I can do it myself.

I usually allow A to grab her own snacks.  She knows where they are and will usually bring them to me if she needs help.  This time, however, I guess she was seeing if she could do it herself.  I love it!

The best toy...for the moment.

This is A's favorite activity/toy at the moment.  It's from The Dollar Tree.  Who knew we could get so much use out of it?  If she sees it, she'll say, "numbers, numbers!"  We do this puzzle over and over and over.  So worth it.

Strawberry Pops!

We made strawberry popsicles the other day.  I found the idea here. 

You basically puree a carton (or less) of strawberries, adding a little water and sugar to taste.

So easy!  There isn't much to them and they do simply taste like pureed strawberries.  A is used to eating only pureed fruit popsicles, so it worked for her!

Tot School: Easter and Sharing

We're keeping a few activities from last week and adding others.  Our focus is sharing, with a little Easter (eggs, mainly) thrown in.

Sharing ice cubes: each egg spot gets a cube.  I'm not planning on using the tongs pictured.  I may use a large spoon or just have A use her hands.  We'll start out with no patterns and go from there.

Spooning eggs: spoon eggs from one bowl into another.
A was not excited about using a spoon, so we turned this into an activity where she took eggs from one bowl and ran them across the room to the other one.  We did this over and over and over.

Egg Shape Match--a favorite from last week.  Check out last week's post
to see where you can print yours for free!

A version of the Sharing Caterpillar, taken from Instant Bible Lessons for Toddlers.
-Glue circles onto paper
-Color circles with markers
-Decorate with circle stickers
-Glue pictures of things we can share
-Write memory verse on top (They shared everything they had.  Acts 4:32)
(This craft is done over the entire week, not in one sitting.)

Uppercase/Lowercase alphabet egg match

This was printed for free online, but have no idea where I got it.  If anyone knows, drop me a line so I can give credit!

Number Egg Match from last week

What are you doing this week?

Made by Mama: Peg People!

A has been under the weather, so I think we'll stick with the same tot school we had from last week.  I'll update if we add a few new boxes.

I finally made these cute little people in cups as an Easter gift for A!  I saw them on Etsy and have had the materials since Christmas.  

The only problem...ONLY the yellow person fits.  Ugh.

 I thought maybe they could be hats, but it would be hard to play with them this way on the carpet since the people wouldn't be very stable.

This is how we ended up using them.  I think I'll have to try again another time, but this works for now!

Looks Like Spring?

Yesterday we woke up to giant snowflakes falling from the sky.  When we opened the door to show A, her response was, "Outside to play!  Outside to play water!!"

After breakfast, A and I suited up (I had already put her boots away!) and we went out to play. 

She even found a few puddles to jump and splash in!

By the end of the day, the snow was gone and the sun was shining so brightly.  It's a funny place where we live.

Shoes, shoes, shoes!

We spent a good part of yesterday morning playing with shoes.  (we are still working on the pacifier thing)  I had brought out a basket of shoes over the weekend to look for any that might work as church shoes.  A found them and had a lot of fun pulling them out and having me put them on her feet.  Then we played a few rounds of match the shoes.

Who knew a basket of shoes could provide such entertainment?  

Side note: many of these shoes came from a friend who has two little girls and was nice enough to pass along their shoes to A.  :)

1/2 dozen things to do with plastic eggs

Here are a few ideas of what to do with those colorful, plastic eggs!

Sort big and small

Match by color

Matching eggs in a carton by number

(an easier version would be just to put eggs into the carton--no numbers)

Egg hunt

Spooning eggs from one container into another

What's your favorite use for plastic eggs?

Check out all the cool ideas Stephanie has over at Playing House!

Tot School: Easter!

Here's what we've got planned for tot school this week!

Egg Hunt
A loved our Shamrock letter hunt so I anticipate her liking this activity too.  I'll just hide the eggs around the house and she'll hunt for them.

