The One with the Playroom, part one

Over the past year or so I've had lots of people ask me to share more about my playroom/toy ideas/organization. I honestly feel weird posting this. It's as though I'm on MTV cribs, yet bragging about my Duplos.  Lame? Yes.
But I love good a organizing post as much as the next crazy person, so here goes...

Tubs. 
I have everything organized in shoeboxes ($1 each, from Walmart). I was the educational director of a preschool in Houston after college, and they had bookshelves full of tubs just like these. It helps so much with kiddos! Typical 12x12 cube shelves you find in stores don't fit 2 tubs wide, so my husband built this shelf specifically for my tubs! So sweet!

Here are the pros and cons of organizing toys in tubs like this:
Cons:
1. It can be tedious to clean up at times.
2. Everyone thinks you're a freak. A big giant weirdo.

Pros:
1. Containment and Lids:  It keeps each group of toys together. It has a lid, and my kids couldn't open the lids by themselves for nearly 3 years. Yes. That means they didn't open any tubs without my help/permission for nearly 3 years. Awesome. No insane toys spewed all over the house. And in 3 years, I haven't lost any toy pieces. 
2. Classification, Responsibility and Order: From about 10 months old and on, my kids were able to sort and differentiate which toy goes into which tub. I usually allowed my girls to have 1 or 2 tubs open at a time. Then they had to clean up in order to choose a new group of toys. (Now that my girls are older, I let them have tons of tubs out at a time!)  They do have to clean up before bed time though.
3. Moderation: Let's be honest. We can get completely out of hands with little kids toys. They multiply in the middle of the night and somehow you have 4,563 Happy Meal toys. This way, each genre of toy is limited to one shoebox sized tub. I won't allow more than 1 tub of princess dolls. I don't want more than 1 tub full of matchbox cars. Having 1 tub limits quantities.
However, I have more than 1 tub full of some related items. Some of our favorite items I have broken into smaller subgroups (duplos, duplo figures, etc).

I'm particular about what type of toys my kids play with.
What you will see more of: wooden, classic, creative, constructive, hands-on, open-ended toys.
What you will see less of: battery-operated, plastic, "overly girly" or gender specific toys.  (Although these toys do have their merit at times!)


So here's the breakdown...

On top: These are just classic preschool board games, but they look like books! Adorable! They are hard plastic instead of flimsy cardboard boxes. Also, that blue game on the right is Barnyard Bingo, one of our FAVORITE board games for 18m+
(p.s. See the orange dots at the bottom of the games? Any items with an orange dot have tiny pieces that my baby can choke on. I've trained my big girls only get these toys out when she is taking a nap! Yessssssssss.)

On top:  Ikea shape sorting house, Ikea wooden stacking toy, Melissa and Doug shape sorter, Melissa and Doug gears, Melissa and Doug hammer pounding game, Ikea wooden bead maze, Fisher price farm.
All of these are baby-safe, and my 3 year old twins still play with them! Ikea has such great wooden toys for super cheap! Usually under $10!

Shelf one (with links to some items): Duplos, Duplo animals and dinosaurs (I highly reccomend these! Favorites!) Duplo Letters, Star Builders, hand and finger puppets, Melissa and Doug stacking train, and a tub of transportation things. (a few wooden cars, wooden stop/traffic signs, etc)

Shelf two: a tub of cheapo fun plastic jungle animals, Wooden magnetic dress-up dolls, Mr and Mrs. Potato Head, Wooden train and track, small, Plastic tool kit, Lakeshore peg set (another favorite!), Leapfrog Alphabet bus (discontinued) Again, any tub with an orange dot has small pieces that little sister can choke on, so the big girls only get those out when she's sleeping.

Shelf three: Fisher Price Tea Set, wooden stacking block animals (similar to these, but mine were $10 at Michael's!) various science tools, and stacking cups (another favorite since the twins were babies!) Fisher Price Noah's ark and animals, Fisher price princesses

These are some of the things in the girl's science tools kit. They love getting the different pieces out and it's neat to see them intentionally getting out this tub because they need a tool. (Magnifying glasses, magnetic wands, measuring tapes, color mixing paddles, etc.)

