Toddler Approved!

Splat! A Disappearing Number Game for Kids

2013-05-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

Each month we host Virtual Book Club for Kids and spotlight a new author. This month we are featuring books by Leo Lionni.

We love finding an opportunity to discover a new book, so this month we selected Leo Lionni's book
Colors, Numbers, Letters (3 Books in 1) to read. The book is a new one for us and perfect for babies and toddlers. My five-year-old even enjoyed "reading" it. Colors, Numbers, Letters is a wordless picture book that is full of cute illustrations while teaching about simple early-learning concepts.

Wordless picture books are amazing because they give kids an opportunity to use their imaginations to help tell the story. I love listening to the words my daughter puts together to create her own stories. I also tend to use language that is more developmentally appropriate when we look at wordless books and I use better descriptions when I am "reading"... so overall, the language my kids hear is much richer!

When we discussed the book, my son said we needed to do a related activity with colors and numbers.

At first I thought we really should try and come up with a mice themed activity since the characters in the book were mice... but since I like to let my kids take the lead in creating activities and allow their interests to dictate what we do... our activity ended up being a little different than I expected!

The kids and I invented our own game called Splat! Splat is a fun way to play with colors, numbers, and water!

Supplies: chalk, pool noodles (or other small items), surface to write on, cups, and water.

Directions:

This game evolved as we played, but the basic goal of the game was to match the correct number of pool noodle pieces to the chalk numbers on the ground.

The kids worked together as a team to collect the correct number of pool noodles and put them next to the matching number. The noodles also had to correspond with the correct color (green noodles with green chalk numbers, red noodles with red chalk numbers). My toddler is just learning her numbers, so we only focused on numbers 1-4. My five-year-old helped her read the numbers and worked with her to count... and recount the pool noodles to make sure there were enough.

I liked how we only used 2 colors and 4 numbers because that was the perfect amount for my toddler. Any more would have been overwhelming.

Once the pool noodle pieces were matched to the chalk numbers, the kids yelled SPLAT! and then they threw water at the number to make it disappear. Sometimes that also involved rubbing the chalk number with their hands too.

After they doused one number, they refilled their cups using our little pool (this was a great balancing activity... look at the concentration as they walk across the lawn).

Then they would start all over again!

It made me so happy to see the kids taking turns and working together and helping each other. I emphasized that it was a team building activity and it was so cool to see how seriously they took that and how well they cooperated.

Using water to learn is a favorite activity around here, so I'm sure you'll see a few more early learning water activities next month. Do you have a favorite water learning activity that you've tried?

What is your favorite Leo Lionni book? If you have blogged about it, we'd love for you to link up your post in the linky below! We can't wait to see all of your amazing ideas!

There are a few rules for this blog hop that we ask you to follow, so make sure to read them:

Link up only posts inspired by Leo Lionni that share children's book inspired crafts, activities, recipes, etc. Any other posts will be deleted.
Visit other blog posts on the linky and comment on or share the ones you love!
Add our Virtual Book Club button to your post if you'd like.

Here's the button you can grab if you are participating!

PS- If you missed any of our other Virtual Book Club Posts you can find them below:

June- Mo Willems

July- Don and Audrey Wood

August- Kevin Henkes
September- Lois Ehlert
October- Amy Krouse Rosenthal
November- Tomie dePaola
December- Jan Brett
January- David McPhail
February- Dr Seuss

March- Julia Donaldson
April- David Shannon

You can also find loads of Virtual Book Club ideas organized by author on our Virtual Book Club for Kids Pinterest Board that we just started and will continue to be adding to!

Come sign up for our Virtual Book Club Summer Camp if you want to fill your summer with books and learning fun! Just click on the image below to register for five FREE weeks of camp!

Virtual Book Club for Kids participating bloggers;

Toddler Approved - Rainy Day Mum - Adventures in Reading with Kids - 3 Dinosaurs - Royal Baloo - The Educators' Spin On It - Inspiration Laboratories - Pleasantest Thing - Edventures with Kids - Two Big Two Little - Playing With Words 365 - Kitchen Counter Chronicles - Outlaw Mom - Mommy and Me Book Club - Crafty Moms Share - No Twiddle Twaddle - The Good Long Road - Ready. Set. Read 2 Me - Reading Confetti - Mama Smiles - Juggling with Kids- Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas - Creekside Learning - Creative Family Fun - The Usual Mayhem - Teach Preschool - PlayDrMom - CraftoArt - Here Come the Girls - Being a Conscious Parent - Smiling like Sunshine - Crayon Freckles - Train Up a Child - Smile Play Learn - Enchanted Homeschooling Mom - Coffee Cups and Crayons - Having Fun at Chelle's House- Love, Play, Learn - Juggling With Kids - Motherhood on a Dime - Growing Book By Book- This Reading Mama - Fantastic Fun and Learning

Disclaimer: This post contains affilate links.

5 Favorite Father's Day Gift Ideas

2013-05-19T17:00:00.000-07:00

We love to give creative gifts! I have an entire gifting board on pinterest filled with gift ideas for family and friends.

Today I am sharing five of our favorite Father's Day gift ideas with you. There is a little less than a month till father's Day, so you have plenty of time to work on these!

Don't let dad's gift get pushed to the wayside in the busyness at the end of the school year and start of summer vacations.

These gifts can be adapted for your family a bit based on favorite treats and activities.

Here are our five top favorite gifts. Click on the links for more details!

DIY Father's Day Gift for Your Superhero (the photo above is our version)
Giant Father's Day Candy Gram
Father's Day Activity Jar
Father's Day Tie Bag Scavenger Hunt
Car Play Shirt (the photo featured above is my attempt for my dad's gift)

Do you spend a lot or a little bit of money on gifts for Father's Day? What do you like to give?

Simple Independent Play Activities for Toddlers

2013-05-17T01:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we discussed some simple tips to help your child play independently.

Today I am sharing some of my favorite simple independent activities that my kids have enjoyed as toddlers.

For me to be able to use them with my kids, independent activities need to be easy to set up, low on the messy scale, and adaptable. When I'm working on making dinner I don't want to have to keep leaving the stove either, so I typically don't use independent activity ideas that end with me scrubbing walls with a magic eraser or cleaning glue off the kitchen table.

Here are nine of my favorite independent play ideas.

I'd love for you to share your child's favorite independent activities in the comments as well. We can never have too many!

1. Looking at books

I call this independent reading time. It may sound overly simple, but it is actually amazing how many kids don't know how to look at books independently by the time they come to kindergarten. Being able to sit and look at the pictures in a book is an important skill!! We have a simple little reading nook set up with a basket of books next to it and we go and look through them. When we are practicing, we both choose our own book to look at and sit nearby one another looking at the pictures. Sometimes I have my son model for my daughter how to look at books quietly. We rotate the books so that there are new and interesting ones to look at.

2. Stickers

Stickers are my favorite independent activity. I can sit next to my daughter and answer emails while she does them, work on the dishes, or prep materials for my son's school teacher. Since she is still working on learning how to pull stickers all the way off by herself, I lift each sticker up a little bit to help her out and then she can do the rest. Sometimes I just stick a bunch of stickers on the edge of the kitchen table so she can easily grab them and stick them herself... or her big brother helps her. I give her scraps of paper, boxes, homemade books, easel paper, etc. and she just adds stickers and creates. The reusable stickers are great because they can be moved around a lot!

3. Playing and building with {plastic} spice jars

Just open your spice drawer or put a few spice jars out in an accessible spot. This works the best if I just leave the drawer slightly ajar... so my toddler thinks she is being sneaky. Kids at my house are always really creative when they are playing with objects they don't think they are supposed to play with :) Before you put these out make sure the lids are tightly screwed on! Spice jars are fun to stack, roll, shake, etc.

4. Toy Puzzles

Trace a few toys onto cardstock and then have your child match the toys to the outline. I like to use this activity when I am putting laundry away in the kid's rooms because I can join in occasionally and mention what different objects are called. I always love finding simple ways to teach new vocabulary words (or reinforce old ones).

5. Laundry hamper play

If I leave a hamper filled with clothes anywhere in the house it is guaranteed that all the clothes will be dumped out and the hamper will be used as a tunnel or basketball hoop. If you can't beat them... join them, right? I love to fill up a hamper when I need to get something done and it doesn't take long before the kiddos are tossing clothes and peeking out of the hamper and I have a free twenty minutes. I have several of these collapsible hampers and they provide loads of fun.

