Hands-on Heart Activities

 

Last year, I found these hearts at one of my favorite places to shop for learning materials..The Dollar Tree.  I used them for a Valentine Sensory Bin.  This year, I got them out for a baby that I care for.. she's 9 months.  Above, you can see her trying to problem solve to get the hearts on and off of the bears.  Great baby thinking activity and helps to strengthen those itty bitty muscles in her developing fingers. 

 



The 18 month old that I care for above enjoys hiding them in the small rice bin.  Little Man age 3.. enjoys using them in his rice bin as well.  I hide them in the bottom and he goes on a heart expedition!

5 more ways to play with hearts..

Sorting by color.  Cut out three large hearts.. Red, Purple, and Pink.  Have your tot place the heart bracelets on the matching construction paper heart. 

Counting- how many pink hearts can you find?  how many red?

Patterns.. Pink, Purple, Purple, Pink....

Toss... Cut the top off of an old milk carton.  Can your child toss the hearts into the container?

Tracing... Have your child trace hearts on to a blank sheet of paper.  Use different colored pencils.

Happy Valentine's....
Jen

Toddler Activity

Materials
Plastic Salt and Pepper Shakers
Plastic bear pics

I found the above materials at the Dollar Tree recently.  For fine motor developement, I created this simple activity.  The bears pics are rounded at the edges, so you don't have to worry about your little one getting poked. I found them in the baby shower section. 

Always something interesting to be found that can be used in a different way to promote learning and growth! 

Jen

Purple Color Activities

At little man's request, we had a PURPLE day-Yeah.  We had fun playing with an all things purple tray. (see above)   We also explored purple flash cards from bright hub education featuring real life photos.

Color days are so much fun.  Try some of these activities...

Paint with purple paint
Using recyclables, dip the bottom of a jug in purple paint.  Stamp circles on the paper.  I did this with my little man age 2.5 and helped his buddy (age 1) with her project. We talked about the circle shape as well. I extended this activity with little man by mixing paint with him.  I squirted red and then blue and told him to watch what happens when they come together.  He thought it was pretty cool how red and blue creates a brand new color!

Be sure to watch out for any purple monsters while you are painting.  You never know when they might just appear!

Color with a purple crayon
The little one that I take care of.. age 1, loves to color.  She does such a great job for being just a little peanut.  Look at her artwork below!

Read books...

Create a Purple Yarn Puppy

I printed the doggy printable online.  You can draw your own dog if you'd like.  I actually got this idea from 365 Days of Creative Play by Sheila Ellison and Judith Gray.

Play with Purple Play-doh

I made mine by mixing red and blue that I had on hand, but I'm sure you can get creative with Kool-aid or food coloring if you are making homemade play-doh.

And don't forget about this guy...

the big purple dinosaur!

More purple ideas... be sure to share!

Jen

Bendaroos Activities

Bendaroos... my girls have packs and packs of these.  Didn't realize that it would be one of little man's new creative toys.  He discovered that he can twist them and form them and then stick them on the chalk board. 

And if they start to fall off.. "Mommy, I need tape, pwease."  Such a calming activity for him and he will play with these Bendaroos for such a long period of time. 

Why Bendaroos for your toddler/preschooler?
 -sensory/fine motor play
 -teach colors
 -creative thinking
 -counting
 -to form letters or numbers

You also find more learning activities organized by age level on Bendaroos main site.

Do your children play/creative with Bendaroos?  If so, share ideas... please!!

Jen

Little Quack Counts and Activities

Little Quack is an adorable and curious little duckie!  In the book, Little Quack Counts by Lauren Thompson, Little Quack explores things in his world around him. He counts ladybugs, fish, dragonflies, and bees.  The book takes a fun twist when he counts the bees!  Perfect beginner book for babies and toddlers or those just learning to count.

Activities

Little Quack Craft: After drawing Little Quack on paper for the kids, I had markers and crayons available for them to color.  Paint would also be a good option.  I talked about how the duck is yellow with an orange beak.  Next, we pasted a feather on Little Quack.

