Toddler Activities for the Letter F

For the letter "F" I decided to talk about the three states of water, focusing on the Frozen stage. We put an ice cube in a bowl and set it out on the counter. We kept returning to the bowl to watch it melt throughout the morning. We happened to have our humidifier out and so we turned it on and talked about the third stage of water, gas.

Then we decided to make our own funky ice cubes. I gave each girl an ice cube tray filled with water. Then I pulled out the food coloring (I suggest having their aprons handy!) and let them drop different colors into the tray and mix them with a spoon. I encouraged them to mix colors and see what happened. They enjoyed it so much that we dumped them out and did this activity three times before I finally convinced them to put the trays in the freezer.






A few days later, we pulled these ice cubes out and put them into the bath tub! The girls loved watching them melt back to water and turn the bath into a rainbow (which eventually turned into a murky brown...)
We also went Fishing! I saw this idea here. I gave each girl a celery stalk with a glob of peanut butter on one end. Then I gave them a plate full of gold fish to catch with their celery fishing pole.



 We always practice writing our upper and lower case "F's" on our white board and I like to use these books from Alphabet Friends to practice the sounds: 

Preschooler Activities: Friendship Bracelets

Do any of you remember making these beads when you were younger? They're made out of paper and glue and are perfect for a homemade Valentine's gift. My three year old and her best friend made them as friendship bracelets. And for all the mothers of little boys out there--your little man could make these for any of the "women" in his life.

Materials:
magazines
scissors
beads
string
glue
toothpick
needle



Step One: Have your toddler/preschooler help you find ads in your magazines that are red and pink (or color of your choice). Cut the ads into long triangular strips.



Step Two: Place a line of glue along the strip and roll the wide end around the toothpick. Continue to roll the strip tightly, wiggling it a bit so that you can remove it from the toothpick when it is done. Be sure to glue the end well enough to hold.

Step Three: We used some colored beads to put in between the homemade ones. (I don't recommend handing them the bag...I'm still stepping on lost beads.)

Step Four: Thread the beads with your needle. Your preschooler could help you do this with LOTS of supervision. (Mine loves to use the thimble)





Tie of the string and you have friendship bracelets and/or a homemade Valentine's gift.

Toddler and Preschooler Activities for a Rainy Day: Gone Fishin'

I apologize. Even though I don't think that you all are chomping at the bit for a new post on my blog, I do have a standard I've set for myself as far as posting goes, and I've let it slip this past week. We took a last minute family trip to Coronado, which has been WONDERFUL, but I have a ton of activities to share with you. So I'm staying up extra late to post about one of my favorite winter activities: fishing!

Materials:
Blue fabric or a sheet
wooden dowels
yarn
clothes pins
hot glue
construction paper
marker
tape


As we all know, winter can DRAG ON, so this activity is one that will entertain as well as teach--fishing in the winter time! You can mold it to your child's needs. I focused on numbers for my preschooler and colors for my toddler.

Step One:
Cover a small table (I used our piano bench) with your blue fabric (mine was a shower curtain) for the "water." Make sure there's room behind the table for you to sit since you'll be clipping the fish onto their fishing rods "under water."

Step Two:
Cut out the number of fish you want from your construction paper. I added eyes and numbers.


Step Three:
Cut a piece of yarn and glue one end onto the dowel. Tie the other end onto the clothes pin (our clothes pins were decorated from a previous activity).

I put a small line of hot glue at the end of the dowel and then wrapped the yard around it a few times.





Step Four:
At the other end of my living room, I taped colored squares that matched the colors of the fish. My goal was to have my toddler match the fish to the corresponding square, thus helping her learn her colors. Then I asked my preschooler to identify the number on the fish's belly and write it herself on the tail. You could also do letters, shapes, spelling words, etc.

My preschooler wanted to help clip the fish to the pole while my toddler (and her one surviving pigtail) was content being the fisherwoman. Barbie and the princess crown were just decoration.

Here is my toddler matching the white fish to the white square.

And my preschooler writing the number four on the tail.
She still uses her number rhymes to remember her numbers.








Once we caught all of our "fish," my girls continued fishing for small toys from out of their homemade "pond." This activity is the gift that keeps on giving and I hope it will help you get through these wintery days (I say this as I'm basking in 75 degree weather out here in California).

Please do check back with me for Valentine's Day activities. Don't forget to check your local JoAnne's for all their deals right now on pink and red EVERYTHING. Pick up 1/4 of a yard of red fleece while you're there for my next post!