6. Sticky Walls

Contact paper with the sticky side facing out is such a great versatile way to let your kids create. I tape the contact paper to walls, doors, windows, or tables and then vary the materials that we stick to the sticky wall (pom poms, pipe cleaners, ribbon, tissue paper, etc.). You can find some sticky wall activity ideas here.

7. Sticky Sorting

Sticky sorting combines stickers and sorting. I just grab a roll of art paper, some markers, and foam stickers and can quickly set up a sticky sorting station. The one pictured above was a shape sorting activity, but I also do color, number, alphabet, animal, and flower sticky sorts. For shape sorting my daughter found a shape on the floor and then stuck the foam sticker to the corresponding bigger shape on the wall.

8. File Folder Activities

I like to use file folder activities to work on visual perception skills, though you can use them for much more than that. These take some prep-time to create, but then can be used again and again and again! Someday when I have more free time I will make more. They are great for airplanes, church, etc. I love using velcro to help materials stay stuck... which leads to less frustration for the little ones.

Shape Town, Big Movers, and our Butterfly discrimination folders are among the most popular ones on our site.

9. Sensory bin scavenger hunts

I like to hide things inside sensory bins and then have the kids find them! Sometimes we use cool tools for digging in the sensory bins and sometimes we just use our fingers. We also vary the size of the sensory bin and the materials we use. Having a task to do is a great way to get kids started playing with sensory bins... and then usually you can't get them to stop playing. Sensory activities are my one exception to the mess-free independent activity line up. I like to put a plastic tablecloth on the floor (which I remember), play on top of it, and then shake it out in the garbage or recycling when we are done exploring.

Now that I've shared our favorite independent activities with you, do you have any favorite independent activities? Please come share some in the comments!

Simple Tips for Helping Toddlers Play Independently

2013-05-16T00:15:00.001-07:00

We are entering into a new stage at our house where my five-year-old likes to spend hours playing Legos in his room. Meanwhile, I have the toddler and the baby hanging out with me while I am trying to manage household chores, preschool committee responsibilities, church assignments, and playing with them a little bit (or at least paying attention to them) all at the same time. The baby is just happy to chew on a toy or roll around, but my toddler needs a little more guidance.

I am slowly putting together a repertoire of activities and ideas to help my toddler play independently while I am trying to get other things done in the same room or close by.

Today I am going to share some simple tips for helping toddlers play independently and then tomorrow I am going to share a few simple activities that I have taught my toddlers to do independently.

Although I would love to just say, "the dishes can wait, my kids are only young once" and play all day with them... there comes a time when the dishes or laundry actually have to get done AND little ones need to learn to either join in and help with chores or just go play! I know this only because I have seriously had a dish line take up the entire counter and there is no better way to kill creativity than to have a disaster of a kitchen or a house! I wish that I could just clean at night after the kids are in bed and play all day with them... but the reality is that I am too tired most nights or have preschool or church meetings (or just want some down time), so I've decided to make independent playtime work.

There are loads of great tips and resources online to use as you try to have fun and include your children as you work on household chores.

Here are a few of my favorite cleaning ideas with kids...

Use these 10 Ways to make cleaning fun for kids via Inner Child Fun
Find opportunities to make you toddler your little helper via Mama Pea Pod
Create a DIY chores board game via Life Your Way
Play a family cleaning game

I'll be honest with you though... sometimes it is just easier to get the kiddos occupied so that I can organize and do jobs that I need to do without any helpers! I can only fold and refold laundry so many times before it drives me bonkers.

This is where independent playtime comes in!

Here are eight tips for helping your child play independently...

1. Sit down and play next to them before you attempt to get anything done.

After I've connected with my toddler through play, she often feels so comfortable and confident that she will play independently for 20-30 minutes without any prompting from me. Play matters! Spend time in uninterrupted play with your child for a little bit before trying to get your stuff done.

2. If your child needs prompting, help your child practice playing independently while you are with them.

Don't be too fun and don't engage with your child too much. Just model how to do it by quietly playing by yourself next to them. Model how to drive cars around or new and interesting ways to build towers with blocks. Model how to make a mistake and fix it yourself, model how to make dolls converse, model how to pick up and start something new, etc. Your kids are watching and they'll probably copy some of the ways you play.

3. Afterwards, give specific positive comments to your child related to how they are playing independently.

For example: "Ryan, I love how you are working so hard to build that train track all by yourself." They will recognize that doing things independently is a positive thing and want to do it more! Avoid just saying "good job" or saying they are a "good boy" since those comments aren't specific and don't help reinforce the specific things you'd like them to continue doing. Also avoid constantly praising or interrupting play! Often kids are playing nicely by themselves and we ruin it by jumping in. I love the reminder that play is the work of children. We don't like being interrupted when we work... and neither do they! If there is a natural opportunity to praise or comment, go for it. If not, wait till the creative playtime is over and don't interrupt the magic.

4. After a little while of practicing, take brief breaks from playing next to your child (2-3 minutes max) and go do a quick task while staying in the same room with your child.

Increase the length of adult task time over time. Some kids will play for 20 minutes + all by themselves from the beginning... and others will have a longer adjustment time and need to start with shorter practice periods.

5. Keep independent practice times short and successful.

Start by doing 5 minute independent play periods, then 7 minutes, then 10, and onward. Try to end practice times before they start to go downhill. My five year old now begs for independent time because it doesn't happen all the time and because it is the perfect length (after lots of trial and error).

6. Independent doesn't mean unattended or abandoned.

I am almost always in the same room or the room next to my toddler when we are both doing independent activities. Don't sneak out of the room or away from your child. Be very clear and let them know that they are doing their work and you need to do your work for a few minutes. There is something really cozy about being in the room together both creating and doing our own thing.

7. Have special activities or materials that kids can only use during independent time.

Or let them choose a special toy/activity to do in a special location only during independent time. Make it feel different and they will think it is cool. I like to let my daughter choose a special toy from her brother's room and bring it downstairs. She seems to think she is being sneaky (even though I tell her brother ahead of time), and has so much fun playing with the new toy. I also love these independent time tubs by I Can Teach My Child and I also shared some special activities in this quiet time activities post.

8. Take time to just observe {and put down your camera}.

I regularly just put aside my chores or assignments and watch my daughter play independently. I love to see how her play develops, listen to the conversations she has with her animals, and notice which toys she is most interested in. By taking time to observe, I can tweak independent time and make it more fun for her by adapting our activities to fit her interests and newly developing skills. I also learn a lot about my own parenting skills by listening to the conversations she has with her dolls. :) I also have to remind myself not to snap photos. Some moments just need to be enjoyed and observed, not photographed.

I'm sure many of these tips are ones you already know. This list is definitely not complete. What else would you add?

If you are looking for some great toys to foster independent play, I shared four favorite toys for semi-independent play that you might want to check out.

Don't forget to come back on Friday and join in the conversation as I share a few simple activities that I have taught my toddlers to do independently.

Alphabet Car Racing

2013-05-14T00:48:00.002-07:00

Race cars are constantly zooming past my feet at our house. I get so frustrated when I accidentally step on them! Ouch!

This week I decided to embrace the chaos and use the cars (and trucks... and trains) to do some alphabet exploration activities with my daughter!

Alphabet car racing is such a fun way practice matching and identifying letters. It is also a simple way to just talk about letter names and sounds while also having a good time... and moving our bodies!

Supplies:

Cars
alphabet stickers
large drawing paper (we used easel paper rolls)
markers
a sharpie
painters tape

Directions:

First I tape the easel paper rolls onto the floor and then I drew a big race track on it! I made four lanes so that we could focus on four letters at a time. That's about all my toddler can handle.

Then we painted the lanes (I mostly did that while my daughter drove her cars around).

And then we added matching alphabet stickers to the lanes and cars. Each car had a letter on it which corresponded to a lane with the same letter on it.

Then my daughter had to match each car to the correct lane and drive the car around the track... trying to stay inside the lines!

This activity was not only great for practicing letter names and matching, it was also a fabulous gross motor exercise because we used our whole bodies as we moved around on the floor driving the cars around the big track. There was also a lot of hand-eye coordination involved as we tried to stay in the lines of the track while the cars went around and around.

My daughter had fun driving her cars around by herself and then I joined in and drove my own cars and my son drove his own cars too. We just had to watch out to make sure there weren't too many car crashes ;)

Stickers are easy to take on and take off, so you can work on a few letters and then switch them around and try new ones. Easy peasy. You could also just match colors or shapes instead of letters by just using different stickers.