Shelf four: twin doll bunk beds, two doctor kits (from target in the baby doll section, I love that they are hard cases!) alphabet beanbags (I sewed them a long time ago for my classroom), build-your-own saxophones, simple wooden blocks, Tag, Jr readers with books and flash cards

So there you have it. I feel like I've just made some embarrassing confession, but you know what? I like being organized. But please know that my entire house doesn't look like this. At all. My closet looks like an episode of Hoarders. Nobody goes into my master bedroom because there are mountains of laundry in there at all times. Such is life. 

Hope you enjoyed the tour, and I'll show you the other side of the playroom next time! 

The One with December Week 2

Is it just me, or is December crazy busy? Here's some activities for any free time that you might have! Enjoy! 

K Dot Art*
Directions: print file. Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase K. (You can use circle stickers, dot stampers, play dough pieces, or pom poms) Read Dr. Seuss's ABC book, and discuss which letter is "Big K" and which one is "Little k" Hang paper on fridge for the week to reference. 

Felt Christmas Tree
Directions: get a large piece of felt from a craft store and cut it into a large triangle (or tree) shape. Using other colored felt, cut out ornaments for your tree. Since felt sticks onto felt without adhesive, your children can redecorate the tree over and over. My kids love this one! (You can also do this on a smaller scale with a small tree vs. a large tree.) I used staples to put the tree on my wall. 

Popsicle Manger Craft
Directions: Use 5 popsicle sticks to create the shape of the stable. Glue together the sticks together. Cut (scissors work!) 3 popsicles in order to make the shapes of baby Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Have fun decorating the people and the stable together! (I just did a simple demo!)

K is for Kite Snack
Directions: Create a kite out of 4 triangles. Triangles are the shape of the month! I used cheese, but you can use graham crackers, sandwiches, or other everyday snacks! Just raid your fridge and see what you can find! Discuss that kite begins with the letter K. 

Paper Plate Penguin
Directions: Fold a white paper plate into the shape of a penguin (see pictures below!) I stapled mine closed for stability. Paint or color the head and wings of the penguin black. Discuss how penguins have a white (color of the month) belly. Use paper triangles (shape of the month) to make a beak and feet. Voila! 

Sensory Activity: Make Pretend Snow!
Directions: I'm so excited about this snow! It's clean and smells fresh and the shaving cream makes it feel cold. All you need is shaving cream and baking soda. Dump out out baking soda (I used a small box) into a big bowl or tub. Slowly add shaving cream and stir until it is a fluffy, moldable consistency.  It feels great! You can make snowmen and snowballs and all sorts of fun things. The coolest part is that if you add drops of vinegar near the end, it will bubble and "erupt!" Have lots of messy fun with this one! 

Snowman in a Bottle Counting Game:

Directions: Decorate a clean, dry bottle or cup like a snowman. (I used a sharpie and an orange triangle). Roll a die or draw cards (even playing cards!) to see how many marshmallows to add to your snowman. Adding the marshmallows inside the small neck is a great fine motor skill activity.  Make sure to practice counting skills while you're having fun! 

Variations: younger children can simply add marshmallows/pom poms without using cards or a die.

 Older children can use tongs/chopsticks to add the marshmallows in. 2 children can race to see who can fill theirs up the fastest. 

Have fun!

Printable here: K dot Art

The One with December Plans: Week One

Here comes Christmastime! I can't even believe the year has flown by so fast! This month I have the typical letter/shape/number/color, but I tried to also incorporate lots of fun crafts. Our family specifically doesn't celebrate with Santa, but feel free to incorporate him in if he is part of your family traditions.

Here's December's printable calendar! 
-------------------------------------
Objectives:
Letters: J, K, L
Color: White
Shape: Triangle
Number: 10
Theme: Christmas Trees, snowman, nativity (or substitute/add Santa if desired!)
-------------------------------------

Jj Dot Art*

Directions: print file. Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase J. (You can use circle stickers, dot stampers, play dough pieces, or pom poms) Read Dr. Seuss's ABC book, and discuss which letter is "Big J" and which one is "Little j" Hang paper on fridge for the week to reference. 

