Sunday April 26th / The Sunday Paper!
Toddler:
We know toddlers do not read but they ARE aware of print. You can use the Sunday paper and look at the pictures and words. The ads are a great place for your toddler to look at. Try a "Picture Walk" with your toddler. Look through all the pictures and see if your toddler can name and identfiy objects. You will need to start and they will jump in.  Try the food ads and see what foods they can recognize by the pictures.

Toddlers are known for seeing a symbol and recognizing where they are or what it is. Examples; Does your child know Mc.Donalds as soon as they see the golden arches?? (I'd love to tell you mine don't but....) What else do they know? What else can they "read"?  Mine also recorgnize the Target symbol, and the sprint logo (because we were at the store often for awhile!!), and many others. These are excellent pre-reading skills!

Preschooler:
You will need the Sunday paper, and two scissors.

One child size scissor and one adult.Take out the food ads and look through them with your child.
Show them how to cut out pictures. Then you cut out around 10 items that you have in your kitchen. Allow them to cut another ad of food items (cub and rainbow where I live), it doesn't matter if they cut correctly, just let them practice their cutting skills.

Glue your pictures to a piece of paper and decorate it like a teasure map. Explain to your child you are going on a treasure hunt in the kitchen to find the foods on your paper. You can add the word to the picture for literacy skills. Ask your child where they think each item will be...Is it in the refrigerator? freezer?  cupboard? shelf? pantry? etc. Follow their lead through the kitchen and make a large X over the pictures when you find them.

Practice literacy pre-reading skills by starting at the top left and "reading" across the page. We finished with the last picture (oreo cookies) and had a snack! My son thought making large X's with the sharpie marker was great, and he laughed if he guessed the wrong place for something.

April 27th Monday Music
MusicToddler Open Shut Them!


Open shut them
open and close fists
Open shut them
open and close fists
Give a little clap clap clap
clap three times

Open shut them
open and close fists
Open shut them
open and close fists
Give a little tap tap tap
Tap your knees three times

Open shut them
open and close fists
Open shut them
open and close fists
Put them in your lap lap lap
fold hands in your lap
Creep them ,crawl them
slowly creep them
right up to our chin chin chin
Crawl hands from tummy to chin
tickle your child along the way

Open wide your little mouth
Touch lips with finger tips
But do not let them in!
Quickly run hands down and tickle tummy

April 28th Tuesday / Number Sense / A Counting Day!
Parent Info: Give your preschooler three of soemthing to count. Now hand them two more objects. You will notice at age 3-4 they start to count over again; 1, 2, 3, 4,5. At around 4 1/2 or 5 years old they advance to "counting on". They will say "4,5 without starting over at 1!" Try it!

For toddlers it is a big deal when they recognize to count one objects per "point", meaning they understand each object only gets one number.

Today both Toddlers and Preschoolers can count! Tell them today is a COUNTING DAY.
First we have to find something that has only 1! Then find something that has 2! You can keep going until your child is no longer interested. We made it to 20 with the preschooler.  Your enthusiasm will rub off on them quickly, and you could be searching the house for items.

There are no rules. If your child picks up one block froma pile of 20 blocks, GREAT they know we count each one seperately! These are big accomplishments!

April 29th Wednesday I SPY
Toddler:The toddler version of this game can really be called "Where is it?" Just ask your toddler where things are and they will have fun looking for and bringing things to you. You can try and describe it such as; "Can you bring me the animal that says meow?" or "Can I have the person INSIDE the car?"

Preschool:
I spy with my little eye something that is "______________."
OR
I spy with my little eye something that can "_____________."

Ok, this where the game is RICH in language. Fill in the blank with colors, directional locations, size, etc.

Directional locations: On, Under, Beneath, Inside, Next to, Above, etc.


Preschoolers are old enough to understand the game and ask you questions too. My favorite is when my son says "I spy something with my little eye that is red. It's a stop sign!" silence "oops!" and cracks up because he didn't mean to tell me the answer!

The best thing about this game is it can be played ANYWHERE! ANYTIME! Once they know it play it while waiting at the doctors office, traveling in the car, or sitting in the backyard!

April 30th Thursday April Showers, Bring May Flowers
Tomorrow is May Day!  
Let's make some May Flowers.
You will need coffee filters, water colors or water and food coloring, paint brush OR an eye dropper.