Explore Feathers: After creating Little Quack, the kids (ages 13 months and 2.5 enjoyed exploring and playing with feathers).  Little man liked fitting as many feathers as he could into a small bottle.  Great sensory activity for little hands.

Color Fun:  We had a yellow day... being Little Quack is Yellow!  We talked about the different objects that were yellow.  Also, played with yellow pom poms- transfer activity.  And of course we had to play with yellow Play-doh! 

Fun day for the little ones with lots of beginning learning!

Jen

Ocean Sensory Bin

I've seen many beach themed sensory bins around the blogosphere that I absolutely adored, so I decided to make one for little man.  Let's just say it was a BIG hit!  He must have played for an hour or more. 

 Materials:

Dollar store toys: dolphin, submarines, fish, shark

 Seashells

Water Beads

 We played with and without water.  It's hard to see the water beads above, but little man had fun playing with them in the water. 

Water and sensory play all in one!

Here are the beads with very little water- above.

Big sisters couldn't resist, either!

Little man just looked over my shoulder and yelled..

"Seashells!  I play and water!"

Do you have a summer themed sensory bin to share?

Just leave a link in the comments!

Jen



Letter Tt Activities



Play-doh Cavity Critters Activity

 Tt is for Tooth!  My inspiration for this group of activities was.....

Yo Gabba Gabba!

Yes, those little guys can be annoying, but they taught my son a lot about teeth through music and play.

Activity 1: Play-doh Cavities (see pic-top of page)

Materials- laminated tooth, laminated tooth brushes, play-doh

Object: Scoop the play-doh off of the tooth so you don't get cavity critters!- fine motor fun, concept development

Adaptation: roll a die and scoop off the number shown- counting

                    

Activity 2: Happy Tooth, Sad Tooth Felt Board

Materials: Felt Toothbrushes, felt Letter Tt, card stock teeth

Object: Clean the tooth with the toothbrush- now it's a happy tooth! Color recognition, concept development

Activity 3: Toothbrush painting

Activity 4: Matching Tt's

Object: Match the letter Tt

1. You can match an upper case T with a T or lowercase with each other.

2. Or match the uppercase with the lowercase.

Clipart source for teeth... http://www.freeclipartpics.com/

Teeth printable



Oh, he loves the letter Tt! Oh, he loves the letter Tt.......

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        For more fun with the letter Tt, check out            Tt is for Turtle.

Jen





Toilet Paper Roll Color Match

A HUGE THANK YOU to.... 

 for this awesome upcycle idea!

The Princess and The Tot: Toilet Paper Roll Sorter

My version is very similar, except I added a different feature on the back.   I listed the numbers one to five on the back for counting activities and number recognition.

 

If I can get more than one use from a manipulative, I'm all for it- saves time and money!

 

Little man is loving his new desk!  Isn't it adorable?

A special gift from his Aunt.

Be sure to stop by Princess and the Tot to see other great hands-on activities for little learners!

Jen

Toilet Paper Roll Bunny

Little man and I had fun making these toilet paper rollbunnies.  He made the nose and whiskers himself, as well as the inside of the ears.  I thought he did a fine job for being only 2 years old!

Materials
Construction Paper
Glue
Markers
Google Eyes
Cotton Balls

Directions: Measure paper to fit around roll.  Cut and glue around the roll.  Next, cut out ears and glue inside the top of the roll.  Glue on eyes.  Decorate face- help young child where needed.  I drew the mouth and teeth for little man.  Glue cotton ball on the back of the bunny.  Now you have a cute decoration for Easter! 

Have a wonderful day!

Jen

Happy Easter- Storytime and Activities

Our Easter book collection is filled with many, but one of my favorites is Happy Easter by Kurt Weiss. The storyline is cute, but more than anything, I adore the illustrations. 

With colored paper, a marker, scissors, and my handy dandy little laminator, I made these centers for Little Man to go with this delightful story.




MATCH THE BABY CHICK WITH THE MATCHING COLORED EGG

 

COLORED EGG PUZZLES

 

Just a little Easter fun while we practice our colors, matching, thinking, and fine motor skills!

Jen