Tuesday Treat Day - Fruit 'n Pudding

Ok all you toddlers out there... this is a way easy treat for mommy to prepare and way fun for you to eat! 

What you will need:

- Pudding

- Fruit

- Pie pan (or any other dish, cookies sheet, etc...)

What you do:

- Put small pieces of fruit in some sort of dish 

- Add the pudding

- Let your toddler go to work! 

It's really fun for toddlers to explore different textures with their hands, so why not let them explore and eat at the same time? Then you don't have to worry about what they put in their mouth since it's edible! ;)

They'll get messy! That's why I stripped K down to a diaper. Just let them have fun with it!

Enjoy! 

Weekly Learning - Numbers 1-10

Day 1: Songs

Numbers 1-10 & 10-1

Bird Number Song

Numbers with Planes (I paused the video at the end so we could review the numbers)

Counting Objects Song

Day 2: Activity

Counting in a cup! You'll need a cup and then find ten small items that will all fit in the cup.

Toddlers love putting things in containers. Have them count as they put the items in. If they are still working on learning numbers, have them repeat the number after you and then allow them to put the item in.

Ideas for things to use: pencils, dry macaroni noodles, pebbles, M&M's, etc. . . You can use whatever you have lying around the house, yet it makes for an easy fun activity for your toddler!

Day 3: Get Out

Go on a walk around your neighborhood or go to a park. Count 10 trees, pick up 10 rocks, or count 10 cars you see passing by. You can count anything. Just start counting whatever you see!
 

Day 4: Activity

Get a piece of string, yarn or ribbon and some Fruit Loops cereal (or you can use Cheerio if you have a skinny piece of string). Have your toddler count out 10 pieces of cereal and then help them learn to put the pieces of cereal on the string, counting each time you put one on!

Then they can eat the cereal after they are done if they want, counting as they eat each one :)

Day 5: Library Day

Here are the books about numbers we checked out from the library this week:

Number One Number Fun by Kay Chorao

1-2-3 Peas by Keith Baker

Ten Little Caterpillars by Bill Martin Jr

Count by Denise Fleming

Toddler Activities - Soapy Jars

Kimbri and I did this quick and easy activity this morning and she's had fun with it today! 

I saw a similar idea here where she used empty peanut butter jars so her toddler could stack them. I love that idea! But we didn't have multiple empty peanut butter jars on hand so we just used an empty 2 liter RootBeer bottle.

What you will need:

- Dish soap

- Food coloring

- An empty container

-Water

What you do:

- Fill up your container halfway with water.

-Add whatever color of food coloring that you want

- Put the lid on tightly and you're done! 

- Hand it over to you toddler and let them have fun shaking it up, making bubbles appear!!

Kimbri has rolled it all around and had tons of fun with it.

 So go on! Grab an empty container, add soap, food coloring and water and have some fun! 

Tuesday Treat Day - Peanut Butter Banana Slices

Bananas are a favorite around our house. So is peanut butter. And who doesn't love a little bit of sweetness on top of it all? 

Our fun, toddler-friendly treat for today is. . . Peanut Butter Banana Slices!

(idea found here)

What you will need:

- Bananas

- Peanut Butter

- Chocolate chips 

(You can really use anything you want - the original recipe calls for coconut but we didn't have any, so we used chocolate chips instead!)

What you do:

- Cut the banana into round slices

- Dab a little bit of peanut butter on the tops of the slices

- Top it off with some chocolate chips for a little bit of sweetness!

And of course let your toddler help out. Kimbri had fun putting the chocolate chips on top (and eating them as she did so, of course!)

There ya have it! Another easy, fun, and yummy snack to do with your "Toddler in Training"! 

Toddler Activities - "I Spy" Jar

This is something that I loved as a kid. I remember doing one at a friends house when I was little and have always thought it was such a fun and clever idea! 

And it's another one of those activities that you can just use what you have on hand! Which is nice, convenient, and inexpensive.

So this morning, I decided to search our house for all the little random things we already had that go in the jar. It can be anything: buttons, rubberbands, a bobby pin, a feather, coins, an old key, safety pin, nail, etc...  We had just finished up a jar of pickles so I washed the jar and pealed the label off and I got out the big bag of rice to use as the filler.

What you will need:

- A jar

- Tiny objects

- Rice

Before putting all the things in the jar I would suggest writing them down so you can remember everything that's in it. Then tape the list to the bottom or top of the jar so you can refer back to it and try to find all the things on your list!

What to do:

- Have your toddler help you put all the items in the jar. 

- Then fill the jar up half-way with rice, put the lid on, and shake it around to kind of mix the items in.

- Continue filling up the jar with more rice until almost full and put the lid on.

- Give it several more shakes to get all the objects really mixed in well.

- Make sure the lid it on tight so you don't end up with rice all over your floor!

Now you can have your toddler shake or roll the jar around, trying to find all the different objects you put inside the jar! This is even fun for older kids too :)

Have fun!

Weekly Learning - Bugs

Day 1: Songs

Bugs

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

I Love Bugs - (This song reviews the following bugs: butterfly, ladybug, spider, ant)

Bug Flashcards

Day 2: Activity

Have a bug-themed lunch! I found the idea here and thought it was just too cute! Plus, it's made of things that toddlers love to eat anyway, so chances are you already have everything you need to make it!

You can seriously make this as simple as you want, using what you have in your pantry. For example, I didn't have pretzel sticks so we used leftover fries... probably not as healthy but it works! Here are a couple of our photos:

Day 3: Get Out

A lot of universities have bug collections you can go look at. So if you have one nearby, go there! If not, maybe go to a museum or go on a walk, looking for bugs along the way.

For our "Get Out" activity we were going to go visit the bug collection at Arizona State University. It's free! And that's always good :) But it didn't happen because my little boy came down with some sort of tummy virus and was throwing up. We decided we'd better stay home. . .

So the bugs decided to come to us. . . it wasn't so great. Actually, it was terrible. I found a scorpion in our house! I woke my husband up (it was 4am) and had him come kill it. Gross. So we had our fair share of bugs this past week!

Day 4: Activity

Get a notebook and practice drawing bugs. You can help your toddler learn to draw circles (for the bug bodies) and then draw straight lines (for their legs). Easy and simple and it helps them learn! You could even cut out paper circles and glue them together to make a colorful caterpillar. Just create any bug you want on paper! 

Day 5: Library Day

The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle (Kimbri loves pointing to the ladybug on each page and says "Ladybug!". This book is a favorite around our house!)

The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco

The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle

Tuesday Treat Day - Homemade Popsicles

As a little girl I remember my mom making homemade popsicles with us and I loved it! What little kid doesn't love popsicles?

Toddlers love helping make things! Especially the dumping-ingredients-into-a-bowl part.

So today, why not try making homemade popsicles with your little one? Smoothie style!

You really can use whatever you want to make homemade popsicles. You can even just use Koolaid. Or try making a yogurt popsicle? That might be fun. . . Use whatever you want!

But here is what you will need for homemade Banana-berry Smoothie popsicles.

What you'll need:

Popsicle containers

Milk

Bananas

Strawberries

Triple berry blend 

(I buy the bags of frozen berries at Sam's Club. It's often cheaper buying frozen berries than fresh berries. Plus, frozen berries make great smoothies!)

What you do:

Really you can just do this on a how-you-like-it basis. 

So, add however many bananas and berries you want and just add milk until you get the consistency you want. Probably any consistency would work, really.

Again, have your toddler help do the work. They'll love it! 

Kimbri helped by putting the banana pieces into the blender (however I think she ate more than she actually put in. Haha!) 

Here's a picture showing about how much
milk I add to the banana-berry mix.

Now fill your popsicle containers on up and stick them in the freezer.

And now you'll have a tasty - and healthy! - treat for your toddler when they wake up from their afternoon nap. Yay!

I hope you have loads of fun doing this ;-)

Weekly Learning - Water

Day 1: Songs

If All the Raindrops Were Lemon Drops and Gum Drops

Rain, Rain Go Away (this is kind of a weird version, in my opinion, but the one I used to let my toddler watch got taken down off of YouTube for some reason)

Day 2: Activity

Play with ice cubes!

Put a bunch of ice cubes in a big bowl or tupperware. Explain, in toddler language of course, that when water gets really cold, it gets hard. Show them the ice cubes. Let them use there hands to touch the ice (if they want to). Then pour warm water into the bowl of ice cubes and watch them start to melt.

