Banana for Two and Grocery Games

Yellow, brown, green, and every shade in between. How do you like your bananas? Maybe a banana is best when shared with a friend, as in "Banana for Two", the next book in Star Bright Books "Small Talk Books" series.  You can read my review of the first book, "A Fish to Feed" here.

One Banana, Two Banana

 "Banana for Two" is a cute, simple story for young children and their families.  This entertaining board book, is perfect for babies and young toddlers.  The illustrations are warm and inviting, and young children will likely recognize the familiar setting of a grocery store, and the experience of shopping with a caregiver.  This book features a mother and small child (as well as a cameo by the family from "A Fish to Feed", which is a cute touch). Also of note is the fact that both "A Fish to Feed" and "Banana for Two" depict diverse families. Beyond being a cute story for little ones, this book is a great resource for parents and caregivers.  As with the other books in the Small Talk series, "Banana for Two" features an educational message for parents, as well as modeling throughout the text.  The goal lesson in "Bananas for Two" is in the importance of incorporating conversations at math from a young age, and in noticing the importance of math in everyday life.  From my teaching days, I can certainly confirm that many children (and even adults) often question why they must learn math, or how it relates to them.  Incorporating math into simple everyday conversations from an early age could certainly have a positive impact on a child's interest in math and early math skills. "Banana for Two" shows how simple it is to do just that-and provides parents with a little extra confidence in their math talk skills.

This mom is lucky her child hasn't figured out how
to escape from grocery carts yet...

After reading "Banana for Two" with E and C, I decided to incorporate a few grocery and counting related games into our play time.  The stars aligned and I just so happened to receive an email from Melissa & Doug with a free healthy eating grocery list printable recently, and it is a great resource to save for both learning and play.  You can print your own copy here .

Coloring-loved by kids and moms alike

E practices coloring in each box-and used a
colored pencil for the first time.

Since the Grocery List printable has different foods in nice, neat little squares I took this as the perfect opportunity to practice on some focused coloring with E. I pointed out to him that each food could be colored a different color, and helped him slow down and think about which color he wanted to make each food (as opposed to large scribbles across the entire sheet).  It turned out to be a very good fine motor exercise for him, as well as a chance to slow down a little bit-which is a pretty big feat for an active almost three year old. Depending on your child's age and skills, you can also use this sheet for practice cutting, gluing, or even drawing.  It would also be fun to make a grocery list using pictures cut from store flyers.  Another fun way we played with the food list was as a matching game-I simply laid out a few different sets of food pictures and showed E how to match the items, and then count "one, two".  I think after playing this way for a little while longer, we will be able to flip the food cards over and turn it into our own homemade memory game.

Healthy Food Match

Everyone needs double onions

After making our grocery list, we set up a small grocery store with our play foods, and made sure to set out foods we have multiples of so we could have some good counting opportunities.  E had a great time choosing between his shopping cart or shopping basket, and picking out the different foods from his "store".  Grocery store is definitely the new favorite pretend play activity in our house!  E has a little bit of a "Supermarket Sweep" shopping mentality (who else thinks they should bring that show back?!), but we also make sure to take the time and look at the foods he is "shopping" for.  This is where I incorporated some of the Small Talk tips from "Banana for Two".  As E shopped, I pointed out if he was choosing one or two of each item. E loves to count, and two is his absolute favorite number, so he really enjoyed counting the foods he chose, looking at the foods on his list and counting there, and checking off the items on his list as we shopped.

Pretend veggies-a fun way to encourage real veggie love!

Everything on the list!

Picking peppers!

It really is amazing to see how much enjoyment talking about these simple day to day tasks can bring to a toddler.  It can be easy, in our busy and stressful adult worlds, to forget how new and exciting even the most dreaded chores like grocery shopping can be for a young child.  This morning I let E know that we were going to be going to the grocery store. He's gone grocery shopping many times, and generally enjoys it-but today it turned into a whole new adventure.  With all of his focus on our grocery games in the last few weeks, he really had a new level of enthusiasm for this simple trip we've  made countless times before.  E ran to find a grocery list, his shopping basket, and his puppy and waited by our front door to eagerly head to the store.  He was so proud to walk the aisles of the grocery store and choose a treat to carry in his basket-and he brought smiles to lots of faces as he shopped!

A happy little shopper!

Easy Valentine's Toddler Games

I love using objects from around the house to create new play opportunities for my toddlers. While I love Pinterest as much as the next mom, I usually don't have the energy or supplies to create some of the great activities that are out there. Instead I like finding things I can make in ten minutes, while my kids are happily eating lunch or (miracle) napping-and making things from stuff I already have hanging around the house. Here are two simple to make toddler activites that you can use for Valentine's Day, or any other time of the year.  They are also easy to customize or switch up depending on what concepts you are working on with your little ones. 

