Confessions from Toddler School: My Body!

Have you ever had one of those weeks that just feels like it is trying to break you? It tests every ounce of patience and strength you have and then some? What am I saying, if you're reading this you're probably a parent, so of course you have! Well that is how this week has been for me. We are deep in the terrible 2s. Waaaaaay early and waaaaaay deep. Cohen has also decided that 4 am is the perfect time for him to practice his wailing. Gotta love sleep regression! 😫

Oh and the kicker? Cohen got his first real injury. After a day of waking up at 3 am (I'm seriously dying over here), Cohen was walking in the bathroom, tripped over his own foot and chipped off over half of his front tooth. It is going to be jagged and discolored until his adult tooth comes in. 😢

If only we were doing our teeth theme! This week is all about the body and learning where our body parts are!

Here's what we planned to do this week:

You can get my blank thematic planner here.

And here's what we actually did:

Body Part Discovery:

This was a super simple sensory table and all about discovering our body parts! You can find these body part cards in my body pack. I glued them onto a yellow background (Cohen's favorite color) and then laminated them! I then scoured the house for any little mirrors I could find. I also picked up some compact mirrors at dollar tree that worked perfectly! 

We would pull out cards and talk about the body part and then use the mirrors to find them on our bodies!

Body Part Dice Game:

You can also find these dice in my body pack. I made a set for parts of the face and a separate one for parts of the body. We used the dice along with the Hokey Pokey (or in our case Hokey Mokey - Cohen's nickname).

Trace/Label Body Parts on Butcher Paper: 

I was a little nervous about how this activity would go! Cohen is not one to lay down or sit still but he actually did really well. I sang Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes while I traced each part and I think that may have helped! We had a lot of fun coloring together! 

If you have little ones I highly recommend these egg shaped crayons! They are perfectly shaped for toddler hands and gives them so much control!

Where is Cohen's _____? (using stickers):

His face says it all! We sang this little song I made up and put stickers on the body parts as we went. And kissed them of course!

 Cohen has a little (body part), 

(body part), (body part). 

Cohen has a little (body part), 

it’s oh so nice smooch!

He was not so sure about the stickers 😂

♫♪ Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes ♫♪:

This song was a hit! He now comes over to me and starts the movements so I will sing for him! It's working!

Labeling Body Parts: 

We also used the stickers to label body parts on this little boy outline! You can also use band aids or a washable marker (if laminated). He was so focused on developing a technique to get the stickers off his finger and onto the paper. Perfect for developing his fine motor skills! And he loves it! He brings it to me several times a day.

I put the first sticker on each body part as we talked about what they were. I chose a different color for each body part and then while Cohen was putting his stickers on he color sorted them himself! I don't think I've ever been so proud!

This outline can be found in my body pack as well! 

Read Aloud Discovery:

This is another on of those books that we had to read so many times that it mysteriously disappeared. We would find the baby's hidden body parts under the flaps and then use the mirror to find Cohen's. 

Outings this week:

Does our emergency trip to the dentist count?

📙📘📗 Our favorite books this week 📗📘📙

Where Is Baby's Belly Button? A Lift-the-Flap Book by Karen Katz

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins

All of Baby, Nose to Toesby 

Up next week: Dr. Seuss 🎩

Confessions from Toddler School: Valentine's Day

Wow! This week has been the longest and shortest week of my life! In some ways it just flew by and in other ways I swear it's still Monday.

On Sunday I hosted a really cute little Toddler Valentine's Party for my mom group that I started on Facebook! I put out a bunch of these activities and the kids had a blast! Having all the activities prepped ahead of time really helped the week flow more smoothly!

Here's what we did this week:

You can get my blank thematic planner here.

Color Sorting Hearts: 

These Foam Hearts have been amazing! We've used them for so many different activities! Our favorite right now is color sorting. I chose 3 colors red, purple and pink. I set one of each out and then we practice color sorting (check out my IG for a video of this in action). 

I say "This heart is red. Does the red go here (putting it by purple)?" Then I model shaking my head and saying no. I do the same thing by pink. When we get to red I say yes, have Cohen repeat "yes" and then we clap!

When we first started he had no clue and would only last about 2 seconds. But he brings me the hearts several times a day and now we can get all the way through the stack. He shakes his head "no" on his own and says "yes" when we get to the right color!

Repetition works ya'll!

Valentine's Themed Sensory Table: 

This sensory table was a huge hit at our Toddler Valentine's Party!

What we used:

- Pink Dyed Rice

- Small Glitter Hearts

- Heart Slinkies

- Heart Rings

 All of these things were found at Dollar Tree! TGFDT (Thank God for Dollar Tree)!

Giant Sticky Heart: 

I made this heart on the end of our island using contact paper! We had it set up for our Valentine's Party and Cohen adds to it every day! It also spruces up our floor quite a bit. 😂

  

Before

After

Giant Heart Letter Matching:

I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it was so cute! We used the same Foam Hearts as above and a long sheet of white butcher paper (my husband keeps it in stock for his business and we use it all the time). I put all the letters to spell Cohen and his friends names on the hearts and then traced the hearts onto the paper in the right color. 

This game has so many options! Matching colors, matching letters, even as a gross motor twister kind of game! The possibilities are endless!

Admittedly this activity was way above Cohen's pay grade so we used it to continue our color matching!

Torn Paper Heart: 

This was our super easy and relatively mess free art project for the week! I provided some Valentine's colored scrap paper for Cohen to tear (fine motor) and glue onto this cute little heart template I found from Learning with Letty. You can find this free template here. Cohen thought it was more fun to watch me tear the paper (have you seen that video of the baby giggling hysterically while the dad rips paper, yeah, it was like that haha). But just look at how focused he is! 

I love how it turned out so much that I decided to keep it in his little art binder!

Lacing Hearts: 

We used our Foam Hearts again for this fine motor activity! I took a hole punch and made these little lacing boards for Cohen! He loved practicing weaving the ribbons in and out. These are great too for on the go! We've been taking them in the car with us since our car seat is something that can be used to torture prisoners for information... or so he seems to think.

Outings this week:

none - We're still getting over a minor cold this week so we didn't go on many fun baby outings. Our Toddler Valentine's Party was our socialization this week :) 

📙📘📗 Our favorite books this week 📗📘📙

Happy Valentine's Day, Mouse! by Laura Numeroff & Felicia Bond

Llama Llama I Love You by Anna Dewdney

I Love You, Snugglesaurus! by Sandra Magsamen

Cohen is obsessed with anything If You Give A Mouse or Llama Llama so he was super happy with our books this week!

Up next week: My Body 💃