Toddler Tuesday: Snowmen in Snowglobes

When my kiddos saw this ball sitting in the paint, their eyes lit up! This multi-step project (another Pinterest success) was a big hit with our 18-23 month olds, and they enjoyed making their very own paper snowglobes, complete with snowmen.

Toddler Tuesday: 13 Ways to Play with Pool Noodles

We don’t have a swimming pool in our classroom, but pool noodles are a big part of our play and learning! I bought 3 different colors from the Dollar Tree and cut them up, and even I was surprised how much fun we got out of them! Some of these were my ideas, but the toddlers contributed some ideas of their own too. 

Here were the stages of our play with pool noodles! Odd numbers were toddler ideas; even numbers were my ideas.

Texture Turtles

Our toddlers just finished a month focusing on our five senses, and this was one of the many fun projects we made! 

Of course we try to incorporate our five senses in what we do all throughout the year, and this simple activity would be fun for an animal unit, learning about colors or shapes, enriching a study about textures, and more.

Toddler Rectangles

Here’s a fun way to introduce rectangles to your toddler’s ever-growing vocabulary – make a hands-on messy painting!

Western Roundup for Toddlers

Howdy, y’all! A few weeks ago (I know, I’m just catching up), our toddlers enjoyed a 2-week wild west theme. We enjoyed creating several process art projects together, and I wanted to share them here!

Fireworks for Toddlers

Happy Fourth of July! I’ve been hearing the fireworks all day and look forward to more tonight. Until then, here are some fireworks crafts that our toddlers painted last week! These projects are both great ways to practice fine motor skills, talk about colors, and get in some sensory play.

Patriotic Star Garlands

It’s almost the 4th of July, Independence Day in the United States! We have been having a lot of fun with red, white, and blue to celebrate! 

Wet Chalk Painting

Yesterday the toddlers made something super simple and inexpensive, with impressive results.

Alphabet Book A-E

Finally the alphabet book is here! Or at least the beginning of it. The toddlers have been working on this all year, but that’s because it is not the main focus of our days. This could easily be done in a week.

So first, the reasoning: no, I’m not drilling little one- and two-year-olds on their letters. No, we’re not doing a “letter of the week” or “letter days.” Although that might work in preschool, toddlers are just not going to get that. Instead, we are introducing letters to the little ones and letting them play with them so that letters become something they associate with fun. 

Rainy Day Crafts for Toddlers

April showers bring crafty powers!

Because some afternoons in Florida look like this.

Easter Displays for Children

Last week, I shared several Easter crafts to make with preschoolers. Here are 3 ideas for ways to brighten up your classroom or home and display the real meaning of Easter (and a nonreligious one too).

4 Easter Crafts for Preschoolers

It’s hard to believe I’ve already spent 3 Easters as a preschool teacher. Easter is one of my favorite holidays, and I look forward to incorporating it into the school year. Of course the kids are excited about Easter egg hunts and the gifts they’ll receive in their baskets, but it’s also a special time when we have an opportunity to share the salvation message with youngsters. Here are 4 of my favorite Easter crafts to make with preschoolers.

Toddler Watercolor Triangles

After September’s circles and October’s squares, we were ready to learn about triangles in November! The art project we did for our portfolio was a 2-step process, and boy was it interesting!

Before I write anything else, please read my explanation of "shape of the month." It's not a rigid curriculum or one art project - after our conversations about triangles, the toddlers surprised me by pointing out the triangle in the parking lot on our way to the playground!

3 Valentine Crafts for Toddlers

A keepsake, a writing exercise, and fun with paint – here’s what we’ve been up to this week!

#1: Valentine Keepsake: We painted feet on cardstock, then I outlined them with marker and added the words for our parents.

Toddler Squares

SQUARE (noun): a shape with 4 sides of equal length; (verb): to settle or make even

“You can’t fit a round peg in a square hole.” – American proverb

"A round egg can be made square according to how you cut it; words would be harsh according to how you speak them.” – Japanese proverb

“Square meals often make round people.” – E. Joseph Kossman

Wintry Fun for Florida Toddlers

It’s been a busy 2 weeks in our classroom since we returned from Christmas break! Even though the thermometer has read 80 degrees most of the time, we’ve been learning all about winter! No, our toddlers couldn’t go out and play in the snow, but we did learn about the cold!

Our playground is in the beating tropical sun, so to cool off a bit, we usually play with water. These past 2 weeks, though, we’ve been playing with ice! The toddlers have had so much fun scooping ice into cups, placing the ice cubes back in the tray, watching the ice melt, rubbing the ice on their faces, trying to lick the ice, throwing ice, burying ice in the dirt, etc. They are talking up a storm these days, and “Ice is cold!” has become the new saying.

Bible Verse Handprint Calendar

In my 3 and a half years of teaching, I’ve always had trouble coming up with ideas for a Christmas gift for my students to give their parents. Of course we’re making all sorts of homemade ornaments and fun art projects, but December has always been such a hectic month. I’ve always felt like there’s never enough time to rest and enjoy the simplicity of the Christmas story. Kids don’t need a big production and 500 projects to learn about how Jesus loved us and came to earth as a baby. 

Circle Art for Toddlers

In my toddler class, we focus on a shape every month. That sentence alone could drive many of you away, or intrigue some readers for the wrong reasons. Let me explain:

What It Does NOT Mean:

• That we push our 1-year-olds to memorize shape names and outlines
• That we talk only about shapes all month long
• That I am only allowed to mention that specific shape for the entire month (obsessively showing a picture of a rectangle, for instance, when there’s a perfectly good heart printed on one of their shirts that day)
• That they’re geometric geniuses by the end of the year

What it DOES Mean: