We have found several fun learning opportunities lately. It's fun to find toddler friendly activities to do at home with Olive. She's so excited about learning and I really enjoy being her first teacher. The teacher in me loves planning learning activities for her to do at home. We have plenty of free play time, but it's nice to do some special projects together during the week.
// 1 //
WRITE TO YOUR FAVORITE DISNEY PRINCESS
Olive has adored Princess Sofia for months. She watches her cartoons regularly, quotes her, sings her songs and reenacts the cartoon. She saw a commercial advertising the fact that you could write a letter to Sofia and she'd write you back. I'd heard the commercial before, but hadn't given it much thought because I figured she was a little too young. It perked Olive's attention so she came up to me and asked if she could write to Sofia. We'd gotten some stationery from a Sofia DVD that I saved so I pulled it out for her to use.
She was SO EXCITED. She kept saying that she couldn't believe we could write to Sofia. I talked her through the process, wrote exactly what she said and then let her draw, color and sticker up the letter. It was so fun to see her put so much thought into her letter. She was in heaven. We sealed up the letter and walked it out to the mailbox. Olive was so proud and we are keeping our eyes peeled for a response. I'm hoping Disney was being serious about Sofia writing back. If a letter never shows, I'll respond on behalf of Sofia :)
I love that she's getting real life writing experience at age 3.
// 2 //
Nature Cutting Tray
I've seen this idea several places and was eager to assemble one for Olive. I took apart a bouquet that I'd gotten when it was nearing the end of its life. I put everything out on a tray and laid out scissors. I left it out on the counter and mentioned to Olive I had a special project for her to do.
// 3 //
Cooking with Play-Doh
We are big Play-doh fans at our house. It's really not that messy of an activity once you establish some ground rules (Play-doh has to stay at the counter, no walking around with Play-doh or tools and no eating Play-doh). She loves the ice cream sundae set. I've been pulling the Play-doh out at dinner prep time so that I 'm cooking dinner and she's pretend cooking with Play-doh. It's been fun to be in the kitchen together :)
// 4 //
Made Up Games
She's a big fan of making up her own games and the current favorite is
Did we see this at the zoo??
She'll ask me, sort the animals and then repeat. It's fun to see her remembering things we do and then talking about them later.
What are you favorite activities to do with your kids right now??
Linking up with Beth for Teaching Together
It definitely looks like you guys have been up to lots of fun! I hope Sofia writes back, too!
ReplyDeleteLove the nature cutting tray, so fun and creative. My girls STILL make me play-doh food ALL the time and I still gladly eat it. You do an amazing job at home with Olive Whitney. She's lucky to have a mama like you.
ReplyDeleteAll such awesome activities!! My girls do something similar to your nature tray...they love to gather leaves and grass and sticks and make fairy houses outside :) And play doh is a huge favorite at our house too! the girls love to make sushi and pretend they are in an episode of "chopped." :) and I 100% agree with Beth- you seriously are the BEST mom!!! :)
ReplyDeleteIt is so much fun once they get old enough to do these fun learning activities. We love play-doh too and another fun thing is to look on YouTube and watch other kids play with play-doh. They find lots of fun things they can make and really enjoy watching. One of our favorites is where Cookie Monster plays with play-doh. It gives Jack ideas and entertains him for a bit. Also, I'm currently drinking a McDonald's PSL and it is fabulous!
ReplyDeletePlay Doh is one of Wesley's favorite things as is cutting and gluing!
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