Lay the coffee filter out flat. Use an eye dropper to drop small drops of color that will expand on the coffee filter and leave a nice design. You can also use a paint brush and just lightly tap the brush to the filter, you will get the same effect.  

Let the flower tops dry.

Glue the tops to the top of a piece of paper. You can add stems with crayons, markers, or cut stems from a piece of green construction paper.

Extend: Make your flowers into May Day cards and give them to others with a special greeting!

May 1st Friday / Muffin Tin
You need one large plastic bowl and a muffin tin

Toddler:
Put things to sort in a bowl on the floor and the muffin tin next to it. Shw your toddler how to place objects in the compartments and take them out. Toddlers will do this over and over. They may dump the bowl and be even more excited by the noise and action, just pick the things up and start over. You can also start this game by filling the compartments and putting out an empty bowl. (or switch it next time)

Things to sort in a muffin tin for toddlers: ping pong balls, cheerios, any cereal, any colorful objetcs that they can not swallow...

Preschooler:
This can be more advanced and use smaller objects. Most preschoolers no longer put objectsin their mouth. We have used buttons and small beads. I found a small bag of assorted beads at Michaels craft store. It is very fun to sort because it has many different things like; animals, shapes, colors, different textures etc. I will sit and sort too. Then I explain how I am sorting my and introduce new vocabulary and ways to sort objects. "I am putting all the blue ones in here and all the red ones in this compartment." or "I am putting all the hearts in here and all the squares in here" and/or "How are you sorting yours?" I did have to say that the beads were NOT CANDY because they looked like it.

Things for preschoolers to sort in a muffin tin: buttons, colored pasta, different shaped pasta, beads, anything that will fit into the tin compartments.



May 2nd Saturday / Water Play
Toddler and Preschooler:

Funnels. That is it really. Just add funnels to your bath toys and the result is amazing! I bought three funnels in a set and they have had hours, and hours of fun with them. They have small, medium, and large.  They get a kick out of pouring cups of water into them and watching them go through. They also jus scoop water and watch it run out. They can put the funnels in a baby bottle and fill the bottle wth out spilling. -Try it!


Remember to READ 15 minutes a day to your child!

“Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.”-Joseph Chilton Pearce, author on child development

April 19th / Toddler /Mirror Mirror on the FLoor
Mirror, Mirror, On the Floor
Mirror, Mirror, On the Floor,
Who’s the cutest of the all?
YOU ARE!
Put a non-breakable mirror on the floor.
Let your child make all sorts of faces and see themselves from a totally new perspective. Stand next to them and look down too.

Extend this and talk about feelings. This is how our face looks when we are sad, happy, tired, laughing, crying, shy etc.

April 19th Sunday /Preschool /Young Mad Scientist
Preschooler:
Collect between 10-20 rocks.
You can take a nature hike and make a big deal of finding them or simply go outside and collect them with your preschooler.

Put half of them in the freezer. We left them over night.

When you are ready to actually do the experiment put the other half of the rocks in hot water. (NOTE: we boiled them and the rocks were way too hot, we had to let them cool down before we could sort them.) Rocks hold cold and heat very well.

Now put all the rocks in a pile and sort them into hot and cold. Ask your child a lot of questions. Which are hot or cold? How did they get that way? What else do we make cold in the freezer? What else do we make hot in water? Have them guess before they pick up the rocks which will be hot or cold. Remember to use the words experiment and scientist!

Advanced: Is your preschooler able to write? Draw? Record your “observations” on paper or in a notebook.

Monday April 20th /Because Your Mine, I Walk the Line
Toddler and Preschooler
You will need one long ribbon or a piece of string

Roll out the ribbon (make a show of it). Now show your child how to walk the line like a tight rope walker or a gymnast on a balance beam. This is more difficult than you might guess.
If you have more than one child it is a good game to practice waiting in line and taking turns.

Perfected walking the line? Can you jump? Balance on one foot? Walk the line sideways? Turn? Go on tip toes?
We keep our ribbon on the shelf and the kids like to try unrolling and straightening it by themselves.

Tuesday April 21st /Music Time / Drive The Fire Truck /Itsy Bitsy Spider
Toddlers:
Grab your firemans hat and lets sing and pretend with actions!

