Toddler School: Apples, Apples, Apples

We love apples around here! I'm pretty sure I could fill an entire month with apple activities. I had a really hard time narrowing down the activities I wanted to do for this week, but I decided to do a balance of favorites and new activities!

If you're new around here, here's the run down on how I toddler school:
- I do weekly themes with my little ones
- All activities are adaptable to meet your kiddos wherever they are
- Each activity is play-based and focuses on the development areas of your little one
- I do one activity a day (usually) that lasts around 20-30 minutes

I'm not going to lie - this week has been a challenge to get everything done! Between coming off of the flu, Cohen starting preschool and Avery getting his 2 year molars it has been a tricky balancing act for sure. 

Here's what we did this week:

You can get my blank thematic planner here.

Books:

I did not take a picture of our bookshelf this week - oops! But here are a few of our faves!

Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship

by Edward Hemingway

Up, Up, Up! IT’s Apple Picking TIme

by Jody Fickes Shapiro and Kitty Harvill

Ten Apples Up on Top

by Theo LeSieg

Apples, Apples, Apples

by Elizabeth Wallace

Apple Picking Day!

by Candice Ransom and Erika Meza

Activities:

Apple Pie Sensory:

This sensory table smells AH-mazing! Dry oats, apple/cinnamon potpourri (for smell of course), measuring cups, apples (fake or real) and pie tins! We made lots of apple pie this week!

For added skill practice I would ask for specific pies: only red apples or 1 red and 2 yellow. You get the idea! Make it fun and educational at the same time!

ABC Apple Sticker Tree:

Stickers - a crowd favorite for sure! I made 2 different trees to accommodate both the boys skills and abilities.

Avery (2): Letter matching. For him I just did capital letters so they were an exact match. He has about 90% of his uppercase letters down now so I will start introducing the corresponding lowercase letter soon! Avery was not a fan of the stickers. Every time it got stuck on his head he would say "no". It cracked me up! He had me put the stickers on and he pointed to where the matching letter was. 🤣

Note: If you follow my IG stories, you know that I always say the letter name AND sound together to start forging that connection. So when I say he knows his letter names, he is also learning the sounds simultaneously.

Cohen (4): To extend the activity for Cohen we did -all words! He changed out the beginning sound with stickers to create new -all words. He is a really strong reader but doesn't have a strong grasp on rhyming yet so I am working on rhyming and word families with him.

Indoor Apple Picking:

This activity was a big hit! To set up: Tape off a tree on the floor and add apples (paper, plastic, real - it doesn't matter!) Call out an apple for your little one to "pick". (Ex. Pick a green apple. Pick a small apple. Pick an apple with a worm in it.)

To make it extra cute you could even provide them with an apple picking basket to collect their apples in!

Homemade Applesauce:

We went real apple picking too! However our favorite u-pick had closed for the season so we couldn't actually pick anything - bummer! But we did grab some fresh apples while we were there! So we used those to make some homemade applesauce.

I love getting my little ones involved in the kitchen and food prep whenever possible. I think it is a really important skill that is often overlooked these days (in my childhood included). This recipe is super simple and your kiddos get to do all the work fun!

Here's how to make it:

1. Peel and boil apples ahead of time until soft

2. Place apples in a ziploc bag

3. Add 1 tsp. lemon for every 2 apples

4. Add cinnamon to taste (optional)

5. Let your little one squish the apples in the bag! Shake. Squeeze. Stomp. Anything goes!

6. Scoop out and enjoy!

It really is that easy and my boys loved it!

Apple Sorting:

I am a big fan of sorting activities and I like to incorporate them into most of my themes! I just love all the skills they use for this simple activity! For this one I hid our apples around the house so the boys had to seek them out first and then they got to sort. 

For Avery (2): We sorted by color

For Cohen (4): We sorted by rhyming words

The best part? Just re-hide and replay as many times as you'd like!

