Tuesday June  23rd / Toddler Peek-A-Boo

Parental Note: Object Permanence is established between 8-10 months of age. This is when babies start to look for objects that have disappeared or gone out of view. They will continue to test or play with this new idea all through their toddler years.

There are many ways to play peek-a-boo

-Simply hide behind your hands
-Put a blanket over your head
-Hide toys under the blanket
-Even flip books are a peek-a-boo game
-Make your own flips with a post it notes and a book
-Hide under the covers

Saturday June 20th / Baby Doll Bath Day

Toddler and Preschooler

This started because I was cleaning out the baby bathtub for a friend who's pregnant and ended a few hours later with a great new activity! Both kids loved it.

I loved my son telling the baby doll "Ok, we are going to wash your hair now, ready? 1 (pour water over her head) 2 (repeat) 3 (repeat). Ok baby, we're all done, that wasn't so bad was it?" I laughed really hard, Has he ever heard THAT before??

You need:
Baby bathtub or a plastic bin
PLASTIC baby doll
water
wash cloths
baby soap
cup for hair washing

Take the tub outside, fill it with water. Tell the kids they have to give the baby a bath! Give them wash cloths, soap, and anything else you use in the tub. You can show them what to do or sit back and watch to see their perception of bathtime! Your choice on the type of doll, I chose our plastic one that could get wet.

My toddler kept telling the doll, "ALL CLEAN!"

Monday June 1st /Sensory Table
watch video above
Toddler and Preschooler:

I have debated about adding this one, because it is not something everyone has at home. I decided to add it because it is hours and hours of fun and it is easy.

You need:
1 large plastic container
1 small plastic container (see pictures)
or a "real" sensory table
white rice
cornmeal/baby oatmeal
scoops, funnels, strainer

Watch Video
I started out with the plastic set up before my preschooler grew way to tall for it. Then a relative made the wooden one you see. They are also available from Lakeshore Learning www.LakeshoreLearning.com (no profit for me in this advertisement) or any teacher store.

Bins:
#1.The first bin has colored white rice. You can color rice by adding rubbing alcohol and food color in a plastic bag or large bowl. Stir it up and let it dry. It has a strong odor as you make it but that does not remain. You do not have to color the rice. This is not edible. I woud suggest bin #2 for small toddler who still puts everything in their mouths.

#2. The second bin has baby oatmeal and cornmeal. We started using cornmeal and oatmeal because our toddler would still put things in her mouth and I didn't want her eating uncooked rice. If she happened to put this in her mouth, it is icky but no real worries. It has a great texture to it except that it clings to hands and is a little messy.

#3. Shredded paper. I took bright colored paper and ran it through our paper shredder, crumpled it a little and put it in the bin. The I added fireman and knights (the size of army men) and mixed it all up. My sisters boy came over (5years old) and intently dug through until he found all the little men and lined them up on the outside. I was surprised this was still appealing to that age group.

#4. This is a mismatched bin of foam letters, foam colored cubes, and plastic unifix cubes. We build and chat about colors and letters when we play in this one.

#5 & 6 This is an adapted game from Montessori. These are real glass bowls with rice, and beans and noodles. The kids use metal spoons of different sizes and scoop from a large bowl into the smaller bowls. It takes coordination to do and the sounds of metal on glass are interesting. They have to learn to be careful when dealing with breakable things.

I change the bins frequently. Myhusband was surprised after we got this because "They will play with ANYTHING you put in there!!" Yep, they will. I have other bins in the closet ready to come out and switch it up!

Todddler and Preschooler and Dad

You will need a mailing tube or something like it.
We have an expanded collection of tubes: one long mailing tube, one short fat mailing tube, one clear plastic tube from the hardware store ( I have no idea what it is really for!), and the inside tube from home decorating fabric from the fabric store. We tried the inside tube from gift wrap but it was not sturdy enough.

Idea #1
Attach the tube to your railing on the steps. Show you child how to put small balls or match box cars in the "top side" and watch them come out the bottom. You will be pleasently surprised at how exciting this is to a child. Repeat, repeat, repeat!

Idea #2
Same mail tube. Just place this one in the middle of your couch. It will stay because you balance it on the back of the couch and secure it between the couch cushions. Now place a hat, bucket, bin, anything and catch all the objects that roll out. I let me preschooler climb on the couch and do this one. His favorite thing to put through the tube is small cars and he figured out that if they are "wheels side down", they go much faster!

Idea#3
My daughter is a toddler and too young to climb up on the couch, for her we got a shorter fat mailing tube. We put it at a shorter height for her as well. She can fit many different items through it!

This one deserves a video! If you video your little ones playing this send me your youtube link and I will insert it here!

Toddler:
This is not actually super easy to put together, but it has been a favorite toy in my house for two years. I made it when my son was a toddler and it keeps coming back out of the closet and is always met with excitement.

You will need: an empty liquor box with the compartments, empty clear plastic bottles, numerous different objects (keep reading)

When you go to a liquor store, be sure the inside compartment piece is still inside your box. Collect empty clear plastic bottles that will fit into the compartments. I used water bottles. The box we have holds 12 bottles.

Ok, now fill each bottle with something different. Your toddler will take these out and put them back in repeatedly. They will also look, shake, tip, and explore each bottle. Try things that will make great sounds like beans, rice, small bells, tea, glitter, and buttons. Try putting half water and half oil in a few bottles with food coloring. These bottles will make waves or be kind of like a lava lamp. Put water in only half the bottle with a little dishsoap, so when they shake the bottle there will be bubbles. Put in water and small pieces of yarn, the yarn will seem to dance when you tip the bottle back and forth.

HOT GLUE ALL TOPS ONTO THE BOTTLES SO THEY CAN NOT BE OPENED!!

Tip: I did not like the look of a liquor box in the playroom :-), so I used mod podged pictures on the side of family, friends, and characters. The sides of this box have been equally fun to look at and talk about.

Toddler:
Toddlers love to stack, unstack, stack, unstack. You may own the toy that has multiple cups that fit inside one another? Here is the same concept but with everyday items. This idea came from both my children (at various ages) doing this over and over again.

Give your toddler a stack of plastic cups. The kind you would use at a birthday party for drinks. They will spend a long time taking them apart (and hopefully putting them together). They may need help and direction on the putting it back together! If they like it change it up and hand them a stack of paper bowls, plastic bowls and cups, anything in your cupboard that fits inside each other and is not breakable.

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.