Busy Books and Young Toddlers

Busy books tend to be something I would normally associate more with an older toddler or preschooler, however I recently took a chance with my daughter and decided to try one with her. We were in the bookstore and Pumpkin saw a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse busybook with all her favorite characters as suction cup characters. The book was an instant hit with her as she carried it with her through the store. Even though the book was for ages 3+, I saw the pieces weren't that small so I asked her if she wanted to take that book home. She stood up, picked up her book, and started carrying it where I directed her. She was so excited!

Naturally, when we got the book home I pulled out all the pieces to see what she would do with them. I started taking them out and placing them all in the book with the auction cups to show her how to play with the new book. Pumpkin promptly took all the pieces off and scattered them across the floor, but she had a blast doing it.  After we had played for a bit I carefully packed all the pieces back up-I figured I would just save it till she got a little older (I definitely see some educational value in the busy book we got so I didn't want to lose any pieces).

Pumpkin had other ideas. She quickly learned where I was keeping the book in her room and started to ask for it when we were upstairs. So everytime she asks, I pull out the book and we play with the characters together, with me periodically putting the pieces in the book. Surprisingly, after we played with the pieces 4 or 5 times, something awesome happened-Pumpkin started to play with the pieces by putting them into the scenes of the book. Mind you, she isn't positioning the characters to act out scenes or doing the activities, just properly putting the characters in the book with the suction cups. Then she would turn the page and put the pieces back on. Then the car came out and she started to play pretend with the pieces and make the car "drive" around.

So my 15 month old definitely isn't doing activities on par with a 3 year old, and this definitely is not a toy I would leave her alone with to keep her "busy," but at her current developmental stage, I have found this kind of busy book to be a great tool for imaginative play and fine motor skill practice. The best part is that this is exactly the type of toy my daughter can grow into.  I'm glad that I took the chance and bought this book for my daughter.

4 DVD Giveaway!!

Welcome to the NCircle DVD's Giveaway

Sponsored by NCircle Entertainment

Hosted by Kathy's Savings

Great opportunity to get 4 great DVD's! I've watched several episodes of most of these DVD's with my daughter and I am impressed with the educational content in some of these movies! Don't miss out!

This giveaway is for four DVD's from NCircle. These DVD's include Octonauts, Pocoyo, The Wiggles and Wibbly Pig! The giveaway is open to the U.S. only. This will run from 2/20-3/6. Good luck to everyone.

Entry-Form

Disclosure: Kathy's Savings and all other participating bloggers are not responsible for prize shipment. The giveaway is in no way administered, sponsored, or endorsed by or associated with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or any other social media. The winner will be contacted by email and have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is drawn.

General Mills Giveaway!

I don't know about your family, but mine absolutely loves out General Mills cereal-from my husband to my toddler! It's great to have a quick and easy breakfast on hand that everyone will eat. Plus the winner receives a skylander toy! A perfect giveaway!

Welcome to the General Mills Prize Package Giveaway

Sponsored by General Mills

Hosted by Kathy's Savings

Enter to win General Mills cereals and an exclusive Skylanders game set. This giveaway is open to the U.S. only. The giveaway will go from 2/17-3/3. Good luck to everyone

Entry-Form

Disclosure: Kathy’s Savings and all other participating bloggers are not responsible for prize shipment. The giveaway is in no way administered, sponsored, or endorsed by or associated with Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or any other social media. The winner will be contacted by email and have 48 hours to respond before a new winner is drawn.

Gourmet Lollipops Giveaway!

I remember in my youth when we used buy gourmet lollipops from Bob Evans on Sunday Mornings after breakfast. This giveaway brings back so many amazing childhood memories!! Now you can make new memories over these lovely gourmet lollipops with your children! (Very young children should be supervised with lollipops if you decide to share with them).


**Skip Run Learn did not receive a sample of this product, but Free For All Fans did. Skip Run Learn holds no responsibility for product delivery or winner selection.



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This giveaway is hosted by Free For All

Prize sponsored by

Original Gourmet

Full review of Original Gourmet coming soon to Free For ALL!
  

Enter Here to win a 100 Count Mini package from Original Gourmet Lollipops!

