Posted by Cindy on June 10, 2009
At co-op, we have a “serious” field day with class competitions and ribbons and awards. A group of friends in our hometown also gets together for a more “casual” field day. Each of the moms prepares a simple game or two – many involving water and relays – and we just have fun together. No awards or ribbons necessary.
This year, we brought potluck food for lunch and our wonderful hostess opened up her pool after the festivities. My children always look forward to this fun day, but the pool made it extra-special!
Little ones enjoyed their own pool while the big kids played games.
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Filed Under: Co-op
Posted by Cindy on January 5, 2009
The time has come to keep the toddler busy during school. I’ve always had to keep him occupied, of course, but now I’m finding the need for an arsenal of ideas so that school can flow smoothly. Well, as smoothly as school can flow with a toddler in the house.
I hope you’ve noticed the toddler section I added to the far sidebar. I found all sorts of great ideas from the links that should keep my active and inquisitive two-year-old busy for at least a little while. Here are some of the things I’ve prepared.
A bookshelf full of books just for him. Board books, hardcovers and softcovers. Almost all of it living literature because there’s no sense in even reading twaddle to a toddler!
A list of fingerplays, nursery rhymes and songs posted on the wall so I’m not stuck when the time comes.
EFL Fingerplays
Dinosaur Fingerplays
NNCC Fingerplays Plus
Preschool Rainbow Fingerplays
Rhymes and Fingerplays
Wikipedia Nursery Rhyme List
Preschool Express Songs
Preschool Educations Songs
A CD player with preschool-friendly CD’s in the schoolroom.
Toddler Tunes
Preschool Songs
100 Singalong Songs for Kids
Action Bible Songs
Silly Songs
Toddler activity bags and boxes ready to go at a moment’s notice. I’ve stashed them on a high shelf so he doesn’t have access to them. It’s partly to keep the activities fresh and partly to keep him from destroying them!
I’ll probably do an activity bag post soon. Remind me if I forget!
Imaginative toys. For the moment, they are placed around the room in “centers”, but I’m sure they’ll all be jumbled in one big mess before the first week of the new school year is over with. What sorts of imaginative centers could you put together for a two year old?
Easy dress up – hats, big shoes without heels, big shirts, old Halloween costumes
A toy barn with lots of animals and tractors (or any Little People set)
Toy cars with a little “town” to drive through
A play kitchen with pots, pans and play food
A wooden train set
Blocks of any sort – my favorite – foam blocks, wooden blocks and bristle blocks
A cheap toy electric piano and other simple instruments
Toddler-safe art supplies – including crayons, washable markers, finger paints, watercolors, paintbrushes, rollers, play dough & cookie cutters, safety scissors, glue sticks, lots of paper scraps, coloring books and two Christmas gifts her received that I’m very excited about – a Aquadoodle Wall Mat
and Crayola Color Wonder Coloring Book
. Just in case you’re wondering, the art supplies will always be supervised. No (more) crayon colored walls for me! By the way, Magic Erasers are a wonderful invention!!
Giggles computer games
I’ll be excited for you to add wonderful ideas to my list! Homeschooling with toddlers is challenging, but I’m not defeated (yet!)