For older kids:

Use upper and lowercase alphabet stickers so they have to match the uppercase letter with the lowercase letter
Match sight words or short vowel words instead of letters (you can use sticky labels instead of stickers)

Do you have any car lovers at your house? Do you have any favorite ways that you learn using race cars or trucks or trains? If so, come share your ideas in the comments!!

Here are two of our favorites:

Be a Fly on the Wall in Your Own House {A Parenting Challenge}

2013-05-11T11:28:00.000-07:00

Hi! I'm Kristina, mom of three crazy kiddos, and I'm starting a new series on parenting. I'm not a parenting expert, but I'm trying really hard to be a better mom every day. I'd love you to join my challenges, share your tips and advice, and work together with me on a quest to be a better parent. I share tips I find in our newsletter too as well as on my Becoming a Better Parent pinterest board. Come learn with me!

A few weeks ago we were playing at a park surrounded by beautiful houses. My kids were happy and playing nicely, so I just stood admiring the intricate detail on each house while I watched them play. Suddenly I heard the meanest voice coming from one of the houses. The mom or grandma or babysitter (or??) was clearly yelling at a child to do something or STOP doing something and she went on and on and on.

I was shocked and a little embarrassed that I was hearing this exchange. The person clearly probably had no idea that she was yelling that loudly or that her mean words were echoing so far. I couldn't tell what the yelling was about and I have no idea what was going on, so my point in writing this post isn't to judge, but it made me stop and think.

If someone were a fly on the wall in my house (or outside my house listening in), what would their opinion be of me? What would they hear?

Or for that matter... what do the people inside my house already think of me?

If moments of my day were recorded and played back at me, would I be proud that I had handled the situations well, or would I be hanging my head in shame... mortified by what I said?

If I am being honest, I definitely have many "hang my head in shame" moments.

Just this week my 5-year-old hit my toddler with a plastic baseball bat and I came unglued. I think we were all a little traumatized after I flipped out and I definitely didn't help calm anyone down... especially my hurting daughter.

I definitely have moments when I get inappropriately angry as a parent, but they are happening less and less as I use the strategies I've shared with you before.

As Mother's Day approaches and I think about what it means to be a mom and what I love about being a mom, I have also reflected on ways that I wish I were a better mom. The words that I say and tone that I use are definitely some of the things I think about daily.

My challenge to us all this next week is to be a fly on the wall in our own homes. Listen to the words you say and the way that you say them.

Also listen to how your kids talk to each other and their friends. They are often a reflection of you.

I find that when my kids are being bossy, snippy, judgmental, critical, or unkind it usually ties to my behavior over the previous week and how I've been treating them.

After this little weeklong challenge, let's check back in and chat.

I guarantee we'll all have some thoughts about ways to be kinder, more thoughtful, and more in control of ourselves as parents. I'd love for us to learn together and share our ideas.

I'm not a parenting expert, but I do know that words matter.

I also know that "kindness is the essence of greatness" and I don't just want to be a semi-good parent... I want to be a great one. I want to be a parent that my kids want to spend time with, confide in, and feel comfortable around.

The words that I say and how I say them will make a big difference in helping me to become the person I want to be.

Do you ever regret things that you say to your kids (or spouse)? Have you had any "hang your head in shame" moments recently like me?

I'd love to hear your parenting goals and struggles too. Please share any thoughts in the comments and let's work together to be better parents this year.

You can find our favorite parenting resources under our Best of Parenting tab.

I'll be screen free tomorrow enjoying my family, so have a fabulous Mother's Day weekend!

Word Fun with Chalk Painting

2013-05-10T05:59:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be honest with you... I don't love chalk. I always seem to end up sitting in it or getting it all over my hands or finding it dragged through my house.

My co-blogging buddy EJ always comes up with the coolest chalk activities though, so I've been trying to change my attitude a bit.

This past week my 5-year-old was learning about short u words and my daughter was exploring the alphabet, so we decided to do some chalk painting to help us have fun with letters and words!

Supplies: For chalk painting all you need is a surface to write on (dark pavement is great), chalk, paintbrushes, and a cup of water.

Directions:

First write out the words or letters you are studying on a flat surface using chalk.

Then read the word (or letter), say the word (or letter) aloud, and then trace over it with a paintbrush dipped in water.

My toddler loved watching her ABCs disappear and my 5-year-old did his best to trace every letter.

This activity gave us opportunities to talk about... concepts of print, letter formation, decoding strategies, and beginning/ending sounds.

You can also have your child write their own letters and/or words!

We also played a game where I would call out the word and my son would have to find it and paint it.

Since my daughter is just learning the alphabet letters, I would just say the letter names and sounds when she would choose different letters to paint. If she painted A I would say, "Look you painted A! What sound does it make?"... or "A is at the beginning of the word apple."

This simple chalk activity can be played again and again.

We also use it to introduce new words before we read books with those words.

Do you have any other favorite ways you learn with chalk?

Here are a few of our favorites...

Sidewalk Simon

Number Walk

Alphabet Bug Spray

Watering an Alphabet Garden

Virtual Book Club Summer Camp

2013-05-09T00:23:00.000-07:00

Summer is right around the corner and we are SO EXCITED to announce a special project we've been working on!

This summer we will be joining with Rainy Day Mum and The Educators' Spin On It to host a Virtual Book Club Summer Camp!

Virtual Book Club Summer Camp is going to be five incredible weeks filled with book-related themed activities and crafts.

Each week we'll share with you the theme for the week, a supply list, book suggestions based on the theme, loads of links to fun activities and crafts you can try, and several posts sharing new content created just for Virtual Book Club Summer Camp by your Virtual Book Club Camp Counselors (me, Cerys, and Kim)!

Our goals for Virtual Book Club Summer Camp are...

Get outside and get moving (inspired by the books we read, of course!)
Read a lot and try out new-to-us books and authors
Craft and create using simple and inexpensive materials that we already have around the house
Help our kids develop an even deeper love for reading
Embed science, math, language, and cooking skills into our book-inspired activities
Encourage you to get creating and reading with your kids this summer!

Virtual Book Club Summer Camp will start on Monday, June 24th and end on Friday, July 26th.

Don't miss out on any info or updates. You can sign up below to receive our Virtual Book Club Summer Camp News & Weekly Planner.

More details will be coming soon! I hope you will be joining in! Leave a note in the comments if you'll be participating with us this summer!

Are you familiar with the Virtual Book Club for Kids? If not, you can check out our Yearlong Virtual Book Club for Kids series and get caught up. All year we've spotlighted a new author each month and we've done book-related crafts and activities. It has been so much fun! In May we are featuring books by Leo Lionni.

*Brands may contact us regarding sponsorship opportunities at toddlerapproved (at) gmail (dot) com.

Thank you My Cute Graphics for the use of the sun image above.

Color and Word Games {Toddler Approved This Week}

2013-05-07T00:31:00.000-07:00

This post contains affiliate links.

This post is quickly becoming one of my favorites because it is fun to see what activities we actually accomplish and it is even more exciting to sift through all of the awesome things I pin and decide which to try out.

Last week it was HOT and gorgeous where we live! I spent a lot of time outside running with our double jogger (while my five year old rode his bike alongside). We didn't get much time for crafting or activities, but we managed to sneak a few things in.

Here are a few of the ideas we tried out inspired by several of the posts I shared with you last week...

Instead of making these May Day baskets, we did some May Day salad spinner art baskets.

We tried out Teach Mama's Building words with Letter Lids activity which then led to loads of other letter lid activities... including a few we'll share with you this next week. We used our Melissa & Doug Alphabet and Number stickers which we love!

We did lots and lots of Lego building inspired by Lego Quest Kids.

We did an Indoor Alphabet Hunt inspired by the Outdoor chalk alphabet hunt shared by Gratefully Growing in Grace. Instead of using chalk on pavement outdoors, we wrote with markers on the ram board that is around our house (mainly because the baby was sleeping and it was hot outside). You could do this on butcher paper and tape it to your floor.

The kids loved hunting again and again for the letters. The toddler matched the letters to the words and then my five year old read the words. They were a great team!

Lastly we did an Indoor Colors and Shapes Game inspired by the chalk colors and shape game shared by Tiny Sidekicks. Once again the baby was sleeping and I was enjoying the A/C so we opted to do an indoor version. :)

I drew colored shapes on large art paper and taped it to the ground and the kids came up with all sorts of ways to play games with this shape path. Their main goal was to walk from one side to another on the same shape or the same color.