STEM Apple Tree:

We busted out our building and problem solving skills with this fun STEM activity. I'm going to be honest with you, we don't do nearly as many STEM activities and I wish we did. I'm going to try to incorporate 1 a week from now on, but we will see how that goes.

Materials:

TP roll

Green Popsicle Sticks

Red Poms

For this one the challenge was easy: build an apple tree that could hold all 6 apples. It was really cute (and impressive) watching the boys problem solve as they learned about balancing and weigh distribution. I was really impressed to see the many different trees they created!

That's a wrap! No printables this week!

Up next week: Fall Leaves 🍂🍁

Toddler School: Football Theme!

Toddler school is back! And in true #momlife fashion this is the week that both of my kiddos get the flu! Go figure. 😅 Needless to say we didn't get everything done that I wanted to but such is life. We are just rolling with it!

 It feels so weird good to be blogging again. And I am so excited to kick it off (see what I did there!?) with a fun football theme! 🏈

If you're new around here, here's the run down on how I toddler school:
- I do weekly themes with my little ones
- All activities are adaptable to meet your kiddos wherever they are
- Each activity is play-based and focuses on the development areas of your little one
- I do one activity a day (usually) that lasts around 20-30 minutes

Here's what we did this week:

You can get my blank thematic planner here.

Books:

One of my favorite things about setting up a new theme is getting all the cute books that go along with it! Here are some of our favorite football themed books:

Austin Plays Fair

by Tony Dungy

Dino-Football

by Lisa Wheeler
**Cohen (4) is dinosaur obsessed (like many 4 year olds are amiright?)
so this one was by far his favorite**

Goodnight Football

by Michael Dahl

My First Book of Football

by Beth Bugler

My Football Book

by Gail Gibbons

NFL 1-2-3
**Avery (almost 2) LOVED this one in particular. It was so cute
hearing him read the numbers for me**

T is for Touchdown

by Brad Herzog

Activities:

Football Sensory Table:

This is a super cute and easy to set up sensory table! We just used our green rice, mini footballs, mini helmets, mini trophies and goal posts. Anytime I'm working on a new theme I always take a trip to dollar tree first! You can find all kinds of fun themed things there to toss into any sensory table 👌

Encourage your little one to explore the sensory table! Use helmets and trophies to scoop. Flick footballs through the field goal posts. Just have fun with it!

** In the beginning little ones will need supervision and help learning the boundaries and rules associated with sensory play **

Touchdown Letters:

Using yellow construction paper create goal posts onto butcher paper. Print out the letters included and glue onto butcher paper. Practice calling out letters and having your little one find them!

Don't want to create a giant field goal? You can get a small printable version here! Fo' freesies!

Football Drop:

Prep football drop box by coloring a shoe box green and adding goal posts. Cut slits into the box and label with shapes! Print and cut out football shapes (you can get these in the activity pack below!) Work with your little one to identify the shapes and drop into the right goal post!

Football Cubes:

Print and assemble cube. Let your little one roll the cube and identify the number shown. 

To add in a little gross motor fun: once your little one identifies the number have them do that many jumps, laps, etc.

Football Art:

Football Kicker:

Truthfully we did not get to this activity this week due to all the sickness but it is super easy to set up! Using plain 'ol paper write numbers 1 through 5 (1 number per page) and lay on the floor in a line - think like a football field. Let your little one kick a football and call out the number they get!

Want any of this week's printables?  You can grab them here!

Up next week: 1st Day of Preschool 🏫

7 Tried and True Tips for Traveling with Toddlers

Traveling with little ones - that's a daunting topic isn't it!? Gone are the days of carefree travel where you can choose any flight, leave any time, stay anywhere and eat anything. There's a lot of preparation that goes into traveling with little ones but I can help you with some of that!

You know how much I love to plan activities so it's no surprise that I prepped all kinds of activities for our various travel adventures! I'm here to share some of our favorites with you to hopefully make your planning a little easier! Whether you’re traveling by airplane or by car these tips are sure to keep your little one happy and engaged!