My daughter’s favorite song is:
Hurry Hurry Drive the Fire Truck (tune of Ten Little Indians)

Hurry Hurry Drive the Fire Truck
(Pretend to drive the fire truck)
Hurry Hurry Drive the Fire Truck
Hurry Hurry Drive the Fire Truck
Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding
(Pretend to ring the bell)

Hurry Hurry Climb the Ladder
(Pretend to climb the ladder)
Hurry Hurry Climb the Ladder
Hurry Hurry Climb the Ladder
Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding
(Pretend to ring the bell)

Hurry Hurry Put the Fire Out
(pretend to spray water)
Hurry Hurry Put the Fire Out
Hurry Hurry Put the Fire Out
Ding Ding Ding Ding Ding
(Pretend to ring the bell)

Preschool:
Hands up, voices on, LET”S SING IT!

My sons favorite action song:
Itsy Bitsy Spider

The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout
(walk the your hands up finger tip to finger tip switching sides)

down came the rain
(fingers wiggle like rain coming down)

and washed the spider out(move your arms and hands like "out" in baseball, Dramatically)

out came the sun(form a circle with your hands above your head)

and dried up all the rain
(Wiggle your fingers like rain but go up not down)

and the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again
(walk your fingers finger tip to finger tip up again)


April 22nd Wednesday /Let’s Have a BALL!
We have two ideas for you this week for either toddlers or preschoolers.

*Clothes Line
You will need a string, balls with holes (like wiffle balls), and a place to tie the string on both ends.
First string the balls and then hang the string. You could put it outside between two trees or inside attached to two chairs. Your child can spin and slide the balls on the string.

*Beach Ball You need a beach ball and a ribbon.Attach the beach ball to the string(at the place you blow air in) and hang it from your ceiling or a tree. Your child can kick, hit, push the ball and it always comes back. This has been an amazing delightful game at our house!

April 23rd Thursday / "Shell" Game w/o the Gambling!
You will need three shells, cups, or small boxes and one object to put underneath.

Toddlers:Put three cups facing down on the table. Put an object under one cup. SLOWLY move the cups around and ask your toddler where the object is. Please remember this is a fun game and NOT meant to trick or frustrate your child. Cheer for them if they guess correctly and encourage a second guess, third guess if they are wrong.They have just learned object permance and will try to figure out which cup the object is under.

Preschooler:After you have played this game a few times your preschooler will enjoy moving the cups and asking you to guess where the object is!


April 24th Friday / Blanket Bonanza
You will need a blanket.
This is good for toddlers and preschoolers.

Have your child lay on the floor and lay the blanket on top of them. Quickly lift the blanket up and let it fall back down on them. This is a small version of the parachute game. If they don't like it -stop...if they love it keep going! (one of my children loves this and the other one does not care for it.)

Lay the blanket on the floor. Have your child sit on it and you take one corner. Drag them around the house. Be prepared to do this over and over and over again. Keep in mind your child age and there balancing ability. For small toddlers you must go slow...

April 25th Saturday /Obstacle Course
Toddler:
Ok your toddler has just learned to walk so they won’t be jumping over  hurdles and swinging on ropes yet but we can spice up the floor to make it a challenge. Get a large pile of pillows (throw in the couch cushions if you want) and let your toddler explore how to get up and over the pile. They may want to get up it and roll down too!

Preschool:
Label pieces of paper 1-5 and mark each “station”. Make five areas for your child to go through. Here are a few ideas but it could be anything as long as they have to go through a whole “course”. Make a start and finish line. You may have to go through it a few times with your child before they understand what to do and in what order.
1. Pillow crawl
2. Tight Rope Line
3. Build a Tower with Blocks
4. Throw a ball into a basket
5. Run around the cones.
FINSH LINE!

      Remember to read 15 minutes a day to your child!


"Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning...They have to play with what they know to be true in order to find out more, and then they use what they learn in new forms of play."
-Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Sunday April 12th Egcellent Eggs Game Day
You will need hard boiled eggs or plastic eggs / Large kitchen spoons

Egg Race: Try to balance the egg on the spoon and run around with it falling off. This can be inside or outside. It can also be a race or a free for all running around game.

Egg Hunt: Hide eggs filled with candy around your yard. Have a egg hunt / treasure hunt and collect the eggs. Remember to count the eggs before you hide them so you know if you have found them all!

