Happy Halloween

Wishing everyone a fun and safe Halloween. 

Halloween Storytime

Halloween Storytime

Here's some of the books I truly enjoy reading during Halloween.

 I usually start reading these a week or two before so we can enjoy them and the kids get to know the stories better for story related activities. 

1. Shake dem Halloween Bones by W. Nikola-Lisa

 

2. Five Little Pumpkins (this one has pictures by Dan Yaccarino)

3. That's Not My Monster - Usborne touchy-feely books

4. Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex

5. Where Is Baby's Pumpkin? by Karen Katz

6. Go Away Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley

Where is Baby's Pumpkin? and That's Not My Monster are good books for infants and toddlers.

 The rest of the books are good for toddlers through preschoolers. 

They all lend themselves well to be extended into activities.

I'm going to share what activity we did for Shake Dem Halloween Bones:

After reading the book three days in a row I made a musical instrument to go with it. 

I sing this book when I read it so it's always musical, maybe one day I'll have the nerve to record myself singing it and post my hip hop version ;)

but for now press HERE to hear a version of the book being sung.

During the chorus of the book is when we shake our bones.

Here is how we made our bone rattles:

I used a Voss water bottles (the plastic ones), because it has a wider opening for bigger items.

Skeletons and hand skeletons I found at the dollar store

I took the skeleton apart and cut the arms off

Then I placed all the body parts in the water bottle. I hot glued the lid shut. Put a black ribbon around. And THATS IT!

We had our bones to shake!

This is really one of my FAVORITE books to read! I love it! 

It was so much fun to dance and have bone rattles to play during the chorus!

Now I said "shake, shake, shake dem bones now!"

Seriously, I LOVE this book, or maybe I just love singing it!

Say No To Bunnies =)

Pounding Pumpkins

Pounding Pumpkins

Today we had another rainy day! 

So it was time to think of another indoor activity. I remembered I had bought this styrofoam pumpkin at the dollar store and had also bought golf tees for a different DIY game I had in mind. 

I set up the pumpkin, golf tees, and a wooden toy hammer on a tray. 

First, I let him explore the materials. Then after a bit I showed him how I put the golf tees into the pumpkin. It only took one example and he was off and running with this activity!

Once he was finished putting the golf tees in he asked me to put them on the sides. Well I learned quickly that round and sideways don't go together. Luckily the pumpkin is a hollow so I easily cut it in half. 

Much better! 

He continued with this activity for a good bit. 

Here's one half after some hammering:

Remember to adjust the activity to your child's level. You can also vary this activity in many ways!

-You can color the tees and draw circles in coordinating colors on the pumpkins and have them hammer the tees on the coordinating color.

-You can use a real pumpkin and a real hammer.

-You can have the tees already hammered in and have child pull them out and drop them in a cup.

Those are just a few ways to modify, but again so many possibilities!

Hammering is a great way to work on fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, learning to use tools properly, and role-playing and imagination.

This was a very easy and fun activity for our indoor afternoon!

Keep making sure you Say No to Bunnies =)

Enjoying our Spiders

Since making our spiders for our Spider toss game (click HERE to see spider toss post)

we have been coming up with sooooo many ways to play with the spiders. The games with these spiders seem endless. So I thought it was time to share some of the things we have come up with. I think the best ones are the ones the kids make up on their own! Somehow they always seem to come up with great ideas. I always try to encourage the kids to use the materials in their own ways, not just the ways I've taught them. When they do find a way to use the materials differently (whether successful or not) I always make sure I tell them that it was great! For example, I might say "that was an exciting new way to play with the spiders, you did it, kiss your brain." Now I use the phrase "kiss your brain" which is from a song from Dr. Jean , it let's them know they used their brains and accomplished something. Please do this whether it was successful or not! 

Here's our fun spider games list:

1. Spider Jumping- spread the spiders out and jump from one to the other. (kid created)

2. Spider Spoon Balance- make a line on the floor with tape (or chalk if outdoors), place spider on a spoon, have child walk on the line while balancing the spider on the spoon.

