Spring Themed Activities for Toddlers and {Learn & Play Link Up}

In this week’s featured posts, I would like to focus on spring activities for toddlers.  Vito is in the peak of learning as he always asks for something to “play”.  These amazing posts from featured bloggers will truly inspire you.

FREE Alphabet Cards

I’ve been searching high and low for alphabet cards doesn’t have cliparts or pictures in them but I can’t find one.  So I made one for Vito as he usually gets distracted with images.  The sole purpose of these cards is for him to familiarize with LOWERCASE letters. He knows their sounds, all of the 26 letters but can’t recognize some of the lowercase, thus these cards are born!

Fish Theme List of Materials

Here are all the materials and resources that we will be using in our Fish Theme for the month of April.  I prepared this list for those who wanted to follow our activities and those who are inquiring about the materials we are using. 

Painting the Moon

Vito is 28 months old.

We have an amazing full moon during Holy Week so I encouraged the boys to the paint the moon.  I can’t believe that it turned out so beautiful and realistic!  The craters are naturally formed and the color combination of paints were fantastic.  The best part about this is that it’s so simple to make!

April Tot School Curriculum

Hello everyone! We’re changing how we do learning activities at home and I am happy to announce that I finally created a curriculum for Vito.  This is perfect to those who wants to follow along with us, or to those who are looking for a reference.  With Mavi, I can whip any activities and he would just go along with it, especially activities that includes letters and reading.  But Vito is different, he’s loving movements,  exploring objects, games and anything that he sees in the books! While we work on our main themes,  our Tot School letters will be in the background.

So this is how it will work.  Every 20th of each month, I will publish the curriculum for the coming month so you have enough time to prepare.  I will try my best to come up with activities that are easy to assemble as I want working Moms to be able to do this as well. 

I will share the activities and our progress each day through my blog and Instagram. Please do follow me on Instagram, I posts interesting stuff there in real time!  At the end of the week, I will recap all the activities and share it to everyone.   I will try my best to archive these themes so you can easily access all this data in my blog as your reference. It’s up to you want to follow the curriculum weekly with us or decided to it at your own pace. 

Without further ado, here’s my April Tot School Curriculum

This will serve as our guidelines for the month of April.  In case we may miss a theme due to sickness, holidays or vacations we will reschedule it. I will have a separate post for all the materials and supplies that you will need for each theme. Stay tuned!

Favourite Phonic Games

I always find it hard to get Vito to do alphabet activities with me.  Mavi was already learning how to spell 2.5 years old and although Vito knows the letters and sounds they make, he’s still not at it when it comes to doing the activities.

So I started reading my favourite blogs (since 2010) and came across these activities from NurturingLearning.com.  These activities requires movements which Vito loves to do to keep him engaged in alphabet activities.

Beginning a Plant Study with a Toddler

The perfect way to introduce plants to a child/toddler is through awakening their interest and love of flowers.  Kids love flowers naturally.  We love to look at them, and occassionaly name the flowers as we see them in the road.


Now that Vito appreciates trees and flowers, the next step is to inspire him with a desire to care for and preserve plants and flowers.  Here’s Vito’s early learning of plants!

Noah’s Ark

The boys and I are reading our favorite Bible (Story of the Bible) stories and we started with Noah’s Ark since we own the Playmobil Noah’s Ark.  I got this last year from a major toy sale in one of the shops here.  The boys love this piece of material so much!  It’s a beautiful and sturdy toy with so much educational value for big and small kids.

Tot School: Letter ‘Rr’

Vito is 28 months old.

Vito is currently in his sensitive years and I am taking advantage of this period as he’s really into ALL our activities, positioning himself in his table asking for something to “play”.  So this week, we started with letter R. Why letter R and not A? Well, I decided to follow the RAMFBITG method of introducing letter sounds to Vito. To know why, read about it here.

Mouth Watering Irish Foods for St. Patrick’s Day and {Learn & Play Link Up}

 

We have so many fantastic food and recipe posts last week! It was so hard to choose as I liked everyone’s posts!  And as I skim through the each one’s pages, I realized that it’s St. Patrick’s Day and I just have to feature amazing bloggers who shared mouth watering Irish foods (and drinks!) for the St. Patrick’s Day. 

 

 

Vito’s Favourite Counting Material

Vito is 28 months old.

Odd as it may be, but Vito loves numbers and counting more than letters.  Yes, I find it odd because Mavi was into letters at his age and started to learn spelling by the time he’s 2.5 years old. It amazes me on how they can be different!

Anyway, I wanted to share with you this beautiful wooden number peg board I recently bought from a local store (materials are from Europe) and Vito loves this!  A precious piece of math material that teaches little children to count and practice hand-eye coordination at the same time!  I wanted to buy the Montessori Math Spindle, but when I saw this, I knew this is way more better (and a lot cheaper)!

Faith Formation Books

Aside from The Bible, do you have favourite books to read with kids that tells about Jesus (if you are a Christian) and Godly stories?

Lent In Our Home

My son attends a Catholic school so he knows all our religion’s celebrations and traditions.  I was  raised in a Catholic family and during Lent we do a lot of religious activities at home like processions, daily prayers, participating in the Stations of the Cross, novenas, watching religious films in the church and attending mass and more.  I wanted my kids to experience this to understand the meaning of Lent and why we celebrate Easter. So I decided to start a simple Lenten tradition in our home, to focus on Jesus, prayer, meditation and sacrifice.

 

Learning Activities for 28 Months Toddler

These are the activities designed for Vito for this month as we are celebrating springtime integrating St. Patrick’s Day and Easter.  Materials used are provided below for your reference.

Sensorial Play with Kinetic Sand & Geometric Shapes

Vito and Mavi are loving our Kinetic Sand!  In all honesty, I’m hesitant to purchase the sand because of its price.  Growing up in my homeland, sand was free and I could play with it day and night with my mother not shedding a single cent.  So the thought of Kinetic Sand costing more than my monthly college allowance is just crazy.  When it went on sale (70% off!), I knew I just have to get one because I wanted my kids to enjoy sand all year round just the way I played with it.  It was worth-it!

Collection of Easter Activities and {Learn & Play Link Up}

How do you observe the Lenten season? I was raised in a Catholic family and growing up, I participated in a lot of church and community activities tied to the observance of Lent.  The activties has helped me understand the meaning of Lent and the celebration of life on Easter. 

 

Last year we observed the Lenten season with some religion study, identifying their traditions and practices to understand their faith.  I find it important that we must introduce our kids to the different religions of the world not just ours, to be able to appreciate and respect everyone’s belief. 

 

The Rainbow Clouds Craft

I saw this beautiful rainbow craft a few weeks ago in Pinterest and I totally forgot the main site, so please if you own this craft leave a message and I’ll include the credits. 

I’ve been introducing Vito to the spring season using our Spring Season Picture Cards, books and outdoor activities.  Today, I’m sharing the rainbow clouds the boys made last week.  The weather was terrible at that time  and we couldn’t explore our yard so I made use of their free time doing crafts at home.  So I tried to scan through Pinterest in search of simple crafts that BOTH of my kids could work on, and this is one of them!

Crafts projects allow children to exercise their fine motor skills, improve manual dexterity and understanding of visual-spatial relationships.  They provide opportunities to use their imagination as well.  Just be vigilant when using small items and sharp objects like scissors.

How to Study The Story of the Universe and The Origin of Life

It’s time for another 12 Months of Montessori Series and today I am sharing Mavi’s favourite book series.  We have been using these books for years now.  The books are all about the cosmic history to the evolution of man.  The stories are accompanied by stunning images and time-line to follow.  Everything in these books are just too magical and enlightening for him!  In this post you will also see the activities that the kids did in order to make the Study of the Universe and the Origin of Life a lot more interesting.

Our Spring Season Picture Cards

Spring is just around the corner and I’ve been thinking about the activities that the boys and I can do. I was very much inspired by Deb’s post on Spring Season Cards, so I borrowed the idea of printing pictures that relates to spring and we will be using them for the follwing:

• introducing the season of spring to Vito
• creating stories using the picture cards
• inspiration for crafts
• inspiration for outdoor activities
• St. Patrick and Easter activities
• farm animals and their babies
• animal life cycles

Exploring the Bucket Balance

Vito is 27 months old.
I have this bucket balance years ago and was mostly used by Mavi (Measuring Mass of an Object). He’s been using it to learn concepts like mass units and the concept of gravity.  I’m so hesitant to let Vito use it for the obvious reason that at his age, he might break it or doesn’t know how to use it.  But I was wrong!  One day, I ran out of ideas for him so I bravely took our bucket balance and a bunch of Duplos for him to explore.  Well, lo and behold!  It was a total hit and I didn’t expect that he’ll enjoy using it!


So what did Vito exactly do with the balance and what are the things he discovered?

Goodnight Moon Storytelling Basket

Oh my, Goodnight Moon is one of my kids favourite and I can’t wait to share with you the contents of our storytelling basket!  I assembled it over the weekend and both Vito and Mavi are having fun tinkering and exploring the objects.

I read this book every night.  It’s calming, relaxing… makes them ponder what’s out there in the night, letting them observe their room and the silence of the night.  And may I just say, there is so much love in the story.  The old lady as I would always say to the boys, is lovingly watching her little kid go to sleep, just like most Mommies do!

