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! 💰  

Confessions from Toddler School: Snow!

🎆Happy New Year!🎆

I hope this year is starting off smoothly for you all! We've been sick since before the holidays so it's been a little rocky here and a whole lot of exciting with the launch of our brand new subscription boxes! Check it out in the tab above if you're interested! 👆

We're kicking off this year with a snow theme - and wishing for some real snow of our own. It has been the mildest winter ever. Mostly dry. No colder than 40 everyday. It's been weird. So hopefully our snow theme will bring some flurries our way! ❆❅❄

Here's what we did this week:

You can get my blank thematic planner here.

Books:

We read some really fun snow books this week but the favorites were definitely Puppies in the Snow

and Snowmen at Night. 

The rhyming and counting in Puppies in the Snow was Cohen's favorite part. 

And I really love the hidden pictures in the Snowmen series! My husband and I even took the book to bed a few nights to try and find all the pictures 🤣 It's harder than you think!

Activities:

Hidden Snowball Words:

Our sensory table this week was super quick and easy to throw together! I threw some cotton balls in along with these snowball words and both boys had a blast! Cohen liked reading the words and Avery liked breaking apart the cotton balls. Win-win!

Build-A-Snowman Words

This one turned out so much cuter than I expected! I made these little hats and snowballs for the boys to build snowmen (and words)! Cohen's reading skills have gotten so strong that I'm starting to introduce word families and increase his vocabulary. For Avery I just talked about the letters as he destroyed everything in his path 🤣

Snowman Bean Bag Toss

This is a really easy movement activity to set up for any theme! Just pick your shape, obviously ours was a snowman for this week, and then write whatever skill you want to practice all over it. Cohen chose letters so that's what we did. 

We all took turns throwing the bean bags and saying the letter and sound for wherever it landed. This one has been a favorite all week! We play it multiple times a day. 

Snowman Emotions

We talked a lot about emotions this week because, well, we're 3 and that is a tough age. We're dealing with some pretty big emotions and are learning how to process not only our own but also how others  are feeling as well!

This activity was perfect for that! I put together this little snowman and a variety of face parts for him to make different faces. After some free exploration and face making we talked bout things that make us feel happy, sad, angry or surprised!

I then would give him examples and he had to make the appropriate face for the snowman. For example: When it's snowing the snowman feels ______. When the snowman loses his scarf he feels _____. I was actually very impressed with how well Cohen did identifying feelings. Now if only we could see that in practice. 🙄 

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

Up next week: Penguins 🐧

Confessions from Toddler School: Spider Activities for Toddlers!

Boy oh boy am I behind on my blogging! Sorry! 

The end of October was just nuts! 

My youngest turned 1 and it was a whirlwind of birthday parties, photo shoots and cake smashes! But we did squeeze in a few toddler school activities for our spider unit and halloween unit (up next!) The spider unit is one of my all time favorites! Something about the webs make for the best activities! IMO. 

Here's what we did this week:

You can get my blank thematic planner here.

Books:

I did not get a picture of our books this week but you can see the list on the planner up above! Our favorites were:

The Very Busy Spider and Itsy Bitsy Spider!

Activities:

Spider Games: 

This is one of my favorites (I know I say that all the time, but seriously, this one has so many possibilities!). We played a few different variations this year:

Walk the web: I placed the spiders around the web and would call out a word for Cohen to walk to while balancing. At first he wasn't so great at understanding what I meant by balance/walk on the line but after a few tries he got really good! I think next year I will make the web MUCH bigger so I can play on it too though.

Spider Toss: We tossed the words onto the web and tried to get them to land on the web! Cohen thought this one was hilarious when he missed the web and I would say "so close!' 🤣

Toss the Spider and Read the Words: An adaptation from the spider toss above. But this time we used a spider toy and tossed it onto the web trying to land on a spider word. If we landed on a word we would read it and collect it. Whoever had the most at the end, got to go first the next time!

If you want these cute little spiders to go with the activity, you can find those here! I've included the blank set and the spider descriptor word set.

Appearing Spider Web Art:

I love that Cohen is finally starting to get into art projects! Up until now he hasn't had much interest or would try for half a second and then give up. But now he's engaging more in the artistic process and I love seeing his creativity come out!

These appearing water color pictures were a huge hit! I don't think I've ever seen him engage in art for that long! 

If you've never done this before it's super simple! All you do is use a white crayon to draw any picture on paper. Give your little ones water color paint to reveal the image!

Spider Web Obstacle Course:

This was another easy one to set up! I set it up during nap time so it was a surprise for the boys when they woke up! I used white streamers and created a web obstacle course! 

Originally I wanted one they had to actually crawl through but given how naughty my oldest had been, I figured that was an accident waiting to happen so I opted for an over head one they just crawled under. I loved seeing the boys play together with this one.

Bonus: We had fun exploring the shadows created by the web!

Spider Writing Plate:

I made this cute spider plate with a black plate and some construction paper. Just fill with sugar and you've got a fun writing plate! One of my big goals with Cohen right now is working on his handwriting (we haven't really done much of that up until this point). So this activity was a perfect pre writing activity. 

To start, I just let him freely explore the sugar by drawing and shaking. I would then model a letter for him and have him trace my letter. Then we would reset the plate (like an etch a sketch - you lightly shake to clear!) and he would try it himself. On the letters he struggled with, I would hold him finger to help direct him. 

**Not pictured** Sticky Web Toss:

I tried to get a decent picture of this but if I'm being honest, they looked hideous! it was set up similarly to the obstacle course but instead of streamers I used black masking tape with the sticky side out. We then used tissue paper balls and threw them at the web to stick!

Outings:

No spider specific outings this week! Although our backyard is overran with spiders and intricate webs if that counts!? 

Up next: Halloween! 🎃