Easy toddler games to keep you from going quackers!

My first Busy Mom DIY is a chocolate treat match up. I used a $1 chocolate box and labeled spots “1, 2, 3”.  Then I added some heart stickers on the bottom of our chocolate play food so we can practice counting and maybe start recognizing numbers a little!  To play, we just empty the box and count as we add the chocolates back in, pointing out what the number looks like to get a little exposure in.  You could just as easily use letters, shapes, or colors instead of numbers, depending on what you are working on at the moment.  Don't have any pretend chocolates? Use painted rocks, yogurt covers, sculpt treats from play dough-there are plenty of options hiding around the house, and your toddler won't mind if it doesn't look Pinterest perfect.

Chocolate that is fun for playing and safe for diets
 (as if anyone would want to be on a no chocolate diet).

Counting and Matching

We also have some sweet themed rubber ducks (my kids LOVE these ducks). I simply added a matching color sticker to the bottom of the duck and a corresponding sticker to the cupcake liner in the muffin tin (I used double stick tape to keep the liners in place). E knows his colors, so we are using this activity to work on the concept of matching-it’s easy enough for him to have success while he gets the hang of the idea of matching, and also easy to upgrade for matching shapes, letters, numbers, or even sight words later on. Plus E gets some extra practice naming the colors (still working on orange)! C loves simply placing the ducks in and out and carefully carrying the muffin tin from the table to the shelf. You can really use anything in place of the ducks to match a different holiday or theme, or just based off of what you have that is easily accessible. 

Dessert Ducks

Match colors and conversation hearts with duckies 

Working on slowing down and finding the match

Getting his ducks in a row

 Visit my previous post to find out about or winter sensory table and matching Valentine's theme.

Winter Sensory Play Table

We’ve made it to February and that means winter is getting closer to its end. Although yesterday we learned that we still have six more weeks of winter-we honestly haven’t had too bad of a winter yet. Thankfully. I was really dreading this winter and being stuck indoors with two toddlers. I stocked up on a pile of target dollar spot novelty items, which have definitely been great for boredom busting.  I also decided that our water table didn’t get a break this winter. It’s been living in the corner of our playroom for the past few months and we’ve been using it as a sensory table. I try to change it up about every three weeks, we've had four different set ups so far:

Our first version of the sensory table was dyed pasta.  It’s simple to make your own dyed pasta:

• Add about half a box of pasta to a gallon size plastic bag. We used different shapes and textures (shells, bow ties, ziti, spirals, wheels, smooth rigatoni (I need to study up on pasta names, I'm sure there is an actual name for that). 
• Add about a teaspoon of food coloring.  I used mostly gel, but also regular old fashioned food coloring, and I didn't notice a huge difference in the finished product.  
• Finally add a small amount of vinegar (you can also use hand sanitizer) into a Ziploc baggie. Give it some good shaking until it is evenly coated, then let it sit for about ten minutes. Pour onto a paper towel or cookie sheet and allow a few hours to dry out.

We used six different pasta types which filled the table nicely.

E and C both really enjoyed the pasta. We used a variety of shapes and textures, and they actually spent a good 20-30 minutes just running their hands through the pasta the first few days. E loved using the pasta as cargo for his trucks, and C was big on filling and dumping with the play kitchen pans. We also did a simple color sort with the muffin tin (my muffin tins spend more time in the playroom than the kitchen). You could also use the pasta as counters, for fine motor practice with stringing, matching colors or shapes, or as an art medium (pressing into play-dough, making necklaces...)

Tray of various shape and color~color spots in each muffin section

We sorted by color this time, but shape or texture would be fun as well!

All sorted! 

We used the table as a light table briefly around Christmas. Basically E really loves having different things to drive his trucks through, so we played around with some old light strands and other odds and ends from the Christmas supplies (bows, small boxes, ribbons). It also added a nice little glow to the playroom in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

*Light*Bright*

Next we tried rainbow rice (made the same way as the rainbow pasta, above). This was definitely the messiest material we’ve had so far, so if you try it out just be comfortable with a little extra sweeping. E was pretty good about keeping the rice in the table, but quite a bit still ends up on the floor simply from moving toys. C, on the other hand, LOVED throwing big handfuls of rice into the floor, with a big smile on her face the whole time, fully embracing and enjoying her "defiant" side. Beyond that, both E and C enjoyed filling and dumping bottles, dropping the rice into the metal muffin tin (this makes a great sound and it was my favorite part of this table). Actually, when I wasn’t thinking about sweeping up the rice, it was pretty relaxing to play with. We also did lots of scooping, filling of trucks, burying objects (and hands), hiding little toys to search for in the rice, and we also tried out some of our bath strainers and funnels. We are still finding little rice grains here and there a couple weeks after cleaning this table up. You might try covering the floor with a large cloth or sheet in an attempt to confine the rice a little more, as I've seen some people do. 

