Activity 1: Choo Choo!

 

Ok...let's get busy! The original idea for the blog was to pick an activity a week from this great book I got for Christmas and blog about how to do it and how it turned out. We have completed one: the cardboard box train ("choo choo" according to Violet and probably a million other 1-year-olds who like trains).  Grandma got Violet a Winnie the Pooh train with wooden character pieces that she can take out and rearrange into the different cars. We push it around and say choo choo over and over and over and that is how she started to like trains! I knew this train would be a good project for a cold winter day.

First, we gathered some supplies. Violet got jumbo crayons and Minnie Mouse stickers in her Christmas stocking. I saved some boxes from packages that came last week. The rope we had from hanging a wooden pallet sign. I'm also lucky enough (or not as Kyle sometimes thinks!) to have a basement full of a school/classroom supplies so that came in handy too :) I poked holes in the boxes with a scissors and got the rope inserted, then taped some card stock on the tops so Violet could decorate them. 

She was very interested in what I was doing at this point and was pulling on the chair legs. I decided to wait until the scissor portion was complete then up she came. Violet has slowly gotten better at coloring and moving crayons back and forth on paper. She still occasionally wants to sample a taste.

Then we decided which stickers to include on our masterpiece!  She had a red polka dot Minnie dress my mom found at Disney Store and it was the inspiration for her first birthday party theme. Minnie has been a favorite ever since. The stickers were no exception. She has had maybe two opportunities when the stickers have come out of there hiding place since Christmas and both times she's ended up covered in stickers. She got it this time though and stuck them right to the train.

Her curiosity/patience kind of waned as we got to the middle and caboose cars. Here are the finished "cars" ready for a test drive.   Violet loves to push things around the house like her baby stroller, the garbage can, laundry baskets... so she was a pro at pulling the rope and making laps from kitchen to living room and back. We have a loop hallway that is perfect for this. I played some train noises from youtube on my phone and she cho-chooed right along with it. When I googled train noise I was surprised that people use it to fall asleep to. I prefer water/sea/ocean/rain noises so I thought this was interesting. It is pretty rhythmic though. May have to try next time V has trouble sleeping.                                          

                                                                                                                                                She looks like a little mother duck with her ducklings following her. I love how she would look back at the train and then just march on like it was her most important duty at the moment. After several laps, she tried to take the stickers off of course and then started using it to stack her animal puzzle pieces on. She learned that when you then try to pull the train, the said animals fall off. I may have to modify the train with some seats on top for her animals and Pooh characters to ride along!

 

All in all, this was a perfect project for a curious, busy 17 1/2 month old! Stay tuned for future activities from the toddler book!