toddlers

Reading spaces for a toddler

June 30, 2011

A great way to create a toddler’s interest in children’s books is to integrate books into their play environment. Often times, we get stuck with the idea that books belong on shelves or in a basket on the floor. We want to keep them organized and clean but for toddlers, the best place for a [...]

Summer bucket list for a toddler

June 1, 2011

My niece sent me over her summer bucket list of things she plans to do with her daughter Clara. What is a summer bucket list? It is a list of ideas that a parent puts together of activities the parent plans to do with his or her child over the summer… As you can see [...]

Getting babies and toddlers outside to play

April 17, 2011

This week Childhood 101 is celebrating “Get Outdoors and Play” and that is one thing my nieces and nephews love to do. There are all kinds of fun things infants and toddlers can do outside… My little niece Clara is having a ball swinging in her backyard… If this doesn’t look like fun, then I [...]

At play with baby: hello hands!

February 9, 2011

Baby Clara has two hands! Clara uses her hands to tear paper… Clara uses her hands to reach for the ball… Clara uses her hands to squeeze her soft toys… Clara uses her hands to feel her bumpy ball… Clara uses her hands to hold her bottle… Clara uses her hands to put things in [...]

Chalk paint and print-making with preschoolers and toddlers

July 30, 2010

For those of you following along, you know that I am on a quest to introduce the concept of painting to my little nephew Wy. I could make Wy sit down with me, hold his hand, and make him paint a picture but that is a sure fire way to get him to NEVER want [...]

Natures color wheel in preschool

July 26, 2010

I saw a color wheel at one of our schools recently where the class glued colorful plastic flowers on each section of the color wheel. It got me thinking why not use real flowers? We went on a little nature walk to find flowers and put them in a bag. Wy wasn’t exactly sure why [...]

Craft stick painting with toddlers

July 24, 2010

Yesterday Wy and I tried a little kick box painting so while Wy was still in the mood, we tried a little craft stick painting too. We gathered a handful of craft sticks, some paint, paper, and a box with a lid. Wy dumped everything into the box and tapped on the paint cups to [...]

Kick box painting with toddlers

July 23, 2010

My nephew Wy loves to kick balls, push cars, and color with markers but there is one thing that he really doesn’t seem to like…. Wy doesn’t like to paint. When Wy gets a little paint on his hands, he stops in his tracks and just stares like it is a disease. But unfortunately for [...]

Turn a box into toddler fun

July 11, 2010

My plan was to decorate this box and make it really cool like this one here. But as much as I liked the idea of making a cool oven Wy had other plans. Wy was all about the play! In and Out went Wy And Open and Shut went the “doors” Since the doors were [...]

Painting with toddlers in preschool

May 7, 2010

What started off a Q-tip painting quickly turned into full finger and body painting. This was Wy’s first time exploring painting with Q-tips. I started by having Wy sit across from me. I showed him how to dip the Q-tip into the paint and then swirl it around on the paper. Wy watched with interest [...]

Toddler lesson plan overview

March 20, 2010

A basic overview of toddler lesson plans!

Sponge Painting with toddlers and twos

March 19, 2010

Recently, I had a mother on Twitter ask me for ideas for art with toddlers and twos. More specifically she was asking for ideas of art that can be displayed or saved. Her request led me to write this post. I will address the specific request but first I need to share a few pointers [...]