We also spent some quality time talking about colors this week using art supplies. Stacking colored lids is way more fun than painting sometimes... and provides loads of opportunities to talk about patterns and colors too!

We enjoyed Screen Free Week all last week during the day and I think we'll be doing that for the kids from now on as much as possible. I underestimated them. I realized that I turn on DVDs due to sheer laziness on my part sometimes and they don't need to be on. The kids are so much happier and pleasant without them too. I am also much nicer and patient when I avoid screens when they are awake... so I'll try to do that more often. Sometimes it is unavoidable... since it seems most of life requires the computer, but I don't need to be online as much as I am.

Last week we also attended a wedding and so I had to throw in a picture of my littlest guy. He is now six months old. The time sure flies!

This next week we are going to be focusing on some simple preschool skills- listening, hand-eye coordination, cutting, and pretend play.

Here are some of the activities and crafts we'll be trying out this next week...

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Threading via Here Come the Girls
Invitation to Scoop and Pour via The Sugar Aunts
Giant Connect the Dots via What Do We Do All Day?
Five Playful Ways to Work on Listening and Following Directions via Playing with Words 365
Pretend Hair Salon for Dolls via Inner Child Fun
Easy DIY Books for Young Writers via Imagination Soup
Aliens Love Underpants craft via Rainy Day Mum

We also plan to read a few related books...

I can't wait to get started on a few of these projects today!

Did you try out any new activities last week? What were your favorites? Please share any links in the comments!

Simple Lego Challenges for Kids

2013-05-06T01:11:00.000-07:00

My five-year- old is in this pretty awesome stage where he just wants to play and build with Legos all day. I love seeing him so creative and excited!

I discovered this awesome Lego Quest website a few weeks ago filled with Lego challenges.

Using the site as my inspiration, we created some simple Lego challenges for my kids last week and set up a little Lego challenge area in our kitchen.

First I cut up a bunch of cardstock into rectangles and then I added black circles to try and make them look like paper Legos.

Next I wrote a top secret challenge on each Lego card.

Then I stuffed all of the challenges (face down) into an envelope and hung the envelope up on a wall where my son can get to it easily.

The first challenge he picked was to create a bird house.

His response was, "That's lame. I want a new challenge."

My response was, "What do you picture when you think of a bird house?" He described a basic bird house and I said, "you're right, that is lame. If you were a bird, what sort of house would you want to live in that was cooler than that? I'd want to live in one with a bird water slide and maybe a hot tub."

Right away the wheels in his brain got turning... and his imagination started working! He excitedly told me a few ideas and then ran off to his room. When his dad got home my son showed him his challenge and he wanted to join in too.

They ended up going with a simple, colorful design, but there was a whole long list of what the bird was going to be able to do inside the house. Our next step is to create a Lego challenge journal where my son can write and draw about his creations.

This activity can easily be adapted for toddlers using Duplo.

For toddlers I would pick more open ended challenges instead of specific ones (ie. make something just using red Legos, or make something tall or something that can move).

Do you have a favorite Lego challenge or activity you've done? Come share it in the comments.

Here are a few of our favorite Lego posts:

Star Wars Yoda Shape Craft

2013-05-04T00:24:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I am actually posting a Star Wars craft on my blog... but I am. I don't dislike Star Wars, but I'm not a die hard fan. My 5 year old loves playing Star Wars Angry Birds on our iPad though and through that has gotten hooked! He has learned every character and spends his free time making Star Wars ships with his Legos.

Today is May 4th... so I had to post this craft today in honor of the date.

"May the Fourth Be With You"

(insert fake laugh... or slow clap ;))

Recently we purchased a set of Star Wars: Phonics Boxed Set and my kids have been reading them and checking out the pictures. They love Yoda. Since my 5 year old loves Yoda, my 2 year old does too.

Yesterday while the baby napped we crammed into my guest room to play while trying to avoid the loud sounds from our remodel.

The kids thought it would be fun to make our own Yoda, so we came up with this shape craft. This Star Wars Yoda Shape Craft kept the kids busy and laughing as they talked about colors, shapes, and characters from the story.

The best part about the craft was that it was easily prepared in just a few minutes.

Supplies:

colored cardstock (green, brown, dark brown/black, red, and white)
scissors
pencil
googly eyes
glue

Prep Ahead:

Cut out two brown rectangles (cape), a large black triangle (body), a green circle (head), 2 green triangles (ears), one red square (mouth), and one tiny black rectangle (ears).

Directions:

Once materials are cut out, let your little ones start creating!

Originally we planned to glue our pictures down, but the kids had so much fun making Yoda again and again and again that we might just laminate the pieces instead of gluing them.

My toddler watched her brother put his Yoda together a few times before she made hers. She was SO PROUD of the Yoda she created (above).

I think it is adorable how excited she gets about her brother's obsessions.

If you have a Star Wars fan at your house, you might also enjoy these free Star Wars Printable packs by 3 Dinosaurs and Royal Baloo.

We printed off parts of the pack created by Royal Baloo yesterday and had a great time with addition clip cards and writing numbers 1-30. It is amazing how extra motivating it is to learn when there are cool pictures of your favorite characters embedded into your activities.

My toddler carried around the Yoda addition clip card all morning. She loved putting the clothespin on different numbers and talking about the numbers. Although she can't do addition, she still enjoyed using the clips to help her talk about other numbers.

I also pinned several other Star Wars crafts today that looked really neat. Here are a few...

Foam R2D2 and Darth Vader Magnets via Zujava
Light Saber Pops via Pretty Providence
Mini Pipe Cleaner Light Sabers via Make and Takes
Milk Jug Storm Trooper via Living Locurto
Star Wars Folded Fliers via No Time for Flashcards

Have an excellent May 4th... whether or not you choose to do anything related to Star Wars. If you have a favorite Star Wars themed craft or activity, come share them in the comments.

ALEX 3D Dinoland Review and 8 Ways to Learn & Play with Volcanoes

2013-05-03T07:18:00.002-07:00

If you have been following Toddler Approved for awhile, you know that my five year old son has been obsessed with volcanoes since he was a toddler. My two-year-old daughter has jumped on board the volcano train too and thinks they are pretty awesome.

When I discovered that ALEX toys had a 3D dinoland puzzle that also features a volcano, we knew that we needed to check it out!

Today I am seriously SO EXCITED to share this fun 3D Dinoland puzzle with you along with eight of our favorite ways to learn and play with volcanoes.

When the dinoland box arrived from ALEX toys, there definitely was some screaming and jumping going on in our kitchen!

Here's what we discovered inside...

Six colorful and sturdy 3D dinosaurs that can be easily put together!

a huge colorful 40 piece dinoland puzzle that includes a 3D volcano that stands up in the center (The puzzle measures 27" X 27" X 8.35" high).

Here's what we thought...

WOW! This is awesome (my five year old's opinion)! Meanwhile my toddler was so occupied flying the dinosaurs around and having them explore the playland that she was speechless.

The puzzle has different unique colorful sections which makes it pretty easy for kids to put it together without much adult help. It is for kids ages 3+ so little toddlers will need help. It worked best when we build it on a hard, flat surface. The pieces were large and easy for little hands to manipulate.

Our absolute favorite part of the puzzle was that once it was put together, we could play with it!

Typically putting the puzzle together is the activity. With this playland, putting the puzzle together was only half the fun. The kids had such a great time using the 3D dinosaurs for some dinosaur imaginative play time together. They created stories with the dinosaurs and had them talk with one another. They even used the dinosaurs around the house for other activities!

My toddler loved the dinosaurs so much that they accompanied her to watch a movie, get dressed, and play along with some of her other toy friends. We loved counting the dinosaurs on the playmat and the 3D dinosaurs and talking about the colors and designs on the mat as well! The vibrant colors made the mat so enticing!

Once the kids were done playing with the 3D dinoland, the pieces easily fit back inside the compact dinoland box and could be stored away quickly. We had to make sure that we kept it close by though, since the kids liked pulling it out often!

I also discovered that ALEX has a 3D fairyland and a 3D cityscape for kids who like a different, less explosive play scene.

Do your kids love puzzles or volcanoes or dinosaurs? Do you have any other favorite ALEX toys at your house?

Thanks to ALEX Toys for sharing this fun product with us! If you are interested in exploring some of the other toys that they make, head on over to their website. You can also connect with ALEX on Pinterest and Facebook to hear more about their products and other creative ideas.

