Little T dressed up as Sleeping Beauty the whole day after watching the play. Her gown is a hand-me-down two times over. Playing pretend is one of the greatest joys of childhood. Nothing can be as magical as imagining yourself to be a princess, a bride, or a mermaid -- yes, my daughter is such a girl. Seemingly simple, pretend play actually works on several levels … [Read more...]
Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear: Exploring Our Surroundings
Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? by Nancy White Carlstrom follows Jesse Bear as he goes through his day, waking up, dressing up, playing outside, eating, and sleeping. It is brimming with learning ideas on every page. We explored patterns, flowers, rhymes, and tried to pick up objects with our toes, just like the rose between Jesse Bear’s toes! As usual, I am only writing about … [Read more...]
To Little T and Baby Boy on Mother’s Day
Dear Little T and Baby Boy,Today is Mother’s Day. We sang, we twirled, we had so much fun at Teacher Jeannie and Company’s Kindermusik Family Music Festival. We had a blast, all four of us – thanks to your dad who gallantly went and stayed with us. He was absolutely itching to go home and catch Manny Pacquiao fight Shane Mosley in pay-per-view. He settled for a replay when we … [Read more...]
Easter for Toddlers without Bunnies and Eggs
Jesus Loves Little TI grew up celebrating Easter Sunday with a dawn mass on a crowded street in my small town. Recollections, confessions and other religious activities led up to it. I believe I only encountered the Easter Bunny and Easter Eggs in adulthood and have never really given them any thought. As Holy Week approached, I knew I wanted a meaningful introduction for … [Read more...]
Corduroy: Buttons, Money, Jobs
Corduroy by Don Freeman is the book that unlocked my imagination and showed me the wealth of learning opportunities in a book, whether or not it’s part of the Before Five in a Row (BFIAR) booklist. It also set me on my current method of planning our activities, which I think you can do too using any book or materials that you choose for some at-home … [Read more...]