Entry-Form

Disclosure (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Original Gourmet Lollipops. for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.

Starting More Focused Activities With a Young Toddler

Throughout our toddler homeschool experience thus far, I have advocated taking a very laid back approach to homeschooling my toddler; recently, however, as Pumpkin turned 15 months, I decided to take another look at the Early Learning Content Standards. To my surprise, Pumpkin has achieved all of the goals except for 4-pointing to named body parts (which she does know a few, but not enough for me to call her meeting this standard), pointing to named pictures in a book, matching objects that are the same or similar, and noticing obvious changes in quantity.  All of these would require a bit more from me than merely providing exploratory materials for Pumpkin to freely play with, so I have decided to begin adding a few activities to our routine that are a little more direct, without adding undue pressure.

To start off, I reviewed my state's suggestions on how to encourage a child on the goals she is still working towards. Then I thought about my daughter and came up with my own ideas for how to encourage Pumpkin towards her goals and came up with a unique plan for Pumpkin and I to dive into.  For example, I know that my daughter really likes socks. Socks tend to have an exact match. So I went upstairs and grabbed 3 of Pumpkin's most colorful, uniquely patterned socks and laid them out on the floor between us. To encourage her on learning to find matches, I would grab a sock and ask her to find the sock's match. Instead of grabbing the match, she would usually grab the sock she wanted to and ask me to put it on her foot. Not quite what I wanted her to do, BUT it was our first attempt. Instead of getting frustrated, however, or making a big deal out of it, I simply put the sock on her foot and asked her to find the match for that sock instead. Usually she would find an entirely different sock. I would then take off the first sock and replace it with the new sock, and carry in with the activity. The message I wanted to get across to her is that socks must match if she wants to wear both of them. Meanwhile, Pumpkin still had fun playing with the socks, and was not frustrated.

Another direct way we are approaching our goals is by singing "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" whenever the fancy strikes me. I know my daughter loves songs and dancing, so it seemed perfect. As I sing I will point to the appropriate body parts and Pumpkin will watch me with her adorable, huge grin on her face. But, I have also noticed that she is pointing to the body parts named in the songs more often throughout the day! Not bad progress for only one week of the new changes.

We have added several other activities to our week also, but these should give you a few ideas for how to begin targeting specific goals together! Always keep your toddler and her personality in mind, and try to pick activities that will hold her interest, but also don't be afraid of trying something totally new! After all, you don't know that your toddler doesn't like an activity if she has never done anything like it (I learned this week that my daughter really likes the shape shorter, for example, but if I hadn't brought one out to try, I would have never known.) Above all else, make sure you both are continuing to have fun! If one of you is getting frustrated, put up the activities and play a game of chase or peek a boo or do a silly dance!

Baby Signing Time Review

*I purchased the items presented in this review and am writing the review with permission from Two Little Hands Productions. I was not compensated for the review. All opinions are my own.

I have been wanting to try Baby Signing Time with my daughter for some time now, but with all the information floating around about TV before age 2 being at best a bunch of flashing lights or at worst a hindrance to development, I was very skeptical that I would be wasting our money by buying this product for our 14 month old. However, after trying the first 2 DVD's in the Baby Signing Time series for 3 weeks, I am having some serious doubts about the validity of any study that claims that a child under 2 cannot comprehend and learn from educational TV. My daughter's progress with these DVD's has been truly outstanding, and my concerns were entirely unfounded!

Prior to beginning Baby Signing Time, I had been working with my daughter for months, and she knew 4 signs.  Once she opened the Baby Signing Time DVD's on Christmas morning, the only thing that changed was that we would watch the DVD together once a day, 5 days a week (and in the car).  She now knows 22 signs after just 3 weeks with this new routine.by the end of the first week, my daughter had added 4 new signs to her signing vocabulary. By the end of week 2 she had added an additional 4 signs. Given her pace learning signs prior to using these DVD's, I was positive her pace would slow, but much to my surprise, she added an additional 10 signs to her vocabulary by the end of last week (week 3)!

Baby Signing Time has not only helped my daughter's signing vocab improve, but it has done it in a fun and engaging way.  My daughter absolutely loves when we sit down to watch our Signimg Time together! As soon as I start the DVD and sit down she is all smiles as she runs straight to my lap.  The songs are the perfect length to keep her engaged as we dance and sign through the DVD.