10lbs of beautiful rainbow rice

Our newest table has a Valentine’s theme, and I even added a little shelf of related Valentine’s activities to go along with the table. I spent about $10 at the dollar store, along with some items we had at home. The table is filled with some silky rose petals, glittery hearts, foam conversation hearts, heart bead strands, fuzzy pipe cleaners, crinkly crepe paper, and a few scraps of tulle.

Red and white and pink and pink...and more pink

E&C Sweets

Play table accessories

E is working on using the kitchen tongs,
 using them to pick up the small pieces is a fun fine motor challenge

C enjoys filling the Valentine’s mail boxes up, and we count the number of items we can fit into the boxes. She also enjoys when I hide the different objects in the mailbox and she can open it and see what’s inside. I added a Target cupcake puzzle that I’ve been saving, and we have been having fun hunting for the pieces and then completing the puzzle.

Thank you Target Dollar $pot

Along with the usual scooping and filling items, we have some extra imaginative play items to fit a sweet shop theme. We have a few different pretend treats, and some oven mitts that E and C enjoy trying on.

Kitchen Fun

C's oven mitts

Check out my next post for our fun and easy Valentine's Day treat games!

For the Birds

This month we are celebrating our feathered friends!  Now that the weather has started to be more consistently on the warm side (despite a chilly, rain filled week here in New England), we are seeing plenty of birds at our feeders, hopping across the lawn, and perching on the telephone wires.  Since E loves pointing out birds and calling "eeeeeee" or "awww awww"to them, its the perfect time to take up his interest in the avian type, and maybe inspire a lifelong bird watching hobby. I'd certainly love to see E as a friend to birds (among other creatures), as it seems to be an interest that runs in the family.  E's great-great grandfather (whom his middle name is after) wrote popular columns for a Boston newspaper about birds.  His great grandmother happily fed and housed all sorts of flying friends, tending to gardens filled with plants to attract hummingbirds, orioles, and others.  E's grandfather can identify pretty much any bird call you hear in our region, and identify even more species.  And I personally am enjoying feeding the birds in our own yard, and hoping to add a few bluebird or wren houses, or maybe a bird bath this spring.

Here's a look at what we are reading this month:

A bird book variety

#shelfie
Notice E's own bird nest on the wall?

"Birds" by Kevin Henkes:

Many recognize Kevin Henkes as the author of the mouse stories (has your child met Chrysanthemum, Owen, Chester, or Wemberly yet?)  You might be surprised that Henkes also has some equally lovely stories that are not about mice.   I love "Birds" because it is light and airy, and the whimsical imaginings of the narrator seem so relatable to young ones.  Filled with simple observations about birds, and childlike questions without any of the "right" answers, this book could inspire many happy talks about birds while taking notice of them all around you.

A rainbow of colors all the time.

"Owl Babies" by Martin Waddell:

Since May is also host to Mother's Day, here is a bird story about an owl momma and her babies.  Mommy Owl leaves the nest for the night to find food, and her three little ones worry about her return while they wait for her, alone in the dark forest.  Each owlet has a different personality, trying to be brave, or in charge, or just plain honestly missing mom.  The sweet story ends with Mommy's return and the owlets' realization that their Mommy wouldn't leave them alone for long.  The story is also reassuring for toddlers or preschoolers who may be dealing with a little separation anxiety of their own, whether it is facing preschool, daycare, or just the night in their own room apart from the person who makes them feel safest.

Whooooo doesn't love owls? 

"Wings on the Wind: Bird Poems" collected and illustrated by Kate Kiesler:

Poems do not get nearly enough love.  I'll admit that I am also guilty of some degree of poetry aversion. Maybe it's from the trauma of middle school poetry units...being forced to create rhyme after rhyme, or having to read your own poems aloud to your peers at a poetry slam, even the  memorizing and reciting boring, ancient poems with points off your grade for each error...there could be a lot of long built up resentment for poor poems, but they really don't deserve it!

DISCARD...
This little book didn't even get the love it deserved at the library!
Hopefully it is happy to have found it's home on our shelf.

