Nursery Rhymes: Little Bo Peep

Oh Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep---- and we found them! This was our first week working with nursery rhymes. We did crafts and/or activities two days out of the week, and the other days we read our nursery rhyme book and retold the rhyme several different ways. My 3yr. old almost has the poem memorized already! One fun way of retelling (which I did not get a picture of) was using a lamb puppet. The lamb puppet would help her "read" the story. Then it would run away and I'd have to find it. :)

I won't have a sensory tub for each rhyme (check out the Nursery Rhyme sensory tub by Sarah on Totally Tots), but I had enough stuff to make a Little Bo Peep activity tub. I placed cotton balls, white pom poms, plastic sheep, and sheep printouts into a plastic bin.

 

My daughter helped Little Bo Peep sort her sheep by size. Just print out the sorting mat and cards below to complete this activity.

 

Little Bo Peep Sheep Sort

* Print out more sheep cards and create patterns: big, small, big, small, ________ etc.
* Get large foam dice. Roll the dice and then add that many sheep to the pen.
* Use the sheep as counters.
* Talk about how we make clothing etc. from sheep's wool. Have your child collect the wool aka cotton balls and place into a bucket.
* My daughter just have fun playing with all the sheep. She had her own flock that she took care of for a day.

We also did a simple sheep craft along with a Bible devotional. Check out my post at Totally Tots for more information.

You can keep up with all our Nursery Rhyme activities on my Nursery Rhyme page.

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Preschooler & Playdough

Today is kind of a dreary, humid day. Two of the older kids have special events to attend, but the 3 youngest are here at home getting into things looking for something to do. Thankfully, my almost empty pantry had all the ingredients needed to make homemade playdough!

Ingredients Needed:

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup of water
1 TBSP oil
2 TBSP cream of tartar
1 package of Kool-aid (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together in a pot and cook on medium heat. Stir constantly. You will think that it is not working out, but just when you're about to second-guess yourself, the dough will form into a ball. Remove from heat at this point. The dough is hot! Wait until it cools to mix in food coloring. I actually mixed in dye-free Kool-aid while making the dough on the stove. I did that so that our playdough would smell good :)

I let my 3 1/2 yr. old help make the dough. I doubled the recipe.

She loved pouring in all the ingredients and was so proud to be making her own playdough. I really need to come up with more kid cooking activities to do with her. She had so much fun.

I went ahead and mixed the food coloring with the dough because I wasn't sure how messy that would be. It wasn't too bad. You could start it, and then let the kids really mix it in. At this point you can also add glitter. That sounded like too big of a mess so we opted not to do that :)

For a printable recipe card and lots of playdough links, check out Jimmie's Playdough article. 

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The Best Toddler Toys

I know that many of you who read this blog either have young children, work with young children or know some young children. You've seen toys that your toddlers just love and you've also come across items that haven't held up to their reputation. I bet you have some opinions, neat uses for certain toys and creative ways to make toys (or learning activities) from everyday objects. That's why I'm so excited about sharing the new Squidoo club called Best Toys for Toddlers with you.

What is it?

Squidoo is a place where thousands of articles, or as we call them on Squidoo, lenses, are written on almost any imaginable topic. A group of lensmasters (the people who write the articles) have come together to form special interest groups. The articles included in the group all go along with the group theme. The Best Toys for Toddlers group focuses on, well --toys for toddlers!

How can I be involved?

1. You don't have to join to use the group at all! You can come read the many toddler toys reviews that are being written and share your favorites with others. You can check out the articles submitted to the Best Toys for Toddlers by stopping by the group's homepage. 

2. You can jump in and write your own review. This would require joining Squidoo, but there is no purchase necessary. In fact, I will help any of my blog readers with their first lens if they want. And, no, I don't get any perks other than personal satisfaction from helping another start their first lens. Here's the first lens challenge:

For your 1st toy review..... take a look at your home.... we are looking for bear-like toys... every toy that has a bear on it counts.... :))) .... take it in your hands, give it to your toddler, watch as he/she plays and take notes.... you'll use them tomorrow in your 1st toy review! :))))

All week on Facebook, Michelle, the group leader, will be helping new lensmasters walk through their first lens. You can also find out more information on what it takes to write a review be reading this article: How to Make a Great Toy Review

3. I know, I just threw a bunch of information at you, so the best way to keep up with all the toddler fun is to join one or all of the following:

Bookmark The Best Toys for Toddlers Club homepage
Follow The Best Toys for Toddlers on Facebook
Follow The Best Toys for Toddlers on Twitter

Contest:  
As part of the kick-off celebration of the new Best Toys for Toddlers group, we are having a contest:
Have your little one come up with a name for our cute bear mascot. You can submit your name on this lens: Hey Little Bear!

So come check out this new group and I'd appreciate if you'd help spread the news! If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below.