Toddler Theme: Colors

It's officially Fall and the leaves are starting to change colors here in Colorado.  It made me think that it was about time we did a whole Color theme week.  Mia knows her basic colors so we focused on some more advanced topics like lighter vs. darker, transparent vs. opaque, color mixing, and even a little about complimentary colors.

You've probably noticed by now that one of my favorite learning activities is the scavenger hunt.  Mia is an active kid so it's my way of tailoring her learning experiences to her personality.  A color scavenger hunt is particularly fun because you can create a rainbow with your findings.  Last year, we made this collage with all of Mia's colored findings.  This year, she's really into scribbling in her notepads so I made her a whole page list to check off instead.

For a little extra fun one day, we took a walk through the alleys of Denver's RiNo neighborhood.  Street artists have been covering buildings & walls with their beautiful murals.  So many colors!  This week there happened to be a whole street art event, Colorado Crush, and Mia actually got to see several artists in action.  

We had to have a little conversation on the way home about how those artists had permission to paint on the walls, but in general, we shouldn't paint on our walls.  Haha!  Instead, she and I rolled out a long piece of art paper and worked on a colorful mural collab.  I started with some overlapping abstract shapes as an invite to create with me.  One day we used markers, another day paint, and another chalk so we could talk about their color textures and also saturation.  There were some lessons in color mixing too -- "Look mom, brown!"  Last year's Color week project was the creation of this pretend makeup kit using little travel containers and a thin layer of nail polish (watch Target Dollar Spot for bags, brushes, and even travel containers).  This week, I picked up a few more travel containers so we could add to her "eyeshadow" collection.   

Have you heard of Mr. Printables?  It's a really great website with lots of free learning printables and they have a few that are perfect for Color week.  The first one is a color wheel.  You can print it in color or not for a bigger challenge and it's great to use for a little independent sorting activity.  I had our color wheel laminated so that I can use it over and over but especially so that I can use it during snack time.  I gave Mia a bowl of Fruity Cheerios and she sorted them into piles one afternoon.  Once she had them all sorted, I taught her a little about complimentary colors (the ones opposite on the color wheel).  We wondered if the Denver Broncos knew their blue & orange colors were complimentary.  Something tells me they do know...clever!  Mr. Printables also has these color overlay cards (shown below).  You can submit the printable file online to Staples.com and they will print them on transparencies & cut for you.  I like to outsource when I can.  Mia played with these on a white table top and I kept Millie simultaneously busy with a mess-free paint bag (poured red, blue & yellow paint into a food storage bag and sealed).  I chose the primary colors intentionally because as Millie mashed and squished the paint, she helped us see that red and yellow make orange, and so on.  

As a last special treat, I took Mia out on a very rare one-on-one date to the nail salon for pedicures.  Knowing how excited she gets about my nail colors naming each one of them off as she rifles through the little box, I just knew she'd love this experience.  They had a whole wall of nail colors -- "Wow, look at allllllllll the colors!"  And then she chose an iridescent white polish.  The irony!  

A summary of all Color week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Went on a colorful scavenger hunt, Played with Mr. Printables color mixing transparencies (find them here), Sorted cereal with the Mr. Printables Color Wheel (find it here)

ART PROJECTS: Made a colorful mixed media mural, Made a pretend makeup set with travel containers and nail polish

OUTINGS: Went to Colorado Crush in the RiNo neighborhood to see the street artists in action, Had colorful pedicures done at the local salon

BOOKS: Press Here by Herve Tullet, Pantone: Colors by Pantone, The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr

BIBLE STORY: Joseph and his colorful coat

BABY BONUS: Ziplock bag painting and color mixing, Read Alice in Wonderland: A BabyLit Colors Primer by Jennifer Adams & Andy Warhol's Colors by Susan Goldman Rubin

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: 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: Farms

Fall makes a wonderful time to learn about farms because it's harvest time (Spring is great for seeing baby animals, though).  Check out what's available in your area for berry picking or apple picking for a fun field trip.  Admittedly, we put all of our energy into farm visits this week so I'll share some highlights from our adventures.