Each individual Baby Signing Time DVD comes with both the DVD and the audio CD for $21.99.  Package deals are also available in addition to the Signing Time website's frequent sales. I got my Baby Signing Time DVD's for the amazing price of $10 each!  When I purchased the DVD's-which contain 25 signs each-I had intended for them to last a full year so I could catch the amazing sale again, however, based on Pumpkin's progress, I highly doubt this will be the case. These DVD's, however, are worth every penny and I will gladly pay a higher price to keep Pumpkin's progress moving at the pace Baby Signing Time makes possible.

Over 5 Party Activities for Young Toddlers

*I received free products to host a #disneyside @ home celebration. All opinions expressed here are my own.

My family recently was selected to host a #disneyside party! Our party kit included many fun games and decorations to help us host a party for people of many ages, however there is one age group that is overlooked which I think would be capable of enjoying the party. Toddlers. Admittedly, I failed to plan activities for my own daughters first birthday-writing things off as the first party being more for the parents and there not being anything she could do. However, our trip to Disney World last month-where our 14 month old had the most fun of any o us-has shown me that toddlers are also fully capable of party games.

Much like the activities I do with Pumpkin in our toddler homeschool, toddler activities that I am planning for the party are usually going to be fairly open ended where I will provide the materials and the toddler(s) will decide what to do with them. Here are a few ideas to get you started-all Disney themed to go along with our Mickey Mouse theme!

1. Disney Sensory Bottles-these can be used with parental supervision for children even younger than 1 year. If they can grab a water bottle, they can enjoy this mess free activity-magic pixie dust themed!

What you need:
-1 empty water bottle
-water
-oil
-glitter

Simply combine all the ingredients together in the empty water bottle. The oil will slow the glitter's fall on the way to the bottom when the water bottle is flipped over, so start with a small amount of oil and continue adding until you are getting your desired effect. Likewise how much glitter you would like can be experimented with. The result is a pretty cool effect that will likely fascinate your toddler.

2. Fun with Disney Balls and Water Bottles-again, children old enough to grab a ball can enjoy this activity also. All you need is some balls with Disney characters and some empty water bottles. There are endless possibilities for ways to use these items. Stand the pins up and let the toddlers throw the balls at the pins. The toddlers will likely also have fun squeezing the water bottles to make the crunch sound and simply throwing the balls and watching them roll away!

3.  Coloring-this is likely appropriate for ages 12 months and up (with supervision).  Disney themed coloring books and jumbo crayons can usually be found at the dollar store for a dollar each. They may not be coloring in the lines, but there are few things that my 15 month old likes more than coloring.

4.  Playing with Balloons-Pumpkin absolutely LOVED playing with the helium balloons from her first birthday with her big sister, so I am quite excited to try and find some disney themed helium balloons for each child going to the party (kids of all ages love balloons)! Parental supervision required as the strings on the balloons are pretty long, but Pumpkin loved pulling the balloons down from the ceiling and shaking them!

5.  Confetti Play-when our disney side party kit arrived in the mail, Pumpkin's favorite part was the confetti! The confetti was basically thin paper strips that were crinkled up to look like crinkle fries. Pumpkin could not get enough of pulling all the confetti out of the box, then putting all the confetti back in, and I fully plan to use this activity-exactly as is-at the party. It will be the messiest activity at the party and it will be as hard to clean up as grabbing a sweeper and sweeping.

6. Pin  he Smile On Mickey-in with all the activities sent in my disney side party kit, there was one that I feel my daughter can participate in! For this one I will give each toddler their smile to pin on Mickey and let them place the smile without being blind folded or spun. Chances are they will be every bit as far off as the older children's-if they even make it onto the wall!

7.  Disney Story Time-this one probably won't happen at the party, but in the weeks leading up to the party we will be reading all disney themed stories for our storytime, and our bedtime story will also be Disney themed. Since Punpkin loves Mickey and Minnie so much, it should be a blast!

*I received free products to host a #disneyside @ home celebration. All opinions expressed here are my own.