Toddler Tuesday: Garden

Hello, We are a little late posting in the day because we just have not been up to snuff today. Panda has a bit of a cold and well.. Things have been stressful around here lately to put it mildly. For this week's sensory bin we used potting soil (note this is outside this week), garden tools, pink flamingos (because everyone needs pink flamingos), and silk flowers for planting. He liked this bin, but a freak hail storm drove us inside for today.

 

A few garden books to set the tone for the week. 

 Panda helped plant the seeds for the garden yesterday. I sprung for peat pellets this year so things would be slightly less messy. Panda enjoyed helping to sort them into their separate compartments (reminiscent of the ice cube tray and pom poms we played with last week).

 Once the peat pellets were hydrated, he helped poke the seeds down into the peat with a chopstick. Each day we will check on them and and he will help water them if needed. We will be watching for the first sprouts wake up and raise their heads. 

 I found this cute scrub brush at the dollar store. Bear came up with the idea of using it as a paint brush this week. 

Good call Bear. It worked well. When Panda is feeling better we will work outside in the big gardens each day prepping them for planting. We still have a ways to go. Planting does not start till mid May in Minnesota. Thanks for jointing us.  Have a blessed day. 

~Shine on~

Toddler Tuesday: Fairies

 Welcome Back! It's so good to be blogging again. I had a fun post planned for Saint Patrick's Day, but things were just still up in the air last month. Next week is Panda's birthday and we have a special Tinkerbell Birthday party planned for him, so to build to that his daily activities will all have a fairy theme this week. I know I know, Tinkerbell is Disney and we don't watch much TV in this house, but Tinkerbell is one of those rare movies I don't object to, and It's Panda's favorite thing. For his sensory bin this week I used soap scented split peas, rocks for a path, pine-cones, felt flowers, bells, and a few special new figures. He had so much fun wiggling his feet in the peas and making Tinkerbell swim through them. He played with this bin for almost an hour yesterday!

 I borrowed a butterfly punch from my sister and made several construction paper butterflies for sorting. This activity was a flop till Bear got home. Bear started scooping the butterflies up with a spoon and dumping them into the bowls. Panda was only to eager to help out. So it's not what I intended, but this activity did work out in the end.

 Fairy dust ball sorting. All this is, is a ice cube tray and pom poms, but Panda loves stuffing the pom poms into the holes. It works on his pincher grasp and focus. He played with this activity for about fifteen minutes. He filled and dumped them three times.

 Fairy hockey! One of the things we are dealing with is a diagnosis that Panda has a sensory processing disorder. He craves motion, movement, and impact. Whacking this ball around the house with wooden spoons fills some of that need.

Another activity we've started doing each morning to help fill some of his sensory needs is to have tunnel time. We are still so new to figuring out what will help Panda so I can't write to much on that right now, but Toddler Tuesdays will now have a few special sensory items added in each week as we try to unravel the mystery that is my sweet boy. Soon he will be getting a platform swing and a small fort to hide in when his senses overwhelm him. For now, This is our start. Any suggestions are more than welcome. Panda loves little sensory things (like his sensory bin, clay,  ripping paper, and painting), but it's the BIG things that he craves. Finding peace with loosing most of our furniture while he learns what is safe and what is not all over again has been a difficult transition for us. Currently he is seeing four occupational therapists a week, which while helping, is also frustrating and interferes with our natural rhythms. We are slowing figuring this one out,.

Again, I'm so happy to be back and will be visiting blogs again as time allows. I've missed you all. Have a blessed week, and shine on!

Toddler Tuesdays: Valentine's Day

Happy belated Valentines day! We started this week's activities on Saturday to celebrate Valentine's day. I know there are a lot of hearts, but bear with me.. This week our sensory bin is filled with dollar store rose petals ( I would have preferred real rose petals, but to be honest.. I was being lazy) Nesting heart shaped cookie cutters, a rubber dipped whisk with a heart in the middle, heart pillows, flowers, and a small cup for stuffing the petals in.

 I found these boxes at the dollar store (this is two sets). I thought they would be perfect for learning shapes, matching lids, colors, stacking, and putting different items in so they make a different sound when shaken.. 

 They are filled with Valentine's day themed treasures. Panda has been loving them. His treasures consist of a heart pillow, a cupid, sparkly pom poms in assorted Valentines day colors (we call them kisses), a family (of ducks), a small heart shaped cookie cutter, a love bug finger puppet, flowers, and the blue bird of happiness. 

