Toddler

Summer Activity Links 

• Alphabet Window Matching
• Magnetic Sandcastles
• Sand Sensory Bins
• Playdough Bug Fossils

Resources:

• Toddler Cookbook  for Children 1-4 years old
• Toddler Cookbook  for Healthy, Kid-Friendly Recipes
• Instagram Account for Play at Home

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!  ☼

Week 8: Summer! 

May 25-29, 2020

Themes: Summer activities; The Beach; Water play and Sand activities

Monday: 9am circle time – Ms Olivia

Read: “Weather” by Scholastic (summer portion) and cards of summer activities

Activity: LANGUAGE – Paper dolls activity (see attachment); discuss the seasons and clothing we wear for each one. You can also discuss what the weather looks like and activities we do at different times of the year. Have an older sibling help cut out the pieces and create scenes together for each season! 

Tuesday: 9 am circle time – Ms Tiffani

Read: “Blackberry Banquet” by Terry Pierce

Activity: FOOD PREP/COOKING – Make homemade kinetic sand with sand from outside, cornstarch and dish soap to use for scooping, building and sand fun!

Wednesday: 9 am circle time – Ms Tiffani

Read: “A Tree For All Seasons” by National Geographic Kids 

Activity: FINE MOTOR – Water play in a small bucket or plastic pool outside! Use squeeze bottles, droppers, sponges and small towels to collect water and use hand strength to squeeze the water out. You can add soap or bubbles too! Or use bubble water and sponges to have a car or bike wash!

Thursday: 9 am circle time – Ms Olivia

Read: “Jamberry” by Bruce Degen

Activity: ART – Salt in watercolor painting to paint a beach scene, using wet watercolor paints to create the ocean or sand. Then sprinkle salt on the wet paint and watch what it does as it dries!

Or paint bricks or the sidewalk outside with big paintbrushes and water!

Friday:  Last Day of School! Join the drive by parade at MSWP based on sibling class times or join a time slot that works for you!

Decorate your car and wear your MSWP shirt if you have one! *Follow the Primary schedule if you have siblings in the Toddler Community:

Primary One First-Years – 9:00am
Second-Years and Kindergartners – 9:15am

Primary Two First-Years – 9:35am
Second-Years and Kindergartners – 9:50am

Primary Three First-Years – 10:10am
Second-Years and Kindergartners – 10:25am

Activity: GROSS MOTOR – Run through the sprinklers or splash in a pool! This is also a great time to have your child help pull the hose across the yard, water plants/grass and help pick vegetables or pull weeds, etc. to get outside and move!

Week 7: The Ocean 

May 18-22, 2020

Themes: Animals and Activities at the Ocean; Life cycle of the sea turtle

Monday: 9am circle time – Ms Olivia

Read: “Sea Animals” by: Amy Ericksen and sea turtle life cycle replicas

Activity: LANGUAGE – Based on What You Have at Home, Choose a Language Activity Below! With each lesson, give vocabulary and language around what the item is/how we use it/where it is found, etc.

1. Shell Sorting: These simple steps will allow you to create a sorting activity for your child! Using tongs is a great fine-motor activity, or simply let your child pick up the objects and sort them into separate tray compartments.

2. Ocean Animal Sorting: Use small ocean animals and shells or objects you take to the beach and sort them based on where they are found (the ocean or the sand). This lesson shows you how to use playdough to place them in the correct place, or you can use colored construction paper for the water and sand and place them on the blue paper if they are found in the ocean and yellow paper if they are found on the sand. 

3. Gathering Beach Materials: What would you take to the beach? Find a small suitcase or beach bag to collect and name the objects we use at the beach (or pool). Such as: Suntan lotion, Sunglasses, Flip flops, Radio, Swim fins, Face mask, Beach hats, Beach ball, Towels, Food, Juice boxes, Buckets, Pails, Sand molds, Beach chairs, Mini umbrella, etc. Talk about how we use these items and then take them with you to the park or to a kiddy pool or sprinklers outside!

Afternoon video: Watch a sea turtle hatchling rescue into the ocean!

