditions (cloudy, sunny).  Then we ran into her room where I presented her with 2 outfit options.  Some days I made it really easy by pairing a dress up against a sweater/jeans ensemble.  But others I made very similar outfits and varied only the coat weights (windbreaker vs. raincoat).  Or the type of shoes.  She had fun learning about and selecting weather appropriate attire.  Another practical skill we worked on this week is her ability to handle different types of fasteners.  Last year, I made her a fastener busy toy with a button, zipper, velcro, snap, buckle and ties.  But you don't have to go that far.  Melissa & Doug makes a cool wooden fastener puzzle and Buckle Toys makes several plush versions.  You could also whip up your own (no sew) button snake similar to the flower/leaf one I made.  Here is an easy tutorial on the Happy Hooligans website.  Mia definitely hasn't mastered all of these yet but it is good fine motor practice in the meantime.    

For some extra fun, we pulled out our big dress up bin and put on all kinds of funny items.  Over the last year, I've slowly been stocking that bin with little finds from Target (the Dollar Spot and also the party favor aisle), H&M, and Halloween clearance.  Animal ears & princess tiara headbands.  Eye masks, animal noses, and clip-on bunny tails.  Different types of glasses.  Tutus, vests, and capes.  Purses, totes, and wallets.  Necklaces, bracelets, and Hawaiian leis.  Mia's just shy of three and really getting into dress up so this fun lasted a long time...and branched into many different types of pretend play this week.          

And there are lots of fun art projects you could do based around the clothing theme.  You could make & decorate felt crowns (or even pre-made visors/hats/crowns from the craft store).  You could tie dye shirts.  Last year, we "screen printed" our own shirt by cutting a design out of a piece of freezer paper and ironing it to a shirt.  The paper sticks temporarily while you dab fabric paint over the design and then you just peel it off when the paint is dry.  So cool!  Target even sells textile markers under the brand Kid Made Modern that could be used to decorate a shirt or a tote bag.  I proposed a lot of these options to Mia this week but she really wanted to make jewelry.  She's definitely my daughter!  Ha!  So I present to you beaded jewelry, 4 ways.  For our first project, we made necklace charms using Shrink Film (found at Joann's).  This is basically Shrinky Dinks that you may remember from your childhood except the sheets are blank and you can create your own designs.  Mia wanted an ice cream cone so I googled an image and printed it.  Then I placed the film over my printout and traced the design with a Sharpie.  Mia colored an "m" while I colored the ice cream cone.  We punched holes and cut out the designs and baked according to the package instructions.  It only takes a couple of minutes but it's fun to watch through the oven window.  While I added a jump ring to the charm, she picked out a few wooden beads to add to an 18" necklace chain.  Here's the end result...pretty cute!

Next, we painted some wooden beads to string on a leather cord.  We actually paint beads a lot and I've found this setup to be helpful for little hands...and it's less messy.  You can wrap washi tape around the beads for different color-blocked effects, too.  I didn't photo it, but we also made a wooden bead and plastic lanyard necklace following this Martha Stewart tutorial.  If you're looking for the simplest, least messy project, then this one is it.

And lastly, we made tassel charm bracelets with some painted beads, faceted beads, clear elastic stretch cord, a charm, and an embroidery floss tassel.  Pardon my awful photo, but I wanted to show you how easily you can make a tassel.  One skein of floss will make 2 tassels and all you have to do is carefully remove the paper tape.  Find the loose end and carefully pull out about 12-15" and cut.  You'll use that piece to wrap the tassels.  Then cut the skein in half.  Again, being careful to keep the thread wraps intact.  This is when I thread a jump ring onto both tassels carefully.  Thread the spare piece onto a needle and use the opposite end to wrap the tassel 5-10 times (make sure you wrap over your loose end too). Then use the needle to feed the string back up through the middle and pull it all tight.  Cut the end and hide it in the tassel head.  Then you can trim the tassel itself to whatever length you desire.  The end result is a fun tassel charm.

While I made the tassels, I put Mia to work selecting beads from our big stash.  You don't have to get all educational with this art project but it is an opportune time to talk about patterns, colors, textures, etc.  We even discussed measuring as we counted and added beads to fit her wrist.  A simple square knot finishes it off (a square knot is a double knot with "left over right, right over left").  This bracelet turns out so well, that we often make them for friend gifts.                 

