Theme for the Week - Bears
While we would have loved to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. this week, we simply could not think of a good way to celebrate the great things he did with a toddler so we chose bears since they are easy to recognize and there are many fun things to do regarding bears. We hope you have fun learning more about bears. Have a great week!
Letter of the Week: P - for Polar Bear since we just recently did "B". Point out things that start with "P" - plate, purple, play, plane . Show your toddler a picture of both a capital P and a lower case p. Draw a P on paper, or use your child's finger to draw it in the sandbox or dirt. Use bath tub or refrigerator letters to show him/her this letter as well. I've been showing my toddler letters in the bathtub - he has started recognizing them now; he's got almost half the alphabet now. You can even use flashcards a little at a time. We recently saw a link about how to teach your toddler the alphabet on Twitter, brought to you by the website www.toddlerinterpreting.com
Number of the Week: 7 - When you show your child anything say "7 purple planes" (or whatever you are counting). Count to 7. Write the number 7 on paper or show your toddler a flash card. Show your child 7 things at a time and count them - "one, two, three, etc" - so your child gets used to the pattern. When I have been counting to my son, he now points to things and makes sounds like he's trying to count and he can identify 1-9 now.
Songs of the Week: Bear Went Over the Mountain - This is a cute repetitious song we found the words and music on Kididdles.
Story of the Week: Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do You See? - by Bill Martin Jr. Another great classic with illustration by Eric Carle. The repetition will amuse your toddler and it teaches colors too. If you can't find this book at your local library, you can click the link and find it at Amazon.com or Target/Walmart/etc.
Snack of the Week: Bear Snacks - This link takes you to a page of all kinds of fun snacks from Perpetual Preschool. It was hard to choose just one with all the cute ideas on here.
Spanish Words of the Week: bear = el oso, polar bear = el oso polar, paw = la pata, teeth = los dientes, brown = marrón, café. Also check out the BBC's Muzzy from Early Advantage for teaching Spanish (or many other languages) to your child. They are fabulous!
Do It Myself: Hug - Teach your toddler how to give a hug to you, to their teddy bear, to their big brother or sister.
Activity of the Week: Bear Activities - Here is a whole bunch of fun printables and ideas for you surrounding bears as a theme from First School. It was too hard to just choose one so check these out and see which ones sound fun and appropriate for your toddler's skill level and attention span.
Yoga Pose: Mountain Pose - (Since bears live in the mountains and there's no "bear" pose). Besides Corpse Pose, this is about the easiest pose we know of in yoga - it's basically standing up but you stand as tall as you can to stretch your back. It's the first pose in the Sun Salutation series which is a great way to wake up your body in the morning. Thanks to Yoga Journal for these links. PS - Our kids always liked the Yoga Kids series if you'd like more ideas for doing yoga with your toddler.
Sign Language Sign of the Week: Bear, Brown, Hug. If your toddler is still learning how to talk, sign language can be a great way for them to communicate. And as they get older, they'll pick up signs faster and it can be more of a fun thing versus a way to communicate. Hope you have a wonderful week! PS - Last week you told us 50% of you love Hanna Andersson best and 50% love mini Boden as your favorite kids' catalog.
Most of all - give your little one a hug and say "I love you" as many times a day as you can think of! You can never give them enough love. Talk to them, even though they may not talk back and read to them everyday - even if it's the cereal box at breakfast. Enjoy!
