You’ll Need: At least one teeth photo (laminated), toothbrush, water, various foods (the stickyer the better!)

I laminated a few teeth photos (found on GoogleImages).  Then J

We started a new tooth brushing song during this activity. I got tired of our normal brushing song (This is the way we brush our teeth… like the mulberry song) and decided we needed a change.  J thinks our new brushing song is fun. I sing to the tune of “I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta My Hair”… and just change the words to… I’m gonna brush that cheese right off of my teeth, I’m gonna brush those blueberries right off those back teeth… filling in whatever he just ate and wherever I’m brushing in his mouth. He likes to remind me all the different foods I have to brush off.  A year later and he still loves to sing this song!

Age attempted: 2.5 years

I definitely don’t want J to get stuck in that rutt.  Reading is way too much fun for monotone.

So I was THRILLED when we discovered Mo Willems at our local library.  His books are perfect for teaching and practicing inflection, even for the beginner or intermediate reader. And it doesn’t hurt that he is hilarious for both child AND adult.

We especially love his Elephant and Piggie series. In fact I liked “We are in a Book” so much that I decided to go out and buy it and I’m becoming quite the snob in books I deem worth my money.  ”BANANA!!!” has become a source of laughter all throughout our day (you’ll have to read the book to find out why).

There are so many great things about these books. They are simple enough that J can read them all by himself but the story is still good enough to keep both of our attentions. So many of the beginning reader books are boring! These books aren’t marketed as beginning reader books, but I think they work great for that… or maybe for intermediate readers. I’m not an expert in early readers! If your child has a good base of sight words and a basic understanding of phonics, I think they will manage the Elephant and Piggie books well.

We can also read them together, each taking a different role so that we get to act the book out. J even wants us to imitate the faces as we read/act.

He has learned what think bubbles are and is getting great practice at reading with inflection which I just love. It’s so fun to hear J imitate the emotion and read happily, sadly, with disappointment or surprise, disgust, greed, embarassment, or even dismay, all depending on the story. That is such great practice! Willems does a great job of showing the emotion on the characters faces as well as changing the font to get the mood across (tiny font or gigantic font, italics, wiggly font, etc). Even my 3 year old can figure out it out, many times on his own!

And of course he’s getting great practice at how to interpret the punctuation as he reads. Often J can pick up the purpose of the punctuation or font type on his own from the context of the story. There have been times that he’s asked why the font was so tiny or why the exlamation mark and the question mark are together.  Another plus! The books encourage him to take the initiative so that he gets it right.

And did I mention that these books are funny? J and I just giggle the whole way through. I love that he is getting such great practice reading AND enjoying every second. I’m so thrilled that Willems wrote so many books in this series. We’ve probably read at least 10 different Elephant and Piggie books and have lots more to check out at the library.

Oh and his Knuffle Bunny series is really cute too. That’s actually the series that got us hooked on Mo Willems. Parents especially will find this series humorous. “Blaggle Flaggle” mom and dad, “Blaggle Flaggle!”

 **Willems also has a the Cat the Cat series (seems to be ideal for very early readers since he uses lots of repetition and use of the same word family throughout the book) and the Pigeon series (that will be next on our list to read through).

Operation Christmas Child’s shoebox campaign in underway!  The national collection week in November 14-21, 2011.  You have 2+ weeks to plan and participate.  Plenty of time!  I am actually printing off the materials this week and planning to take J shopping over the weekend.  Click on the link above to find out more.

This is something we started doing last year when J was two years old (you can see our experience here and the finished product here).  **Those links include links to videos and music to help introduce to your kids.**

This is a wonderful way to help little ones practice giving.  They can bring a shoebox to the store and fill it with fun (and useful) items.  Bring it home, pack it up and drop it off at a pick up location near you.  There’s even a tracking feature so you can find out where your box ended up.

J loved this last year (the photos shown are from last year).  We can’t wait to get started this year!

That night we ended up crafting a Lightning McQueen race car out of a diaper box, wrapping paper and a few craft supplies I had around the house.  Our finished product turned out so cute!  J loved it.  In my non-biased opinion, he was the cutest trick-or-treater around!

How to:  It was so quickly crafted (and so long ago), I don’t remember details.  Lots of folding and refolding cardboard (the hard part), taping and retaping! We wrapped a diaper box in metallic red wrapping paper (it was actually Christmas paper but you can’t tell), added some foam tires, construction paper eyes and decals (the letters are foam stickers).  A little a lot of tape and glue and you have the perfect race car for a Lightning McQueen fan.  Using duct tape, we attached Christmas ribbon to act as suspenders so that J could wear his car for trick-or-treating.

This year…. J’s again adamant that he is a race car driver and wants the SAME EXACT costume.  Part of me says, “That’s not much fun!” and the other part sighs with relief.  No work needed this year!

And while you’re at it these are some of our favorite activities from fall’s past.

Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson is wonderful.  Fletcher, an adorable little fox is concerned for his good friend when it begins shedding…. leaves.  He tries to come to his friend’s rescue to no avail.  Then he discovers that his friend still has beauty to share.  Fletcher is simply adorable.  The artwork by Tiphanie Beeke captures the story perfectly.  I love it!

South by Patrick McDonnell is a picture book, perfect for a toddler or preschooler “reading” on their own or for mom and dad to join in.  A tiny bird sleeps through the last moment of fall, and finds alone when all his bird-family have flown south.  A friendly cat saves the day as they make the trip towards southern warmth together and the tiny bird reunites with his family. No words, just pictures.  A story beautifully told.

Enjoy storytime and then go outside and play in the falling leaves!

In the meantime, here’s some great fall activities to try out!

Candy Corn Puzzles

Jack-o-lantern Shape Craft

Chocolate Oat Acorns

Spaghetti Spider Web and Handprint Spider

Autumn Tree

Do-a-dot Falling Leaves (one of J’s first crafts ever!)

All you have to do is Print and Play!  Well, it would be thoughtful if you let your toddler play first

The first up is this great Transportation Preschool Pack  from Homeschool Creations.  Have you noticed J loves anything with wheels? When I saw this preschool pack, I knew it would grab his attention. There’s great opportunities for learning too.  Perfect!

J’s favorite activities from this pack were the transportation puzzles, the shadow matching, and the writing activities.  There are lots more activities to choose from.  You can print the entire packet or choose a few pages to start with.  Check it out!

**All images are from Homeschool Creations**

This book so easily transitions into a fun art activity, I just couldn’t resist!  I cut out 6 different squares, one for each color presented in the book.  I used a tissue box to trace the squares.  This size worked well for a 3 year old. Smaller pieces would’ve been more difficult for him to work with.  You will also need a marker, scissors, glue and large white construction paper (maybe a few pieces if your squares are big).

We walked through each page of the book, cutting and tearing as instructed. Then J glued down his own creation, trying to mimic the pictures in the book.  Most of the pictures he could complete on his own.  The fountain and bridge did require a little mommy-help.

J's version of water, mountain, bridge, park, fountain, and flowers

It does take awhile to complete each piece of square-art shown in the book.  I was actually surprised that J remained fully involved to the end.  I even tried to skip a page, worried he’d lose interest.  Well, he quickly pointed out that I missed a page and that he just must create that square

This is a great activity if you’re working through the shapes. It works best for square-day; it would likely cause some confusion on circle-day! It’s also a great review of colors since each page highlights a different color.

I’ll be going on a blogging vacation for a couple weeks.  Feel free to sift through all the fun activities we’ve done over the past few years.  There are helpful categories in the right toolbar to help you narrow it down.

And definitely check out the Favorites Page to find our most-used activities.  I recently updated it to include the more recent favorites.