New Baby and Linky!

Hello all! Exciting news! My precious baby girl was born April 2. She is doing well just needs to work on gaining a little weight (She lost 3/4 lb since birth and hasn't gained any back yet). Now I need to work on a nickname for her for the blog. Let me know if you have any ideas. Also, my son needs a nickname as well. Leave a comment if you think of one!

Here is a pic of my son from Easter.

Also, I am staying home with the baby for 6 weeks, (and Summer is coming soon as well) so I am keeping my son home from daycare as well. I want him to continue learning while he's at home. If you have any ideas, please link them up below. It would be greatly appreciated. I feel like I haven't been paying him the attention he deserves with trying to breastfeed and take care of the baby. Thanks!

Tutorial Tuesday: Pretend Play

Pretend play is such an essential part of childhood. My 2.5 year old has a grand imagination and loves pretending. Aiden enjoys making caves from blankets. Any time things go over his head (power lines, trees, bridges, etc), he sees them as tunnels waiting to be explored. Lately, he has been playing under the dining room table saying it is a tunnel. I decided to set up a little invitation for pretend play.  

 Our table has drop sides that make for a natural tunnel. I hung a blanket to the front and back creating a cave. 

 

Inside the cave, I placed several of his stuffed animals.  

 The animals were going to have a party in the cave, and they needed some supplies. I added some foam letters to a toy pan for some alphabet soup. I placed the soup on some torn pieces of orange paper that represented fire.  

 To a bowl of cheerios, I added some magnet letters and a spoon. The letters on top spell Aiden's name.  

 A stack of plates and a few plastic discs completed the setup.  

 When Aiden awoke from his nap, he saw the blankets covering the table. Curious, he looked at me. I told him he could go in the cave and see what was there. He crawled in and saw the party that awaited. He made some noises of excitement and began to play. "I'm going to eat some cheerios," he said. "My animals want some, too." He passed out the plates and gave them each some cheerios. He pulled the letters out of the cheerios and named them each. "A - I - D - E - N that spells Aiden!" He gave the animals magnet letters and foam letters to eat along with their cheerios. Not only was he practicing letter recognition, he was also working on fine motor skills by serving the animals. As he talked to the animals during his pretend play, he was working on language skills. Pretend play is a wonderful venue for practicing a number of different skills. It's all up to your imagination. Thanks for letting me share our fun with you! Would you like to see more ideas for toddlers/preschoolers from me? Here are a few of my favorites. What Can you Learn from a Cardboard Tube? 20 Ideas for Practicing Measuring Outdoor Sound Hunt Inspired by Mr. Brown Can Moo. Can You?

 

Trisha is a stay at home mom to her 2-year old son, Aiden. She writes about their adventures at Inspiration Laboratories, a blog dedicated to encouraging learning through creativity and play. Trisha is an educator with a passion for science literacy. It is never too early to start encouraging science learning (or any kind of learning for that matter). Follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.

20 Toddler Goals Fulfilled at the Beach

Well, we are here at the hot, sunny Lake Erie (except for that one day of crazy thunderstorms we got stuck in) for the week and I thought I would share some of the things with you that my toddler has been learning. The objectives I am using come from the draft of the new early childhood content standards for Ohio. The age group is "Younger Toddlers."

OBSERVING YOUR SHADOW

1. Show a sense of satisfaction when making things happen. (Approaches Toward Learning)

2. Recognize self as a separate person with distinct characteristics. (Social and Emotional)

THROWING ROCKS/SHELLS IN THE WATER

3. Using trial and error to discover how things fit and move in space. (Math)

4. Use trial and error and repeat actions to explore objects. (Approaches Toward Learning)

USING TOOLS TO DIG, SCOOP, POUR, AND FILL

5. Repeat actions intentionally to achieve goal. (Approaches Toward Learning)

6.Use objects in new and unexpected ways. (Approaches Toward Learning)

7. Explores the environment through a variety of sensory motor activity. (Approaches Toward Learning)

8. Use both hands together to accomplish a task. (Physical Well-Being and Motor)

GATHERING, COLLECTING, GROUPING ROCKS/SHELLS

9. Pay attention to quantities when interacting with objects. (Math)

10. Notice changes in quantity of objects. (Math)

MATCHING SIMILAR SIZES and COMPARING DIFFERENT SIZES

(disclaimer: my son did not do this, it is just an example)

11. Match 2 objects that are the same. (Math)

12. Shows awareness of the size of objects. (Math)

WRITING IN THE SAND WITH A STICK

(disclaimer: my son also did not do this)

13. Use a full-hand grasp to hold a writing tool to make scribbles. (Language and Literacy)

And here are the rest of the goals/objectives that we covered at the beach while doing all these activities:

14. Purposefully try behaviors to make things happen. (Science) 

EX: scooping and pouring sand, throwing rocks

15. Try out different things with an object to see what happens or how things work. (Science)

EX: throwing rocks at different lengths, at different angles, or different heights

16. Focus on an activity for brief period of time (Approaches Toward Learning)

17. Show emerging signs of responding positively to limits and choices offered by adults to help guide behavior. (Social and Emotional)

EX: reminding child to share toys with other children

18. Walk with increasing coordination and balance. (Physical Well-Being and Motor)

19. Participate in active physical play. (Physical Well-Being and Motor)

20. Follow adult intervention/guidance regarding safety. (Physical Well-Being and Motor)

EX: reminding child not to go too far out into the water

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DIY Feltboard

Here is a felt board I made for the classroom awhile back and now use it with my son. It is just a piece of cardboard with black felt glued on and then a cardboard border with colored masking tape to decorate it. Very simple. I also made another one which I can't find now, but it was thicker. I used 2 empty fabric bolts from the store and taped them together. It takes a lot of tape, but was quite sturdy actually.

