If you need to stop a train coming down a track, he can do that too.
growing & learning with him
Deirdre Smith writes/owns JDaniel4’s Mom. After twenty years as a elementary school and technology resource teacher in Northern Virginia, she became a stay at home mom in upstate South Carolina. Her blog features ways she and her 5 year old are exploring learning, crafting, creating healthy meals and living life to its fullest. Deirdre can also be found on twitter as @jdaniel4smom and on her blog's FB page. You can also check her out on Google+.
By Deirdre
If you need to stop a train coming down a track, he can do that too.
By Deirdre
The birds kept flying around the shopping plaza looking for bugs for their families.
By Deirdre
You know your toddler is like a spider if he tries to climb everything.
Yes, everything is a piece of climbing equipment. The outside of the stairs become something to scale. JDaniel saw his friend Jake do this and has tried to do it for months. He has tried to climb a tree. He wasn’t sure how to make it up a tree. JDaniel just clung to a branch and said he was climbing. The crib is something many toddlers learn to climb out of. JDaniel has raised one leg to the top of his crib, but didn’t know what to do next. I am not going to teach him.
You know your toddler is like a mosquito if he learns to make loud sucking noises on your arms.
I love to blow on JDaniel’s tummy when I change his diaper and make a loud air horn noise. JDaniel decided to start doing the same thing to my arm early last week. I thought he was trying to bite me a first, but it turns out he just didn’t know what to do with his teeth.
You know your toddler is like an ant when he can carry things that seem to weigh more than he does.
Maybe not his full weight but heavy objects seem to be moving around my house. I don’t think my husband and I moved them.
You know your toddler is like a moth when he can’t get close enough to lights.
JDaniel loves flashlights. My mom has one out near her front door and he can’t wait to light it up. He also loves to climb up on the couch in the living room and turn out the lamp beside the couch. JDaniel really loves to do it if you are reading and he wants you to play.
You know your toddler is like an earthworm when he can’t get enough dirt on his hand, clothes, face, or toys.
We haven’t spent a lot of time outside lately due to JDaniel’s allergies. When we were outside a lot earlier in the spring, JDaniel was carrying his plastic spade everywhere and using it to dig in the mulch and dirt.
Finally you know your toddler is like a caterpillar when he can inhale lots of foods and later wants to cocoon himself your arms to snuggle.
By Deirdre
By Deirdre
By Deirdre
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This week JDaniel and I read the book Memorial Day Suprise by Theresa Martin Golding. It is a really fun story that talks about a young boy learning about Memorial Day, parades, and the fact that his grandfather is a war hero.
JDaniel and I made a Memorial Day musical shaker to parade around the house with. I stapled the stars around two paper plates that were filled with dried pasta. JDaniel added the stickers.
We really enjoyed marching around the house with his shaker as we had our own parade.
By Deirdre
By Deirdre
By Deirdre
Here are a few ways you could reuse these patriotic flowers:
Math
Patterning- You could pattern by the color red, blue, white.
Counting- You could count 1,2,3 and on or skip count by two’s, three’s or four’s.
Word problems- You could make up stories about gathering, arranging or sharing them that involve word problems.
Writing
Rhyming- You could make a list of words that rhyme with red, white or blue.
Story Writing- You could write a fiction story about where the flowers came from.
Pretend Play
Plant a flower garden between seat cushions.
Set up a pretend flower shop and display them in fun vases that you craft with orange juice cans or toilet paper tubes.
Set them in a shoebox and hang them under your child’s window for indoor window boxes.
Work on Good Character Traits
As you pass them to your child or have them pass them to you share something you like about them.
Practice sharing them with stuffed animals.
Write a kind note for neighbors and deliver them with the flowers.
Outdoor Play
Use them like a baton in a relay race.
Stick them in the ground and have your children run around the yard like little bees. They have to visit each flower once.
By Deirdre