"It all begins with a brushstroke... it all begins with ALEX"

ALEX Toys on Pinterest

ALEX Toys on Facebook

Disclaimer: The products shared in this post were given to me for free to review by our friends at ALEX Toys. The opinions expressed in this post are mine.

If your kids are fans of volcanoes, they might also enjoy some of these 8 Ways to Learn and Play with Volcanoes...

Just click on the links below for more details.

Escape the Volcano Game

Felt Volcano and Dinosaur Bean Bag Game

TP Tube Volcano

3D Volcano

May Day Salad Spinner Art

2013-04-30T23:33:00.000-07:00

April showers bring May flowers... right?

Happy May Day!

Today we are sharing a simple salad spinner art craft we did with a coffee filter umbrella filled with foam button flowers.

May Day Spin Art is colorful, simple, and sure to be a hit with your little ones!

Here's what you need...

coffee filters
paint (liquid water color is the best)
salad spinner
scissors
foam flowers
glue
cardstock
buttons

The directions are super simple...

Add a coffee filter into the salad spinner, drop some paint in (add some water if your paint isn't droppy enough), and spin, spin, spin!

Let the coffee filters dry!

Cut them in half. Use one half as the top of an umbrella and part of the other one as an umbrella handle.

Glue it on to a piece of cardstock.

Add some foam flowers!

Glue on some buttons.

Let it all dry and then give your masterpiece to a friend to WELCOME MAY!

Bring on sunshine, warm weather, swimming, popsicles, and flowers! Welcome May!

April was exhausting and filled with far too many sleepless night over here, so I am off to bed so that I can welcome May with loads of energy.

Here are a few other fun May Day crafts you could try tomorrow:

May Day baskets via Cristy Nelson
Flowers on a string
May Day Drink holder baskets via Skip To My Lou

Rhyming and Crafting {Toddler Approved This Week}

2013-04-29T03:00:00.000-07:00

This post contains affiliate links.

Last week we basically lived in our car because our home remodel was so loud. We usually went to one park at 8am, another park at 11am, then out to lunch, and then off to another park after my son was done with school. The weather was gorgeous, so our adventures were awesome, but we didn't get nearly enough time for crafts & projects at home. Oh well! :) I got lots of time lounging and kissing the baby's big cheeks while my toddler played in our kiddie pool (rough life, right?).

When we were home, we tried out a few crafts and activities by some of our favorite bloggers that I am excited to share with you!

We started off the week with Painted Water Color Coffee Filter Flowers via Inspired-Housewife. My kids weren't as interested in putting as much color as the ones we were trying out, but they still had fun. They always seem to want to paint with just black though which makes all the other colors mucky, so I have just started popping the black out of the watercolor sets before they start painting.

My son made this ginormous butterfly at school using liquid watercolors that I also loved. I am adding liquid watercolors to my "must buy" list! (The brand I linked to is the one my son's teacher suggested.) The colors are awesome!

I was inspired by this Floral Button Picture via Folksy so we decided to grab some lids and buttons and make our own recycled lid flower crafts. I shared our creations over at Life Your Way last week. They make our kitchen feel so springy and colorful!

We also did a lot of goofing around and RHYMING! Making up rhymes and discovering rhyming words is a favorite activity at our house right now. My 5 year old loves to rhyme with inappropriate words (awesome ;)), but also finds rhyming words as we do every day activities.

He definitely found some rhyming words as we did some baking together on "Take Your Kids to Work Day. " I showed the kids my favorite mom-work activities (baking, crafting, and playing with them!).

We also tried out No Time for Flashcard's Rhyming Peg Board activity and then we invented our own giant Pipe Cleaner Rhyming Sticky wall.

We never got to do Truffula Tree Math games or Math in the Bath, so those are on our "to do" list for next week.

Next week we are going Screen Free during the day!

Sometimes my kids get to watch a show or two while I feed the baby, shower, make dinner, or clean up... so this week I will need to rely less on my DVD helper and we will need to be even more creative.

Here are some of the activities and crafts we are going to be trying out this next week...

May Day baskets via Christy Nelson
Colors and Shapes Sidewalk Chalk Game for Toddlers via Tiny Sidekick
Lego Challenges via Lego Quest Kids
Outdoor Alphabet Hunt via Gratefully Growing in Grace
Magic Milk Paint via Modern Parents Messy Kids
Building Words with Letter Lids via Teach Mama
Make Go Outside Cards via Creative Family Fun

We are also going to be reading SO.MANY.BOOKS... I don't even think I can list all of them, because we'll be reading so many... but I guarantee these three will be read:

Press Here by Herve Tullet
Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni
Moo Baa La La La by Sandra Boynton

What is a book that you read every day?

Did you try out any awesome activities last week? Which ones? Come tell me about how it went in the comments.

By the way, did you enter our awesome children's book giveaway yet and sign the Say No to Bullying Pledge? There is only ONE day left! Hurry over!

Screen Free Week Challenge!

2013-04-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

If you recall, my last challenge was a bit of a bust. I totally flaked mid-way through. This time around I am creating a challenge that is a bit more do-able for me!

April 29th - May 5th is Screen Free Week and we will be unplugging a bit here at Toddler Approved.

The goal of Screen Free Week is to spend a week turning OFF entertainment screen media and turning ON life! It is a time to unplug and play, read, daydream, create, explore nature, and spend time with family and friends.

Making Screen Free Week work for ME!

When screens are on at my house my kids end up being more annoyed, grouchy, argumentative, and bored. Their creativity suffers as does their ability to play independently. With our new baby's arrival and our home remodel going on there has been FAR TOO MUCH screen time happening at our house.

Our goal: This week we are shutting off screens for all entertainment purposes during the day.

No PBS kids videos while my daughter gets the knots combed out of her hair, no Space Angry Birds, no checking Facebook for me while I am sitting in the car waiting for the baby to wake up from his nap, and no Instagram. Nothing! (I think avoiding Instagram is going to be the hardest for me)

I will still be sharing posts on the blog and occasionally sharing things on Pinterest and Facebook. I will also still be checking emails and doing blog work commitments, but only in the evenings.

For some of you this goal probably seems super easy and you are offline most of the day. If that's the case, make your own goal that is harder!

I typically let myself have some screen time when the kids nap or have quiet time. I have a bucket load of things I could be doing during that time instead... so hopefully I'll accomplish some of it this next week (I hear the laundry pile calling me...).

My entire blog is filled with activities and crafts we do that are screen free... but, if you need more ideas as you tackle screen free week, come check out all of the new fun things I've been pinning on my Pinterest boards!

These are a few of my favorite boards that I pin to... so come follow along!

Toddler Approved (loads of kids activities and crafts)
Some Gifting (lots of gift ideas to make... you can start working on Mother's Day ideas)
Reading and Writing Readiness (so many great ideas to boost reading and writing readiness)
Top 20 Early Learning Blogs (activities, crafts, and ideas that promote learning for young children!)

The Educators' Spin On It has organized a Screen Free Week resource page filled with great ideas... so head on over there for more activity ideas and resources. You can also find 101 Screen Free Activities at ScreenFree.org.

I think our problem won't be finding activities it will be trying to decide which activities to DO... there are so many to pick from!

Pipe Cleaner Rhyming Sticky Wall

2013-04-26T09:06:00.001-07:00

After all the fun my toddler had with her Number Bug Sticky Wall the other day, my 5 year old wanted to do his own sticky wall activity.

We were inspired by No Time for Flashcard's Rhyming Peg Board and decided to make our own Pipe Cleaner Rhyming Sticky Wall.

We are constantly rhyming while we are in the car or playing around the house. My 5 year old also loves rhyming poems or silly phrases too! For this activity we created a simple sticky wall frame and added some words underneath it. It is super easy to pull the sticky wall fram off, change the words, and play again!

Supplies: painters tape, contact paper, cardstock/notecards, marker, and pipe cleaners

Directions:

First we wrote different rhyming words on lined strips (you can also use cardstock or note cards). We made sure each word had a rhyming match.

Then we used painters tape and stuck the rhyming words on our kitchen cupboards. We put one word from each pair in each column.

Next we made the sticky wall frame by attaching contact paper, sticky side out, on top of the cupboard and putting a painters tape border around it to keep it in place.

After the wall was set up, we grabbed some pipe cleaners and started matching the words!