Bingo dotters on a large construction paper egg

Number Egg Match

(last week's matching by color was too easy.  This should add a challenge for A)

Which one is different? (FREE from Our Little Monkeys)

Easter puzzles (FREE from Lawteedah)

Egg shape match (FREE from A Child's Place)

Coloring pages on the easel with Crayola Beginnings Triangular paintbrushes.

(coloring pages printed from my bible crafts and here) 

We also have our play dough from last week as well as our Bible story/song a day from our
100 Bible Stories and Songs Bible.

If you'd like to learn more about tot school, visit:

1+1=1


Come over to play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up:

Homemade household cleaners

When A was still a baby, I wanted to use more natural cleaners in the house.  I mostly wanted to know what was in the cleaners I was using and if I saved a few bucks, it would be a bonus.  These two cleaners have stuck with me since then.

I went to Target and bought these spray bottles from the travel section.  I had clear labels and just labeled the cleaners with a permanent marker.

All Purpose Cleaner

1 cup water

20 drops lavender essential oil (I got mine at GNC for about 8 or 9 dollars--shown in picture)

Mix together and spray!

*You do need to put a little more elbow grease in when using this cleaner, but boy it smells yummy!

Glass and Window Cleaner

1 cup water

1 cup isopropyl alcohol (91%)

1 Tablespoon vinegar

Mix together and spray.

*It might remind you of a dr.'s office when using this, but it totally works!

*Linking up at the Sundae Scoop over at  I heart naptime!

Easy (no...really easy) pumpkin muffins

 

One of A's favorite activities is helping Mama bake and cook.  The other day, we made easy pumpkin muffins.  These muffins are so super easy and they come out light and fluffy.  These are good to make mini muffins out of and freeze for later.  Here's the super easy recipe:

-Mix one box of yellow (or spice) cake mix with one can (15 oz.) canned pumpkin.
-Put batter evenly into 12 greased or papered muffin cups.
-Bake 20-25 min. at 350F
(optional: you can add 1 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice if you want some spice in your muffins.  We just leave them plain.)

So easy!!

Creative Eating

A wouldn't eat breakfast the other day, so I brought out a number/counting sheet and we counted balls of bread (something she usually likes to eat) and placed them on each dot by each number.  When the page was full, A decided to eat them.  We did it again, and for whatever reason, she thought she'd eat the bread balls like this.  Silly girl!  I didn't mind since she was getting food in that little tummy of hers!  First we'll work on eating...table manners can come later!

Spring butterfly

We worked on this butterfly for a few days.  The wings were a copy from when I taught kindergarten.  You could always just draw the outline of a butterfly and have your child color it.  It was hanging up on A's easel and over two days she colored the wings in with markers.  I cut them out.

I had A paint the egg carton while I held it (she also painted the paper it was sitting on top of) and then she picked out a pipe cleaner.  I hot glued the egg carton onto the wings and then hot glued the eyes and antennae on.  She loved the final product!  I even taught her the words: wings, body, and antennae.

Linking up here:

No Time for Flashcards

Tot School: Spring

A and I have been slowly easing into tot school activities.  It's very relaxed and we only do the activity if she is into it.  I like having time that is focused on her, and that she enjoys it.  A friend of mine (also a former teacher) and I are planning on working together and have set up a curriculum already for our two tots this year.  We're both excited to see how much these little ones grow!

Here are our activities for this week:

Sorting BIG and small eggs

Matching eggs by color

Matching the flower to its color word (print yours here.)

Building a flower (these are from Playskool, we got it at a thrift store)  A pulls these out frequently throughout the day.

Arranging flowers

Umbrella colors and numbers book (get yours here.)

Freshly made play dough with spring cutters

We'll also spend time reading spring books and going outside.

If you'd like to learn more about tot school, visit:

1+1=1


Linking up at the following blogs:

Also linking up here.

 Come over to play at the Childhood 101 We Play link up: