Halloween Sticker Wall

Most kids love stickers and Monkey is no exception. We got a big bucket of Halloween stickers that we used for our Halloween Ghost Footprint Cards and I wanted to let Monkey use some more of them before we tucked them away until next year. 

So, instead of just giving him a piece of paper at the table, I made him a sticker wall. 

Supplies: big paper, markers, stickers

I cut a piece of paper off the roll that was big enough to cover his chalkboard and taped it up. Then I wrote "Happy Halloween" on it. I can't believe that by next Halloween he'll probably be able to write that himself. 

Then he had free reign with the bucket of stickers. 

I love how he put the little hats on all the ghosts, pumpkins, and skeletons. For Halloween we put this up on our door. 

Happy Halloween!

Mar 

Halloween Playdough

Monkey plays with good old playdough about once a week. He would do it more often but I find that if it's more of a special activity (as opposed to one that is always available) then his play is richer and it keeps his focus and attention for a much longer time. At school I usually make homemade playdough (or parents send it in) and I have been wanting to do that with Monkey, but he has quite a few tubs that he got as gifts so we are using those first. Homemade playdough is very easy to make and you can make it seasonally appropriate using glitter, food colouring, and different scents. One day we'll get to that. For now, here is my Halloween playdough activity!

Supplies: playdough, straws, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, playdough tools

I laid everything out in the table for Monkey. He was interested but I could tell he wasn't really sure what to do. Usually when he plays with play dough he has a specific set of toys and tools that he uses. Now for the first time I've given him something different. So I stuck a few things in to show him that is was okay. 

 

As you can see he jumped right in after that. A little reassurance was all he wanted from me. 

He enjoyed making these monsters. Whenever a creature has more than two eyes he just loves it. 

Happy Halloween!

Mar

Ghost Footprint Halloween Cards

Our Thanksgiving cards were a big hit with the friends and family we sent them to so with Halloween right around the corner I knew we had to do another card.

Supplies: construction paper, envelopes, white paint, paint brush, Halloween stickers, markers 

First I cut the construction paper in half so that it would fit in the small envelopes I already had. 

Then we got the boys ready to do some white footprints that we could make into ghosts. Their daddy helped with this part, it's doable with one person but easier with two!

As you can see Monkey wanted to paint his own foot, which he did for the first few and then I took over. It ended up that him sitting on my lap was the easiest way for us to do the footprints. 

Peanut sat on my husband's lap while I painted his foot. I couldn't get any pictures of this because we were trying to go as fast as possible! 

Once the footprints were dry, I wrote the message on each one and added the eyes and mouth of the ghosts. 

Then Monkey used the Halloween stickers to decorate each card a little more. 

Then we mailed them, which may have been Monkey's favourite part of this activity. He loves going to the post office!

Happy Halloween!

Mar

Chalk and Water Alphabet

Now that Monkey knows all his uppercase and most lowercase letters, I want him to start learning how to write them. He's not really ready for, or interested in, holding a pencil but there are tons of other ways to "write" letters that are appropriate for a three year old and fun, too. 

I got the idea here: http://pyjamaschool.co.uk/learning-letters/

Supplies: chalkboard, chalk, paintbrushes, water 

First, I wrote out the alphabet on the chalkboard.

Then Monkey used the paintbrushes and the water to trace over ("erase") the letters. 

I did have to remind him to trace over the lines and not just scribble all over but he got the hang of it. 

While he was painting each letter he would say, "goodbye!" or "see ya!". 

After finishing the alphabet, he asked to do his name. I gladly wiped off the board and wrote his name a few times for him to do, too. 

Mar

Animal Bath

Monkey has had a bin of farm and safari animals in his room for about a year. He's recently been pulling it out often to play with the animals after basically not touching it at all, so I thought it would be good to do some activities with those animals while he's really interested in them. 

I got the idea here: http://whereimaginationgrows.com/toddler-animal-washing-sensory-play/

Supplies: water, bucket, toy animals, dish soap, spray bottle, brushes, cloth, sponge 

We did a car wash in the spring and it was a big hit. I'm sure I've said it before but you can't go wrong with water play. And it doesn't hurt that the toys get a little cleaner, either. 

Monkey helped squeeze the dish soap into the bucket before I filled it with water. 

Maybe a bit more than I would have used but I'm working on giving him (some) control and independence. 

Now everything was ready to go. 

I always love watching Monkey in those first few seconds when he's diving into an activity. Today he was so particular about getting started. I thought he would pick each animal up one at a time and wash it, but instead he took each animal and found a spot for them in the water first. Even when I think I know what he'll do, he goes about it another way. I love it! 

Once all the animals were in their bathtub, he started washing them. 

Each animal got a scrub from the sponge, cloth, or brush, and then he washed the soap away with the spray bottle. 

He liked using the brushes and the sponge, but the spray bottle was definitely his favourite. 

I wonder what toys I can convince him to clean for me next? ;)

Mar

Autumn Leaf Art

On the Thanksgving long weekend we spent some time up at the cottage. The trees were all brightly coloured and lots of leaves had already fallen to the ground. We took a little walk down the road and collected some leaves to use for an art project.

I got the idea from @busytoddler on Instagram. 

Supplies: leaves, paper, markers, glue

I started by drawing a tree trunk and branches on the paper. I wish I could have printed something of the internet but I wanted it to be bigger than 8x11. So here is my extremely sad drawing of a tree in autumn. 

Of course Monkey said, "Wow Mommy!" At least I can still impress him... for now. 

Monkey was super excited to get to use the glue again. We quickly talked about where he should glue the leaves, since we had picked them up off the ground and we were doing autumn art. Then he got to work. 

There isn't too much to this activity, it's really just some gluing practice, but it's nice to have the natural material from the outdoors to work with. 

Monkey was very thoughtful about where to put each leaf.

Despite my awful tree trunk I think it turned out pretty cute!

Mar 

Painting Pumpkins

Here's a great seasonally inspired, minimal set up activity. You can even start this with a trip to the pumpkin patch! 

These little pumpkins were 3/$2 so we picked up a few. I knew they would be the perfect size for Monkey to do some activities with. 

This activity is painting the pumpkins. Simple really, but it's always new and interesting to paint on a different surface than paper, and in this case, three dimensional. 

Supplies: paint, paintbrushes, pumpkins

Monkey is all about helping. He wants to do everything by himself and help with any job he can. Today he wanted to help squeeze the paint into our paint tray. I am trying to let him help if he wants to instead of saying no all the time. So I reminded myself that it's just paint and it can be cleaned up and I let him help. 

He was so proud and didn't make a mess at all - which I shouldn't be surprised about because he generally does like being neat and clean like his mommy. 

Once we had everything organized, we got painting! I wasn't planning on painting but Monkey chose a pumpkin for me, how could I say no?

I think they turned out great!

Mar

Markers on a Mirror

Just like yesterday, here's an activity with virtually zero set up. I love that because it means less work and even if Monkey only plays for a few minutes it's still worth the effort. 

Mirrors are a fun medium for kids to work with. They allow for a neat 3D sort of effect with the reflection. It adds another dimension to what you're doing. And I find that most kids like to look at themselves, too!

Supplies: dry erase markers, eraser, mirror

I have a large mirror (from school) but this would work just as well with a smaller mirror. 

Monkey was a little hesitant to get started. It is certainly a little different and I do usually reinforce that he only draws on paper or his easel. But once I took the lid off a marker and gave it to him, he was hooked. 

He mostly did a lot of scribbling. I'm trying to encourage him to start drawing pictures of objects or people but he just wants me to draw them for him, which means he's probably not ready yet. 

He did practice writing his name - he can do the first letter by himself now, yay!! - but I won't show that. 

If he made a mistake or wanted to try something new, he just used the eraser. 

I find that the eraser takes away all the colour but it does leave behind a bit of  residue. Glass cleaner usually does the trick with that (or nail polish remover is really good too, especially on surfaces other than glass or dry erase boards). 

Mar

Fine Motor Building

Today's activity is one that requires no set up. I threw the supplies together in a bin and let Monkey loose with it.

Lately he's been playing really well on his own. He can go for a long time without needing me - which is good for sooo many reasons but also a sign that he is growing up too fast! So, I give him space but I sit down with him for a few minutes here and there to talk and give him a chance to tell me what he's doing, and maybe work through any problems he's having. 

In my Kindergarten classroom I've really embraced the idea of loose parts. I know it's something that teachers have been doing forever - spare buttons, popsicle sticks, corks, stones, etc - but now there is a ton of literature that really supports loose parts being a daily part of the classroom. Since there is no prescribed way to play with these objects, it's really up to the kids to use their imagination and creativity. 

The dollar store is a great place to start if you're looking to make a collection of loose parts. That's where I found the materials we used today. Personally, I like my loose parts to be made from natural materials, but if I come across something really great I make an exception. 

Supplies: colored popsicle sticks, colored wooden blocks 

In my classroom I only have the plain wood sticks and blocks but I thought Monkey might like these better. 

Monkey immediately started stacking up the blocks. Blocks are something he is familiar with so this didn't surprise me. 

It's harder when the blocks are the same size as his finger tips. But he started to get the idea. 

I sat down with him for a few minutes and encouraged him to continue with the combination of blocks and sticks that he had built in front of his knee in the photo above. 

Here's what we came up with together. 

As we built I used vocabulary like sturdy and stable. Also, I love him so much when he wants to colour coordinate things. He gets that from me :)

After we built the tower he wanted to make a race track for his cars. (Big surprise - oh wait, no.) So I told him to go  grab one of his Lightning McQueen books so he could look at the race track and build it. 

With some help, this is what he made. 

And he added some of his cars for a race. 

This part of the activity kept him entertained the longest. He moved his cars one by one around the track in their race over and over again. 

We've pulled out the popsicle sticks a few more times already to build his race track, which he can now do by himself. 

Mar

Cereal Name

Monkey knows his alphabet. We've been doing a lot of alphabet activities, books, videos, and puzzles over the past year. I want to start working on spelling and writing his name. 

I have seen this idea many times. I was reminded of it by one of the teachers I follow on Instagram, thekinderteacher. 

This is an activity that comes together fast because you likely have everything you need already and there is very little set up. 

Supplies: construction paper, glue, marker, cereal

This is a tricky activity for me to really share properly because I won't use or show Monkey's name. But I think you'll get the idea even if you don't get to see the end product. 

First, I wrote his name on the paper with the marker. I asked him to tell me the letters which he did with some prompting and clues from me. 

Monkey loves using the white glue so I thought he would want to go over the letters himself. For some reason he was being a bit nervous about it, so we squeezed the glue onto the first letter together. 

Then he started carefully putting on the cereal. As I suspected he wanted to eat it too :)

We did one letter at a time, glue then cereal, just to avoid making a sticky mess if we could. 

It turned out really cute and Monkey had a lot of fun, although that might have been the fact that he got to eat, too...

Mar