Let your toddler have fun with this - let them get wet if they want. It's summer time after all!  You could even put a couple ice cubes in their bath and let them play around with it.

Day 3: Get Out

Go have fun at a local splash pad or go to the pool! You could even have a play date with other mommies and set up a slip 'n slide or sprinkler for your toddlers to play with. Just have some fun in the sun. . . and in the water :)

Day 4: Activity

Water balloons!

Fill up several balloons with water and let your toddler have some fun throwing them and watching the water burst everywhere.

Tip: sometimes breaking water balloons in the grass makes for a harder mess to clean up, whereas if you do them on the cement you can sweep the balloon pieces up! But you do whatever you prefer.

Day 5: Library Day

Water, Water by Eloise Greenfield

I Am Water by Jean Marzollo

Toddler Activities - Balloon Blobs

Well, my kids are in bed and my hubby is reviewing for an exam that he has tomorrow, so I figured now is a good chance to blog about what Kimbri and I did yesterday morning.

We made Balloon Blobs! 

These are super simple and very inexpensive to make. That equals good, my friends :) I got the idea from the Alpha-Bakery Children's Cookbook. 

What you'll need:

-Balloons

- Flour

What you do:

- Blow up a balloon and keep it inflated for a minute, without tying the end, so that it can stretch out.

- Fit a funnel into the open end of the balloon and carefully spoon flour into the funnel. Put as much flour in the balloon as you can.

- Remove the funnel and tie a knot in the end of the balloon.

- And you're done! If you want you can draw faces or designs on the balloon like so:

Now your toddler has a way fun, squishy, new toy to play with! 

Toddler Activities- Piggy Bank

Sometimes it's the most simple things that toddlers love doing the best! 

Like putting coins, or "monnies" as Kimbri calls them, in a piggy bank. 

My toddler seems to love putting things in something, and then taking them out again, repeating the process who knows how many times! It's great entertainment :) And it's helpful when it's time to clean up and put all the toys away. You can make cleaning up a game!

Anyway. . .

This activity is pretty self-explanatory. Let your toddler have fun dumping all the coins out of the piggybank (they love hearing the coins jingle as they shake around inside the bank). 

Then let them put all the coins back in to the piggy bank! 

Brother is having fun playing with toys while Kimbri has fun with the piggy bank "game". 

And Kimbri is STILL going at it! I'm not kidding. . . she dumped them out and put them all back in FOUR times!! See? Toddlers love this kind of thing. And it's super easy! 

Just make sure you watch them closely so they don't put the coins in their mouth and choke on them.

Have fun! 

Toddler Activities - Homemade Play dough

Let's make some homemade play dough! 

This recipe is super simple and way easy. We all love easy, right? Ok, so there is one part to this recipe that is hard....

Stirring.

Stirring? You ask. I know, it doesn't sound hard. And it's not, at first. But the thicker the play dough gets the harder it is to stir! You'll see.

Anyway, other than that tiny little detail, the rest is a piece of cake!

Recipe:

4 cups flour

1 cup salt

4 Tsp cream of tartar

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

4 cups water

Directions:

- Combine all the dry ingredients in a large pot. 

(Don't worry, the burner was NOT on in this picture. Kimbri just likes to mix the dry ingredients around before I turn the burner on.)

And yes, she was wearing her swimsuit around the house
 that day. She didn't want to take it off!

- Stir in the oil and water.

- Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the dough starts to become dry and pulls away from the edges of the pot (dough should look more dry than wet).

- Divide dough into balls and add food coloring to them. Knead it really well. But be careful because it's really hot! You actually might want to let the dough cool for a little bit before doing this.  

Wear gloves or something if you don't want your hands
looking like this!

Weekly Learning - Animals

Day 1: Songs

I love this song for practicing the animal sounds because it shows the animal and asks what sound that specific animal makes. If you pause the song after each question, you can stop between each animal and practice the sound that, that animal makes, moving as fast or slow as your toddler needs.

Animal Sounds Song

Another fun animal song is of course Old MacDonald Had a Farm! The version of that song I posted is kind of weird, in my opinion, but one of the reasons I like it is because it shows all the different types of the same animal. Because let's face it, not all cows are black and white :) Here's the link:

Old McDonald

Day 2: Activity

My daughter loves to draw. Since sometimes I just like to keep things simple and easy, today's activity is drawing!