Triangle Popsicle Tree
Directions: paint 3 popsicle sticks green. Glue the sticks together into a triangle shape. Describe the attributes of a triangle (3 straight lines, 3 corners). Decorate the sticks to look like a Christmas tree using craft supplies (glitter, buttons, pom-poms, sequins, etc).

Manger Handprint
Directions: paint your child's hand brown. Add straw and a baby Jesus for decoration. It looks like a cute little manger! Tell the story of Jesus' birth! (This would be a great keepsake for grandma!)

J is for Jellyfish Snack
Directions: poke lots of uncooked spaghetti sticks into hot dog pieces. Boil the hot dogs (with sticks attached) until the pasta is tender. It looks just like a jellyfish! It's a fun lunch! Talk about how jellyfish starts with the letter J.

(picture coming soon!)

White Snow Pictures
Directions: use white crayons/chalk to draw snow on a black piece of paper. (Kids think it's so fun how you can't see the white crayon on white paper, but it shows up on black paper!)

Mitten Sort*
Directions: print file. Cut apart pictures from page 2. Mix up the small pieces and allow the child to sort them onto the corresponding color of mitten. Describe the colors of each mitten as you match.

Play Dough Christmas Tree Counting
Directions: cut Christmas tree shapes out of play dough with cookie cutters.  Roll a die to see how many ornaments to put on the tree. Use pony beads (or any other small decorative items) as ornaments in the game.  "Let's count the dots on the die! There are six dots! Let's put 6 ornaments on the tree!"

Printables here!
December Calendar
J Dot Art
Mitten Color Sorting

The One With November Plans: Week Four

Hi!
This week is short and sweet! I'm sure that you all will be busy with family and other things this week, but I wanted to offer up a few ideas to keep the kiddos occupied. You can always do any old activities that you missed this month as well. 

Turkey Shape Sort*
Directions: print file. Cut apart the feather shapes on page 4. Mix up the feathers. Invite your child to sort the feathers and add them to the correct turkey. 
Printable here!!! 

Hand Turkey
Directions: It's an American tradition. Trace your child's hand and make it into a turkey shape. Discuss what they are thankful for and add it to the feathers/fingers. Voila! A sentimental craft that family loves. Feel free to spice up this craft however you'd like! There are tons of variations. 

Ice Cream Cone Cornucopia Snack
Directions:  (to make the end of the cone curly)Dip the end of a sugar cone in hot water for about 30 seconds.  Then, put the soaked cone into the microwave for 20-30 seconds to make the wet point soft a pliable. Roll the soft end around a clean pencil or wooden spoon, and hold to set.
OR
you can just leave the tip pointy!  Serve with fruit or other snacks inside for a fun treat!

Cranberry Bog Activity
Directions: provide your child with a bag of cranberries ($2 in grocery stores around here!) and a tub of water. Allow them to scoop and dump the water and cranberries with various kitchen tools. I found that small tablespoons and large slotted spoons worked the best. We also used these tools, which we LOVE. 

We discussed how the cranberries floated, and how real-life cranberry bogs work (in very very simple terminology, ha!) They scooped and dumped for a long time! 

Love you guys! Excited for December's plans! :)

The One with November Plans, Week Three

Week 3 is up! Here is the November calendar of activities if you haven't printed it yet! 

This week we are learning about the letter I. An important note about vowels is that you should teach the short vowel sound first. So /i/ makes the "ih" sound, as in iguana, igloo, etc. 

{For more tips on beginning reading, click here on my post about pre-reading and alphabet skills for toddlers. This stuff early childhood teachers know, but is great for parents that aren't certified teachers!}

I Dot Art*
Directions: print file. Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase I. (You can use circle stickers, dot stampers, play dough pieces, or pom poms) Read Dr. Seuss's ABC book, and discuss which letter is "Big I" and which one is "Little i" Hang paper on fridge for the week to reference. For older toddlers, teach that /i/ makes the "ih" sound. 

(I had to use a funky font in order to make the capital I look different than a lowercase L!)

