Week 3 - Social Distancing
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Week 3 has been a little crazy. We started sleeping training my youngest and it has definitely been a challenge but so far I am happy with the progress she has made. The hardest part has been following a strict schedule that revolves around a certain number of hours awake and asleep. Each day is different and I have found that to be a difficult transition for my older child having to switch up our routine. Hopefully soon we will have a more solid routine when she starts sleeping through the night.
Honestly, I'm having a hard time with this post this week because I didn't do that great a job keeping track of all our activities. So bear with me as I share what I remember.
Monday
PLAY
Tuesday
School of Rock My Hero, Zero & 3 is a Magic Number - These are on YouTube and they are fun for kids. They are pretty old school in terms of video but my girls loved them.
Coloring Mixing Toilet Paper Rolls - We mixed colors to see what they made and painted toilet paper rolls. Later we will be turning them into butterflies.
Wednesday
Play to Learn Preschool - I just discovered Jamie on Facebook and she is doing daily virtual classrooms. We are 3 weeks behind so we don't tune in at 11 and instead watch the past videos to do them at our own pace. My toddler also (because she is 3.5) wants to fast forward to the activity.
Outdoor Play - If the weather is nice out that is where you will find us. Outside in the playhouse, climbing/slide set, or sandbox.
Virtual Zumbini - The Princeton Playspace is offering virtual classes periodically on their Facebook page. We tuned in for Zumbini and they also did a Music Together class too.
Board Games - We got a number of new board games and other fun games for my toddler. One game she loves is called Pop It! It's a "take anywhere" popping game (not that we are going anywhere). It is a simple game but it is addicting and really easy for them to learn. We ordered it from Target and it is only $7.99
Osmo - Osmo is one of our favorite education screen time activities for the iPad. We downloaded the new Kaleidoscope game and my toddler had a blast seeing what all her Disney figurines turned into.
Thursday
Play to Learn Preschool - see link above.
Rice - The rice saga continues. It's endless fun for them but an endless mess for me to clean up every night. I'd say it is worth it though.
Heart Painting - I wanted to participate in the "Hearts in the Window" campaign to "spread love, not germs." Using Mailbox Gold I downloaded all different size heart patterns and printed them out on colored card stock paper. We painted them with Kwix Paint Sticks, let them dry, and hung them up in our window. I'm sure you can also just draw a heart and cut it out yourself or find free templates on Pinterest.
Hooked on Phonics - I started Hooked on Phonics with my toddler. A family friend gave us a hand-me-down box and we did a little practicing. We are missing a few books so I decided to hold off and switch over to our Bobs Books reading set.
BOB Books - I'm very impressed with this set. I actually remember BOB books from when I was little. I don't exactly remember doing them (I'm sure I did), but I do remember owning them. My oldest did a pretty good job for our first time really doing them. When we first got the set I read to her a few of the books and we did the Versatiles. Now that she is older, we were able to work together and read 2 of the books. I was pretty impressed that she was able to read a few of the pages.
Friday
Play to Learn Preschool - This video we watched had to do with color mixing which worked out great for our liquid watercolor activity.
Free Online Toddler Frozen Dance - Just a fun youtube video if your child likes Frozen. My toddler didn't love it because she isn't into ballet and didn't like that the person teaching wasn't doing all the moves from the movie.
Water Play - My youngest loves playing with her Little Tikes Splish Splash Sink. We had one that was battery operated but it stopped working within a few months. This one is a pump and while she does need a little help getting the water to come out, she enjoys washing her toys and play dishes.
Easter Chalk Art - I printed out a an Easter bunny template from Pinterest and cut it out. Using chalk my toddler colored around the Easter bunny. It turned out super cute and we laminated them so that the chalk wouldn't get smudged.
Hearts in the Window - We hung up all our hearts on our front door and plan on making more to hang on our window.
Liquid Watercolor Crafting - I bought liquid watercolor paint (but any watercolor paint will work) and these paper shapes that absorb the color. You could also use a paper towel.
The teddy bear was mine.
Purchases
Papermate Handwriting Triangular Wood Pencils - These are the best pencils for teaching kids to write. They are large, wooden and don't break easily, and triangular shape to help promote proper gripping. We have been using them for awhile and I realized we lost a bunch of them.
The Good and The Beautiful Nature Notebook - She is offering it as a free download until May 31st (which I downloaded) but I wanted a hard copy so I could have the book all in one place and use it all year round.
Crayola Non-Toxic Washable Paint - I realized that we were almost out of paint for the girls so I ordered more. I actually ordered from School Specialty and got regular, glitter, neon, and metallic. The link is for Target in case you want to do drive up.
Learning Resources Helping Hands Fine Motor Tool Set - I realized that I bought the sand ones last time and that with 2 kids I would need to have some duplicates of the items. I figured this was the safest bet so that both my girls have some tools for the sand and water table.
