SENSORY BOXES WITHOUT THE MESS

Who would have thought a simple box can keep those tiny little things in place??!  Ms. S loves playing with sensory boxes but OMG, the mess!!! It used to drive me crazy! 

SENSORY BOXES AS A TEACHING TOOL

I love playing sensory boxes with the LO. It's simple to make, super engaging and provides a number of learning opportunities.  For this sensory box, I have uncooked elbow pasta, but you can use anything... sand, salt, pompoms, etc.  Whatever you like really. 

DIY VALENTINES KISSES CARD

I think I might gotten carried away with this whole 'letting the LO give out valentines'... I had to make one for kisses.  And these are much so much easier to do.

DIY VALENTINES TEACHER CARDS

Valentines is around the corner! Here is a very easy way to make teacher cards using things you probably already have -- card stock, pen and scissors.

DIY HOUSE DECAL

The LO has a new spot! She has her own little nook tucked in our bedroom.  It has a mattress on the floor, "Baba" the bear and some books.  To complete the space, I decorated the wall behind it with houses using washi tape.  Yes! washi tape!

DIY CEREAL BOXES FOR PRETEND PLAY

Just for fun, I decided to make some pretend food for the LO's kitchen.  This is such an easy DIY project! I had some individually packed cereal boxes and I figured it could go in the play kitchen. 

FOR THE LOVE OF LEGO

The LO can now enjoy playing with Legos and I am so excited.  I love Legos, I think they're one of the best toys ever made.  At this time, she can't build yet.   She is at the pretend play stage and the model that she has allows her to play with farm animals. I am teaching her to feed the animals, put the animals to sleep and open or close the barn doors.  I am also teaching her turn taking like "My turn", "your turn" and "we're waiting".

KITCHEN UPGRADE

The LO's kitchen got an upgrade.  It now has a sink for her to wash her hands. We were at Marshalls and the LO spent 30 minutes washing her hands in a play kitchen.  The grandparents wanted to buy her the kitchen but it was way too colorful.  We want to buy her the Ikea kitchen when she grows a little taller so it doesn't make sense to buy one now and then buy another one. 

DIY FELT EGG

For fun, I decided to make the LO a felt egg.  Pinterest has a lot of tutorials and templates on DIY felt foods and it was so tempting to make all of them!  I decided to make the egg because it seemed the easiest.  I didn't even use any template for this one.  

DIY CARDBOARD KITCHEN

I have been eyeing Ikea's kitchen for a while now for the LO.  But when we went to Ikea, it was still a bit high for her, so I did the next best thing... I made her a kitchen made of cardboard box.

BUSY BIN: COFFEE CUP HOLE FILLER

Do you know there's a lot of free stuff out there for the taking? Amazing what you could come up with a little creativity.  Here is the LO playing with coffee lid hole covers (I am not sure what you actually call them lol) that I got from a coffee shop. 

BUSY BIN: STRAWS

 Are you familiar with task boxes? I LOVE them.  Task boxes aims to help children concentrate and focus on a tasks.  Task boxes are very structured.  They have one goal in mind -- transferring one object from a container to another container, sorting objects by color or completing a pattern.  They could also be easily made using a shoe box.  Though I love the idea of task boxes, I do not like the idea of how much space it will take if I were to make them.  We live in a 480 square feet after all.

DUKE'S CARDBOARD KITCHEN

How cute is this? This is Duke's kitchen made out of a cardboard box! My friend Cita made this for the little guy using a box, markers, tape and paper!

HOW TO INTRODUCE A SHAPE SORTER TOY TO A TODDLER

Does your toddler get frustrated when playing with a shape a sorter toy? Mine does.  Shape sorter toys are great for toddlers. It helps them with their eye hand coordination, pincer and palmar grasps and problem solving skills.  Introducing a shape sorter toy is a little bit tricky.  The LO is only 16 months and she gets frustrated that she can't fit a shape into a hole.  So, I had to go back a step and teach her to put objects into a container first.  I started with an open basket then moved towards to a plastic container to a pringles tube.  All sucesses!! The key is to gradually introduce a smaller hole opening.  Now, here's the next dilemna, as you introduce a new concept, you need to make sure that it is challenging enough that it pushes the LO to persevere but not difficult enough that she will just give up.

LO'S FIRST BAG

The LO is obsessed with my bag.  She dives into it and go for the good stuffs -- my wallet, keys and planner.  She walks around the house with my bag in her arm or my Iphone in her ear.  I figured, I can buy her her own very bag and found this in Amazon: Kidoozie My First Purse

HOW TO PACK BABY CLOTHES USIING ZIPLOCK BAGS

 It is common knowledge among my friends that when I travel, I travel light. I once traveled with a back pack for a 3 day weekend.  Now, however, that we have a toddler, packing has taken a new meaning.  It now means check in baggage, mixed up clothing and looking for things in a haystack.  On our first family trip, I over packed.  Half of our check in luggage was LO's; and her clothes are tiny compared to my clothes and my husband's.

DIY TENT

The LO got to play house today.  I was doing my end of year cleaning and I took out her gray mat. I realized I can assemble it to make a tent!

WHAT TOY STORES REALLY DO TO YOUR CHILD

The LO and I were at K-mart last weekend looking for a toy.  I was amazed by how much toys there were! It was aisle after aisle of toys; and this is just one section of the K-mart.  Then we went to Toys R Us since K-mart didn't carry the toy I was looking for and lo and behold!

You see, I'm a newbie when it comes to the toy department.  For the last year, I have been limited to the baby section; and the baby section is calm, uncluttered and spacious.  So, coming into K-mart and Toys R Us where you have toys that goes from floor to ceiling is just a bit too much compared to Target's toy section.  It was very overwhelming for me to be surrounded by all the toys and I'm an adult! Can you imagine how overwhelming it is for a child? Let alone a 14 month baby?

PAPER PLAY

This is an accidental activity for the LO and it kept her occupied for 20 minutes! (20 minutes of free time for me! wow!) I was going through our mail and tearing the ones we don't need while the LO was having snack.  When she finished eating, she tried to reach for one of the envelopes so I figured "why not?, what's the worst thing that could happen?". I handed her my pile of torn papers and she looked at each one of them as if its the most interesting thing. 

DIY COLOR BIN

I made a color sorting wheel for my class today.  My kids for this year are much younger than what I had last year.  I have some color sorting boards from Lakehore but they seemed too distracting for my little kiddos.