"Scratchy Face"

Toddler Activity Book #4= Yarn and Sandpaper

Since V likes sensory play I thought this would be a good one to try. Also, she likes the book Pat the Bunny which has a page with a Daddy and a "scratchy face" to feel that is made out of sandpaper. She always feels it and then says "Dada!" and has to go find him wherever he is in the house to pat his cheeks and feel the stubble :)

We assembled materials and as you can see, this was part of the fun for Miss V. She probably would have been content just playing with the yarn or the sandpaper by themselves!

I should mention that we had absolutely no yarn in the house and I sent Kyle into Joann's to get some while I did another quick errand and this crazy multi-color ball is what he picked!

I just stapled the corners of sandpaper to a poster board and taped the middle corners down.

I cut some of the yarn into long pieces and "stuck" them to the sandpaper. Then V just took them off and put them back on...and off and on 100 zillion times!

We had to get some name writing practice in of course :)

Is that my name???

I don't think we actually need that O Mom

She likes carrying yarn pieces around the house and doesn't always use the sandpaper with it but all in all I think it was some good sensory exposure!

Rainbow Noodles

March is all about spring, bright colors/rainbows and of course that sneaky little leprachaun who causes chaos for teachers everywhere. I subscribe to a few email lists of other bloggers and thus get some pretty cool crafty ideas in my inbox every week. Rainbow noodles: commence! 

Not one to heed the advice of my husband, I cooked the whole box of noodles. You will see...it made the project a little extreme.

Then we started adding food coloring and mixing. V was curious, of course.

Dinner anyone?

The towel was essential to keep sticky pasta off the floor. V was ready to squish

Cautious at first...

Let's just empty this whole bin

How high can this go?

The one hand method was just too slow and she really did like how it felt I think. Curious, but enjoyable. She barely even looked up as you can see from the pictures.

Hmmm

We had to throw in a grownup size spoon and "fork" too since she is obsessed with using them now.

And a sensory project with the ever curious Miss V would not be complete without a little taste test.

All in all, it was a fun, messy, squishy March project that I enjoyed a lot more than a room full of crazy kiddos post leprechaun visit LOL

Her attempt at cleaning up

Aftermath 

Here is the link to the original idea. Warning: the pasta really started to smell afterwards and we threw it out pretty quickly!

Kitchen Puzzle

I saw an idea on Pinterest to make your own kitchen puzzle with a file folder and regular items around your kitchen. Miss V is always curious about things happening in the kitchen and she loves puzzles or "puffls" as she calls them so I knew it would be a hit. She is working on shapes and knows "circle" so I chose a lot of circular shapes.

Then I just traced them with a sharpie on the file folder and quick made a cover that I will have V decorate/color the next time we use it. 

Miss V got to work matching the objects. She was a little confused at first and was trying to "push" the pieces into place like with a regular puzzle. I was not surprised that she figured out what lids went with which foods. The applesauce pouch lid she calls "pouch" and the baby puffs lid she knew were for the puffs and yelled it excitedly hoping some of the puffs would magically appear on the lid :)

That's a circle mom!

starting to take them all off for round 2

silly mom, this spoon goes over here...let me take care of this

Miss V spent quite a lot of time working on the very smallest circle shape/object; a kidney bean. I have a bin of them for her to play in and scoop with cups and bowls. She loves them but it makes a huge mess! So I just took one out and traced it for the puzzle. She was surprised to see it and probably knew it belonged with the other beans. Since she was barefoot, the bean stuck to her feet and, seeing as it is small, was hard for her to grasp and take off. It was comical to watch.

I put all the pieces in a bin by her play kitchen and we do the puzzle each time she plays in the kitchen. We are starting to learn square for the big lid. I also found an Eric Carle shapes book at Half Price Books that she really likes and has helped her learn how to say triangle! Miss V is a smarty and it has nothing to do with Mom being a teacher ;)

Like Father Like Daughter

Dad organized a HUGE event/fundraiser at Karate America last weekend and Miss V had her first chance to break a board. We had her practice stomping the mats and body shields before so she would get the motion down. She likes the "If you're happy and you know it" song and usually will stomp her feet at that part kind of like marching. During swim lessons they say "kick" your feet so she knows both versions. After this outing, she now says "Bye Dada car karate kick" when he leaves for work. Car, karate and now kick have all been added as she has started talking more.

She decided sitting down would be better than standing and stomping

distractions occurred about every 3 seconds

Why not try an open hand punch?

Dad eventually helped her break it all the way and she moved on to playing with the big squishy pillows AKA body shields.

Too tempting to not touch every one!

Mirrors are there own curiosity

Maybe I'm tall enough?!

V really loves the wide open space on the gyms at KA. Add in a TON of people all breaking boards or bricks and she really loves it. She was dodging in an out and back and forth like she owned the place. She goes, goes, goes and then hits a wall of toddler tiredness. See below :)

Maybe this would be a comfy bed?

This girl has karate in her blood and will start Little Ninjas at age 3 if not before. She is curious about Dad's nunchucks and has gotten ahold of them a few times already. She recognizes the KA logo on his work shirts and uniform. She has seen pictures from his 4th degree test and enthusiastically shouts "Karate!"  I can't wait to see her journey to black belt and beyond!! It wouldn't surprise me at all if she becomes an instructor one day!