You could also use yarn or ribbon instead of pipe cleaners. If words were far from each other, we twisted two pipe cleaners together so that they could reach. This was a ginormous matching activity and it was hugely popular! Any kids that came to our house wanted to try it right away.

The key to making this activity fun is to make sure that your child can read the words... or at least can sound them out! Start simpler and then change the words and make them harder as your child gets better at reading. If your child gets visually overwhelmed, start with only three pairs of words instead of six.

The only bad part about this activity is that my son is having so much fun with it that I can't get into my cupboards! I have to take the sticky wall off several times a day and then put it back.

Toddler Version:

Later today we'll be doing a toddler variation on this activity and I will post a picture. We will be doing it with alphabet letters and shapes!

Instead of words, stick several pairs of matching shapes on the wall. Your child can make the pipe cleaners connect to the matching shapes! You can also do the same thing with alphabet letters. You can use all capital letters or have your child match capital and uppercase letters.

Do your kids love rhyming? Here are a few other fun rhyming activities for kids that we love...

Rhyming Tree via No Time For Flashcards
Rhyming Scavenger Hunt via This Reading Mama
Rhyming Hopscotch via Coffee Cups and Crayons

Rain Drop Math

2013-04-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

We've been talking about weather a lot lately because the temperatures have been swinging from being cold (cold for California... 40s :)) to warmer Spring temperatures (80s+). Since we are basically living in our car these days and roaming from park to park starting at 8am while our house gets worked on... it is kind of critical to know a bit about the weather and how to dress.

My toddler has also been interested in rain and rain clouds, so I decided to take that interest and use it to help us work on our numbers. We created some simple Rain Drop Math activities using materials we had around the house.

Supplies: White and blue foam, scissors, Melissa & Doug Alphabet and Numbers Stickers, paper, and pen.

I started off this activity by cutting clouds out of white foam and ten blue raindrops from the blue foam. I made only two clouds because we used stickers that could easily be removed and added... so we didn't need a whole set of 10.

Next we chose a sticker from the number sticker book (0-10) and added it to the center of the rain cloud.

Once the sticker was on the cloud, my toddler tried to count out that same number of foam rain drops and put them underneath the cloud.

We also drew the number of raindrops on a piece of paper, so if she couldn't make rain drops for a certain number, she could use the raindrop piece of paper to help her. She would just cover the randrops on the paper with her blue foam raindrops and then help count them up and make sure she had the right amount!

For my five year old we put a number on each cloud and had him add the two numbers together. Once he did the addition problem correctly he got to add the correct number of raindrops underneath the rain cloud.

The hands-on portion of this activity that got the kids counting with their fingers and touching things really kept them engaged and having a good time!

Although counting anything correctly past #3 was hard for my toddler, it was great to give her exposure to numbers and watch in action as the numbers were used in realtime.

Have you played with numbers in a fun way before? What about rain clouds? Have you ever used them to help with learning?

If you missed it, yesterday we shared this Number Bug Sticky Wall activity.

Pre-Kinders also does a super fun raindrop counting activity that we love.

I also love this FREE raindrop math dice activity.

Come share any other favorite raindrop or number activities here or on our Facebook page.

We love tying activities to children's books, so if you have time, check out our favorite weather books!

Weather Words and What They Mean by Gail Gibbons

Little Cloud by Eric Carle

The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola

Number Bug Sticky Wall

2013-04-24T08:22:00.001-07:00

Bug, bugs, and more bugs have been invading our home lately. The workers doing our master bedroom/bathroom remodel are always going in and out so the door is constantly open and lots of little critters have been coming into our house.

My kids are now outfitted with bug nets, bug magnifiers, and bug boxes from the Target $1 Spot.

Over the weekend we channeled the enthusiasm for bugs and used it to help us do some counting and number recognition activities with a Number Bug Sticky Wall.

Here's what you'll need: contact paper, painters tape, sharpies, cardstock, and flat surface to stick the contact paper.

We did this activity a few times and with a few different sticky walls (I didn't love the first set of bugs that I drew).

Here's how you can play:

Punch or cut out different shapes from cardstock and write numbers on them!

On the non-sticky clear side of the contact paper, draw several bugs with your Sharpies. Make sure that the cut out shapes can fit on the bugs.

Write numbers on the bugs (remember to write them in reverse since you'll be turning the sticky wall around).

Turn the sticky paper around and tape the non-sticky side to the wall while peeling off the sticky side. This takes me a good deal of concentration and focus to make sure I do it right and get everything taped down.

Once the sticky side is facing out and your sticky wall is hung, pass your child some of the cut out cardstock shapes (we used punched circles) and let her start matching numbers while building the bugs!

I tried to make it so that each bug had the same number of body parts as their number circles, but not all of them panned out that way. Being creative while also holding onto a grumpy teething baby makes it a bit difficult to do everything 100% the way I want.

While we stuck numbers to the bugs we talked about their number names and we pointed out each number and tried to identify it. We also practiced counting from 1-10. Once my 5 year old got home he had to try it too. I worked on making it a bit harder for him by having him add all the numbers together on each bug.

Sticky walls are such a simple way to make learning fun in a different way. Have you ever made one? If your kids don't like bugs, what theme would they pick for this number sticky wall?

Allie at No Time for Flashcards is sharing ten great sticky walls and murals today on her blog... so if you want more ideas, head on over there! Allie was the person who introduced us to sticky wall murals and we are so grateful!

The workers have arrived and are now cutting tile, so we're off to the park for another bug hunt. Hope you have an awesome day!

Learning Fun for Toddlers & Preschoolers {Toddler Approved This Week}

2013-04-22T00:10:00.001-07:00

This post contains affiliate links.

Last week we spent a lot of time at parks with friends and going on bug and acorn hunts. I bought the kids each a bug catcher from the Target Dollar Spot and they've been catching snails and earwigs and all sorts of other things. We also did a few bug and Spring themed activities that I am excited to share with you over the next week.

When we weren't outside hunting bugs, we tried out a few activities from some favorite bloggers that I am excited to share with you!

My toddler hasn't done much with patterns yet, so I introduced her to Learn with Play at Home activity's learning patterns with Lego. We did a simple ABAB pattern and talked about the colors of the Legos. She has a long ways to go before this is an independent activity, but Legos were fun materials to explore with!

Learning Patterns with Lego via Learn with Play at Home

Since the kids were already excited last week about doing anything bug-related... they were amazingly excited when I suggested making egg carton bugs that we found at It's Gravy Baby! We didn't make the kids follow any rules, so it was cool to see how many eyes they used and what colors they painted the bugs!

Egg Carton Bugs via It's Gravy Baby

We play with cars and trucks everyday and my toddler likes to walk around with a handful of vehicles, so when I suggested a car game she was ready to play immediately! She loved matching the letters of her name while we did this simple parking garage name activity we found at Growing Book by Book. We played it again and again and again.

Parking Garage Name Activity via Growing Book by Book

We also had a blast exploring our new BabbaBox for April. The theme was birds and the kids enjoyed building a bird nest from clay, straw, and wood as well as painting a bird house. We also got Feathers for Lunch by Lois Ehlert in this month's box. We LOVE Lois Ehlert and are so excited to add a new book to our library.

We are big advocates of BabbaCo's BabbaBoxes... so if you are interested in checking them out too, just click on the image below. If you want to read more about the Babbabox, my post, BabbaBox: A Cool Learning Tool for Kids is a great place to start.

Last week we also played with these awesome Stampers that my mom sent to the kids. All 50 stamps kept them busy and having fun creating while I made dinner.

Looking ahead to next week we are excited to focus a little bit more on bugs as well as numbers, rhyming words, and simple math activities. Here are a few of the activities and crafts we are going to be trying out...

Rhyming on the Go: A Play to Learn Phonics Game for Kids via Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
Rhyming Peg Board via No Time for Flashcards
Firefly Craft via Crafts for All Seasons
Truffula Tree Math Games via Inspiration Laboratories
Math in the Bath via In Lieu of Preschool
Painted Water Color Coffee Filter Butterflies via Inspired-Housewife

Next week we will be reading these favorite Eric Carle bug books...

Do you have a favorite book about bugs?

What were your favorite activities that you tried out last week?
Come share them in the comments or on our Facebook page.

Reminder: Did you enter our awesome children's book giveaway yet? There are only a few days left!

Toddler Approved Musical Instruments: ALEX Musical Owl Review

2013-04-19T09:42:00.003-07:00

by Kids Craft Contributor EJ

I grew up in a home full of music, and hope to instill the same love and appreciation that I have in music to my children. While I would love to have a house full of instruments, I'm very careful in choosing which ones I bring into our play space because we live in a small 2 bedroom apartment.