Tuesday: 9 am circle time – Ms Tiffani

Read: “Sea Squares” by Joy N. Hulme

Activity: FOOD PREP/COOKING – Sea Turtle Cookies! See recipe here. Let your child help mix the ingredients and form the shapes of the turtles. Don’t be afraid of wacky shapes! They love to eat food that they have made.

Wednesday: 9 am circle time – Ms Tiffani

Read: “Traces” by Paula Fox

Activity: FINE MOTOR – Make a sea urchin, using a small ball of playdough and toothpicks! Lay the playdough on a table and have your child push the toothpicks into the top of the playdough. Repeat to create their own sea creature and then leave it out to dry, checking it everyday to see when it has hardened.

Thursday: 9 am circle time – Ms Olivia

Read: “Fabulous Fishes” by Susan Stockdale

Activity: ART – Decorate fish with crayons or dot markers! See attached coloring sheets. Or make a paper bag jellyfish!

Friday:  10:30 am zoom chat – Both/All

Read: Ms Olivia: “Goodnight Fish” by Adam Gamble and Ms Tiffani: “We Share One World” by Jane E Hoffelt

Activity: GROSS MOTOR – Blow up an air mattress inside for jumping or use a trampoline if available. Gather fun props like colored scarves, small bouncy balls or blow up balloons to create a rolling ocean feel as you jump, play and imagine!

Week 6: The Pond 

May 11-15, 2020

Themes: Animals at the pond; Life cycle of the frog

Monday: 9am circle time – Ms Olivia

Read: “Tadpole to Frog” by Sally Hewitt and talk about the life cycle of the frog, with replicas and puzzle.

Activity: LANGUAGE – Print off the animal language cards that go along with “Brown Bear Brown Bear” by Eric Carle. You can print them on cardstock or regular paper and glue them to index cards for sturdiness. These cards are great for learning animal names, colors, matching the cards to the pages as you read the story together, and for matching around the house! Choose a color (green frog, for example) and find other toys, stuffed animals, etc. around your child’s room that are also green. You can also talk about the colors of the animal to see if they match animals in real life (Are cats purple? What color is your cat? Are all dogs white? Can you search for pictures of dogs that aren’t white? What other colors can dogs be?, etc).

Tuesday: 9 am circle time – Ms Tiffani

Read: “Life In The Pond” by Eileen Curran

Activity: FOOD PREP/COOKING – Make homemade bubbles with water, sugar and dish soap! Recipe and directions here. (Thursday’s art lesson makes a bubble wand to use with these bubbles on Friday for gross motor activities!) 

Wednesday: 9 am circle time – Ms Olivia

Read: “One Green Frog” A Poke and Look Book (author unknown) and sing “Five Green and Speckled Frogs.”

Activity: FINE MOTOR – Make bubbles in baking soda! Fill a small tray with baking soda and, in a separate bowl, mix some water and food coloring together. Using a small baster or squeeze dropper, have your child squeeze up some colored water and squeeze it out into the baking soda. Watch the bubbles grow!! This is great science and fine-motor work while also being creative!

Thursday: 9 am circle time – Ms Tiffani

Read: “Stick” by Steve Breen

Activity: ART – Make a homemade bubble wand using pipe cleaners, beads, and a wooden dowel. This could be as easy as twisting a pipe cleaner in a circle and gluing it to a wooden dowel, or get creative with beading, wire, etc, depending on skill level and supplies. This is a great activity for older siblings to help with too! Find inspiration here!

Friday:  9 am zoom chat – Both/All

Read: Ms Olivia: “One Duck Stuck” by Phyllis Root and Ms Tiffani: “Traces” by Paula Fox. Sing “Five Little Ducks” and “Bubbles Bubbles.” 

Activity: GROSS MOTOR – Use your homemade bubble wand (or a large store-bought wand) to run and make bubbles or blow bubbles for your child around your backyard and have them chase and jump for them!

Week 5: Butterflies

 May 4-8, 2020

Themes: Life cycle of caterpillar to butterfly

Monday: 9am circle time – Ms Olivia

Read: “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” by Eric Carle and life cycle replicas

Activity: LANGUAGE – Cut out several circles in various colors and, working with your child, glue them together like a caterpillar, counting them as you go. You can also number them (either by writing the numbers on each one, or making dots to number each circle – one dot for one, two dots for two, etc – and count the dots together) and put them in order as you glue them. After it is dry, you can add antennae and a face on the caterpillar, and use it anytime as a counting lesson!

