Toddler and Preschooler
You need: to take a walk outside
Today you can find Rocks.
As you walk collect rocks.
Discuss their size, shape, color, textures, and if they are pretty.
Bring your rocks home and paint them to be pet rocks!
You can give your rocks hair, googly eyes, nose, and mouth.
You can let your toddler paint the rock and after it is dry, you can put the face on it for them.
Tuesday August 25th / Family and Friends Photo Album
Buy a small 99cent photo album.
Take pictures of everyone in your family, friends, and pets.
Print and label each picture with the person's name.
Put the pictures in the album.
Sit down with your toddler and read the book.
Talk about each person and tell your toddler stories about each person or animal.
Next time you read the book have your toddler name the people and tell you about them.
Do they sit and read the book to themselves?
Tuesday August 25th / Feelings Photo Album
This is basically the same thing as the toddler idea, except instead of naming people you are talking about feelings.
This week I read a book called Touch Point: Three to Six, which described the preschool years as learning and becoming more aware of feelings. It is a time of frustration because they have feelings they never even recognized before such as; anger, jealousy, guilt, and more.
To help your child recognize and talk about these feelings, take pictures of yourself, them, and others with different facial expressions and put them in your album with labels. Sit down and "read" the book with your child and discuss these feelings. Make up stories about the emotional and why the person feels this way. Ask your preschooler if they have felt that way. Ask them to "tell me more about that." Be sure to use open ended questions that can be answered with yes or no.
What does it feel like to be angry?
What makes you angry?
What does it mean to be guilty?
Have you ever felt that way?
sad, mad, happy, loved, embarrassed, proud, joyful, silly etc etc.
Wednesday August 26th / Prism
sunny day or flashlight
1. Hang a prism in the window where you have direct sunlight and watch the rainbows.
2. Direct rainbows on other objects and talk about it. "Look, there is a rainbow on your pillow."
3. Give the prism to your toddler (with supervision!!!) and let them direct rainbows on objects from sunlight.
4. You can also use a flashlight to make rainbows in any of these ways.
Wednesday August 26th / Counting Cards
This is another preschool activity.
Make a few index cards with pictures of objecects in a room such as; windows, doors, books, shoes, dolls etc.
1. Have preschooler pick a room of your house, go there
2. Pick a card
3. Count how many of the object there is in the room.
If you draw a picture of a window, count the windows in that room.
4. Preschoolers choice. Go to a new room, pick another card or stay with that same object.
5. Remember zero can be an answer too.
6. Compare the numbers of objects between objects.
Thursday August 27th / Making Music Bags
Toddler and Preschooler
Make your own maracas.
Brown paper lunch bags
beans and rice
small wiffle balls
use your imagination
twist tie, tape, or hair binder
1. Take out paper bags and decorate them as fancy as you like
2. Walk around and find things to fill them with. I gave each kids two bags.
Preschooler: wanted to fill them with small balls
Toddler: filled one with littlest pet shop accessories
me: rice and beans
Anything will work
3. Fill bags, not very full
4. Twist tie teh bag shut
5. Shake bags
6. Sing a song, march along, be silly with your musical instruments
7. Shake bags one at a time. DO they sound the SAME or DIFFERENT??
Which one do you like best?