3. Spider Web Toss- Take a hula hoop and wrap with tape, hang hoop up, have child throw the spiders so they stick to the web. This was the favorite by far!

4. Flying Spiders- using a paddle (or a stick attached to the back of a plate), have the kids continuously hit the spider in the air and try not to let him fall.

  

5. Nursery Rhyme reenactments- reenact the Itsy Bitsy Spider or Little Miss Muffin using the spiders as props.

6. Pulling Spiders- place spiders in an empty baby wipe container and have child reach inside and pull them out. Add different materials in there as well and have them separate the spiders from the other objects.

7. Spider Painting- use the spiders as painting tools instead of a paint brush.

8. Spider Kicks- lay bucket on its side and have child kick the spiders into the bucket.

9. Baby Spider Kicks- attach a piece of string of desired length to each spider and attach to an empty paper towel tube and hold above baby while they kick or reach for the spiders. I used dental floss to make the string look clear like a spider web.

10. Musical Spider- play or sing "There's a Spider on the Floor" and use a spider according to song lyrics. Great for body part identification.

Sorry =( we were having so much fun we didn't get pictures of everything but I'm sure you got the idea!

Whew! I'm exhausted from how many ways we are able to reuse these diy yarn spiders! Talk about stretching your dollar =)

The worst part is my brain won't stop and I have soooo many more ways I want to use them!!! Trying to save some ideas for other DIY toys and games I have coming up! 

WooHoo for saying NO to bunnies again!

It's Not Just Play

Friendly Halloween Reminder =)

A Friendly Halloween Reminder

Please keep this in mind for Halloween. We need to make sure that this Halloween is for EVERYONE! 

Sorting Critters

Sorting Pom Pom Critters

In keeping with the Halloween feel our next diy game consisted of sorting pom pom critters. I bought a package of Halloween pom pom critters, and small containers. I got the pom pom critters at Michael's for $3 and the small containers at the dollar store. I already had the glue stick, construction paper, foam paper, and markers at home.

I had construction paper that coordinated with the colors of the critters. Then I traced the bottom of the small containers once on each piece of construction paper. After I cut out the circles I went ahead and glued those pieces down inside each container. 

Next, I wrote the color on top of the container's lids and cut out a small circle and glued that on the lid. 

Now the critters can be sorted into the cups by colors.

I also went ahead and used a small white paper cup and a taller white paper cup. I cut doors out of foam paper for each cup, glued them on and drew windows on the cups. Then I wrote small and big on the cups. Now we could also sort the critters by size.

The best part is how easy they are to store because they all fit in the small containers!

 It was a great sorting game. 

Again, as with any activity make sure to modify to your child's ability and developmental stages.

Ways to modify and adjust for your child:

For a smaller child- have them place the pom poms in a bucket (fill and spill), have them touch the pom poms for texture.

For a toddler & preschoolers- Have them say the colors, count, roll a die to decide how many pom poms to put in the cups, use a spoon to scoop the pom poms into the cups, use tweezers to place the pom poms in the containers, make patterns with the pom poms, place a letter under the critters feet and play memory. 

Just have fun.

This was another fun and educational diy game and again we said:

No to Bunnies!

Guess what……

These make a great gift!

Wrapped and ready to gift =)

Say No to Bunnies!

(and yes to critters)

Spiders, Spiders Everywhere

With Halloween around the corner I thought it would be appropriate to incorporate some spiders into our next diy toy/game: Spider Toss. Today was a rainy day over here for us, so I decided we needed some active indoor play. Not only will it keep him moving but improve his gross motor skills. I think people tend to over look the importance of working on gross motor skills. It's an important part of a child's development. While children tend to learn to roll over, crawl, walk, and run with little assistance, we think they will automatically be good at all motor skills. Yet not only do movement activities help improve these skills, I believe children learn more when they're whole body is incorporated.
Scientists now believe that to achieve the precision of the mature brain, stimulation in the form of movement and sensory experiences during the early developing years is necessary (Greenough & Black, 1992; Shatz, 1992). 
Games that involve movement are a great way to work on their motor skills. So I scavenged my house for materials to make this happen. I found some leftover black yarn I had from a scarf I had made…PERFECT!
Time to make the spiders:

Here's the yarn I had. I was so happy it was a thicker yarn.

