Preschooler Activity for the Letter T: Turtle Lunches

One of the greatest things about summer is having fun with your food. Here's an idea my mother-in-law found that we tried out.
(Warning: these pictures may gross you out. Being pregnant, I felt nauseous the entire time I made these, but the end product was great.)

Materials:
ground beef
bacon
hot dogs
cloves
toothpicks
kitchen scissors

Step One: Make your patty as big as you'd like. The hot dogs stay in better if you have a thicker patty. Cut three hot dogs in half and insert them into the patty with toothpicks.

Step 2: Weave the bacon (lattice style) around the patty, making the shell. We used kitchen scissors to cut the bacon strips in half lengthwise so they were easier to weave.

Step Three: We used cloves for eyes and cut the ends of the hot dogs for toes.



Step Four: We covered the hot dog legs with foil since they tend to burn first on the grill. Cook to your liking and enjoy!

Toddler and Preschooler Activity for the Letter B: Butterfly Snacks

It's always fun to spruce up your snackies, especially if you're taking your activity time outside. Here's a fun way to make your snack a bit more enticing.

Materials:

googly eyes
clothes pins
snack bags
snack of your choice
glue
markers


Let your toddler pick what size googly eyes they want for their clothes pin.
(We had a few large cyclops).

Have your toddler color and decorate the clothes pins to their liking.

Leave enough room in your snack bags to divide the bag in half with your fingers. Have your toddler help you clip the clothes pin onto the center of the bag.

Happy Snacking!
(Idea found on familyfun.org)

Toddler and Preschooler Activity for the Letter M: "ME" puzzles

"Me" Puzzles

Materials:
pictures of your kiddo (that you don't mind cutting to pieces)
scissors
red marker or pencil
construction paper
poster putty or glue (optional)

The exciting thing about these puzzles is that your toddler gets to make them
and recognize "the star" of the puzzle when they put it all together.

1. With your red marker, draw easy-to-follow lines for your toddler to cut. Depending on your little one's age, you can cut smaller, more curvy pieces to make it harder or large and simple squares for an easier puzzle.
If your toddler doesn't yet use scissors, you can cut the pictures for them with their hands touching yours.
(Drawing lines were an afterthought, so you don't see them in these pics).

*You can make as many as you'd like (we cut up two pictures), but be sure to keep the right pieces together, of course.

2. Place your pieces onto a full piece of 8 1/2 X 11 construction paper. Be sure they are mixed up enough to be a challenge.

Here's where the poster putty or the glue comes in if your toddler is having some trouble with the puzzle. You can place a bit of putty on the back of each piece as your toddler places them correctly so they stay in place.



And there you go. A "ME" puzzle.
(Idea inspired by familyfun.org)

Magnifying Activity for Toddlers and Preschoolers: MAG-nificent

So this is an activity idea that I plan to build on, especially since the weather is beautiful and there's so much to explore outside.

I found this small board with little treasures secured behind a plastic cover at my local library. It came along with a tiny magnifying glass that kept my three year old busy for a while as she examined and counted the treasures inside. Then we forgot about the treasures and started magnifying our carpet, our knee caps and our eyeballs.






You can create your own selection of treasures and place them into an egg carton (as long as they are touchable treasures. If not, cover the carton with saran wrap).
You can take the magnifying glass outside and look at bugs, leaves, newborn veggies in the garden, flowers, or blades of grass.

So many possibilities!
(more to come on this one)