Honestly, poems are fantastic for younger readers.  A collection of poems can be flipped through, stopping to read just one or a few, as your interest is spiked.  The rhymes, flows, and melodic nature of the lines of a poem appeal to little listeners as well.  After all, so much of early literacy is just about playing around with language, having fun, engaging with words and sounds.

This collection of poems is beautifully illustrated, and  features many different bird species-from the ordinary to the exotic.  It follows birds through the seasons, as they arrive in the spring and fly south in the fall.  I love that it follows that cycle, and it is easy to pick a few poems every now and then, as they are appropriate for the time or what your child is seeing in their own world right then.

Red wing blackbirds are one of our feeder's frequent visitors.

"Birds"by Jill McDonald:

Baby C was just given this book and she loves it! The illustrations are bright and cheery, and she gets the biggest happy smiles on her face while turning the pages.  The brief text introduces you to a handful of birds that may be familiar to little ones, including some which kiddos might find in their own back yards, and others that they would only meet at the zoo.  The book also introduces some opposite concepts, meeting birds who are big and small, fast or slow, like noise or like quiet, and so on. Each page also includes a starred fact, giving it the feel of a very early reference or nonfiction book with the added text feature.

Truth! 

"Garden Bird Facts" by Marcus Schneck:

This is a pretty simple adult reference book, but E loves flipping through it and pointing out the different birds.  Honestly, I am loving the addition of a reference book to our stack, since it can never be too early to expose the littles to a different type of book, varied text features, captions, diagrams. etc. I also believe it is great for the adult to learn right alongside the child.  While I do know a bit about the birds in our area, I could definitely learn a whole lot more.  And it is important for my kids to see this happen, all the time, and without it being any big special occasion.  I like to keep myself thinking, wondering, asking and answering questions.  And while my own babies won't be in school for a few years still, I know that when they do get there, I want them to understand that school isn't the only place where you learn, that the whole world around them has lessons to teach and important things to notice!

Lots to learn if you want to be a birding expert!

Beyond the Books-Bird Activities:

Bird Observers/Bird Detectives:

Watch for birds in your yard, when you are out for a walk, or playing at the park.  Keep a little journal to record which ones you see! Hear a bird singing in the morning-can you figure out which bird makes that song?   Use your reference book (or Google) to identify any bird species you do not know that name of.  Find a feather, egg, or birds nest that you might be able to identify-which type of bird did this come from?  Can you add a feature to your yard to attract more birds (feeder, houses, water)?

Being a bird watcher can incorporate a few senses (sight, hearing, maybe touch with a discarded feather...but please use common sense and don't touch an active nest or wild animal); as well as working on skills such as patience, quiet, and movement! Enjoy the outdoors and make a new feathered friend or two!

E is kind of little still, and I know that he doesn't fully understand what we are doing when I write in his little bird journal, but I am pleased just to have him see his momma writing.  It is so important for the little ones to see adults writing, or reading, and for all different purposes.  I just figure this quick little activity is a way to help get E immersed in that world, and it is a simple and fun activity we can add to and expand upon as he grows!

E's illustration reminds me a lot of the page out of "Birds", above.

Our first few sightings and entries.

Rainy Day Play

Today has been one of those early spring, dreary rain type of days.  The type where you wish to cuddle into a nice fluffy pile of blankets, eat warm cookies, and watch movies all day long.  You know it's a lazy day when your high energy toddler sleeps in until almost 10 am! Seriously, that happened.  I had to go check on him a few extra times, because that is seriously not him!

As nice as it can be to picture a lazy rainy day spent relaxing, that often isn't the case with kiddos.  Lots of rainy days can quickly turn boring, when the kiddos and Mom begin to feel a little trapped.  Or when the idea of watching Frozen for the fourth time in a row gets a little old.  Also, I'm aware that we are a little late hopping on the Frozen train, but E wasn't around in the back in Frozen's heyday.  So I love try to keep something different on had for these rainy days.  E loves anything that isn't actually a toy, so I have been coming up with some not toy play ideas for our rainy days. He also loves collecting things, so I figured being able to carry around a bunch of fluffy little pompoms would be fun for him!

Our latest not-a-toy play material are these awesome little pom poms from Target!  There are a few other color assortments if your kiddo has a preference, and of course you could find pom poms pretty much anywhere if you don't have any on hand.  I liked these particular ones because they came in a variety of sizes and shades of blue, so they will be fun for all kinds of sorting activities on another day.

In keeping with our vehicle reading theme, and well, because E loves his trucks, I put out a fun little play set up for E involving his trucks, pom poms, and some kitchen utensils and other tools.  If E can't play with his trucks out in the dirt, he needs something to load them up with!  

Thanks to Dad for the sectioned veggie tray that NEEDED to be reused after a party considering it cost $11.99 for some pretty sad looking carrots and celery!

