Tinkergarten!

This week has been a whirlwind as I discovered and began the application to become a Tinkergarten leader. Tinkergarten is an enrichment class that is unique in that it is run in an outdoor classroom.

Being a preschool teacher and having a toddler who loves being outside, I am excited to start my training! In the meantime, you should see if there are Tinkergarten classes in your area (www.tinkergarten.com) and if not, maybe you or someone you know is the right one to teach kids in your area!

Exploring Black and White

The Bug has been interested in shadows since we put a nightlight in his room so we explored black and white!

He dove right in and started painting!

He had way more fun mixing the paint in the cups with the paintbrushes...

We talked about black and white and how he made grey. He still loves to point to his artwork and say 'shadow!'

Sticky Leaf Collage

The Bug has always loved to be outside so we took advantage of the fall leaves everywhere while we were playing! 

I taped contact paper sticky side up to the table (you REALLY have to tape it down to keep it from sticking to your kiddo!) and spread the leaves out around it. 

The Bug noticed it pretty quickly and came over to explore. I talked about the colors of the leaves he was sticking and pulling off.

He definitely did both sticking and pulling off and it made a 'torn leave' mess but we did end up with a nice collage of fall leaves and he loved peeling and sticking and exploring colors!

Spider Web Watercolors

The Bug and I have been doing a lot of art projects as it gets colder and tougher to stay outside as much... I saw this project on Pinterest though we skipped the salt step!

Before I set out this project, I used a white crayon to draw a spiderweb design on the paper. Direct sunlight made it easier for me to see where my lines were!

The Bug used orange and purple Watercolors to paint on the paper.

As the spiderweb emerged, he kept saying 'whoa!'

Because I wanted him to understand that it's a spiderweb, I gave him a sticker spider to add when he finished painting!

Overall a fun and easy project! I do recommend thick paper for toddlers! We had to stop to avoid ripping a hole!

Construction Week

As a mom, I am not immune to wondering if I'm doing a good job. I've read every article, mom blog, and book all with different advice. I don't know who is right or if any one person is but my son has learned. No matter what I do, he is learning!

I set up his shelf with activities but let him direct the play. He mostly throws the counting blocks on the floor, he loves hammering the golf tees though!

He is working on his hand eye coordination and self regulation! The first day, he hammered everything and we had to put the hammer away... Now he is gentle and sticks to the tees!

He was fascinated by the cars driving and drawing but it lasted for 5 seconds before he ripped the crayons off...

Building with blocks has been his favorite no matter what creative activities I come up with. And that's ok! He has surprised me pointing out things he has learned. So yes, I will give him fun activities and maybe some will spark his interest and some will go untouched. And that's ok!

Pom Pom Muffins

Letting the Bug play and explore without structure sounds great but it leaves me feeling guilty and often leaves him crabby and asking to watch TV... So when I stumbled across the concept of invitations to play, I knew we had to try!

I set up 3 simple activities and showed them to the Bug and he gravitated to the Pom poms!

I helped him sort them and we talked about the colors (I used fall colors since we've been focused on fall!) 

Then he just explored. He felt the Pom poms, moved them from muffin cup to muffin cup, and pulled the cake liners apart! 

We will be doing more invitations to play and tot trays based on the Bug's interests! Stay tuned!

Shape Collage!

The Bug and I have been working hard on settling into a fall routine as new activities start again!

He's extremely into art lately so we've been doing lots of painting! I drew shapes on his easel and he's been painting, tracing, and coloring in the shapes so this week we're further exploring shapes!

The Bug spent lots of time looking through and talking about the shapes he was pulling out.

He also peeled them off the sticky paper. It was a great simple activity that lasted much longer than I expected!

Let the Children Play

One thing I have struggled with as a stay at home mom with only one kiddo is how to balance teaching and learning with play. I truly believe that we expect way too much from our kids at a young age- they're in playgroups and activities every minute that they're not in school and we as parents are stretched to the max running them from one activity to the next. 

But I'm at home all day with one toddler. He doesn't have classmates exposing him to different ways of doing things and while he does get socialization through playgroups and such, he's with me most of the time. 

So I try to show him a variety of things then let him explore. I play with him for 15-30 minutes then go do housework while he plays. He knows how to turn on the tv now... That's a skill right?

We go places- he LOVES going to the petting farm to see the animals!

Playgrounds and splash pads are things we got to explore much more this summer! We also take classes- I joined a mommy fitness group so the Bug gets some socializing at playgroups and I get to stay in shape! The Bug took swim lessons last winter and is taking gymnastics this fall! We go to Storytime at the library too!

At home, we started a biweekly lesson. I come up with a theme and pick out different activities- 3 sensory bins, 1 fine motor, 1 gross motor, 1 loose parts, 1 pretend play, and a basket of books. Not all the activities fit with the theme- it's a general way of introducing shapes, body parts, and things of that nature. The Bug has free reign in his art nook though I do try to come up with some activities that fit with the theme such as this shapes collage

So, play and explore. The Bug is learning so much despite my fears and I have the memories to prove it! He doesn't need drills or apps or toys to help him learn- he needs parents who read to him, play with him, and explore the world with him! Let the children play!!!

My Body

I've started more directed play with the Bug though it's still self guided. I set up a shelf with several themed activities (that focus on different skills such as gross motor, fine motor, early math, discovery/science, music, and language)

This week's theme has been 'Body Parts' and the Bug has enjoyed playing doctor to help learn! He loves giving shots...