Tuesday: 9 am circle time – Ms Tiffani 

Read: “Alison’s Zinnia” by Anita Lobel

Activity: FOOD PREP/COOKING – Make butterfly food by mixing a solution of 4 parts water to 1 part sugar. Boil the solution until it dissolves and then let it cool completely (extra solution can be stored in the fridge for up to a week). Then make a hanging feeder with a plastic cup for your garden like this, soak brightly colored sponges in the solution and hang them from a branch like this, or make a feeder with a plate by suspending it with a flower pot hanger and then place sponges soaked in the solution or small pieces of ripe fruit like bananas, grapes, and strawberries on it.

Wednesday: 9 am circle time – Ms Olivia

Read: “What Happens Next? Caterpillar to Butterfly” by Scholastic

Activity: FINE MOTOR – Counting and stringing with beads (or noodles) on a shoelace, string or pipe cleaner. Count the beads or noodles as you work together to string them and tie off the ends of the string. It looks like a caterpillar!

Thursday: 9 am circle time – Ms Tiffani

Read: “In The Fiddle Is A Song” by Durga Bernhard

Activity: ART – To create a butterfly, fold a paper in half and cut it out like a “B” on the fold. Open it up, add some paint on one side and close it again. Press the paper to smoosh the paint on both sides and open it up to reveal your butterfly! Then you can add antennae and decorations on the wings and find a place to hang it up! 

Friday:  9 am zoom chat – Both/All

Read: Ms Olivia: “First the Egg” by Laura Vaccaro Seeger and Ms Tiffani: “My Garden” by Rebecca Emberley

Activity: GROSS MOTOR – Have a ring toss or bean bag toss outside! Lay a blanket on the lawn to wrestle and play! You can also have a picnic, nature watch or play games outside such as Simon Says or Follow the Leader.

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Week 4: Families

April 27-May 1, 2020

Themes: Working together; Manners; Chores; Practical Life: Pets and Animals

Monday: 9am circle time – Ms Olivia

Read: “Quiet Loud” by Leslie Patricelli and talk about manners

Activity: LANGUAGE – Print off these lovely routine language cards (attached in Monday’s email) to talk about the chores and activities of the day. Cut them out, talk about each one and match them to the room where the activity is completed. If your child is familiar with each activity already, arrange them in order and use magnets or velcro to attach them to the refrigerator, a wall, corkboard, poster, etc to remind them of the routine of the day.

Afternoon storytime: “Be Kind” by Pat Zietlow Miler

Tuesday: 9 am circle time – Ms Tiffani

Read:  “At The Supermarket” by Anne Rockwell and “Eating” by Gweneth Swain

Activity: PRACTICAL LIFE (How we help out) – Table setting and make a menu for your restaurant at home! Have everyone in the family help with a task to create dinner together (setting the table, cooking, pouring/serving, cleaning up)

Wednesday: 9 am circle time – Ms Tiffani 

Read: “Me On The Map” by Joan Sweeney and “Get Dressed!” by Gweneth Swain

Activity: FINE MOTOR – Make a sewing card using cardboard/cardstock, a  shoelace and a hole punch (template attached in Monday’s email). For another sewing activity, check out this link.

Afternoon storytime: “How Rude” by: Clare Helen Walsh

Thursday: 9 am circle time – Ms Olivia (Pets)

Read: “Good Dog Carl” by Alexandra Day 

Activity: ART – Working together to create marbleized paper to make cards for friends and family members. This is a great time for your toddler to help with clean up, too, using a spray bottle and towel to wipe up the table after creating.

Friday:  9 am zoom chat – Both/All

Read: Ms Olivia: “Dear Zoo” by Rod Campbell and and Ms Tiffani: “Who’s That Jumping?” by Kingfisher Books

Activity: GROSS MOTOR – Have a family movement scavenger hunt like this or use this checklist to look for different things on a walk outside or inside if the weather is bad!