Mummified Toddler

Lately, we've done quite a few activities around here (I'm much more for the activities, than I am crafts... don't know why... that's just me, I guess). However, alot of these activities have not been real winners... but I'm going to keep trying --


I think the more exposure of new things to do, the better.


The biggest disappointment was this 'Precious Gifts' (I like to call it the 'Mummified Toddler') activity I saw at The Mother Huddle - and not because its a bad activity - I just got really excited to do it, maybe too excited... I still have very high hopes for it - and Henry was just not in the mood and I didn't quite do it right...


Anyhow - the activity involved wrapping Henry up in a roll of toilet paper (yes, it took the entire roll... and then some). As I wrapped him up, I talked about his body parts and tried describing them in non-judging ways (which is very hard, I might add...). What I did wrong was wrapping his legs and arms separately - next time I'll make sure they're together and against his body.

After he's completely wrapped up, he gets to break free of the toilet paper, or unwrap himself (the Precious Gift). If I had wrapped his arms and legs together - it was have been more 'breaking free' than just unwrapping.






He really didn't get into any of it... I thought we'd be rolling around the floor giggling. Or jumping around in excitement. So this was my disappointment.






I'll try again. This has to be a great activity -- I just have to wait for the right moment to try again.










... you see Blue Dog in each of the pictures?

Activity: Marshmallow Snowman Craft

So its been a little snowy outside and Henry has yet to actually get out in it and PLAY. He's been outside, but its usually to help Dad shovel the driveway. And he doesn't last too long. He's a smart boy - he knows he's cold and he just comes inside.


Anyhow - so I thought it was time to make a snowman. And since its really hard to get outside myself with a 3 month old. Henry and I made one out of marshmallows! I found this one over at No Time For Flash Cards again [I tell ya, that blog is AWESOME!].

I did most of the prep work - drew the snowman, face, buttons and arms. 
I left the nose off and we just used a scrap piece of orange paper and cut a triangle - Henry glued it on all by himself [he LOVES that glue stick!!]. 


Then I outlined the snowman in regular glue and Henry went to town adding the marshmallows. He followed the outline perfectly - I was quite shocked. He did like to smash the marshmallows to make them stay in their place. 

We decided to add some snow to the bottom of the snowman with some cotton balls. 
Henry loved to tear them up. 

It's now hanging proudly on my fridge [my favorite part of doing this].

Oh - and by the way - can you believe George is already 3 months old?! Here's some 3 month pictures I took of him [I'm practicing still, obviously!] He's growing rapidly and smiles all the time now [which makes him MUCH more pleasant to be around!]. I still have a hard time capturing that smile - its only happened once so far. But I still like how these turned out.

Updated to add a link to Best Toys for Toddlers High Paw 

-- Henry's Snowman was featured there on 1/14/11!! --

Scavenger Hunt - Indoor

Henry and I did an Indoor Scavenger Hunt. I came up with a list of things that he could find around the house and put in a bag... this was our first scavenger hunt and I wasn't too sure how well Henry would do, so we started out simple.


First we did some objects:
- Spoon
- Pen
- Mitten
- Comb
- Piece of Paper
- Ball


Then I tried to be a little pickier with those objects:
- a PINK car
- the letter 'V'
- a DIRTY sock
- THREE books
- ONE Kleenex
- a picture of your BROTHER


Then I tried just using descriptive words for items that were open ended as to what he could find:
- Something that keeps you warm
- Something blue
- Something that makes noise
- Something you put on your head
- A tool you use to measure things


I was impressed with what he knew to bring. 


The only fault I see to this - what do you do with the items once they've been collected? I felt like it was very open ended and needed something to be done with them.


So, I'm trying to come up with a 'daily' scavenger hunt to prepare for the day ahead.
- a book you'd like to read with Mom today


However, that's all the further I've gotten... everything else I've come up with, he can't get himself... I've thought about making flash cards with the choices and he could pick which one he wanted. But that takes out the 'scavenger' part of the game. Got any good ideas?


Eventually, I want to get into hunting for objects that start with a letter that I tell him, but I know we're not there yet. He does know what some objects start with, but that's only because we have books that say - L is for Lion - and he has those memorized. 


I didn't get any pictures of our hunt - but Henry really liked the challenge of looking for stuff. This is usually a problem he has when he thinks of toy he wants to play with - he doesn't usually try to look for it... he just assumes he can't find it. Hopefully this will teach him that sometimes you have to look around and dig to find what you're looking for.


Have you guys done any indoor scavenger hunts? I'd love to hear of objects that you have them look for.

Meet Blue Dog - H's very best friend.

Meet Blue Dog.

I've often wondered what a healthy lovey relationship is. The last few days, I've wondered it more and more. H has a blue dog (named very thoughtfully - Blue Dog) that he won't let leave his sight. Since we had baby #2 - G - he has started treating Blue Dog like his own child - just like we take care of G. 



