Field Trip

This weekend we took a field trip to a local indoor play space for toddlers. It's a fantastic facility with a lot of open ended gross motor toys for tots to play with. 

Love Bug thoroughly enjoyed working those muscles lifting up the extra large soft foam filled blocks. 

 And watching her figure out how to climb and slide was thoroughly enjoyable for me!

Her favorite toy of all though was probably the blue ball that she carried around everywhere. 

Eric Carle Books

Naturally after reading Baby Bear Baby Bear What Do You See, we ventured on to other Eric Carle books. I didn't realize I had so many! I also have The Mixed Up Chameleon, but it's not pictured. 

Little Man (that I babysit) really enjoyed putting his fingers into the foods of The Very Hungry Caterpillar! I need to make a trip to the grocery store so we can sample some of the fruits this caterpillar ate his way through! 

Love Bug enjoyed feeling the web that The Very Busy Spider was weaving throughout the book. I also forgot how great of a tool this book is for teaching about animals and their sounds! 

Fun With Boxes

So much fun can be had with a box and some imagination!

We used a long slender tube like box to create a chute for Love Bug and Lil Man to drop balls in to. 

I've used an old mailing box to create a homemade postal box for Love Bug. I used a laminator to laminate a couple of small sheets of paper, but envelopes would work just as well. 

We've used boxes to create bridges and ramps for cars (and other objects as deemed fit by 1 year olds!) 

What have you used a box for?! I would love more ideas!

Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See?

Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See

I completely changed out her exploration basket this week, as she was starting to get bored of the zoo/jungle animals theme. She got a new teddy bear last week that she has been obsessively dragging around the house, so I decided to start Baby Bear, Baby Bear this week. I printed off pictures of all of the animals and taped them to Lego duplo blocks in a pattern (as they appeared in the book). Love Bug is too young to understand patterning yet, but I can still describe the colors of the blocks to her as an introduction. 

I added an empty wipes containter to allow for extra fun. 

The Setup in her room. 

Leo The Late Bloomer

Leo The Late Bloomer

Because there's no wrong way to read a book. 

We talked about all of the things she can do now that she is getting bigger. 

She can brush her teeth!

She can help pick out her clothes. 

She can feed herself. 

She can drink from a cup. 

We made sure to point out lots of things she can do- just like Leo in the book- now that she is getting bigger. 

How A Laundry Basket Becomes A Gross Motor Activity

As you can see, getting "in" and "out" of things has been a big hit lately as she learns how her body works. She practiced this new skill with a laundry basket. Sometimes....Er- Most of the time- our activities don't necessarily correspond to our book. Again, this is based on the child's interest and is child led, not "teacher" (parent) led. 

A simple trip to check the mail turns into a gross motor activity. 

Bathtub Art

We did some bath tub art this week. It's easy-peasy. Just use washable/edible finger paint, but child in (dry) tub and let them paint away! When they are all done, wash the child and the tub down!

 I used painters tape to make shapes on her paper before I let her go at it.  Of course she doesn't "know" what shapes are yet, but it's a good idea to introduce even very young children to the concepts that they will be learning later. With that being said, when doing art projects my mantra is "PROCESS OVER PRODUCT".

More Fine Motor Fun

One fun activity we did this week was to apply masking tape to a small table we have and let Love Bug practice her fine motor skills by peeling it off. 

Being "Captain Destructo", she was thrilled to participate in this particular activity. 

Fine Motor Fun

I took an empty baby wipes container and filled it up with baby wash cloths. She really enjoyed pulling them out, over and over again. 

Sorry for the blur, it's hard to get an action shot!

I also took two empty "puffs" containers and she used them to practice taking the lids off and putting them back on again. 

She eventually started to take the wash cloths from the wipes container and filling up her puffs containers.