 Panda was having so much fun playing with flat marbles at my sister's house last week that I came up with this bucket idea. He likes to pick up the little hearts and drop them into the bucket. A simple activity that works on his pincher grasp. 

 Last, I made several small hearts with pipe-cleaners and put them in a bowl. I set them out with a large magnet and watched Panda go to town with them. I had intended on putting them in a bottle but he ignored the bottle. That's it for us, simple and sweet. What is going on in your home this week? Have a blessed day and shine on!

Toddler Tuesdays: Rainbows

Welcome to our 9th Toddler Tuesday. This week we are working with colors and rainbows. Our sensory bin this week is made of soap bubbles and food dye. I added a scoop, but Panda pretty much ignored that and just dove right in.

I made a rainbow for his felt board. The layers are just half circles stacked together. Panda enjoyed unstacking and rearranging them on his board. We also matched colors on this cloud pillow. He likes to point out colors as I say them. One of these days we might get lucky and he will start saying them back (fingers crossed). 

This was an invitation to play I set up for Panda. He really has taken to the utensil basket from the dishwasher lately... I don't get it.... So I decided to incorporate it in his play study this week.

He  quickly figured out that he could push the pipe-cleaners through the baskets and closed the pom poms all in the lidded basket for loose parts.

We pulled out his hand kite, bubbles, a rainbow silk.. One of these days we will get a stacking rainbow. There are so many children's toys that are brightly colored. Any of them could work for this unit. Go through your collection, I bet you also have a few on hand that would be perfect for this type of play.

I set up a strand of crystals in front of the window hoping to make some rainbows, but today we are in the middle of more snow and ice.. Hopefully later this week our walls will become a ballroom for dancing light and color.

From our grey part of the world to your home, here's wishing you light and color as our thoughts turn towards the return of spring and rainbows. What are you doing this week? Please leave a message in the comments field below and

Shine On!

Toddler Tuesday: Part 8

We're back! This week we are learning about clouds. Well, our learning is cloud themed. Perhaps that is a better way of saying it. I don't expect Panda to be learning about evaporation, condensation and so forth; but by keeping a theme it helps us stay on track and keeps things interesting. Our "lessons" are mainly about moving, trying new things, and using those fine motor skills in fun new ways. Our sensory bin is pretty simple. It's full of cotton balls, a helicopter, an airplane, tongs, an ice cream scoop, a ladle for picking up the cotton balls, and a wooden bowl to sort them into.

 

I finally got around to changing our clear contact paper tree into a felt board tree. This will stick around as a weather board when Panda starts school. Our felt finger puppets also stick to it for even more fun. Oh! and I even have plans to have a "build your own snowman" felt set up for Panda when he is older. The tree stands about two feet wide and three feet tall.

 

The felt pieces are on the floor in front of the board in wooden bowls. I left them out like this as an invitation to play. Yesterday Panda spent a long time examining these things and returned to the board several times throughout the day. In the fall we stuck leaves onto the contact board and next fall I will make some felt leaves. We switched to felt because it is reusable this way and contact paper is pretty bad for the environment. 

We made Toddler safe Cloud Dough using vegetable oil and left over formula. I also added a bit of cinnamon and clove for a smelltastic sensory experience. It made our dough a bit speckled, but who cares, it smells good!  I didn't measure the ingredients. Just add oil and mix until the mixture clumps together and is the consistency you want.

We made this picture during our Stars and Moons lessons (forgot to mention it). I gave Panda some stickers and watched him focus his entire being on pealing and sticking them onto the paper. A wonderful thing to do for cabin fever tots... I saved the picture so we could make clouds on it using finger paint, and a cotton ball on a clothes pin. Don't you just love projects that you can keep adding to, and use over and over again?

 For an extra fun sensory experience I opened a bag of fiberfill toy stuffing and dumped it on the carpet. Anyone who has a toddler with cabin fever NEEDS to try this. Oh my! Panda has been having a blast playing in his very own "Cloud"!

 A Lot of Fun!

 So much that I couldn't choose a picture..

 No really.. It was just that much fun. You've got to try this! ; )

Thank you for visiting us and have a blessed week. What are you doing at your house this week? Please leave a message in the comments below and Shine on!