Our first field trip was to Berry Patch Farms in Brighton.  They are open several days a week for U-pick berries, basil, flowers, and pickling cucumbers.  They also have a great farm store.  Check their website for specific operating hours and berry picking status.  Strawberries are not available for picking this year because of the rough spring weather, but we were able to pick raspberries.  Mia & I picked a couple of pints together.  I'm pretty sure Millie ate a third pint during this whole process.  Hey, whatever keeps her happy!  Then we picked several cucumbers for pickling and perhaps the best part, Mia was able to pick some flowers.  In the farm store, we purchased some zucchini bread (picking berries is hard work and requires snacks!), tomatoes, garlic, basil, kale, and okra.  

The second farm we visited is Ya Ya Farm & Orchard in Longmont.  Unfortunately, the wacky spring weather and late snow storm did damage here too so apple picking is not available this fall, but the farm is still very beautiful and worth a visit just to explore.  Plus, they sell the best apple cider donuts at the farm stand which is the ENTIRE reason I go anyways.  Ha!  I have so many great childhood memories of apple picking in the fall with my family and it's made me continue the tradition with my kids.  Those sensory memories tied to the taste of apple cider donuts & fresh apple pie and that crisp autumn morning smell on a farm really leave an imprint.  So even though we couldn't pick the apples ourselves, we had a good time making our own new memories at the orchard and we snagged a bushel of apples from the farm stand and the girls were none the wiser.  Plus, local farmers need our support even more during the bad seasons.

We've visited both of these farms numerous times but this was the first time I felt Mia really made the connection with food and where it comes from.  To further this understanding, we made some of her favorite foods with our farm goodies.  Her current favorite meal is spaghetti and meatballs so we took all of our tomatoes and made a roasted tomato sauce.  To do this, I cut all the tomatoes in half and put them cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet coated with olive oil.  While I was doing that, Mia separated out the cloves of a whole head of garlic and we added those to the pan.  All of it roasted at 450 degrees for about 35 minutes (right before the skins blacken).  Once everything was cool enough to touch, we squeezed the tomato pulps into a saucepan, discarding the skins.  Then I fork mashed the garlic and added that to the pan.  You could blend the sauce at this point if you like it smoother.  Lastly, we added a quick pour of olive oil (around 1 tablespoon) and salt to taste and brought the heat up for simmering meatballs.  We also made pickles with her cucumbers using this recipe.  And all those raspberries? ...We turned them into a simple jam with this recipe from Martha Stewart.  Towards the end of the week, we made an apple pie with our orchard haul and surprised daddy returning home from business travel.

I've mentioned Sunflower Farm in a few other posts but all for good reason -- this place is pure magic.  From 9:00-1:00 Monday - Friday, they open up their farm to children & their parents to play and explore as they wish.  All seasons, all types of weather.  There are rope swings & ziplines, hammocks & porch swings, treehouses & rope bridges, and hay bale mazes & sand pits.  Horses, goats, chickens, turkeys, peacocks, cows, llamas, sheep, and many more animals.  Even old tractors and a bulldozer and an airplane to climb all over.  Every time we go there, we discover more things to love about this place.  And we always come home exhausted and dirty and happy.  This time around, Mia rode a horse, explored a teepee, played house with a few friends, and climbed in the treehouse.  We also got to see a baby calf born just this week.  A little tip if you plan on visiting: you need to purchase tickets ahead of time on their website (the day of is okay as long as it's not already sold out).

Some other central Colorado farms that we didn't visit this week but we love are Four Mile Historic Park, Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield, and Littleton Museum.  