1. Cookie Tray: This is my favorite tip! Seriously, if you do nothing else, do this! This tray is the perfect catch all! I can be used a a snack tray, an activity table and they’re even magnetic! Plus they're a dollar! Can't beat that!

2. Magnetic Puzzles - This was quite possibly the activity that gave us the most bang for our buck! Just add magnets to the back of puzzle pieces so they stick to the tray! This can even be done with foam puzzles for the youngest of travelers. 

3. Countdown Strip: To curb down on those “Are we there yet?” questions, use masking tape and mark off the hours of travel! Bonus if you print out a little car or plane and move it along the strip as you go!

4. Water Wow: These things are magical (quite literally!). You paint with water to make the colors show up on the picture. Then once they dry, you paint again! They are the perfect travel size, reusable and mess free! 

5. Gel Window Clings: These are really fun to use on airplane windows or on those cookie trays in the car! My little ones love to put them on and take them off over and over again!

6. Snacks: This one is obviously a no brainer - but lots of snacks! Think of things that are mess free and take awhile to eat (raisins, cheerios, etc).

7. Scavenger Hunt/Map: Before each trip I research the route to our destination and draw up a little map for the boys. Nothing fancy (if you've seen my drawing skills, you know I'm not kidding 🤣). I include any land marks we might see (bridges, lakes, waterfalls, buildings, etc.) Even the youngest of travelers like the know what to expect and follow along on the adventure! And engaging them in the travel is part of the fun!

That's it! Those are my favorites! I hope they help you plan out your next trip!

Enjoy your adventures! 🛪🚙

Tiny Toddler Box Launch!

I know I haven't posted in awhile but that's because I've been working on something really exciting: the launch of my Tiny Toddler Box!

Throughout my toddler schooling adventures I have gotten so many questions and comments about the activities we do and how we find the time to do them! It seemed like there was a need out there for activities geared towards toddler development that busy families could easily whip out with no prep work required! That where the #tinytoddlerbox comes in!

Here's the quick and dirty - you can find additional information by clicking subscription box or FAQ above!

Who: 

The Tiny Toddler Box is geared toward toddlers of varying ages and abilities primarily focusing on the 1-5 range. All activities are easily adaptable to your child's level and abilities. You may need to provide more guidance and assistance for the younger toddlers while exploring the activities to help build their language and motor skills whereas the older toddlers can play independently. It's all about what's right for you and your little one(s)! 

What: 

A monthly themed toddler box shipped right to your door! Each box includes 6 activities prepped and ready to go! Each activity corresponds to one of the key developmental areas of toddlers: Movement, Cognitive, Language, Sensory, Social/Emotional and Art Development!

**To see some of our past boxes click on the subscription box link above**

When: 

Boxes ship on the 1st of the month! To sign up for the "current" box you need to sign up by the 25th of the previous month. For example, in order to get "April's box", you must sign up before March 25th. 

April's theme is SPACE!   🌚🌞⭐☄

Where: 

Boxes ship right to your door!

How:

Just follow the link below! Signing up is quick and easy - just choose the right subscription level for you! 

Why:
There are so many reasons that I could list for why you should give it a try - but until you try for yourself you won't know the benefits for sure! 

I can tell you this: I started these toddler activities with my oldest (now 3 1/2) when he was 1. He is now exceeding the benchmarks for 1st grade in reading and math! The activities are made to be fun and engaging but also prepare your littles ones for school in a play based way!


If you have any questions just let me know! I would love to answer them!  

Confessions from Toddler School: The 5 Senses

This week we focused on our five senses! We started with a little picture of Cohen that we used to label his five senses and we spent the rest of the week exploring them! I really enjoyed this week! He's at the perfect age to really enjoy the activities and start making the connections! It was really exciting to see him so focused on these activities and using his five senses in other ways throughout the week!

Here's what we did this week:

You can get my blank thematic planner here.

