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

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

Sensory Fun with Coffee

What do you do when you spill a container of coffee on the floor?  Just turn it into a sensory experience for your toddler!

 Benefits

1.  You won't feel guilty that you just wasted 1/2 a container of coffee.

2.  The kitchen will spell delightful.

3.  Your child will be thrilled to explore a new material. 

I tried to get him to pretend that it was dirt for his trucks, but he kepts saying.. "No, Mom. It's coffee!"  Too funny.

Jen

Wordless Wednesday: At the Car Wash...

Water Play inside or out... it's fun!

For more W.W., be sure to visit-

5 Minutes for Mom and Project Alicia!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

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



The Letter Ss Activites: Part 2

Sensory fun with Snakes with a Sssss sound and letter focus!

And now the reveal from our Ss painting project....

And one more surprise.....

A poem that I wrote for our little ones to enjoy!

           Five Silly Snakes 

Five silly snakes sliver by the shore,

Out jumps a bear and then there are... four.

Four silly snakes sliver by a tree,

Our jumps a skunk and then there are... three.

Three silly snakes don't know what to do,

One slithers away and then there are... two.

Two silly snakes laugh and have some fun,

Out jumps a fox and then there is... one.

One silly snake is feeling all alone,

Until he sees the other snakes

Have slithered...

All the way home!

Have a SUPER day!

Jen



A Gem of an Activity

Gems, gems, gems.... Little man has had his eyes on these gems for quite some time now!  I actually use them for my positive behavior jars for the girls.  Something that you'd hear around our house....

"Thank you for putting your dish in the sink-  put a gem in the gem jar." 

Anyways, little man finally got his hands on them, so I let him play a sorting activity with his older sister. He loved it!  Great for sensory development and fun with different colors.

Afterwards, Sissy decided to make a one-hundredth day poster for school.  She counted out 100 gems for her poster.  

Do you have any more ideas for these sparkly gems?  Please share your ideas!!!

Jen

 

Wordless Wednesday: Dinosaur Fun!

and to read ....

Happy, Happy Wordless Wednesday!
Be sure to visit 5 Minutes for Mom, too.

Jen

Christmas Exploration Box


I couldn't wait to put this together for my little man!  It was so simple, too.  I used items around the house and some thrifty dollar store finds.  Gotta love the Dollar Tree! 

Contents: pom poms, snow flakes, bows, jingle bells, mini garland(cut),
wrapped toilet paper roll, mini stocking, Christmas gift box

Embrace this beautiful season,

Jen

November Sensory Bin and Leaf Play!

I just love the dollar store.  I found these silk leaves there, as well as the fake gourds/pumpkins.  It was very easy to change over my Spooky bin from October to our November fall bin.  Little man loves the silk leaves and really has been enjoying the sensory bins that I've been making for him.  Often, I catch the older girls playing in the bins as well- which is pretty cool.

Here are a few or more ideas for silk leaves....

*Toss them around the room for indoor fall play.

*Counting

*Sorting- green and orange.

*Create math problems.  (Sally picked up 5 leaves, but 2 blew away in the wind.  How many does she have now?)  Use the leaves as manipulatives to solve the math problem.

*Beginning multiplication.  3 groups of 4 leaves= 4x3=12  Use the leaves as manipulatives to count groups.

*I think I've seen letters written on the leaves with permanent marker.  This would be fun during the fall months for ABC practice or spelling practice. (if you have extra leaves for more letters)

*Create a thankful tree.  After sharing what you are thankful for, add a leaf to the tree each day. 

Okay, your turn!  What are your ideas for these wonderful $ tree leaves??

And for more sensory play ideas, be sure to visit...


Take Care,
Jen

Spoooky Sensory Bin! (on a budget)

I was so excited to find this Halloween pack at the $ tree!  For one dollar, beans and mixed rice at home, I was able to put together this economical and fun Spoooky bin!  All of my kiddos love it- as you can see. 

And where do I get my inspiration...(my 7 year old typed in 'my kids' when I wasn't looking- too cute)  what I was going to type before I got distracted was....

Pink and Green Mama 
She has an awesome post titled Sensory Boxes 101: Tips and Inspiration.

Enjoy your Friday!
Jen

Scoop, Scoop!

Little Man had so much fun today playing his new game- Scoop, scoop!  Actually, it more of a sensory activity than a game.  What do you need to play scoop, scoop?


Dry beans(love the colorful one's pictured; we only had one color)
Little scoops, spoon, small medicine cup
A small cake pan to hold the beans
Another small container for transferring beans back and forth
Little toys or cars

Wallah- kept him occupied for the longest time and great for fine motor skills and sensory development!

Take Care,
Jen

(note- this is a supervised activity.  Some children may try to put the dry beans in their mouths depending on the age of the child.)

The Toddler Times: 5th Edition-Water Play

Take one under the bed storage container.
Add water.
A few toys.
And what do you get... Summer time fun for little man!

The big kids wanted to play, too!

Enjoy your day,

Jen

The Toddler Times! 2nd Edition

Welcome back to The Toddler Times! This week, I'm going to share another simple sensory activity.  Sometimes the activities are thrown together at the last minute, like this one.  See below.

What did I find lying around the house? Easter grass!  I thought that it would be interesting to see what he would do with a pile of it.

Pulling the strands one by one and then moving it to different areas on the tray was fun for a bit.







Until.... He wanted out of his seat so he could explore elsewhere!

So, this is Mom's idea of sensory play.  Would you like to see Little Man's idea?

Hmmm.  Be sure to see what is going on when it gets just a little too quiet in the house!  





Sisters- watching TV instead of little brother. 
Little brother- sitting on the floor pulling a tape apart.
  
Was I angry at the sight of this- of course not- he was trying to figure things out- what happens if I turn this, what if I pull this, how much of this awesome stuff is in here?  He was exploring and discovering. He was doing science? How could I be mad?  

Why sensory play?  Be sure to read this awesome article written by Amanda Morgan at  www.notjustcute.com.


Have a wonderful day with your little ones!  I'm off to camp to do puppet shows for a bunch of enthusiastic campers!


Jen

The Toddler Times! 1st Edition

The Baby Times has now become The Toddler Times!  Why?.... because my baby is a toddler now...sob, sob.  Every Tuesday I am going to try to post toddler related themes and ways that we can enrich our toddler's lives together. This week's issue focuses on a simple and inexpensive sensory activity.

During our last Target trip,Sunshine girl asked me to buy pom poms for her for her crafts, well little man thought they were for him!

I thought- okay as long as I'm here and he doesn't try to eat them, why not let him play. What a great tactile activity. So I got two containers and filled one with the pom poms.  He then started transferring them from one container to the other.  Next, I sorted them by color.  Little Man only tried to put them in his mouth once. So colorful and round- he probably wondered if it was candy in the bowl!   I called them balls, which he understands is a toy and he didn't try to eat them again.  


More Awesome Ideas on the Web...

Activity Mom
Pom Pom Activities
Baby's First Sensory Tub
Magnetic Pom Poms

Child Care Land
Alphabet and Counting with Pom Poms

What ideas do you have for play with Pom Poms?

Take Care,
Jen