Blue Dog takes naps.Blue Dog cries.Blue Dog needs a bone.Blue Dog gets a bottle.Blue Dog gives hugs.Blue Dog gives kisses.Blue Dog needs to be quiet.Blue Dog needs his toy.Blue Dog barks.Blue Dog gets time outs.

It took a long time for H to take on the lovey. In the beginning, I think it was more a teether for his 2 year molars coming in. He chewed on the tail constantly - it was often soaked. Blue Dog got washed A LOT (I SOOOOOO wish he had another...).

I've given in and started treating Blue Dog the same way he does. At night when they go to bed (H and Blue Dog -- they can't be separated) - I have given them the rule that they need to be quiet at night - they can talk, but it has to be quietly - if they do not follow this rule, Blue Dog gets to sleep with Mom for the night. This has yet to happen. Only once have I taken Blue Dog away at night and that was before I implemented the rule (that night I put it into action) - since then H has been quiet when going to bed.
In the morning - very often - the first thing I hear is a 'bark' coming through the monitor from H's room... Blue Dog is up.
Blue Dog tags along almost everywhere and is quite often tagging along in our day to day activities that we've been doing. Here's some pictures where you can spot him hanging out too.

Puzzle - Tutorial

Okay, so I thought my vehicle puzzles were pretty nifty... until I found this VERY  NIFTY blog - Pink and Green Mama -- she did a 3 tutorials on how to make puzzles out of an old calendar page (or really, you could use any picture you have or a magazine page even). 


Check it out here.

I think I'll try this random shape puzzle :) So excited!!

Truck, Semi and Cement Truck Puzzles! (FREE PRINTABLES!)

Simple homemade puzzles!


Who would have thought? 














I found the cement truck idea at Toddler Approved! - she had a free download for a delivery truck - but I loved her cement truck so much, I tried to make my own. 

(Check out my printables : free page to download PDFs of these puzzles and more)

I also made Henry a tractor and semi because he LOVES the farm. I would have asked him what he'd like me to make for a puzzle, but I'm sure he would have said a combine... and how would I make that? That's something I have yet to figure out how to draw.

These are simple puzzles that I just drew the outline of the vehicle (in Illustrator) and then cut out the corresponding shapes out of construction paper (next time I'll use card stock so its sturdier - or may even laminate them).

I let Henry pick out what colors he wanted each part to be. Most things, he wanted yellow (surprising.... maybe drifting from his favorite green...)






Then I just set the paper in front of him with the pieces and he put it together like it was nothing. (He also told me each part as he put it on... including the 'air brake' for the semi).


I'm so stoked about this because Henry has never been very into puzzles yet. 

I tried my best to create most things in ordinary shapes (some didn't work out so well, i.e. the semi) so we could work on shape recognition as well.

I think this is one we'll be bringing out a lot (oh wait, it has yet to be put away). I think I'll also create some other farm things, too - maybe a wagon or a barn or bins...


Great learning opportunities : shapes and colors!

RESET for Quality Moments

I just wanted to quickly share a link to a blog post at Clover Lane that I really felt nailed this household right on - and also kind of the whole reason for this blog...

The magic RESET button: 

spending a few quality moments with my children every day - make a world of difference!

Just remembering that makes it easier - the smiles on their faces help too :)

old activities : new fun!

How's everyone doing with their New Year's Resolutions? I'm loving this one I made to be more hands on with my kids! It has brought a lot of fun to the house - along with more resolutions. 

Most of the activities that we do around here take no longer than 15 minutes (what toddler has a longer attention span?) and the prep work I do doesn't take much longer than that either. As long as I have the materials - we're good to go! 

Here's what's been going on around here:

1) Magnetic Snowman! I thought this looked so cool over at No Time For Flash Cards. So I found some sticky foam and cut out some circles and made the snowman. I had a large magnet that I got for free from the library a long time ago that I stuck the foam to - and its a 'build your own snowman'! Henry helped with the buttons - he chose green (is there another color?). 

The snowman ended up with 3 feet because I made the first two facing the same way - and then Henry just thought it was necessary to have three. 

 2) Making things outta boxes! This isn't anything new in our house... and we really don't MAKE anything out of it - we just label it as something and that's what it becomes to Henry for the day. Its usually a Garage... He took his tools in for the day and worked inside.

 3) Stacking canned food! I thought this could be SO much fun!! I found this in the Toddler's Activities book -- Henry stacked a lot of them up himself, as long as they weren't the same size he did great (he made a very tall tower at first, but it fell and he got very frustrated). However, when they're the same size, they have no 'nesting' part on the bottom, so they have to be perfectly aligned. So, I built the 'castle' - Henry used it as a garage (what else?) to park things.

The most fun for Henry in this activity was hauling ALL the canned food in my pantry to the toy room table. Henry used his new dump truck he got at Christmas and hauled away!

4) Cooking with Mom. This is also nothing new around here - but I've learned to embrace it a little more and find more jobs for him to help out with. He loves helping make dinner with me.



(look at my fridge in the background! - see the Wrapping Paper Stocking from Christmas? The Marshmallow Snowman? And the new Magnetic Snowman!! LOVE!)