Books:

Truthfully we didn't have any themed books this week! The list above are some of my favorites from teaching but we didn't have much luck at the library when we went this week.

Activities:

Sight Scavenger Hunt:

This activity was all about our sight! We made these simple DIY binoculars from toilet paper rolls and then went on a scavenger hunt around the house! The binoculars were the perfect fine motor activity for both boys - even Avery loved it! 

Cohen's favorite toys right now are his "Moana babies" (I did't realize that was "weird" until I typed it out 🤣). So I hid them around the house for him to find with his binoculars! 

I also printed off this little checklist for him to check them off as he went! I had a feeling he would really like this activity so I laminated the sheet ahead of time so that we could play over and over again. And let me tell you, I'm glad I did! 

Sound Tubes:

This little sound activity was super easy to throw together! I took some empty playdough containers and wrapped some white paper around them, numbered them and filled each one with small items I had around the house. We used coins, pom poms, q-tips, rice and small lincoln logs! I love the flexibility of being able to switch it up whenever I want as well 👌

I made these little picture cards to help Cohen identify the mystery items inside - you can find these picture cards along with a blank set of # cards in the activity pack below! Both boys loved shaking and listening to the items inside. And Cohen was surprisingly good at identifying what was inside by just the sound!

Smell Bottles:

These smell bottles were a huge hit and I had so much fun making them too! I used these little sauce cups we had just laying around, poked some holes in the top and put in some scents we had around the house. I used:

- vanilla

- lemon

- lavender

- peppermint 

- coffee

but you can totally get creative! The possibilities are really endless with this one - just rummage around your kitchen! 👌

Taste Exploration:

I had so much fun putting this one together! I scoured our fridge and pantry for a nice combination of sweet, salty, spicy and "other" for the boys to taste. Luckily my boys are not picky eaters and will eat anything put in front of them so I knew this would be a hit! If you've got a picky eater on your hands this is a great way to get them to try new things too! 

If you'd like this rating sheet you can get it in our activity pack below! 👇

What's in the Box?:

We did not get to this activity this week! But honestly I am okay with that! While Cohen is a super adventurous eater he isn't so adventurous when it comes to tactile stuff (even with all the sensory activities we do). And Avery just makes everything a mess so I'm relieved we got busy this week and didn't have time for this one!

It's pretty explanatory though - put different tactile things in boxes and have your little one reach in. Some ides:

- cooked noodles (nice and slimy)

- cotton balls

- beans

- dirt

Literally whatever you think would be fun to touch! Let your little one explore and guess what might be hiding inside!

Want any of this week's printables?  You can grab them here!

Up next week: Nursery Rhymes 

Confessions from Toddler School: Money!

 This was a quick and easy week. I tried to keep it light so that I could focus on getting my first subscription box out the door. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should definitely try one out! Next months theme is dinosaurs and you can't go wrong there!

Anyways, enough about that, if you want to know more you can check the link above! ☝

This week was all about Money, money, money! MONEY! 💰 
I'm sorry, I had to! And if you didn't sing along, I'm not sure we can be friends. 

Here's what we did this week:

You can get my blank thematic planner here.

Books:

I have been searching for some fun and simple money books to introduce coins and money concepts to young toddlers but I haven't really found any that I like! Do you have any you like!? I would love recommendations! 

Activities:

Identifying Coins:

I think it’s really important to teach kids about money young so they learn the importance of it and practice healthy saving and spending habits as they grow up. And this all starts with being able to identify money and understanding that we use money to buy things!

I set up this simple anchor chart and printed out the coins on label paper (so no tape necessary👌). We worked on identifying the different names, heads and tails, value and terminology (cents). Cohen then put the stickers in the correct places! Throughout the day I’ll ask him to go point to a coin by name or by value to help him practice and retain the new information 💰

Sorting Coins:

We loved this little activity! I took the same coin stickers from the previous activity and put them in a muffin tin. In retrospect I really should have shrank them down to fit into the muffin tin but I didn't want to have to reprint and recut. But don't worry, they're the right size in the downloadable packet!

