Easter Lesson Plan

Our Lesson Plan for this week focuses on Easter!  I'm super excited about Easter this year.  Dying Eggs and watching Little Man find the eggs the Easter Bunny left is going to be fun, fun, fun!  I have almost everything ready for Little Man's Easter basket, too. 

Books

Where are Baby's Easter Eggs By Karen Katz




Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney



Give Me Grace by Cynthia Rylant




The Story of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter




Good Egg by Barney Saltzberg

Art

Dying Easter Eggs.
Painting Easter Eggs (Show child how to dip cotton ball in paint then dab it on a hardboiled egg)
Decorating paper Easter Eggs or Bunny


Activities
Finding Easter Eggs! 
Pom Poms and Muffin tin (scooping pom poms with a spoon into muffin tin)

Singing/Finger play:

Little Bunny Fufu Song
Here Comes a Bunny

Imagination play:

Taking care of teddy bear

Spice Jars & Toothpicks

On my last lesson plan, I mentioned one of the activities Little Man will be doing is playing with Spice Jars and Toothpicks.  This is a great, cheap, activity that keeps Little Man entertained and helped him work on his fine motor skills.

All you need:
-  Empty Spice Jar
-  Toothpicks

The Spice Jar we used had holes cut into it.  For younger children you could use pipecleaners or even q-tips instead of toothpicks.  Show your little one how to put the toothpick into the jar!

  It sounds really easy and even kind of borning, but Little Man got a kick out of it.  He loves stacking things and putting things into other things, so this was right up his alley!

This is something I definitely wouldn't let Little Man do without being watched closely.

Do you have an inexpensive learning or play activity your child enjoys?  I'd love to hear it in the comments below!

If you enjoyed this post, you make like this, too:
Water & Marker Painting

Linked with:
Hands on as we grow

Photo Shoot

Don't know about you, but since I'm the unofficial photographer of our house, I hardly have any pictures of me.  I wanted a couple of nice pictures of myself to put on my blog so people will know what I actually look like.  

My friend's sister-in-law agreed to take some pictures for me so I could put them on my blog.  I haven't decided where exactally I want to put these, but I figured I'd share some of the ones she took. 

Little Man was with me and since he is soo stinkin' adorable, he got to be in the pictures, too! 

Thank you  Carrie for taking my pictures!

Lesson Plan: March 26

This is our lesson plan for next week.  We're reading books about colors and learning through play!

The lessons look long, but there is a lot of repeating from day to day and things you don't actually have to prepare.  Feel free to cut out projects or add additional ones as you need them. 

Little Man is 18 Months old, so this lesson plan is geared for around his age group.  You can find ways to make this appropriate for "older" toddlers.  The books will certainly be okay for them. 


If you would like a printable version of this lesson plan, click here:


Monday: 
Book:  Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh




Music/Movement:  "Play" Row, Row, Row your Boat.
Sit on the floor across from your child, legs spread apart enough so you can hold your child's hands.  As you sing the song, pull your child toward you while you lean away.  Have your child lean back while you lean in.  (like you're rowing)  Little Man gets a kick out of doing this activity and claps a lot. 

Creative Art/Fine Motor Skills:  Tracing hands and coloring them.

Gross Motor Skills:  Play ball!  Using a few different sized balls practice rolling them back and forth and showing how to throw.

Speech & Vocab:  Saying "thank you", pointing out colors.

Daily Life Skills:  Being gentle. 


Tuesday: 
Book:  A Color of His Own by Leo Lionni


Gross Motor skills:  Jumbo Legos.  Talk about colors, help sort blocks into piles of different colors.  Have fun stacking them and knocking them over! (fine and gross motor skills)

Music/Movement:  Row, Row, Row your boat

Sensory:  Jello play:  Put jello in dishwashing tub.  Let them play with it with their hands, and let them squish it with their feet.  You could also do this in the bathtub.

Speech & Vocab:  Saying "thank you",  pointing out colors.

Daily Life Skills:  Being gentle. 





Wednesday:
Book:  White Rabbit's Color Book by Alan Baker


Fine motor skill/Art:  Finger painting.  Primary colors: red, blue yellow.  Talk about sensory: what does he feel?