Dr. Seuss Books and Activities and {Learn & Play Link Up}

Celebrating Dr. Seuss Day, I’m featuring 5 fantastic posts of Dr. Seuss!  We have a lot of Dr. Seuss books at home and they were Mavi’s first set of books.  I used the book Put me in the Zoo to teach Vito all about colors.  Check here or click the image below for details.

The Use of Funnel for Toddlers

Vito is 28 months old.

I recently introduced the use of funnel to Vito and boy oh boy, it’s non stop play!

St. Patrick’s Day Activities for 28 Months Toddler

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Vito is 28 months old.

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and we are excited to watch the parade in the city this year!  To introduce Ireland’s big celebration to Vito, I prepared a bunch of work trays for him this month as he turns 28 months old.  I featured 9 activities here but in reality we’re doing so much more, so I’ll just update the blog of our other activities that are not included here.

The Animal Kingdom Revisited

No school for Mavi means brainstorming for future activities. He opened up lately that he wanted to study about animals again, so I took out our cards on The Animal Kingdom and checked what else we missed and haven’t explored yet.  He reviewed the cards and sorted out the things that he wanted to learn this year.  He picked arthropods, starfish and jellyfish! Yay, something new!

Having Fun with London Playsets & Cards

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We are all in love with our wooden London Playset/s which we acquired recently.  It’s so precious and beautiful that I can’t seem to take it out the bag!  

Now how do we use these figures?

Spring Arts & Crafts and {Learn & Play Link Up}

There’s so many wonderful posts I’d like to feature this week in our Link & Play Link Up!  I love seeing all these beautiful artworks and crafts which are so colorful and spirited! Here are my picks!

Learning about Faces!

The boys (and I) had so much fun making faces!  This is a simple activity that you can do with your kids with minimal preparation.  It’s the perfect opportunity to learn about emotions and the facial expressions they can make! 

Learning the Parts of the Human Eye

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It’s Mavi’s midterm break and we decided to look into the parts of the human eye!  We examined our model unit this morning which we bought last year from the local store.  It’s so perfect and goes along so well with our Human Eye Nomenclature Cards and Booklet. 

Small World Play: Giant Pandas

Early this year, when everything in Amazon was on sale, I got this one of a kind Panda and the Bamboo Forest Playset from Playmobil.  I’ve been eyeing this for months since last year and I was lucky enough to chance this set on sale! Giant Pandas are one of those animals that are in the endangered list and I think somehow, by having this playset at home I can introduce this beautiful animal to the kids, talk about their characteristics and habitat.h

PS. We’ve visited a lot of zoo, but we haven’t encountered a Giant Panda.  We didn’t chance upon them in Singapore Zoo either.

March Activities and {Learn & Play Link Up}

March is fast approaching and I’ve been doing some planning for the boy’s activities for next month.   I am also looking forward for a warm weather so we can do outdoor play and exploration.  For this week’s featured activities, let me share Vito’s first “themed” unit:

We had a lot of fun with these, especially the scooping of pompoms and the paint works!

Now, for this week’s featured posts, I am sharing the activities that you can do for the month of March!

Study of Ancient China

Few weeks ago, Mavi and I were learning about Ancient China.  I decided that this year, we’ll be focusing in country-based studies rather than continents.  Last month we worked on Australia, and because of Chinese New Year being celebrated during February, I guess this month is the best time to conduct Chinese-themed activities.

Papa Get The Moon For Me Storytelling Basket

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I am very much inspired by The Imagination Tree of putting up objects as an additional tool for reading.  So I assembled a few objects for Vito’s current favourite book Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle.  My little guy is so fascinated with the moon and this is the best way we can explore, imagine and learn more about it through interactive reading and storytelling.

Learning Activities for 27 Months Toddler

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Vito is 27 months old.

These are the activities I prepared for Vito this month.  Sort of a Valentines Day Unit as well, I combined the hearts and flower activities in this month’s activities.  Vito is doing well so far in all of these activities, especially in counting and all those related to fine motor skills.

Practising One to One Correspondence

Vito loves counting. He’s been counting since he’s 1.5 years old.  He recited and recognized the numbers from 1 to 10 first before the letters.  He is unlike Mavi who recognized and recited the alphabet first (1.5 years old) before he became interested with numbers (3 years old).

And because of Vito’s interest, I am always giving him different counting activities to feed this interest.  One of his favourite is using our counting cards for one to one correspondence.  These were Mavi’s and I barely used them with him.

How We Learn Colours These Days

We finally started our colour toddler basket last week wherein we put red objects in the basket for learning colours.  We started with the colour Red, the colour of Valentines Day and Chinese New Year

There are so many versions of this basket, sometimes they are called discovery baskets or treasure baskets wherein Mommies gather specific or themed objects and place them in a basket for the baby and toddler to explore.  Now what makes our version different?

Flower Matching Cards

This Valentines Day, we are having flower activities!

Small World Play: Ancient China

Gong Hi Fa Cai!  It’s the Chinese New Year tomorrow and Mavi and I are currently learning about Ancient China  (using STOW Vol 1 as read along book). With these, we set up another small world play which is inspired by the history of China.  Here’s what Mavi and I assembled.  Last month, we assembled an Australian Outback-inspired small world play and it was a total hit!  This month, the boys are enjoying their free play with our new small world tray!

Chinese Lantern Project for Kids

We had a lot of fun today making our Chinese lantern in celebrating Chinese New Year.  Mavi and I did this years ago, and I think he would love to do this again, and of course for Vito to experience.

Best Arts & Crafts for Kids and {Learn & Play Link Up}

Years ago, Mavi would do a lot of artist study.  One of my favorites is our Van Gogh project, The Sunflower.  It was one of those rare moment wherein both Mavi and I were in depth with our subject and were absorbed by the beauty of painting.  But it was just more than artwork. We studied the life of Van Gogh, and how his life reflected in his work.  (click the image below for more details)

Now thinking about it, I picked the best art projects and crafts in our link up this week.  Here are the featured post:

Tot School Snippets Week 1: Ice

I was reading my old blog the other day (private) and I am amazed on how I recorded Mavi’s learning curve week by week. Mavi enjoys reading that blog now! I just have to say that it is quite different when you have one child, you have focus, you have MORE time  and well,  I was organized.  Now, I’m managing and engineering a bigger household, with a school boy and a hyperactive toddler, I barely have time to blog. 

So  now, I will start writing about Vito’s activities in a week. I have to put a little effort on this, for keeping memories and for Vito to read someday.  Currently, we’re not following schedule of doing totschool weekly.  There are days when we do a lot of activities, and there are times when I just whip anything that goes into  my mind. 

Vito is 26 months old.

Getting the Most Out of Sensorial Play

I am often asked by friends, after all the hassle of setting up a sensory bin, with all the mess here and there, what would the child learn from it?

Well basically, this kind of activity is for the child to explore his senses. It includes the sense of touch, smell (scented objects), eyes and hands and etc.  But I don’t limit myself in these.  We use sensorial play for literacy and math as well.  When we do sensorial bin, I make sure that I play with my kids, that I interact with them (especially with Vito) so he’ll learn how to communicate.

Here’s a video of how we play with the ice and used it as a tool in learning vocabulary words, counting and more! No need for fancy toys  

Hands-on Learning: Biomes of Australia

A few weeks ago, while were doing an Australia Unit, Mavi and I talked about the animals in Australia and in which habitat they belong. We’ve done this years ago but it’s always nice to revisit and add a little depth in the topic. 

Learning Literature though Play-based Activities and {Learn & Play Link Up}

We love books and most of the time its easier to have your activities revolve around that book.  Kids will have a better understanding of the story, and at the same time explore related subjects like what we did with my Grand Father’s Journey, The Glorious Flight and other Five in a Row Activities.  I shared here how we explore and dig dipper into the stories and create engaging activities to go along with it.

                                                                          

Montessori Color Box #2 Activity for Toddlers

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Mavi is 26 months.
I recently purchased the Montessori Color Box #2 for Vito. I have a few Montessori sensorial materials that Mavi didn’t really find interesting and I was expecting Vito to have the same reaction to the color tablets.  But, I was wrong.  The moment I took it out, it was an instant hit! I was thinking all along that he doesn’t know his colors, but surprisingly he knows them by heart already!  He can match them perfectly but naming them is a hit or miss. He still calls them mostly “yellow” LOL.
As of the moment, I only introduced 4 colors to Vito:  yellow, red, blue and green.  Lately, he can identify orange, that’s because we kept on eating clementines and I refer to it as orange!  So the color tablets are actually for “formal” presentation of secondary and tertiary colors (well, that’s my plan). 

Imaginative Play: Australian Outback

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We are currently looking at the different biomes of Australia and Mavi wanted to recreate the Australian Outback at home.  As you all know, I started putting up small world, sensory tub  trays  for imaginative play this year.  It’s a favourite learning tool in the house and can engage both of my boys hours of play (and learning too!)! So to assemble our Australian Outback tub, I gathered some of our toys that have that “brownish” and “desert-ish”  look.  Mavi insisted that he should assemble it, and to my surprise it turned out so great!

Math Resources and {Learn & Play Link Up}

Math is one of my favourite subjects, and it always excites me to see math activities in homeschool blogs.  Mavi and I are always having a great time working on this subject especially when he was in preschool.  I collected all our favourite math preschool activities and you can check them out on the link or image below.