A summary of all Farms week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Played farm with plastic animals and farm set

OUTINGS: Visited 3 local farms: Berry Patch Farms to pick raspberries & veggies, Ya Ya Orchard to pick apples, and Sunflower Farm to see the animals

SNACK: Made apple pie, raspberry jam, roasted tomato sauce, and refrigerator pickles

BOOKS: Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle, The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies by Beatrix Potter, The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf, Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

BIBLE STORY: The Parable of the Sower

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: Up in the Air

This theme week is similar to Under the Sea week in that it allows us to make some scientific discoveries about life in these places versus our home, on the land.  And I tried to break this topic up into 2 parts: flying machines and flying animals.  You'll probably notice that we went a little heavy on the flying machines because both Mia and I are more mechanically-minded so it's just where our interests took us this week.  We started by pulling out our kite and flying it in the park one afternoon.  We have a delta kite which just refers to its triangular shape.  These kites are known for being easy to fly and its shape was a good conversation starter about wings and airplanes.  Before dinner one evening, Mia made some paper airplanes with her dad and we noticed that their pointed shape looked a lot like our kite.  Would they fly the same?  Whose airplane would go the farthest?  Why?  To take it a step farther, we built a balsa wood airplane with a rubber band "motor."  You can find really inexpensive kits for these at Hobby Lobby.  I showed her how we can store some energy in the rubber band and then we launched it around the park.  I made no mention of Newton's laws of motion or things like kinetic energy, but we covered all of it.  And maybe when she's sitting in science class one day, she'll think back on our fun afternoon in the park.    

Mia currently has a pretty big interest in outer space and I'm considering doing a whole Space theme week in the future, but we included a bit this week to hold her over.  If your kid is really into space too, check out the science aisle at Hobby Lobby.  They sell all kinds of model rocket kits and supplies.  For a fun space-themed snack, I gave Mia her first taste of astronaut ice cream.  Another cool Hobby Lobby find!  She was a little disappointed that it wasn't like Earth ice cream but we talked about gravity and why astronaut ice cream has to be different.  She has the movie Home and there is a part where the invading Boovs gather up all the humans and they temporarily suspend gravity.  That visual was helpful when talking about gravity together.  

Up in the Air week seemed like the perfect time to collaborate with the sun to create some art.  And we tried it a few different ways ranging from super simple & cheap to messy & more expensive.  The easiest way to make sun art is to use colored construction paper.  You know how that stuff fades so easily?  Well, we exploited that this week.  We each picked a piece of paper and set them out on a bright sun exposed window ledge.  We just arranged some small toys and blocks so their weight kept everything in place but if you use light objects like feathers and leaves, then you can lay an acrylic sheet overtop (Home Depot sells cheap precut sheets in the window aisle).  We left them out for a whole afternoon and they turned out pretty neat but we needed more.  Luckily, I also found sun print paper at Hobby Lobby and we arranged found leaves into patterns inspired by the sun.  We love how these turned out (pictured below)!  The third method we tried is with a relatively new product called Inkodye.  It's a light sensitive dye that you can use on pretty much any material.  We tested it out on some scrap fabric with a leaf design and it's very promising.  We're already making bigger plans to try it with a photo transparency design on a T-shirt. 

As a super special treat, I got Mia up really early over the weekend to drive down to Colorado Springs to see the sunrise hot air ballon ascension at the Labor Day Lift Off.  I went by myself last year and it was such a magical sight that I knew I had to return and bring her.  It was so special to not only have some alone time with her, but to also see her face as those balloons began lifting up off the ground.

And lastly, we spent some time exploring those animals in the sky -- birds.  I found a small wooden bird house in the unfinished wood section at the craft store (not Hobby Lobby this time, ha!) and Mia painted it entirely gold and hung it on our balcony.  A house fit for a queen bird!  We also made a special zoo trip with a focus on birds.  She fed sugar water to the lorikeets and we also watched the Wildlife Show featuring many different species of birds.  Her favorite was the black vulture Igor who swooped and flew over our heads.  I'm just thankful Igor didn't poop on us.  Can't say as much for the lorikeets.