Monday April 13th Let's Play Ball / Ball Challenge
Toddler and Preschooler
You will need one ball.
Challenge your child to move the ball in different ways and with different body parts. This is an activity rich in language and movement.Can you kick, push, throw, bounce, sit on, roll...the ball? Can you push it with your nose? Bounce it off your head? Kick it with your knee? Can you move the ball with your ear? hands? elbow? toes? feet?
Be prepared to demonstrate!

Tuesday April 14th Music / Tune In!
You need one radio.
Toddler: Turn on the radio. Go through different stations and move to the music. If it is classical slowly sway and try to have your toddler mimic your movements. If the music is upbeat clap, dance to the rhythm. This is difficult for toddlers. They may become more interested in turning the dial or pushing the button to change the station! Keep introducing movements related to the music.

Preschoolers: If you take your preschooler to a music or dance class or a large focus will be on distinguishing rhythm and following directions. You can do the same activity as the toddler but with more directions. Try to have your preschooler keep the beat with stomping, clapping, and swaying, tapping, etc. Have them try to mimic what you are doing. Watch and see how long it takes them to pick up the differences in movement based on what they are listening to. Once they have it, change stations, wait to see what they do, and now you follow their lead!

Wednesday April 15th Young (Mad?) Scientist /  Simple Machines
Toddler: Ramps
It is easy to build a ramp from materials in your house. You can prop a book on top of a block and let cars and other objects roll down it. If you have a large book prop it on the couch and send your cars down. This is simple to build and use. Look around for other  materials to build a ramp with, get creative! You may find your toddler building their own ramps all over the house.

Preschooler: Levers
You need one round object shaped like a stick and one ramp shaped object. Our favorites are a rhythm stick and a shimmy. This is wild and crazy fun. Place the stick down and the rectangular object on top. The official names here are fulcrum and lever. I love hearing my preschooler ask for his fulcrum and lever (it cracks me up!) You could also call this a catapult. We place little people on one side and see if we can catapult them to the ceiling by hitting the other side with our hand.

Thursday April 16th Raid the Kitchen/ Stop and Smell the Spices
Toddler and Preschooler
Take down your spice rack and sit on your kitchen floor. Smell the spices one by one. They may want to help take the caps on and off or hold the spices. This can be messy! They will be amazed and surprised at all the different smells. Discuss your senses and how you smell through your nose and taste with your mouth. You can tell them this is only smelling time or open it up to the sense of taste as well.

Extension- This became a favorite activity for my kids. I started saving all my old spice jars and put them in a large plastic bin with a top. I also asked friends to give me their empty spice containers. Then I can take out the bin and let them open and close the containers and smell them on their own. They love the smelling of the spices and the challenge of trying to open and close the containers.

Friday April 17th Bath Time / Water Play
You will need several inexpensive sponges and a bathtub.Toddler and Preschooler:Show your child how the sponges work. They soak up a lot of water and can be squeezed out. They can soak up water from a cup until it is empty and then be squeezed out to fill it up again. The can float like a boat in the water. They can be squeezed to pour water onto your body. (remember all those parts we talked about with the ball?) elbow, knees, etc and now add tummy and back, name the body part and squeeze water over that part. Let your child find different ways to get water in and out of the sponges. If you don't have a small basket for bath toys, start one now.



Saturday April 18th It Takes Time
Preschooler: This is an activity that takes time and patience, good things to start to learn at this age. Take your child outside with a small paper cup. Fill the cup with dirt and plant a few small seeds. Explain that seeds need three things to grow; dirt, water, and sun. It is a good time of year to start your seed because you will be able to transfer it outdoors into a larger container or garden in a few weeks. Then put the cup in a window sill. This will take some explanation, especially if they have seen a seed grow in a few seconds on TV. (like my son had) The concept of time and waiting is developing in your child and they will need help to understand why it didn't grow "right now". We used sunflower seeds and had small buds in a few days. We also needed to discuss how much water a small seed needs. :-)

Saturday April 18th Lap Sit
Toddler: This day is a completely separate activity for toddlers. You can certainly plant a seed in a cup with them and they will enjoy digging in the dirt but the whole concept of what a flower needs and how long it takes to happen is a little too advanced at this point.

Grand Old Duke of York / Lap Sit Song
You sing this song while you have your child on your lap. I suggest sitting on the floor with legs straight out.

