Handprint and Footprint Valentines Cards

I saw this idea on Children’s Learning Activities last year and thought the message was so cute.  I’ve had it stored away in my mind since. 

For J, this activity was a ton of finger painting fun.  I taped some butcher paper on our kitchen floor and gave him a plate of finger paint.  He ended up filling 4 or 5 long sheets of paper.   While he was enjoying all the painting, I was sure to get some hand and footprints out of the fun.  We ended up having more than enough prints for grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, and some for mom to keep too. 

We cut out the prints, glued them down and the wrote the message, “I love you from the tips of my fingers to the tips of my toes.”

They’re ready for the mailbox!

Age attempted: 33 months

Twizzler Writing Valentines Card

Here’s the card J made one of his cousins for Valentines Day.  It was actually a fun way to practice letters.  We’ll probably reuse this activity some other time. 

What You Need: Pull and Peel Twizzlers, Glue, Cardstock, pencil

Prep: I actually precut for the Twizzlers for him and already had the message written in pencil on the cardstock for him. 

He traced the letters with glue and then added the Twizzlers.  After awhile he got tired of gluing, so I took over that part.  To incorporate some learning, I asked him how many long/short pieces were needed for each letter prior to gluing.  We also had lots of opportunities to repeat the words verticle and horizontal.  He then added some math practice of his own as he decided to pattern the heart stickers and later the heart twizzler shapes. 

I did help him on the spirals since it was a little too intricate for him to do alone.  They’re supposed to be flowers, but J thought they looked like lollipops.  Either one works!

Age: 34 months

Struggling with Water in their Face

When I was posting on the Mini Car Wash, I came across a photo that reminded me of something other mom’s might find useful during bathtime..

J has gone through phases where he HATED water in his face.  I have always just dumped and moved on, sometimes he was ok with that sometimes he was NOT.  I did try to teach him to hold his head up, but fear always made him tilt it right back down. 

And then we happened upon this little “game” during bathtime. I got him to try to catch the water dripping from his head in a cup.  Getting him focused on this was just what he needed to forget about the water in his face.  It works so well for him.  In fact if you look closely at the photo, you can see water droplets falling from his eyelashes too, but he could care less since he’s focused elsewhere.

As he got better with catching the water, we moved to containers with smaller openings to increase the difficulty.  He likes to try and fill up a bottle, douse the toy fish inside a bowl, drip water onto those little growing sponges, or even get the stream to flow in between his fingers. 

We don’t play this game every bathtime anymore since he will now hold his head up.  But every now and then he wants to play it again. 

I imagine this game would work unless your little one has very short hair since the water needs to drip off the longer hair to form streams. 

Age attempted: 2 years

Check us out on Children’s Learning Activites

I’ve just joined a group of awesome moms at Children’s Learning Activities!  You’ve probably noticed that I link to them quite often.  They have great ideas and helpful thoughts on structuring playtime for your toddlers and preschoolers.  There are four moms who write for CLA, with a total of 9 kids ranging from infancy to 5 years so you’re sure to find something that will apply to your little one.

Come check us out!

Snow Shoveling Toddler Style

Thess pictures are from last year when J was 21 months.  We dressed him up in his winter gear, gave him a soup ladle and he was entertained “helping” dad shovel the driveway.  Maybe this simple idea will be put to use in light of the blizzard moving across the country!  Even little ones can “help”.

New Page: Valentine’s Day Index

I decided to separate the winter and Valentine’s activity index.  Check out this page to see link to other sites for Valentine’s printables, crafts, games, snacks, and more!