A summary of all Up in the Air week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Flew a kite at the park, Made a rubber band-propelled balsa wood airplane, Learned how to fold paper airplanes, Talked about gravity

ART PROJECTS: Made sun art three ways, Painted a wooden bird house

OUTINGS: Went to the Labor Day Lift Off balloon festival in Colorado Springs to watch the balloons launch, Looked for flying animals at the zoo and fed the lorikeets

SNACK: Astronaut ice cream

BOOKS: The Cloud Book by Tomie de Paola, Hello, My Name is Ruby by Philip C. Stead, Looking Down by Steve Jenkins, Fireflies in the Night by Judy Hawes

BIBLE STORY: Ascension

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: Mail

This week, we learned about Mail.  It's a fun and simple theme week along the same lines as the Markets week.  These types of weeks are good for introducing some of the world's systems to young kids.  Library week is another possible week that just popped in my head.  Hmmmmm...  Like I was saying, though, these weeks open the door to lots of pretend play.  We did a little of that this week after we made our own trip to the post office.  I'm old fashioned and really, really (really!) like sending mail so we end up at the post office weekly.  They know us there and our favorite mail carrier gave us a fun mail coloring book.  Maybe you could ask for one at your post office.  While Mia worked on her new book, I created a mail-themed sensory bin for Millie using bubble wrap and pieces of sticky packing tape.  I'd be lying if I said that the bubble wrap was solely enjoyed by Millie, though.  We all got in a few snaps.  Another easy activity is a mailbox scavenger hunt.  Since we live in a high rise, all Mia knows about mail boxes involves large mail rooms with rows & rows of locked boxes.  This week, we set out to identify different kids of mailboxes across Denver.  Here's one we found that is outside of the building.  We ran across some that are boxes right at the street's edge.  And get this, we found some doors with mail slots in them!  

You can't have mail week without sending some mail so we wrote a letter to a pen pal.  Last year, I created a Flat Mia (based on the book Flat Stanley) using Bitstrips to make this little cartoon Mia character.  Once it was laminated, we sent it out across the country to visit friends and family.  They took pictures of Flat Mia on adventures and reported all the fun to us.  It's amazing how long her journey was but she finally made her way back home to us and we're preparing to send her out on a second journey.  If you are interested in being a host family, let me know via the comments or email! We're hoping that one day she will visit all of the states.  She's got 10 under her belt now.

Our art project this week was simple.  We made more artwork note cards similar to the ones we made during Manners week.  Get the full instructions in that post.  We were overdue for a stash replenishment, so I might start doing this quarterly.

Here's a little Mail week-related Mom Bonus for you.  Have you ever wanted to make your own font?  Well you can pretty easily and it's free!  Here's just one I've created.  So addicting!  Go to My Script Font and try it out for yourself.

A summary of all Mail week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Mailed out a letter to a pen pal, Sent our Flat Mia out on a cross-country adventure

ART PROJECTS: Made note cards with kid art

OUTINGS: Went to the post office to send out packages and buy fun stamps, Did a mailbox scavenger hunt

BOOKS: The Jolly Postman by Janey & Allan Ahlberg, Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown, Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell

BIBLE STORY: The 12 apostles spreading the good news about Jesus

BABY BONUS: Sensory play with bubble wrap and sticky tape

MOM BONUS: Created my own handwriting font (try it yourself here)

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: Markets

Our toddler theme this week was Markets and I had a blast.  I mean Mia -- Mia had a blast.  Alright, we both did!  My little sister and I used to spend hours playing store as kids.  In fact, we would ask for cash registers every Christmas.  You know, the ones with the laser barcode scanners and all the pleasing beeps.  Mia is the one with her own cash register these days and she similarly loves to play store, so we blew this week up.  Maybe I went overboard and didn't keep it simple, but hopefully you'll find some ideas you can implement, too.

You could use this week to focus on markets only (that's what we did last year when Mia was younger), but this year I also included an exploration into money, the fuel of commerce.  Up until this point, Mia only knew that daddy went to work to make the "monies," Papa gave her some to put in her new purse, and you're not supposed to put it in your mouth.  Living in Denver, we are lucky to have a wealth (ha, I'm funny!) of money learning opportunities -- The U.S. Mint and Federal Reserve both have branches here.  Tours of the U.S. Mint are free but require an advance reservation.  Mia is not quite up to that tour just yet, but we did the next best thing by checking out their virtual tour one afternoon (find it here).  Then one morning, we went to see the Money Museum at the Federal Reserve.  It's free and available on a walk-in basis.  It's not very big, but it's effective.  There is a display of the history of U.S. currency and also an exhibit that challenges you to spot the counterfeit bills.  Mia's favorite was the Currency Design Studio where she designed her own dollar, er, $1 million dollar bill.  Millie wanted to make one, too.  We also got a free bag of shredded currency on our way out.  "Mom! This smells like monies!"