Then I took a business card and wrapped the yarn around it a few times (4-5 times).

After that I cut the yarn and tucked the loose end under the other yarn.

Next I cut a small piece of yarn and slid it under the wrapped yarn.

Then I tied this piece of yarn tightly, twice.

Next, I flipped the card over and cut the yarn down the middle.

And Voila, you now have a yarn spider. YAY!

I made a total of ten of these so that there would be enough for a game. 

We took a Halloween bucket to use as our basket for our Spider Toss game. These spiders can be used for all ages. Here's ways to modify for different ages:

Infants: tie a string to the spiders and dangle over baby to try and grab. Even make some out of ribbon, different yarn to have different textures for baby to touch. You can sing the itsy bitsy spider to baby with these. For infants crawling or on their way, pull the spider while they crawl to it.

Toddlers: Place bucket on floor, or hang for the child to toss the spiders into. Depending on your child's ability you can have them do different techniques such as, throw underhanded, overhanded, eyes closed, from far then near. Have them count the amount of spiders that made it in. I had my son do different activities, such as, jumping after each toss, or touching toes, really the possibilities are endless.

Preschooler: Have them attempt to throw it even higher by placing the basket up high. You can have the spiders spread out across the floor and have the child crawl like a spider to collect the spiders and once all collected attempt to shoot them in. You can make them different colors and have them only shot in a color you yell out. 

Make sure you modify to your child's ability! Every child can participate it only take some modifying (I'm a strong believer in this). 

Just try to have them be as active with it as possible and of course have 

as much FUN as possible!

Here's my son tossing his spiders while the bucket was low, but I continued to find places to put it higher for a more challenging game of toss. 

Tons of FUN! 

I can think of soooo many ways to play with these spiders, so I'll save that for another post so I don't make this one to long =)

Say No to Bunnies!!!

Binoculars

This post will be on making homemade binoculars, an oldie but goodie. I'm sure many of us have made these when we were younger but haven't made them with our kids. These are great for hikes, walks, bike rides, playground, well just about anywhere since kids are always exploring their environment. The best part is they take little effort to make. In this post I went ahead and made the binoculars but you can surely have your child involved in making the binoculars. Kids seem to love decorating toilet paper tubes. Just try and let your kid decorate it their way. You know when a kid has done the work themselves and when parents have had input. Let them do it! They'll be even prouder. 

For my binoculars I used some toilet paper tubes, some string, and some craft tape, that's it! So simple and easy. I'm always looking for a bargain so I found my craft tape on sale at Michaels for $2.99, what a steal for 6 yards of craft tape! Of course, the tubes came from my house, and the string was left over from a previous project. 

Here's my supplies:

All I did was wrap the tubes with the tape, staple the tubes together, make holes for the string, and tied the string on and that's it!!! So easy and quick! It'll provide your child with endless exploring. 

Didn't they turn out great! Now they're ready for my son to go exploring! Don't forget the possibilities are endless. Let them explore nature, or explore for letters and colors, let them use them to find the perfect book at the library, use them in the car (so many things to see while sitting in your carseat!), don't limit these to just nature, let your child decide what they want to use them for, keep it open-ended and just have fun! 

Happy exploring and look NO battery bunnies needed =)

First….

First before I put up a post on any toys I just want to make sure it's known I am by no means a toy professional or educational professional. I am stating my opinion from being a mom of 3 and a teacher assistant in a preschool classroom for 8 years. I have also taken various early childhood education classes in college and multiple early childhood education trainings. So from all my years of parenting and working with preschoolers these are the things I've come up with or have loved and strongly believe in. So, again these are my opinions and things that have worked for me and my kids. I just hope someone else can enjoy these ideas and opinions as much as I have.

Now onto fun….