 Remember, you don't have to use felt to make pieces for your felt board. Laminated pictures with velcro on the back works as well. I made 4 sets of some different things that L is familiar with. The first is food as shown above.

Farm Animals

 Vehicles

Toys

To make these, I photocopied the images from a book I got at the library, colored them with crayons and then laminated and added the velcro.
I think this way is easier than cutting out felt, although I have made some of those as well. I like the idea I saw at library storytime for making felt pieces, using fabric paint for the details.

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Animal Homes Books for Toddler/Preschool

We have been going to the library toddler storytime this week and I wanted to share some of the books we heard. Unfortunately my sweet little boy was being not-so-sweet today and we didn't get a chance to write down the names of the books that were read, but nevertheless, here are the ones I did remember:

Also, I have come across 2 great sites with lists of more books about houses/homes:

Family Reading Partnership

The Miss Rumphius Effect

Have fun reading!

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Wishlist Wednesday: Toddler Approved

This week, we have Kristina from Toddler Approved, an awesome blog with so many wonderful ideas for toddlers on up! Please stop by and show her some love and appreciation for guest blogging here today.

Hi, I'm Kristina over at Toddler Approved. I am thrilled to be here at Lori's blog today! I am currently a stay-at-home mom with two kids (ages 4 and 1) and in my past life :) (before kids) I was a National Board certified elementary school teacher who taught a special day class for children with mild to severe disabilities. My blog is just a way to help make our lives a little bit more educational, creative, and fun. I blog alongside of one of my best friends and am loving all of the new people I have met through this experience.

I have loved reading through many of the previous Wishlist Wednesday posts and really have had a difficult time trying to decide what to share with you today. I am a pretty simple mom. We make do with what we have when we want to create and we have far too many crafty supplies. We love books and I would love rooms full of them, but my husband would probably go a little bonkers if we added any more to our collection! One thing that has been on my mind a lot lately is who I am becoming as a mom and an educator for my children. Last week I wrote a post sharing Eight Ways to Deal with Anger as a Parent because I have been struggling with that lately. So today I thought I would share with you my "mom wish list." If my kids could express it, this would be their wish list. I am a work in progress on all of these items!

I wish for a mom who...

• says yes every time that I ask her to come play with me
• looks for the good in me each day and then teaches me to DO good through her example
• is well rested and energetic and takes good care of herself
• teaches me to be a good friend to others 
• allows me the independence I need to grow and learn on my own
• has high expectations for me but loves me despite any silly mistakes that I make
• always listens when I am talking and pays attention to me (doesn't multi-task while we are talking) 

That's just a start... I could go on and on. Do you have a wish list that your kids or students would make about you?

The Lid Game

Here is a very simple to create activity for very young children. I think I started this with L when he was about 9 or 10 months and he still loves it at 15 months. I got the idea from his school. They took a plastic container and cut a slot in the lid. Then the child can slide in baby food lids or some other small lids. For added benefit, you can add photos of family members, classmates or anyone you would like your baby/toddler to learn their names.

This was L's favorite activity for the longest time and he still plays with it once in a while.

You can also make a sort of family tree with circles just big enough for the lids so the child can match the person's name to the picture for older children or you can put a photo on the family tree for younger children. I love this idea because it allows children to see how family members are related in a very tangible way. It is hands on and hopefully more meaningful. And maybe they will even be less shy around the family because they are used to seeing their photos.

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Coffee Filter Art

I thought it would be nice if L made his grandparents a Valentine's card, so we set out with coffee filters and markers. I didn't really plan how it was going to happen, so it turned out good that he just wanted to make dots all over it!

Then, we used the spray bottle... well I used it, he hasn't quite figured it out yet.

 Here is what our filter looked like while still wet.

I cut a heart out of it and placed it on top of a scalloped-edge white heart on the front of the card.

 Here is the inside.

BAM! As easy as that, you have a handmade card by a one year old! Well, sort-of anyways :) Plus, I know this is a little late for Valentine's Day, but the same idea can be used for lots of different types of cards and projects. Have fun and get creative!

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Storytime Sunday: Parts of the Body

This week, since I am returning from being on "blog leave" LOL, I am going to talk about a few things my son has been really into recently. He loves the book "From Head To Toe" by Eric Carle, and of course, I am a huge fan of Eric Carle. Since I realize I haven't even mentioned his name on this blog for a while, I decided to go ahead and go with it. He loves more than anything I think, watching mommy and daddy be silly and do all the animal movements. Some of which he will imitate, but mostly he would rather laugh at us. 

Also, though the doctor recommends no screen time under the age of 2, and we were pretty much following this rule up until a couple months ago if for no other reason than he wouldn't even look at the TV when we turned it on. But now, he is obsessed with Baby Einstein. He will even go to the TV stand, open the drawer and take out a video and bring it to one of us. Also, we have a long drive to and from his school/my work, so I have installed the portable DVD player in my car as well for him to watch.

Made out of an old pair of jeans :)

Anyways, one of the videos is Baby Da Vinci. It shows a hand drawing different body parts, kids displaying said body parts and them performing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." My son has recently taken to doing it as well. It is so funny to watch him try and do it by himself.  So in short, I highly recommend these 2 items for any baby/toddler!

Here he is totally fascinated by the baby on the screen!

Happy Reading/Watching ;)

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