We did several sensory table activities with pictures of body parts. Parts of the head and face were hidden in rice (not pictured)

And other body parts were hidden in oats! 

The Bug tried matching the pictures with his own body parts (pretty sure this picture is an arm...) he can identify parts if we say the word though not all of them. 

These were his two favorite books and he had fun playing with Mr. Potato Head and making faces using eyes, noses, and mouth we cut out of pictures! It was a fun week of learning about our bodies!

Shredded Paper!

The Bug is finally getting to a point where he isn't eating everything but I'm still cautious since he occasionally still sneaks bites... He has lots of small animals so we hid the wild/zoo animals in with some shredded paper! 

The Bug had to use his pincer grip to pull the animals out and separate them from the paper.

We explored the animals by name and sounds when we knew them.

He also enjoyed shaking the paper all over! It's so much fun to see him exploring and learning!

Gelatin Exploring!

Sensory table time is the Bug's favorite and we have been spending lots of time enjoying the weather outside so our porch is the perfect place to enjoy the summer without getting too much sun and there aren't bugs! 

I wanted to try something different and stumbled across some gelatin I had bought a while back so we got to work making it! This is plain so there's no flavor and we added food coloring to make it fun!

The Bug tried squishing it, shaking it, and mixing the colors together! (They don't mix well for the record!)

He played for quite a while- so glad my guy loves sensory play!

Prewriting with Crayons!

Now the the Bug is 18 months, I'm trying to introduce more while letting his interests guide us. He has been super interested in coloring lately and we're doing it more and more. As he gets more skilled, I've put away the markers and focus more on materials that he has to put pressure on to make marks in order to continue his journey to writing! 

His grip is changing and it's so exciting! While he's still not using a traditional grip, he's using more directed pressure from his pointer finger to make marks!

A GREAT addition to your art area is crayon cakes! We use broken crayons (or buy used crayons at the thrift store!) and melt them in Silicone baking molds! These happened to be ones I made over the winter holidays but they have molds in all sorts of shapes!

Simply, unwrap crayons, break so they fit into your mold and bake them at 200 degrees until the crayons have melted. (My current oven takes 5-10 minutes depending on crayon thickness!) when they're melted, take them out and let cool in the molds- silicone stretches well to release the crayons!

Car Wash!

The Bug is a boy through and through and cars are one of his very favorite things to play with. We happened upon a toy car wash at a thrift store which has lead to a new pretend play game!

He just loves to zoom the cars through the car wash!

If you don't have a toy car wash, a shoe box is a great stand in! You can add things like felt hanging down, sponges, and a pipe cleaner hose!

We might have to do a water table car wash this afternoon with some sponges too!

Homemade Liquid Watercolors

Ok, I am a "craft hoarder". I will literally save anything if it looks like it might be cool to use for a craft later and let's just say, my marker collection considering my only child isn't even 2 was out of control... And the Bug just bit the tips off... UGH!

So when I saw a liquid watercolor recipe, I went for it. I saved a small set of markers (the Bug has the classic colors and I have 2 other sets...) and divided the others into the 6 rainbow colors. I took the caps off and put the markers tip down into jars of water and let them sit.

Because these weren't dried out markers, I got bright colors pretty quickly but if I were using dried out markers, I would probably remove the ink from the plastic and cut it up in the water to get the colors out!

We use these paint cups (ours are Melissa and Doug and are pretty spill resistant!) so the Bug only has a small amount of liquid water color at a time...

But it's his new favorite thing for sure!

Taste Safe Cloud Dough

So the Bug might be almost 18 months now but he's still securely in the oral phase of development meaning EVERYTHING still has a chance to go in his mouth... We have adapted numerous activities to be taste safe and I spend a lot of time playing WITH him so he understands a bit better.

Cloud Dough is super easy but most recipes call for baby oil which is not taste safe... so we use whatever cooking oil we have on hand! We've used coconut oil (melted of course), canola oil, olive oil, etc. The ratio is about 1 cup of flour to 1/8 cup of oil but it does vary a bit- you want moldable but not sticking to your hand like a damp sand!

We have an insane amount of "sensory table toys" ranging from miniatures (dinosaurs pictured) to traditional sand/water toys, and measuring cups. The things you add to any sensory table should be things that will help your child to explore and imagine!

Do-a-Dot Paints

Have you seen these? They're basically bingo markers and they are a toddler favorite for sure! 

The Bug recently got an easel from Ikea (it's been a lot of trips thanks to a kitchen reno...) so we pulled out the dots he got for Christmas and worked on building some "writing muscles". Using a variety of writing instruments (or art instruments) such as crayons, chalk, etc  is really important to developing the muscles and coordination needed for writing! 

Note: markers don't actually make the list because they don't require pressure to make marks!

Angles and surfaces make a difference as does your child's position! Sitting in a chair, on the floor, and standing all teach different things as do drawing at a table, on the floor, or on an easel or wall! 

It can be tough with younger kids (the Bug is currently 18 months so I'm well aware!) to keep the art contained to paper so I recommend 1- get an easel or table that you don't expect to last through age 7 2- always place larger sheets of paper or plastic table cloths under art projects to contain the mess! We have the interconnecting foam mats (from Lowes) on the floor as well as the Ikea Malm easel and Ikea Lack table so that the Bug can be as messy as he needs to be to get a full experience out of his art! We also clean up afterwards- bonus that the spray bottle helps his fine motor skills which are what children use to do things like writing and tying shoes!