Toddler Play & Learn Lesson Plan

Toddler Play & Learn

With an (almost) three year old and an (almost) one year old at home (me being a stay-at-home mom) I needed a lesson plan for our activities. I have a collection of "toddler activity" books and access to the internet but cannot find one central place where it all comes together. So here it is - my attempt to put together some sort of coherent "toddler play & learn" lesson plan.

My main aim is to encourage a love of learning, get my kids ready for school and have fun, in conjunction with maintaining a lesson plan that is manageable, easy to do and costs very little (or nothing wherever I can - not just because of the current economy but because you shouldn't have to spend money to teach your kids or have fun).

I have made a school bus to put up on our wall - here we post our lessons for the week. I make a short (say 1/2 - 1 hour in the morning) time period where I sit down with my 3 year old and we work on our "lessons" together at our little desk. I made an apron for her - this is put on for each lesson and craft activity. Firstly, this protects the clothes, and secondly, it acknowledges to her that lesson time is in session. This is something I learned from the Montessori method (for more information go to www.michaelolaf.com or search for Montessori).




Here is our school bus:


I have all my lessons written out on cards, which I post onto the school bus at the beginning of each week. In my "School Box" I have a series of activities for each lesson. This will be easier to understand as I start my blog. I will have a new activity posted each day. I think once I have the first week up you can then start or just use this as inspiration.

Really this is just my blog, documenting the activities I do with my kids. Enjoy!

Making Horses

Making Horses

Found this wonderful blog www.designspongeonline.com, and on there was this great craft project by Ann Wood that I though would be great to do with my 3 year old.

Basically you are making little cardboard horses to hang up on the wall (or wherever you fancy!). Ann Wood made this project with a goal to make 100 of these horses. They look awesome all together in a group (as Ann Wood has done), and can be done over a period of time. I also really like the idea she had of naming her horses and numbering them. I name and number mine and also date it, and put my little helper's name on it too!

My little girl loved drawing on her horse. We are also going to paint some another day, and I think I'm going to do a few of my own as well. I have the perfect spot in my breakfast area to put them up on the wall. I'm going to theme mine - architectural print on one (from my few years of study that I managed to do), ocean (love the beach), woods, etc, etc.

Love this idea - will update as we do more but here are a few pictures to start. Please check out the design sponge website for all the details on how to make them (www.designspongeonline.com) - all credit goes to Ann Wood, of course!