Neat Stuff 4 Niños

*Late Lunes Libros

2009-07-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton Buy it

Any book by Sandra Boynton is super cute but this is one of my favourites. It shows animals wearing various items of clothing and the turkey is always wearing them wrong. Socks on your nose? OOPS. The book has a great rhythm, I find even babies like books that rhyme and flow. Miss V always laughs when I put a lot of emphasis on the oops or add side commentary like “Silly Turkey! Socks don’t go on your nose!”

*My second Monday and I can’t even keep up. Lame.

Dress-Up

2009-07-15T12:51:00.000-07:00

Miss V's Dress-up Box

All kids, boy or girl, love to play dress up. My dress up box was one of favorite childhood toys, anyone else covet the tickle trunk when they were a kid? There no need to spend a ton of money on your dress up box, a cardboard box would work fine. If you want something more whimsical I got this great chest at IKEA for my daughter for only $15. For dress up clothes thrift shops are a great resource. Pieces of sparkly, sequin fabric are great too. My daughter has used them as skirts, mermaids tails, water, grass, beds, capes and more. Also check out party shops for hats, and after Halloween sales for great accessories and wigs. You can also find plastic shoes, butterfly wings and other small items at dollar store. I scored a ton of bead necklaces at the pride parade which made great, free, addition to the dress-up box!

Fishing

2009-07-07T09:27:00.000-07:00

We have all played some version of this game. At the local carnival, or the magnetic board game version, kids love catching fish! I added a couple learning elements to my version (colors, and counting). What you need to make your own fish game:

Water (a towel or pillowcase will work fine, we used blue sequin fabric)

Fish (I did multiple colors and sizes, with glitter)
Fishing rod (Shish kabob sticks and ribbon)
The sticky parts (I used a magnet for a fish eye and a magnet on the rod, you could use a magnet and paper clips or anything magnet/metal combo)
A fish ruler* (I didn’t use a real ruler because it has too many lines and would confuse Miss V, we did a simple strip with only 4 lines)

V loved this game and very quickly caught on to the idea of catching then measuring the fish. We also practiced saying fish and all of the colors in Spanish and English. We also “ate the fish”.

*I made my ruler backwards, oops!

Lunes Libros

2009-07-06T14:44:00.001-07:00

Todays book is Lizzy's Lion by Dennis Lee. A favourite of mine as a kid and currently a favourite of Miss V’s. My entire family can recite this book by heart! Lizzy’s Lion is a rhyming story about a girl's pet lion and what he does to the robber who attempts to steal her piggy bank.

Sand Play

2009-07-06T13:34:00.001-07:00

Sand and water play are one of the best activities for children (source: Aunt Bean*). It provides a varied sensory experience and promotes imaginative play. Sand play is even used as a form of therapy for adults and children!

Violeta was recently given a Step 2 Sand and Water table by her Uncles Z and N and absolutely loves it. She will play on her own for 30 minutes, longer if someone is playing with her. One game she loves is burying small toys and then digging them up. We bury her magnetic alphabet letters and as she uncovers each one she says what it is (or I tell her if she doesn’t know). I would recommend this table to anyone, it is tall enough to last until your child is older and very sturdy. It does not have any little pieces that can break. We did have some leaking round one leg of the water side but that is easily fixed with some caulking or liquid silicone (I used a surfboard repair kit!).

If you can’t afford or don’t have room for a sand table or a sand box here are some affordable or free ways you can expose your niño to sand play:
-Local parks
-A sand tray/bucket.
-Find a used sand table or box on craigslist

Don’t want the mess of sand, or is your niño's skin irritated by it? Try one of these instead:
-Oatmeal
-Rice
-Beans
-Cornmeal
-Pasta
-Fish Rocks

*Aunt Bean has a master in early childhood education and work at fancy government job regulating daycares and what not. She is my go to for ideas and my mom’s excuse to buy Miss V new toys that she “needs for her development”.

The Test Panel

2009-07-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

Introducing Miss V. She is the judge of all things toddler posted on this blog. It's not a wide or varied panel, but a very cute one