As we sorted we talked about heads and tails and identifying the names as well - he's getting really good at sorting out the differences between the silver coins after only a couple of days of practice!

Coin Rubbings and Matching:

This activity did NOT go as planned. I showed Cohen how to do it and he couldn't care less. You win some, you lose some. 🤣All he wanted to do was sort the coins and practice their names which was fine by me!

The rest of this week was more about real life application! We sorted his piggy bank and then took it to be deposited into his savings. He loved talking with the bank teller and asking them to put it into his savings. He looked so proud! We also had him "work" to earn some spending money to get a feel for earning, buying and saving. He loved it! He loves helping so it was just icing on the cake to actually earn something while doing it. His favorites were helping with the dishes and helping dada with his work. He earned a whopping $2 (one dime a time haha) and spent it on a new hotwheel car (shocker!🤣) and a pack of honey teddies! The rest went into his savings. 

Want any of this week's printables?  You can grab them here!

Up next week: The 5 Senses!👁👃👄👂✋  

Confessions from Toddler School: Penguins

Penguins were one of Cohen's first loves and they are still definitely a favorite around here! Fun fact: Cohen's love of penguins was what inspired this toddler school journey of mine and it was our very first theme ever! 🐧

Unfortunately we didn't get to do all of our activities this week due to a rousing emergency room visit (everyone is fine but this sick season is no joke!) We've been resting and reading a lot of books instead. 💙📕💙

Here's what we did this week:

You can get my blank thematic planner here.

Books:

We did a lot of book reading this week due to this lovely illness! There are so many amazing penguin books out there and it is really hard to pick a favorite but these two get the most laughs and repeats!

Penguin Gets the Hiccups - This book is beyond adorable! If you haven't read it, it's about a cute little penguin who gets the hiccups from eating chili. He tries all kinds of tricks to get rid of them but nothing works. The book elicits child participation to help scare the hiccups away too! Super cute.  But make sure you have your fake hiccup sound ready to go because you're going to need it!

Personal Penguin - Who doesn't want a personal penguin!? I mean seriously, how adorable woult hat be? Almost as adorable as this penguin book by Sandra Boynton! It's actually a song! So we sing it all the time. And I mean ALL the time. It's about a little penguin that just wants to be a hippos personal penguin! 💕

Activities:

Penguin Habitats

I always love how this sensory table turns out! The pictures really don't do it justice. We use instant snow and lots of ice! Every night I let the boys collect cups/tupperware/bowls, hollow toys (anything that can hold water) and we will with water to freeze for the morning! Then all we do is throw in these little penguin figurines.

Feed the Penguin

I love how adaptable this activity is from the variety of containers and penguin shapes to the skill on the fish!

First choose any empty container and turn it into a penguin! This time I used an empty cracker box but I've used cereal boxes, shoe boxes, milk jugs and even an empty cottage cheese container! They always turn out super cute. Just use construction paper and voila! Penguin 🐧

**Tip: Don't forget to think through an emptying strategy once the penguin has eaten all the fish...I learned this the hard way the first time I made one. Don't be like me. **

Next print out your fish and choose your skill! You can get these fish in the printable activity pack below or find your own! I like to laminate my fish so I can switch up the targeted skill as much as I want! These bad boys have lasted me 3 years if you can believe it! The activity pack includes the colored fish as well as a blank white set for you to write your own skill on!

**Tip: Bend the fish tails up so they're easier to pick up off the ground. There's nothing worse than watching your little one struggle and then get frustrated and give up before it even starts!**

Penguin Movements Obstacle Course

This was so much fun! We really needed some fun body movement activities after being cooped up for so long. This did not disappoint! Turns out his love of penguins perfectly translated into the love of being a penguin. 

I used black masking tape to mark off the obstacle course and then these cards to label the activities! See my IG highlights to see how we set them up!

Want any of this week's printables?  You can grab them here!

Up next week: Money! 💰