Gross Motor:  Chasing bubbles!

Speech & Vocab:  Saying "thank you",  pointing out colors.

Daily Life Skills:  Being gentle. 






Thursday:
Book:  What makes a Rainbow by Betty Ann Schwartz

Music/Movement:  Dancing to reggae music (using Pandora Radio).  Encourage twirling, putting hands above his head, etc.

Sensory: Exploring toys in a laundry bag. 

Fine Motor Skill:  Toothpick and Spice Jar.

Speech & Vocab:  Saying "thank you",  pointing out colors.

Daily Life Skills:   Being gentle. 





Friday:
Book: My First Colors Book by Dawn Sirett



Sensory:  Walking across sticky side of parchment paper (sensory learning)  describe what he's feeling.

Music/Movement:   Row, Row, Row your boat

Speech & Vocab:  Saying "thank you", pointing out colors.

Daily Life Skills:  Being gentle. 




Any ideas for a lesson plan theme?  I'd love to hear them!

Mommy Book

I just checked this book out at the library today, but so far I'm loving it.  It's called The Toddler's Busy Book, written by Trish Kuffner.

She provides some really great information about toddlers in the intrdocution section.  She writes that toddlers learn great in a one on one situation with their caregivers because the caregiver knows what the children like to learn about and can cater to their needs.  She writes that the little things we do with out toddlers really make a big difference in their learning.  Glad I'm making a difference with Little Man when we play peak-a-boo for the millionth time!

She also has some great suggestions for keeping a busy toddler entertained:  Keeping a "baker's box" for them to play with in the kitchen, a "rainy day" box, and a "job jar" are some of the great ideas she shares.

I'm really excited to read the rest of this book and get tons of ideas!  This book is definitely worth checking out from the library or purchasing.  I'm going to take good notes (I'm a super dork who does that kind of thing) but I may end up purchasing it, too. 

Do you have any favorite books centered around toddler activities?  I'd love to hear them in the comments below!

Lesson Plans

Hi All!

I wrote in my last lesson plan post that I'd like to start being a little more organized in my lesson plan scheduling and post our new plan each week.  I'll post my lesson plans on Friday. That way, if you'd like to follow a long, you have the weekend to prepare a little bit.

Little Man is still only 18 Months old: we're going to keep his lesson plans light, and fun.  We're going to incorporate lots of learning through play.  For this age group toddlers learn a lot through casual interaction:  the day to day experiences.

My lesson plans aren't going to be super structured.  The "plan" is more for me than for him.  It's just a schedule so I know what books to reserve from the library and what prep I need to do.  We won't stick to the schedule like glue, either.  If he doesn't feel like coloring, we won't color that day. 

Also, as I've said before, I'm not a teacher or anything: so this is a complete work in progress for me, too.  I've been researching like crazy and picking the brains of my mother-in-law and my mom (both work, or have worked as a childhood educator)  to get ideas and to understand what I should be focusing on in this age group.  

If you have any suggestions or ideas you'd like to share, feel free to chime in!  I'm always looking for new ideas of fun stuff to do with my Little Man to make learning fun for him.

Overnight Oats

I've been having a great time preparing make-ahead breakfasts!  It's sooo nice to have something already made for those busy mornings!

My recipe for Overnight Oats is really easy to make before we go to bed at night.  There are soo many ways to prepare it, you can really use whatever you have on hand.

Overnight Oats

1/2 C Old Fashioned Oats

1/2 C, plus 2 Tbsp  Milk, or Almond Milk (I found, for me, 1/2 was too dry, so an added two Tbsp made it perfect.  Play around with it until you find your desired consistency.)

1/2 tsp Agave

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Put all of your ingredients into a bowl, stir, cover.  Refrigerate overnight.  Enjoy the next morning!  You can add fresh fruit and berries to it, or probably even dried fruit.  I add protein powder to The Hub's and mine if I'm going to the gym right after.  You can, of course, add more or less sweetener and easily double this recipe. 

Aww cute...I make the oats for the three of us!

Do you have any favorite make ahead breakfast recipes?  I'd love to hear them! Share them in the comments!

For some other great make ahead breakfasts, check these out:
Breakfast Sammies
Pumpkin Steel-Cut Oats