Today I am excited to share some Toddler Approved musical instruments that we enjoy.

ALEX toys gave me the opportunity to test out/review their Musical Owl, which seemed ideal for our home because it is a compact toy containing 4 musical instruments in one (drum pad, cymbals, washboard & xylophone) and 2 "lollipop" mallets (at least that is what my children think they look like).

ALEX Musical Owl

The owl is made out of a sturdy wood and painted in bright, bold colors. The xylophone and cymbal produce a sweet sound (even when being pounded on by an enthusiastic boy).

The drum pad and washboard are durable and solid (again, well tested and pounded on by an enthusiastic boy). While there are two holes to keep the mallets when not in use, I could foresee one or two of them being carried into another room in house and misplaced (my only concern with the toy (if you don't count the kids having disagreements over whose turn it is to play with it)).

Overall, my children have loved playing with this "all in one" instrument. I love that it doesn't take up too much space, gives them plenty of options for play and exploration of music, and that it does not require batteries!

I also discovered that ALEX has a whole line of Musical Bath Time toys:

ALEX Tub Tunes: Water Piano, Water Flutes, Water Trumpet & Water Drums

Do you have musical instruments in your house? Are there any instruments that you wish you didn't have? I've banned any recorders/toy flutes (until someone invents one that comes with a set of headphones connecting to the base where the sound comes out - so only the child is hearing the one high pitched note that they seem to play over and over).

How do you teach your children to enjoy and appreciate music? What are the favorite instruments in your house?

"It all begins with a brushstroke... it all begins with ALEX"

ALEX Toys on Pinterest

ALEX Toys on Facebook

Disclaimer: The products shared in this post were given to me for free to review by our friends at ALEX Toys. The opinions expressed in this post are mine.

Clothespin Flower Color Matching

2013-04-17T03:00:00.000-07:00

It was freezing and windy yesterday, so we decided to make it feel like Spring inside with this Clothespin Flower Color Matching Activity!

This was an easy to make activity that was fun for both my toddler and my older son. My daughter is currently learning the color names so this was a simple way to talk about different colors, practice matching colors, and strengthen her pincer grasp (which is helpful when learning to hold a pencil and pick up little things)!

Materials Needed: foam flowers, foam scraps, glue, scissors, and clothespins

To make the color matching clips we just glued some foam scraps to the top of the clothespins. My daughter was so anxious to get started matching that the glue wasn't even dry yet!

While she clipped we talked about the colors. She mostly just matched and clipped while I occasionally said something like "wow! you matched the pink flower with the pink clip." As we worked she picked up on a few more colors than she already knew... so that was progress. She currently only knows maybe two colors consistently.

I also started out needing to help her pinch (my fingers on top of hers), but once she got the feel for what her fingers needed to do then she didn't need my help any more and was so proud that she was pinching by herself!!

Later in the day once the toddler was asleep, my 5 year old found our activity and wanted to play. He matched and clipped the flowers, counted them, and then stood them up to make a "garden."

He accidentally discovered that he could use them like dominoes and put them in a row, knock one down, and then all of them would subsequently fall down. He was SO EXCITED about this new version of the game. Definitely try it with your kids too. He wants to do it with the toddler first thing in the morning.

Tomorrow we may add some letter stickers to these and turn them into an ABC or name flower garden.

How else do you like to use clothespin for learning?

Here are a few of our favorite clothespin activities...

Counting Dino Plates

Name Stegsaurus

Clothesline Contests

Wait! Did you enter our awesome children's book giveaway about bullying yet? Come take a stand against bullying and enter to win two great resources!

Rainbow Caterpillars {Name Matching Activity}

2013-04-16T03:00:00.000-07:00

This week we're having fun collecting bugs so I thought we'd share a few bug crafts and activities. Since toddlers and preschoolers love to match things and love their names, we decided to make some Rainbow Caterpillars using our names.

Although I love creating and displaying arts and crafts projects, my kids typically love activities more than crafts. This project is kind of a combination of the two and my kids really enjoyed it.

Materials Needed: colored cardstock, scissors, markers, large drawing paper, googly eyes (optional: pipe cleaners for antennae or legs)

Directions:

First I cut out a bunch of circles/ovals using rainbow colored cardstock and then I traced the circles onto long white drawing paper so that there were enough circles for each of my kid's names. Next time I will have my 5 year old cut out and draw his own circles.

Once the colored ovals were cut, my son arranged them in rainbow colored order and then began writing the letters of his name on each oval.

My toddler is just learning how to recognize and spell her name, so I wrote the letters in her name on her caterpillar oval pieces and we talked about each letter and what they spelled when put together.

I wrote the letters of her name on each colored oval and then I also wrote her name on the traced circles on the drawing paper. After she played with her circles a bit, then she practiced matching the letters of her name (on the ovals) to the letters of her name on the drawing paper.

She also added googly eyes and antennae (we kept the feet off for this activity) and had fun making her name again and again.

Simple activities that can be repeated are always a hit at our house. You may want to laminate your caterpillar pieces so that they are more durable.

If your child loves name crafts and activities, you may also want to check out these posts...

Do you have any other favorite name activities or crafts?

Reminder: Did you enter our awesome children's book giveaway yet?

David Goes to School Activities {David Shannon Virtual Book Club for Kids Blog Hop}

2013-04-15T00:43:00.002-07:00

Each month we spotlight a new author for Virtual Book Club for Kids. This month we are featuring books by David Shannon.

We have several favorite David Shannon books, but decided to get a new one for this month's book club. We thought David Goes To School would be a fun book to read together as my son gets ready to start kindergarten next year.

David Goes To School is a silly book filled with things that David does at school... that he probably shouldn't be doing- chewing gum, throwing paper airplanes, drawing on desks, etc. Kids love reading about all the things they know they aren't supposed to do and this book is a fun one to read as you talk about how you are supposed to behave in school.

While we read David Goes to School we came up with three crafts and activities inspired by the book that we are excited to share with you!

Make Paper Airplanes Like David

The second my son saw the cover of this book he wanted to make paper airplanes like David did!! We've made some straw airplanes before, but it has been awhile since we have made actual paper airplanes.

We tried out the How to Make the Very Best Paper Airplane tutorial over at Creative with Kids and our kiddos were very pleased with how they turned out. I made my toddler's airplane and decorated it for her since she's under the weather and didn't feel like doing anything. Once she saw it she had to go fly it... success! My 5 year old tried really hard to make his airplane by himself, but needed some help pressing down the fold lines. His favorite part of decorating his plane was writing his full name!

Play With Gum Like David

For our next activity we pulled out a bunch of gum. Instead of chewing it, we decided to play and sculpt with it! We were pretty positive that David would have enjoyed this sort of activity!

I made my name, my toddler made a snake, my husband built an "ant" (though my 5 year old told him it didn't really look like one), and then the 5 year old tried to make a Star Wars Death Star. I loved that this activity got the whole family involved.

After we were done, we let the kids chew a clean piece of gum. I originally was worried they'd want to just eat the gum... but sculpting and playing with it actually ended up being fun enough that they didn't try to eat it.

Make a Rocket

My son is drawn to rockets, so when he saw a rocket in the book on the page when David is daydreaming and looking out the window at the clouds... I knew we'd need to do some sort of rocket craft along with reading this book.

The rocket in the story is actually just in David's classroom... and isn't something that David talked about or played with, but sometimes our ideas are inspired by the artwork in the stories... not just the text.

To make the rocket you need foam sheets (cut into rectangles circles, and triangles), tacky glue, sequins, and stickers.

All we did was glue the shaped foam pieces together and decorate them with sequins and stickers Then we flew them around and sang our favorite rocket song... "Zoom Zoom Zoom We're Going to the Moon." My daughter attempted to help me teach you how to sing the song too, so check out the video below. :)

Now that we've shared our three ideas with you, do you have any favorite David Goes to School inspired activities that you've tried? What is your favorite David Shannon book? If you have blogged about it, we'd love for you to link up your post in the linky below! We can't wait to see all of your amazing ideas!

There are a few rules for this blog hop that we ask you to follow, so make sure to read them:

Link up only posts inspired by David Shannon that share children's book inspired crafts, activities, recipes, etc. Any other posts will be deleted.
Visit other blog posts on the linky and comment on or share the ones you love!
Add our Virtual Book Club button to your post if you'd like.

