Early Readers: Playing Outside

I've been working on making early readers for Archer.  I wanted books that have big clear text on its own page. I have also been making them in Spanish. This one was all about playing outside.

I think I have finally settled on a format I like!  This book has horizontal pages (which makes using a 3 hole punch so much easier), with words on the right and pictures on the left.  I printed on cardstock and laminated the pages. Then, I used a 3 hold punch to make the holes and used 3/4" binder rings to "bind" the books.  

You're free to download the files to use with your little one:

Playing Outside - English

Playing Outside - Spanish

Playing Outside - English and Spanish

You can see my other Early Readers here.

Affiliate links used at no cost to you. Thank you for your support!

Oat Sensory Bin

Archer was 12 months

Lately, I have been making more of an effort to do sensory activities with Archer.  We're SLOWLY getting him to stop putting things in his mouth (still have a long way to go), so I thought maybe we'd try a more traditional sensory bin.

This simple bin had some oats for the base, a scooper, a plastic ramekin, some squeezy tweezers and his sand and water wheel. I put down an old plastic table cloth for easier cleanup. I modeled how to scoop oats into the ramekin and wheel.

His favorite thing to do ended up being just holding up some oats and watching them fall.

While he didn't play all that long, I think it was a great start to sensory bins!

Affiliate links used, at no cost to you!  Thank you for your support!

Books on the Shelf: Sharks

Here are last week's Books on the Shelf

Xander chose this week's theme, so we got out a bunch of books about sharks.  I think he read every book, also! We did throw in The Shark Who Was Afraid of Everything, even though it is fiction.  It just seemed to fit.

Affiliate links used, at no cost to you!  Thank you for your support!

12.5 Month Learning Shelves and Activities

Here were Archer's shelves for 12.5 months.

I've really been trying to model matching for him, so I had out a few of the Who Lives Where game pieces.  He isn't ready to fully match on his own or to put the animals in the slots himself.  However, he can sometimes match correctly and enjoys doing the activity together.

This little basket had some small maracas and an iced tea bottle.  We practiced matching and colors with the maracas and Archer spent a TON of time putting them in the bottle.

A shelf had his nesting garages.  It's the first time he's really seen this toy and he really enjoyed it.  He liked to put the boxes into each other and take them apart.  He also put the cars in them (although not "correctly".  He carried the cars around the playroom a lot and loved knocking over any towers I built for him.

Another shelf had Wave Hello, Wave Bye-Bye (we LOVE this series of books) and a bunch of Toob animals to go with.  We practiced waving to the animals and finding the toy to go with each page.

Another basket had his magnetic gears.  I actually got these from Lakeshore Learning, because they had the best reviews.  Archer liked putting them on and taking them off the marker board.  They stick even better to our dishwasher, so I took them into the kitchen while I was cooking a few times. 

 

I found this little magnetic shapes book for a dollar at a garage sale, so thought I'd set it out.  Archer really liked pulling the magnets out, but not so much putting them back in.  I ended up finding the magnets in random places all over, so at least he had fun hiding them.

This vehicle sounds puzzle was a love/hate thing with Archer.  He was fascinated by it, but also a little scared of it.  We ended up putting it on his lap desk and playing with it together.

Affiliate links used, at no cost to you!  Thank you for your support!

Shaving Cream and Penguins

Archer was 12 months

Hooray!  Summer weather is here and the rain has finally stopped!  That means I definitely wanted to do some outdoor sensory play.

I ended up just spraying a bunch of shaving cream into a container and adding our Penguins Toob.

Archer liked getting the penguins, but surprisingly, didn't like having the shaving cream stuck to his hand. To fix it, I ended up dumping the whole bin into the water table.  Once he had the water to wipe off his hands, he liked it much better!

Affiliate links used, at no cost to you!

Greek Mythology (Percy Jackson) Party

Oop!  Xander's birthday was in November, and I totally forgot to publish the blog post I wrote about it.  Blame it on a baby who hated(s) sleep?? Regardless, here it is.

Last summer Xander made his way through pretty much everything written by Rick Riordan.  He completely fell in love with mythology and devoured every mythology book I could find for him.  In sticking with this obsession, he decided he wanted a Greek Mythology Birthday Party.

Costumes:

Xander was Poseidon for Halloween, so that ended up working out perfectly.  I bought this costume, this headband and then a cheap devil's pitchfork that I wrapped in blue and gold duct tape. Our family members also went all out!  His grandparents dressed up and many cousins came in togas!

I made these "Camp Halfblood" shirts using transfer paper and $2 shirts from Michaels. My dad and husband were great sports and wore them proudly! (Amazon has some you can buy if you aren't feeling crafty)

Food:

I was originally thinking pitas, but since Xander doesn't really like them and a lot of our guests were little kids, we ended up just doing BBQ chicken sandwiches.  I did have some hummus and pita chips, to add a little bit of Greek influence. We also had "Poseidon's Punch" that had Sweedish Fish in the bottom. I also set out of a bowl of chocolate "drachmas."

For the cake, I got a Poseidon figurine and a hydra.  Luckily, I was able to get the hydra with a coupon from Michaels. I put Poseidon in some blue frosting for the "sea" and used chocolate buttercream with graham cracker crumbs for a beach under the hydra. Both toys have gotten a lot of use since the party!

Games and Activities:

We played "Pin the Eye on the Cyclops." Full disclosure, I did NOT freehand this.  My husband had an old projector from work and I traced the outline onto a poster board.  Coloring it in ended up being very therapeutic for me!

We also had a Toga Contest.  Everyone got in groups of 2s or 3s and I gave them each a couple rolls of toilet paper.  They got two minutes to make the best "toga" on a team member and then we had a mini fashion show.

I found some diamond shaped slime and little glowstick swords as Poseidon's Prizes.

I made a game for shooting various Greek Monster.  I wrapped some empty soda cans in gold duct tape and taped on a picture of a monster. 

I set up a table for shield decorating. I found some large gold paper plates and used a hole punch to make a place for string. I put out lots of stickers and crayons for the kids to use.

After tying the string through the holds, I put a little duct tape on the back to keep it from tearing out.

Decorations:

I set up a gold foil backdrop and had a jar with a bunch of printable props (some I made and some I bought on etsy).

Party Favors

I ordered some inflatable swords for the kids. They were soft enough that I didn't have to worry about injuries with sword fights.

Affiliate links used, at no cost to you!  Thank you for your support!