Loading up the dump truck!

And with that I was chasing pompoms around the house for the rest of the day!  Who has a fun rainy day or indoors, boredom busting activity?

March Books on the Move

I've been waiting for March as the perfect time to highlight some of  E's vehicle books!  Here in New England, we can count on March to bring us at least a few good thawing out days.  That is before Mother Nature reminds us that it's never really safe to assume it is spring in New England, until sometime in April.  Regardless, those early sunny days are perfect for getting back outside and into some dirt and mud to play with your trucks! After an entire winter longing to spend the afternoons outside, E is loving every moment of his outdoors time over the past few days.  Since he has been big time loving on his trucks lately, and is bound to become even more enamored in the coming weeks, it is a perfect time to focus on all things vehicular in his reading as well!

Who am I kidding, we play with trucks outside no matter the weather!

Here are a few highlights of what we are reading this month: 

#shelfie

#bookstack

"Digger, Dozer, Dumper" by Hope Vestergaard:

I can already tell that this book is going to be a favorite of E for a long time! A nice rhyming verse with an explanation of each vehicles purpose is accompanied by adorable illustrations of  each vehicle going about it's job.  There are quite a few different vehicles highlighted, including construction vehicles, and others you might see within your community.  E can't sit for the whole book right now, but it is so easy to pick up where we left off previously, or even just let him choose random pages with whichever vehicles appeal to him at that moment.  Not to mention it works as a resource for this momma, who has about zero knowledge of which truck is which.  Seriously, I can identify a dump truck and that's about it.  Thank goodness that I will be able to learn alongside E as we are bound to read this book over and over!

Love the humor in this book!

"B is for Bulldozer" by June Sobel:

This nice little alphabet board book highlights each letter, as they might be used to describe  the sights and sounds of a construction sight.  What I really enjoy about this book, is that rather than a string of alphabet letters with theme related words, it actually tells a complete story.  If the reader pays close attention to the illustrations, you can follow along as the children observe the construction project come along through the seasons, leading up to a fun surprise at the end!  I'm not one to spoil a surprise, but I can give a hint--the construction project ends with something that can ZOOM!  A quick read, perfect for little ones.

"E" happens to be a favorite letter in this house.

"Dig, Dig, Digging" by Margaret Mayo:

This book came highly recommended to me when I was gifted a copy at my baby shower.  It was gifted to me by a coworker, who happily reminisced about her son's love of the book.  My own son definitely enjoys it as well, and it is one that we read frequently.  The pages each feature a different truck, and carry on a predictable pattern and rhyme to describe the tasks the truck does each day.  Little ones watch the busy vehicles work hard all day, and the story finishes with a time to rest message for the trucks, and equally busy little movers.

Bulldozer...another one of the few vehicles I can identify

Side note: While I fully appreciate any gift, and especially books, I really love when people give their personal favorites, and anything a little out of the ordinary. It's so special to be able to think about the giver when enjoying the books with your child.  When the book is one that is a little out of the ordinary, it is just so much easier to connect with the gift giver than when it is the third copy of "Goodnight Moon".  So I encourage everyone to think outside the box a little next time they gift a book to a child-your personal favorite just might inspire a new fan!

"Old MacDonald had a Truck" by Steve Goetz:

This book really is so much fun.  I love that it takes a song most kiddos are familiar with, and adds a different twist to it!   Old MacDonald actually has more than just a truck in this story, he has a whole bunch of trucks.  Preschoolers will love singing along with the familiar Old MacDonald tune and enjoy the surprise at the end of each E-I-E-I-O.  Plus, Old MacDonald has a little something up his sleeve, with all the busy working trucks.  You'll have to check out the book to see what it is!

"E-I-E-I-FLOW"

"I am a Fire Truck" by Josephine Page:

This super cute fire truck shape book is great for toddlers!  E loves to "drive" this book around, and anything that gets him engaged with a book makes me happy!  It's a really quick read, with just a few pages of a sentence or two each, to explain different types of fire department vehicles.  "I am a Fire Truck" is my perfect diaper bar book--I keep it in there for something different to pull out while waiting at the doctor's office, or for E to look at while in his car seat, and it never gets old! Also available are dump truck, train, and garbage truck versions.

How cute is this?!

I really love our little collection of vehicle books, and find that they give so many opportunities for conversations outside of our reading nook. It is great to see these vehicles out and about, doing their jobs in our community, and be able to use or reading time to learn more about them!  And of course, all this truck talk carries right over into playtime as well!

Dump truck or food truck?

What about you? Do you have any favorite vehicle books?