Here's the button you can grab if you are participating!

PS- If you missed any of our other Virtual Book Club Posts you can find them below:

June- Mo Willems

July- Don and Audrey Wood

August- Kevin Henkes
September- Lois Ehlert
October- Amy Krouse Rosenthal
November- Tomie dePaola
December- Jan Brett
January- David McPhail
February- Dr Seuss

March- Julia Donaldson

You can also find loads of Virtual Book Club ideas organized by author on our Virtual Book Club for Kids Pinterest Board that we just started and will continue to be adding to!

Virtual Book Club for Kids participating bloggers;

Reminder: Did you enter our awesome children's book giveaway yet?

Disclaimer: This post contains affilate links.

Learning Activities for Toddlers & Preschoolers {Toddler Approved This Week}

2013-04-14T00:24:00.000-07:00

This post contains affiliate links.

During the week we do a lot of activities at our house. Usually I share two to three of them with you in tutorials but thought it might be fun to share some of the other activities we've tried out that I won't do whole posts on. These activities are ones we've tried from other bloggers or are ones we shared over at Life Your Way and repeated. After I review what we did last week, I'll share a few of the activities we plan to try out next week. I'd love for you to stop by and share your favorite posts from last week or any activities you tried out by other bloggers too!

Last week we tried out these activities from some of our favorite blogs...

Disappearing Letters Alphabet Activity via No Time for Flashcards

In addition to making letters disappear, we also made our names and different shapes disappear too!

Pool Noodle Water Fun via Growing a Jeweled Rose

Instead of playing with pool noodle pieces in the bathtub, we took them outside to the water table! Our Fisher-Price Little People had fun using the pool noodles as boats.

Bottle Top Count and Match Game via The Imagination Tree

We did bottle top number matching and then we also did some beginning sounds matching. We put stickers on the bottle caps. Then we said the names of each sticker (ex. Grover) and matching the picture to the letter that it started with. For example, Grover matched with the letter G.

We also repeated a few of these activities that I've already shared...

Bubble Wrap Printing via Life Your Way

Mostly my kids like to try and pop the bubbles while they are painting. Next week we are going to do this again but create spring shapes.

Shape Flower Garden

This week we used the paper shapes to make individual flowers. For my toddler I outlined the shapes after I made them into a flower picture... then I took off the papers and had her try and put the flower back together. It was kind of like a flower puzzle or tangram. It was a lot of fun.

Easy Spring Spin Art for Preschoolers via Life Your Way

Spin Art is a go-to activity with my kids. We could do it every day and they wouldn't get bored. This week we tried spring shapes and my 5 year old also just used scrap paper to make odd shaped spin art masterpieces.

Shaving Cream Letters and Color Mixing

We read Mouse Paint and talked about color mixing. We mixed blue and red shaving cream to make purple.

Playdough Volcanoes

We make playdough volcanoes at least once a week. This week we stuck mini beakers inside the playdough volcanoes which was a fun twist to the activity.

Next week we are going to be focusing on numbers, patterns, names, and bugs. Here are a few of the activities and crafts we'll be trying out...

Learning Patterns with Lego via Learn with Play at Home
Parking Garage Name Activity via Growing Book by Book
Water Balloon Number Target Practice via Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
Egg Carton Bugs via It's Gravy Baby!

Next week we will be reading...

David Goes To School and David Smells!: A Diaper David Book by David Shannon since we are spotlighting him for Virtual Book Club for Kids this month.

What is your favorite book by David Shannon?

What were your favorite activities that you tried out last week?

Come share them in the comments or on our Facebook page. I loved this video shared by Teddi of her son doing our Tape Shape Matching game. Seeing the video was the highlight of my weekend!

Reminder: Did you enter our awesome children's book giveaway yet?

Bullying- No One is Immune {Say No to Bullying Pledge & Giveaway}

2013-04-12T02:53:00.001-07:00

This post is sponsored by TakePart

As a mom of three, I often look at my kids and wonder who they will become.

Will they be kind? Will they be honest? Will they make good choices when I am not around to remind them?

Will people be mean to them? Will they stand by and watch as their friends are treated unkindly? Will they stick up for their friends? Will their sweet personalities be squashed as they go out into the world that is sometimes filled with mean people?

I don't know the answers to these questions... but I worry about them a lot.

I have thought a lot about this post this week and how important this topic is... especially for parents and educators of little ones. Prevention can make a big difference.

The definition of bullying is the aggressive and repetitive imbalance of power used by one person to control another.

Bullying can be verbal, physical, and social.

Bullying can be seen in homes, schools, friendships/social groups, in churches, on the internet, etc.

No one is immune... even little children.

Little children are weak and vulnerable, which makes them an easy target. We need to protect them and teach them to protect one another.

Why do kids bully other kids?

Bullying can feel good and make kids feel powerful.
Bullying can be a way to express emotions or words that kids don't know how to communicate.
Bullying can make kids feel accepted or part of things.

My 5 yr old son has been bullied more than once. The saddest incident occurred at a neighborhood park where he was repeatedly called names over and over again by a boy that was older than he was. The boy also threw sand at him. I was distracted by my toddler and missed the interaction since it happened quickly. My 5 yr old wet his pants during the stressful interaction with this older child and came running over to let me know that he needed new clothes. He never mentioned the mean words or the sand... so we just packed up and went home. He was very upset on and off throughout the evening and I had no idea why and he wouldn't tell me. Later that night my husband sat down to play with him for awhile and while they played and talked my son brought the situation up and told his dad about it.

He just sobbed and sobbed. He didn't understand why anyone would be so mean... and he said there were other kids joining in too.

I felt so sad.

I want him to be surrounded by people who uplift him and encourage him to be a better version of himself. I don't want him around people that tear him down.

I've thought a lot about this topic and simple things we can do. Over the next week or so I have several posts I want to share with you based on this topic of bullying... but for today I wanted to share four simple things you can do now to help prevent your child from being bullied. These aren't the only ways, but they are a great place to start.

4 Tips for Preventing Bullying

Teach them to choose good friends.

Help them find friends that celebrate them and their talents. Having a network of good friends who are supportive and thoughtful will make them less likely to choose to spend time with kids who put them down.

Encourage them to be involved and learn new things.

Children who are involved in activities that they love will make new friends with similar interests. They will have fun and gain confidence which will protect them from bullying.

Teach them to be good friends and support their friends.

Children can be taught good friendship skills from early ages. We spend time doing kind things for friends, supporting them in their activities, and discovering their talents. By focusing on being a good friend, kids build lifelong friendships. These friendships can protect them from bullying.

Teach kids to treat all people with respect and kindness.

Kids are always watching adults. We can teach kids to be kind and respectful through our examples. We can also teach kids to stick up for their friends (and others) and get help if they need it. By teaching them that all people are important and deserve respect and kindness, they will learn that no one deserves to be bullied and they will hopefully reach out and help if they see someone being treated unkindly.

Bullying needs to stop. I want to challenge you to educate your kids about bullying and start now to help prevent it.

I also want to encourage you to take action and sign the TakePart Pledge below and put a stop to bullying!

Those that sign the pledge and comment below telling us that they signed will be entered into a special children's book giveaway featuring two books about bullying that would be great to have in your home library!

What you could win:

Spaghetti in A Hot Dog Bun: Having the Courage to Be Who You Are has a great message and reminds kids how good it feels when they do what is right. The story also talks about how the little girl deals with teasing.

Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon teaches kids to celebrate who they are. It is a book about a girl who is bullied and what she does.

Giveaway Entry Requirements:

MANDATORY- Sign the TakePart pledge below.
MANDATORY- Comment in the Google Form below to let us know you took the pledge. *Include your email so we can contact you if you win.

Entry Guidelines:

This giveaway is open for entry from Friday, April 12th to Monday, April 29 at 11:59pm (PST)

One random entry will be drawn on Tuesday, April 30th. I will notify the winner via email.

The winner will need to reply to me within 72 hours of this announcement/email. If there is no response, a new winner will be drawn.

See our Official Giveaway Rules for complete guidelines. US Residents only.

Enter the Giveaway (after you've signed the pledge)

Have you ever been bullied?
Has your child?
What other strategies have you used to help prevent bullying?

You can find more resources at Stop Bullying.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. This post was sponsored by TakePart but all the opinions expressed in this post are mine. I was compensated for participation in this campaign. Thank you so much for supporting my blog and the occasional sponsors that I work with.