A summary of all Clothing week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Played dress up, Practiced fasteners with a Melissa & Doug puzzle (or a Buckle Toys plush or even a homemade button snake), Played with paper dolls and also changed outfits on baby dolls

ART PROJECTS: Printed our own shirts using the freezer paper "screen print" method, Designed & colored our own Shrink Film charms, Made tassel bracelets, Painted wooden beads for necklaces, Practiced lacing by making a lanyard & wooden bead necklace (Martha Stewart tutorial here) 

BOOKS: Corduroy by Don Freeman, Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin, Millie's Marvelous Hat by Satoshi Kitamura

BIBLE STORY: Joseph and his coat of many colors

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: Spring

Spring is starting to show itself around these parts so we focused on that this week.  There are a lot of directions you could go with this toddler theme.  Explore the rebirth of life that happens in the spring by visiting a local farm (if you're in Colorado, I suggest Sunflower Farm in Longmont).  Maybe celebrate Earth Day within your community.  Or learn about seasons and the change of weather.  I chose to focus on plants because there will be animal and weather weeks later on.   

We took a field trip to the Denver Botanic Gardens to see all kinds of plants - trees, grasses, weeds, flowers, cacti.  A highlight for Mia was the "tree house" (really an observation platform) in the Tropical Conservatory.  She loved the vantage point of being in the treetops.  We spent a lot of time learning about bug hotels at a learning station, too.  And she was also fascinated with the cacti in the desert gardens.  So much so that we ended up going to the nursery to pick out one of our own.  We ended up bringing home a baby beavertail which is the exact kind we frequently see on our nature walks. 

One of my favorite (read: easy!) activities to do is a season scavenger hunt.  We set out with an objective of finding signs of the season, in this case, Spring.  The dogwoods are in full bloom right outside our front door and petals cover the sidewalk.  We collected some of those, but not before we had fun blowing handfuls in each other's face.  

She found dandelions and other flowers growing along the creek and a branch with buds on it beside the bike trail.  We also spotted a baby bunny hiding under a bridge.  Very exciting!  Upon returning home, we realized we had a treasure trove of spring goodies in our basket.  I pulled out several items -- a flower, blunt stick, some of the petals -- and made a little sensory bin for baby sister Millie to explore.  Under my direct supervision, of course.  We pulled out a magnifying glass to get a more detailed look at a flower.  I showed Mia some of the different plant parts: stem, leaves, petals, stamen, pistil.  Is she going to remember those part names?  Doubtful, but I think I planted the seed for a growing interest in plants.  Sorry, plant puns.  And speaking of planting seeds, we tried that, too.  As of this posting, there is no noticeable growth on our forget-me-nots but hopefully within the next week.  This last activity was my attempt at making a connection between the foods she eats and their source.  We made tacos one night for dinner and cut up lots of green onions to top them.  Instead of throwing the bottom white root portions away, we put them in a Mason jar with a bit of water and placed the jar on the window sill.  I had read about this on The Kitchn (check it out here) and wanted to try it.  Those things grew back and quickly!  As a follow up activity, we're going to harvest them (cut off the new green tops) to use for another dinner.  I may never buy green onions again!           

And lastly, our spring-themed art project was creating coffee filter flowers.  We've done this a couple of different ways -- markers and watercolors.  I prefer watercolors for the aesthetic.  Mia prefers watercolors for the mess she can make.  I laid out a number of filters across her table and let her paint them.  NOTE: The flowers will look pretty soggy but they should still dry up nicely.  

The next day we folded them into eighths and cut little fringes into the edges.  You could cut a scalloped edge design or anything else your heart desires.  Then, I used green washi tape to tape the filter flower petals to a wooden (cough, Starbucks) coffee stirrer.  Makes a pretty bouquet!

A summary of all Spring week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Planted seeds and bought a cactus to learn plant maintenance, Dissected a flower and identified plant parts, Learned how to regrow green onions from kitchen scraps (instructions here)

ART PROJECTS: Made watercolored coffee filter flowers, Painted a wooden bird house

OUTINGS: Went on a spring scavenger hunt, Visited the Denver Botanic Gardens

BOOKS: The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, Some Bugs by Angela DiTerlizzi

BABY BONUS: Made a spring sensory bin to explore (flowers, sticks, petals)

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).