Mia's always learning about sharing and borrowing but usually only as it pertains to toys and reckless little sisters.  This week we put that notion to work on a global and monetary level by participating in microlending.  Microlending is exactly what it sounds like, small loans.  We're talking $25 loans.  Kiva.org helps connect willing microlenders with borrowers across the world.  I was first introduced to this concept back in business school and I gave it a try.  My loans have consistently been paid back over the years and I turn around and reinvest the money with someone else.  It's amazing to know that my tiny loan has helped purchase a milking cow in Cambodia, built a pub in Uganda, bought startup products for a salon in the Philippines, expanded product assortment for a clothing store in Lebanon, and many other things.  My last loan was just repaid so I let Mia pick the recipient for the next one.  I always fund women with children they are putting through school (it's my way of supporting the fight against terrorism) and Kiva allows you to filter borrowers based on gender, country, industry, etc.  Once I applied the filters, I let Mia select one.  She chose to fund Hanan in Palestine as she expands her farming business.  There is so much learning that can take place around this one simple project, so I encourage you to check it out for yourself.  And just this week, I received an email from Kiva and they are giving out free trial $25 loans for first-timers...use this link if you want to give it a try.

   

We spent the rest of the week learning about different types of commerce.  There was the weekly trip to the grocery store and the subsequent adventure at the self checkout.  Then a visit to the local farmer's market to support the food producers directly and get our kitchen knives sharpened.  And lastly, a stop at some local stores to support small business.  Some vendors only sell food and some sell clothing and some vendors don't sell anything at all but instead, services.  A lot to consider when we set up our own stores to pretend play this week.      

My favorite was the musical instrument store she created one afternoon.  As added customer service, she demonstrated each instrument for me before I purchased.  Who wouldn't want to buy a kazoo covered in toddler saliva?  Mia has her own toy cash register (IKEA sells a cute one) but we also have a couple of fun store apps that I thought were worth sharing.  The first is Toca Store by Toca Boca (in the App Store) and I like it because it's set up to be a 2 person experience which really illustrates the essence of commerce -- supply and demand.  The game isn't very fun without both parts, just like markets rely on both supply and demand.  The second app is called Little Zebra Shopper (in the App Store) and it turns your iPad into a little point of sale system that actually scans downloadable barcodes!  They have lots of different printable products on their website that you can assemble yourself but I made a little adaption.  I cut out all the box fronts and glued the corresponding barcodes to the back of each one.  Then I had them all laminated at Staples and cut them apart.  I store all of the now-flat products in a zippered pencil pouch and pull out as a special busy bag.   

To round out our theme week, Mia ran her very first store as a little fundraiser for a friend.  She decided that she wanted it to be a cafe and we asked permission to set up shop in our building's lobby one morning.  Mia was involved in the sourcing & buying, marketing & advertising, merchandising, and sales.  I supplied the baking skills and Daddy, of course, was her best customer doubling her final sales.  We're happy to report that Mia's Cafe grossed $500 and sold out within 90 minutes.  The demand was high!  And our neighbors are very supportive and generous.  Plus, the Mia's Cafe sales team is pretty cute.

A summary of all Markets week activities with links:

ACTIVITIES: Learned about how money is made at the U.S. Mint (see the virtual tour here), Spent hours on store pretend play, Invested some of our money on Kiva.org and learned about microlending

ART PROJECTS: Made marketing and signs for Mia's Cafe

OUTINGS: Visited the local farmer's market, Used the self checkout at the grocery store, Took a field trip to the Money Museum at the Federal Reserve

BOOKS: The High Street by Alice Melvin, To Market, To Market by Anne Miranda

BIBLE STORY: Jesus cleansing the markets from the temple

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).