Teacher Mom: Toddlers

Hey Friends!  I hope you had a nice weekend.  We had a good weekend here.  I've got a fun new series to start with you today - Teacher Mom.  I'm going to be sharing homework tips, toddler learning tips as well as fun learning activities that you can do at home with your kids, your friends or even your grand kids.

I hope to encourage you that learning at home can be fun and that you don't have to rush your kids into preschool unless you really want or need them to be there.  We typically wait to send kids to preschool until PreK at age 4 (even though there is lots of pressure out there to start formal preschool ASAP).  We enjoy lots of fun learning opportunities at home and in our community.  You can definitely do the same if you aren't interested in starting formal school with them just yet.

I've got 3 favorite toddler learning activities to do with little ones today.  I'll link as much as I can with Amazon affiliate links below each activity description.  Thanks for supporting PDP!

Teacher Mom: Toddlers

1 // Flash Card Fun

All of my kids have loved looking through flash cards.  It's always been a fun naming game for us and never anything strict or stressful.  The big kids love this Guess in 10 animal clue game and Leo uses the cards to learn animal names.  He initiated it and gets it out often.  

All of my kids have loved these Touch and Feel Flashcards.  We have every set they make.  They're on sturdy cards and the kids love feeling the textured spot on each flash card.  They last for years or for multiple children.   We have used and loved our sets since Olive was a toddler 7+ years ago.

These would be the perfect addition to your child's Easter basket, too!

 

2 // Play-Doh Playtime

Leo loves to play with Play-Doh.  Now that he's almost 3 I can trust him to play and not eat the Play-Doh.  He loves to roll out snakes, chop with butter knives, match Play-Doh balls with the right lid colors and create.  He also enjoys driving cars through the Play-Doh or stamping dinosaur foot prints in it.  Can you see the flag that he made and was so proud of?  This is such a good fine motor activity.  It builds those little hand muscles so well.  Especially since he wants zero help opening the containers and removing the Play-Doh.  He isn't really into the tools yet.  He just loves using plastic knives or butter knives to chop.

I buy this big set of Play-Doh regularly and all the kids enjoy creating with it.  DO NOT BUY the Play-Doh Easter eggs.  They are so difficult to open since each egg is completely sealed shut and the Play-Doh is much more like clay than Play-Doh.  My kids hated them and I hated that I wasted money on them.

 

3 // Kinetic Sand

This is a little messier than Play-Doh, but it is so fun to hide little treasures in.  Leo will hide, find, rehide and squish this stuff for hours.  I make sure he sits at a place that is easy to sweep up and then give him an assortment of tiny dinosaurs, gems and such to find.  He uses a butter knife here, too.  You can use plastic spoons and knives, but they always seem to snap easily for us.

My big kids and toddler are obsessed with these tiny treasure boxes of Kinetic Sand.  They come with a shovel to dig and several tiny gems to find.  They're gems the size of the kid's fingernails (not the tiny pink dots pictured here) and all the kids enjoy them.

 

4 // Walk and Talk

Leo and I love to go on a walk and talk about everything we see.  That's getting easier now that the weather is getting a little nicer and there is more sunlight.  It is a really great free learning opportunity.

We name letters on signs.

Name numbers on houses.

Name car colors.

Wave hello and chat with neighbors.

Watch construction equipment work.

Stop and look at bugs and critters.

Collect sticks.

Talk about the planes that fly over, the clouds in the sky and the birds we see.

We practice directions - Do you want to go straight or right?

We practice the names of our neighbors.

We name nature things like pine cones, hawks, bunnies and farm equipment.

Enjoy your busy toddlers!!