Toddler Time Tidbits

I've had some readers ask about the "curriculum" I use for Millie Janalee's Toddler Time.  Some of you don't have an email address connected to your account, so I can't reply.  I thought I'd give a little rundown here for you.  I use the word "curriculum" ever so lightly!  Please know that this is nothing too structured. 

At all.

It is simply a list of things to do throughout each given week.  If we have time for everything, great!  If not, that's fine too.  I did lots of research, and I got advice from my sister-in-law, who is pretty much an expert on all things children!  I used A Letter A Week Nursery Curriculum as a foundation.  Then I tweaked it how I wanted.  I have been using the reading list.  I added Songs from Saplings scripture songs...both the letters of the alphabet and the numbers.  I also use some of the Tot School ideas here and there as I want. (You can find lots of Tot School ideas on Pinterest.)

I hope this helps those of you who asked.

Last week was so busy and full of travel that we didn't do much "Toddler Time" at all.  Besides, the best learning is real life learning anyway.  We read lots of books, ran lots of errands, got shots, waited on the birth of our cousin, went to the pumpkin patch, and visited with lots of friends and family.  All after attending and watching MSU beat Kentucky.  Then, yesterday we traveled again to have family pictures taken.  That's a story in itself.

We did manage to get a couple "structured activites" in.  Ms. Linda, a kindred teacher heart, encouraged me to purchase the multi-sized pack of pom poms for Millie Janalee to manipulate.  I certainly had plans to do this later on with tongs, but I had no idea they made pom poms so big.  I just knew all pom poms would go straight to Miss Priss's mouth, but these huge ones are perfect for her age!

You can see how excited she is to play with her new pom poms.  Ha!  I separated all the sizes into separate Ziplock bags.  Then, I found the best container I could for her to stuff the pom poms into and try to fish out.

It was a hit! 

I recommend this for a quiet activity if you need one.  She worked on this independently, and only needed my help to fish the pom poms out.  Ideally, I wanted to use an empty puffs container or skinny pitcher.  But, I had neither.  If the opening was a little bigger, she could have done it all on her own.  We took this little activity with us to the doctor's office too.  She played a little on the exam table while we waited on the doctor. 

We also completed a little Halloween artwork.  I'm a sucker for anything involving baby handprints.  Can you tell?  Itsy Bitsy Spider is one of our favorite songs right now, so we did some art in honor of the cute song.  I was very pleased with the cuteness!

Other than that, we played lots of princess in the castle with her Little People Princess set, hugged our baby dolls, and she enjoyed dancing and singing while her Daddy played the guitar some this week.  I suppose all our extracurricular activities could be categorized as social studies (traveling and running errands), music (guitar, singing, dancing), PE (football game), library (reading books), and science (birthing a baby, shots, and pumpkin patch).  Haha!