Star Beanbag Toss
Directions: use painter's/masking tape to make a star on the floor. As you make the star, describe the attributes of a star (5 points, straight lines, etc) Have fun throwing a beanbag into the star. (If you don't have a beanbag, you can fill an old sock with dried beans or rice). You can make stars of different sizes! "Can you throw your beanbag into the big star?" 

Brown Paper Bag Turkey Puppets
Directions: use a paper bag as the body of the turkey. Add eyes and a beak (with googly eyes, crayons/marker, etc).  Adhere feathers to the back of the turkey (real or construction paper feathers). My girls loved this! They ran around the house playing puppets with their turkey while yelling "Happy Thanksgiving!" and gobbling.

I is for inchworm snack*
Directions: print file for snack mat. This will be my girls' first linear measurement activity! Give your child a gummy worm (aka inch worm) and teach them to lay it along the ruler. Count the numbers 1-5 and then measure how many inches your inchworm is. Allow them to take bites and re-measure as the gummy worm gets eaten. Note how many inches it is after the bites. This activity should really give you an opportunity to measure more things around the house and discuss how many inches it is. Have fun! :)

Decorate Letter I
I actually changed this to a new activity I found on Pinterest...magic appearing letters! 

Directions: on white paper, write big, bold capital letters in white crayon. Invite your child to paint on the paper with colored water (you can use food coloring or watercolors). They will love to see the letter appear magically! See if they can identify the letter without prompting. :) 

Sorting G, H, I*
Directions:  Print file and cut apart pieces. Label 3 different cups as "G, H, and I". Invite your child to sort the pieces into 3 different cups. 

Bonus cute idea: Put an adult sock over a regular cup and have the child pick the letters out of that cup! It is super fun to reach inside the sock-cup and pull out a letter that way! (Like my fuzzy striped sock? Eh? Eh?)


Play Dough Counting Mat*
Directions: print file. Roll a die and count the dots on top. Invite the child to place pieces of play dough as acorns onto the mat. Count the "acorns" together. Roll again and again for fun! :)

That's all, folks. Printables here:
Ii Dot Art
Inchworm Snack Mat

GHI Sorting Letters
Play Dough Counting Mat

The One with November Plans, Week 2

It's week 2 of November! Time to have more fun with brown, stars, counting, turkeys, and the letter H! Click here to download the calendar! Print it out! 

H Dot Art *

Directions: print file. Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase H. (You can use circle stickers, dot stampers, play dough pieces, or pom poms) Read Dr. Seuss's ABC book, and discuss which letter is "Big H" and which one is "Little h" Hang paper on fridge for the week to reference. 

Printable file here!

Star Stamping
Directions: Cut a potato in half. Then carefully, as to not stab your fingers off, cut a star shape into a potato. (Hint: draw a star on the potato half first, then cut! Much easier!) Invite your child to stamp stars onto paper with some paint. I chose brown since it's the color of the month. My girls loved to sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" while they furiously thumped potatoes! 

Make Play Dough Turkeys:
Directions: Use brown (or any colored) play dough and assist your child into making a turkey torso. Don't worry, its basically just a blob shape. They can add googly eyes and a beak too! Allow them to poke feathers into the turkey. It's super fun! If you don't have feathers, you can always use other household objects to poke in (penne pasta, golf tees, spaghetti, dried leaves, etc) 

H Snack: Hungry Hippo Mouth
Directions: Decorate a paper plate with eyes and ears like a hippo. We will later attach a mouth. Fold a separate paper in half and cut a "D" shape in order to make a mouth. (see blue paper in pictures below!) Draw circles around the perimeter of the mouth. Allow children to place mini marshmallows onto the circles to look like hippo teeth! It's super cute! You can glue the teeth down if you want, or just let them eat the teeth afterwards. Discuss that H is for Hippo! A hungry hippo! 

 

Paint a Brown Bear
Directions: Paint your child's hand (except for the thumb!) brown. Make a handprint and add a cute brown head for the bear. Read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?". It's a classic! 