Sing                                                Actions
The Grand Old Duke of York           -small bounces
He had 10,000 men                      -small bounces
He marched them up to the top of the  hill       -alternate legs (up and down) and "march"                                                                     your toddler up til your knees are bent
and he marched them down again   -alternate legs (up and down) and "march" your
                                                        toddler down till your legs are flat
And when your up your up              -lift knees until bent up (you can lift with arms if you
                                                        are strong enough)
and when your down your down      -straighten your legs flat
and when your only half way up      -lift your knees half way up
your neither up                              -bend knees and lift toddler up
nor down                                       -straighten legs straight infront of you

       
            Remember to Read 15 Minutes
 
                a Day to Your Child!


"It is a happy talent to know how to play"
-Ralph Waldo Emerson, philosopher, poet

April 5th- April 11th

Toddler and Preschool Activities


Sunday: House Tour
Toddler: Take your toddler on a "tour" of your house/apartment. See how many things you can give your toddler to touch, open, feel. Talk about textures (use words like smooth, rough, bumpy, sharp, breakable) and explain how things work.

Preschooler: Have them take you on a tour. Ask them to tell you about everything they see. What is important to them, what do they tell you about? Listen and repeat what your child is telling you about.


Monday: Colors/Bath Time
Toddler and Preschool
You will need food coloring. Add drops of color to the water in the tray. Use different colors in different sections. Freeze.
When your child takes a bath put ice cubes in the tub, one at a time. Watch how they melt. Discuss colors, how things melt, and temperature of water and ice cubes.

Tuesday: Let's Play Ball
Toddler: Sit on the floor and roll a ball back and forth. Get a small bin and try to throw the ball into it.

Preschooler: Take a laundry basket and try to throw the ball in it. Keep track of where you are standing and take steps back every time you make a basket. Discuss distance and speed. (Use words like fast, slow, far, near, closer, next to, and under)


Wednesday: Music/Raid your kitchen!
Toddler: Bang on pots and pans with spoons. Shake smaller plastic bowls inside larger plastic bowls. Watch as your toddler puts one bowl in and dumps it out repeatedly.

Preschooler: Use plastic bowls with plastic spoons, metal pans with metal utensils, and wooden spoons on a wooden surface (cutting board, small stool). Talk to your preschooler about the different sounds and different materials. See if they can notice anything about the sounds, or if they prefer one material over the others.

Thursday: Let's Get Messy!
Toddler and Preschooler
Let's finger paint. No worries about your toddler eating the paint...we can make edible finger paint! Pick a recipe from below. Use the "paint" on paper, paper plates, or directly on the tray of your highchair.

Recipe Ideas:
Flour and water
Pudding
Rediwhip
If you want different colors add food coloring.


Friday: Artsy Fartsy
You will need paper and crayons or pencils.

Toddler: Draw, show your toddler how to draw lines... "Big Ones" from top to bottom of the page, "little ones", curvy, circles etc. They will scribble and that is GREAT! Now write their name on the top and put it on the wall with blue tape or hang it on your refrigerator. Show any one who stops by and watch how proud your child is.

DISPLAYING ART-Blue tape is painter tape and a treasure with small children's art work. Hang it up and take it down with out ruining the wall. Another idea is to get a clothes line and hang that in the playroom, bassement, or on a bedroom wall. Use clothes pins to hang art work and easily take down and add to the line.

Preschooler: Ask your child to tell you about something they are interested in...dinosaurs, cars, babies, grandma, or family pet. Using only the bottom half of the paper, write down the "story" they tell you. You can do minor adjustments but try to stick to their version as close as possible.  Then give them the paper to draw a picture on the top. Remember to hang it up and tell them they are an author!

Ask questions to help guide them. 
"What color was it?"
"What happened next?"
"How did they feel?"
"What did it look like?"

Saturday: You Can Count On Me / Number Sense
Toddler: Show your toddler everything about their faces and how they have two of some things and one of another.

Two-eyes, ears, cheeks, eyebrows, nostrils
One-chin, nose, mouth, lips, tongue.
Be silly: Wink, blink, sneeze, stick out your tongue, PLAY!

Preschooler-Same as toddler but they have a longer attention span so you can move onto fives and tens.

Two-legs, arms,knees, wrists, hands, feet
Five-fingers on one hand, toes on one foot
Ten- fingers altogether, toes altogether

Extent this and talk about symmetry!


                    ALWAYS REMEMBER TO READ 15 MINUTES
                                A DAY TO YOUR CHILD!



"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation"
-Plato, Greek Philosopher