ABC and 123 Picnic Table Talk: Introduction

Thanks to ABC and 123 for the picnic invitation! I love a picnic with good friends, yummy food, and fun activities!

So, what's in our picnic basket?

I hope several chicken salad sandwiches, pasta salad, and a strawberry shortcake!

We are a family of four...my husband, Izzie (32 months), Mac (4 months), and me. Before staying at home with my girls, I was a high school Biology teacher for 5 years. Now, I'm having a blast watching my girls grow and learn.

I just recently discovered the "Blog World", but ABC and 123 was one of the first blogs that I found. I've been following Katie and Katie since the first day and now it's a daily tradition to read their blog while having my cup of tea each morning. It's nice to have so many resources in one place...now, I just need some help organizing all the wonderful information. I'm having a great time finding new activities for Izzie and she really likes having something new to do each day. Here are a few of my favorite actvities that we've done over the past few months.

• Theme Week Activities
  
• Speech

I look foward to reading more about others who share my desire to make early learning fun and memorable! For more great summer picnic posts, hurry over to ABC and 123.

ABC and 123 Frecklebox Giveaway

Check out ABC and 123 for their current summer giveaway from Frecklebox. Frecklebox has a ton of great personalized items that everyone will absolutely love! My favorites are the personalized books and puzzles!

Fun With Felt

I saw this project here and loved it! I finally finished my version of it. I really think Izzie is going to enjoy taking the flowers on and off the buttons. She likes matching, so I made one flower to match each button, so she can either match the flower with the matching button or mix and match.
I've seen examples of various felt food on many blogs and I've been wanting to give it a try. I started simple...eggs and a strawberry. I haven't sewn in years (probably since middle school home meck class), so this is exciting for me! They aren't perfect, but Izzie is already enjoying playing with them...so, they are perfect for me.

Tot School

Izzie is currently 32 months old.

Our theme book this week was "Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed". Click here to see all the fun activities Izzie did related to this book. She also had fun playing with...

Mr. Potato Head

Pouring skills

Scooping and transferring

Melissa and Doug Tool Set

Working her alphabet puzzle with the help of the hammer

Working her floor puzzle, which she can complete by herself

And having a great time with her Play-doh


For more fun Tot School ideas, click here!

Monkeys Jumping On Bed--Day 3

More monkey activities...

I thought Izzie would really like the Puppets, but she really wasn't interested in playing with them. I found the templates here.

We are working on numbers 0-5. Izzie enjoyed counting the monkeys and placing the monkey clothespin on the correct number. I found the counting cards here.

Speech--Letter M

This week, Izzie is practicing her "M" sound on the speech board. I found this great "Eco-phone" at Target for $1.99. She is really enjoying saying her sounds/words into the microphone...it makes it much more fun for her!

Letter "M" words:

• Mike
• Milk
• Mickey
• Moo-moo
• Minnie
• May
• Mouse
• Mummy
• Mama
• Me-me
• Music
• Monkey
• Mad
• Man
• Moose
• Mom
• Movie
• Moon
  

Monkeys Jumping On Bed--Day 2

I found these Monkey color cards here. I laminated them, so Izzie could practice matching her color clothespins to the correct color monkey. She is doing a lot better manipulating the clothespins.

Did you notice the outfit that Izzie is wearing? She loves picking out her own clothes!

We made chocolate covered bananas. I wasn't sure if Izzie would like them. She really likes bananas, but hasn't eaten a lot of chocolate. She had two little bites and then was "all done".

My little monkey!

Monkeys Jumping On Bed--Day 1

One of Izzie's favorite books is "Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed". This week we will focus on the letter M and do activities related to the book.

After reading the book, "Five Little Monkeys Jumping On The Bed", Izzie colored this handout.

I cut out the letter "M" from construction paper. We added ears, eyes, and a tail. Izzie completed the letter by adding banana clip art.

We spent some time outside... "Monkeying" around!

Pocket Chart--Colors

I recently found the pocket-chart that I bought last fall at Target for only $1. I downloaded these great Coloring Matching cards here.

Izzie had a great time matching the objects with the correct color.

Botanical Garden

We spent the day at the Botanical Garden. There were so many beautiful flowers in bloom! Izzie had a blast in the Children's Garden and enjoyed smelling all of the flowers.

Mystery Diaper Bag

I have been wanting to make a Montessori inspired "Mystery Bag." While looking around the house for objects, I decided to make a "Mystery Diaper Bag."

I took individual pictures of each object and made picture cards.


Izzie and I reviewed all the objects, then placed them in the diaper bag. I then held up a picture card and asked her to find the matching object. Once she was in the groove, I introduced the blindfold, which she decided not to wear. She tried to keep her eyes closed while searching in the bag for the object, but it was just to hard not to peek. We'll have to practice keeping her eyes shut a little longer. However, she did have a fun time searching for the matching objects.

Sequence Boards

With a two year old and a new baby, my life seems extremely unorganized and chaotic. Izzie functions best when she knows what to expect...she likes a routine. To help both of us, I created these sequence card boards for around the house. They are made out of cardboard, felt, and clipart pictures (2 of each), which are attached with Velcro. At the bottom, I attached two envelopes. One envelope contains the matching pictures and one contains the reward stickers.

"Bye-Bye" sequence board

Our biggest challenge is leaving the house...on time. Unfortunately, we are always late and it seems to be later and later these days. This sequence board hangs by the front door. Izzie knows exactly what needs to be completed before we can leave the house. To help keep track, once she completes a "step", she can place the card on the board underneath the top picture. When she completes the entire sequence, she receives a "Reward Sticker". It's amazing what she will do for a sticker!

Completed board...toy, socks and shoes, coat, hat, mittens.


"Good Morning" sequence board

Completed board...potty, breakfast, brush teeth, get dressed, brush hair


"Good Night" sequence board

Completed board...brush teeth, bath, pajamas, story time, night-night


"Potty" sequence board

I placed one of these in each bathroom beside her potty chair. I decided not to use matching pieces for this board. Pictures...go potty, wipe, wash hands, dry hands.

Handprint/Footprint Calendar

I made this calendar using Izzie's handprint/footprints for Christmas presents. I bought the calendar at Michael's for $1.00 and then used scrapbooking embellishments to jazz up the center section along with her handprints/footprints.