Acorn Counting Game: 
Directions:  Get an empty egg carton and label each compartment with a number. (You can also use a muffin tin, but my kids thought this egg carton was cool!) I labelled mine with dot stickers since I had a clear egg carton. I previously had my kiddos gather some acorns outside for this activity. I provided a bowl of acorns and some scooping tools (spoons, tongs, etc). They loved scooping their acorns into the egg carton. We counted each container 1-12. 

*Note: 12 acorns will not fit into one small egg compartment! I played a game saying,  "Can you put an acorn into the 7 bucket?" "Can you put 2 acorns in the #2 bucket?" "Can you see how tall you can stack them into bucket #5?"*      This helps with number identification. The girls loved this and wanted to play it again and again. 

That's all folks! Have a great week! 

The One With November Plans

Hey there! I'm ready to go for November! 
I'll be the first to admit that October was a whirlwind for me, but I'm ready to get back to a partially normal schedule this month here goes!

The November Calendar is here!.
I forgot to print the October calendar for last month and put it on my fridge, and I think that was mistake #1 in my busy month. Having the calendar up in September was a good reminder and resource during the day. When my kids were going crazy (and therefore, I was going crazy) I could just look over at the fridge for an idea. I'm doing that again this month! 
_________________________________________
Here are the additional things you will need specifically for the month of October: 
(in order of which you will need them)
-coffee filter
-grapes
-clothespins
-brown play dough
-feathers 
-marshmallows
-Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? Book
-acorns (real or fake, about 20)
-egg carton
-painters/masking tape
-brown paper bags
-gummy worms
-waffle ice cream cones (just the plain cones for cornucopias)
-real cranberries (should be tons out around Thanksgiving when we need these!)
_________________________________________

G Dot Art *

Directions: print file. Allow child to decorate the uppercase and lowercase G. (You can use circle stickers, dot stampers, play dough pieces, or pom poms) Read Dr. Seuss's ABC book, and discuss which letter is "Big G" and which one is "Little g" Hang paper on fridge for the week to reference. 

Star Coloring Page*

Directions: print file. Discuss and describe the shape of a star. Count the 5 points. Sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".  Allow child to decorate the star (markers, crayons, dot stampers, paint, or gluing down little pieces of torn paper).  Older children can trace and discuss the letters in the word "star".  Hang paper on the fridge for the month to reference. Try to find stars throughout the day!

Coffee Filter Turkeys

Directions: This activity combines water play, the color brown, and turkeys! Give the child a coffee filter and allow them to color all over it with a brown marker. (It must be a marker, not crayon.) Then, allow them to drop water all over it using medicine droppers/medicine syringes. Watch the colors run and travel through the coffee filter. Let filter dry.

Make a turkey body out of construction paper and attach it to the dried coffee filter. Fun! 

(I put my soaking wet coffee filter in the microwave for about 20 seconds and it dried! And didn't set on fire! Feel free to use other colored markers in order to make a wild colored turkey!)

G Snack-G for Grapes*

Directions: print grapes snack mat. Give your child a bowl full of grapes and allow them to place them individually on the bunch. (If younger children are having a hard time with the grapes rolling, then cut them in half.) To make this more challenging for older children, let them use tongs to place the grapes on the mat.

Brown Coloring Page*

Directions: print file.  Color the crayon brown (using crayon, marker, paint, etc) Older children can trace and discuss the letters in the word "brown". Hang paper on the fridge for future reference. Search for brown things throughout the day! :)

Sorting Leaves Printable*

Directions: print file. Cut along the dotted lines to cut apart the colored leaves on page 2. Mix up the leaf pieces. Invite the child to sort the colored leaves onto the corresponding color of leaf from page 1. For older children, you can hide the leaves around the house for them to find and race around to sort! :)

G Letter Recognition

Directions: print file. Invite children to find the letters Gg on the sheet. (use bingo stampers, crayons, stickers, etc).

Turkey Clothespin Counting:

Directions: I found an adorable tutorial and printable here to do your own counting turkeys! The printable is free! 

Click here for printable and directions.

All the printable files are here:

November Calendar

Gg Dot Art

Star Coloring Page

Grapes Snack Mat

Brown Coloring Page

Leaf Sorting Mat

G Letter Recognition

Love ya!