Get out some old blank sheets of paper and go for it! Get down on the floor with your cute little toddler and draw animals together. You don't have to be a professional artist to do this, my friends. Just have fun! Practice saying what the animal is called and what sound each animal makes as you draw it!

Day 3: Get Out

What kid doesn't just love going to the Zoo? Take a family trip or go with some other mommies. Make it a play date!

If you don't have a Zoo nearby, maybe there's an aquarium or animal museum you could visit. Or if you know someone that owns animals, ask if you can visit them.

A lot of parks even have ducks swimming in ponds or birds flying around. Wherever you go, just make your focus on the animals you see!

Day 4: Activity

Play the game, Charades, animal style.

Even if your toddler is too young to do it alone, letting loose and acting like a kid again is fun for you and fun for your kids :) Be silly with your toddler.

Go ahead, act like a monkey, walk like a penguin and turn into a horse and let your kids ride on your back. They'll love it!

Day 5: Library Day

You can make a trip to your local library to explore new books your toddler has never read or just select books from the ones you have at home to read, of course, focusing on animals.

Here are some of our favorite books/stories that involve animals:

- Good Night, Gorilla
- The 3 Little Pigs
- Panda in the Park
- 1001 Things to Spot on the Farm
- Zoo Babies
- The Journey Through collection (This is a great collection! There are 5 books that focus on animals in different types settings: Farm, Forest, Ocean, Jungle, and Desert.)

Weekly Learning - Colors:

Day 1: Songs

Click on the following links for two really cute songs that will help your toddler learn or review colors:

Flower Song

Balloon Song

Butterfly Color Song

*Tips: - When first teaching colors to your toddler, press pause after each color so they can have time to                   practice saying it and solidifying it in their mind.
       
           - I also have turned the sound off while it goes through the song so they can't hear the word of                       the color being shown. This helps test them to see if they really know it without hearing it!

Day 2: Activity

Hide-n-seek Colors:

Cut colored pieces of paper into circles, or you could use whole sheets of paper so you can reuse them. Hang the different colored papers around the room and ask them to find each color.

For younger toddlers that don't quite grasp the hide-n-seek concept yet, just hang the paper in plain sight, on the walls or on the couch, etc. . .

Day 3: Get Out or Review

Just go on a walk to the park or around your neighborhood. Especially pay attention to colors. Stop and ask your toddler what they see and ask them what color it is.

This is fun, gets you out of the house and helps your toddler solidify their colors!

Day 4: Around the house

Paint! I know this can get messy but it's really fun for toddlers :) It's most definitely an activity that I have to do with my toddler when my 7 month old is taking a nap!

Let them "paint" a picture with each of the colors. Mix different colors to create new colors! To them, it's like magic! They'll love it.

Day 5: Library

- The Crayon Box that Talked
- A Color of His Own
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You see? 

Tuesday Treat Day - Jello & Bananas

I had fun doing this activity when I was a little girl and now I get to have even more fun doing it with Kimbri! 

It's really simple... and simple is always good! 

What you need: 

Bananas, Jello

What you do:

- Cut the banana however your toddler likes it. 

- Pour the Jello powder onto a plate.

- Have your toddler dip the banana in the Jello, like so:

- You're done! It's that simple. 

When you dip the banana in the powder, it turns to the color of the flavor it is! In our case we used Strawberry Cream Jello so our bananas turned PINK!  

You can use any color of Jello powder that you want! Have fun :)

Toddlers in Training

For quite some time I've been thinking about how I wanted to organize all of my thoughts, ideas and things I want to do when teaching my little toddler, Kimbri. There is SO much out there! So many videos, crafts, activities and ideas that you can use when helping your toddler learn. But how do I keep track of all the different websites that have this cute idea or that fun activity?!

After thinking about it so many times throughout the last several months and getting nothing, a light finally went on in my head and I decided to create a blog! 

My "Toddlers in Training" blog is where I'm going to post all my favorite toddler activities. Be it videos, activities, or just my thoughts on something, I'll post it here on the blog so I can refer back to it any time I want! 

Feel free to join me on this adventure and if you have any useful thoughts or tips when it comes to teaching a toddler, please share!