Blog: Toddlers

Happy 4th of July weekend! Celebrating the beginning of the United States of America is feeling increasingly complicated, especially in the middle of COVID-19. We hope you have a safe celebration this weekend. Here are three invitations for this first Friday in July.

Sensory/Large Motor Invitation: Water play – “fishing”

For this invitation you will need a container of water, some objects like those you might have used for an earlier sink/float invitation, and a sieve or strainer. Invite your child to fish out the objects with the “net.” We’re wondering what they will discover as they attempt to remove the objects from the water. Will they decide to use their hands? Will they wade into the water? Stay close by and attentive while your toddler is working with water.

Sensory/Fine Motor Invitation: Puzzle piece search in sensory bin

This invitation works best when the material in the sensory bin is something like grass seed, birdseed, or similar. Hide some puzzle pieces from a familiar puzzle in the sensory bin and invite your toddler to find them and return them to the puzzle. They may also use the puzzle pieces for small world dramatic play.

Art Invitation: Sculpting with fuzzy wire

Today we suggest offering something simple as a sculpting invitation such as fuzzy wire (also known as pipe cleaners or chenille stems). You can anchor one or two pieces by wrapping them around a stone. Invite your toddler to explore the texture and other physical properties of the wire. How can they bend and shape the wire? What will they create?

 

Happy Thursday! It really feels like July these days with warm, humid weather. Here are three invitations for toddlers.

Fine Motor/Cooking Invitation: Make your own snack (cutting practice)

This morning, invite your child to help make their snack. Depending on your child’s thoughts on food, they might enjoy making a sandwich, a tortilla roll-up, or just cutting things and putting them on a snack plate. If you are making toast, a sandwich, or tortilla roll-up, they can help spread sunbutter, hummus, or peanut butter, cut soft fruit (strawberries, bananas, etc.) with a butterknife, and assemble their creation. Make sure to allow extra time and start before everyone is extremely hungry. This invitation builds self-help skills, fine motor skills, and creativity in the kitchen.

Fine Motor/Science Invitation: Tubes and small cars

This invitation can be done in a large storage bin, which keeps the cars close, or on the floor or tabletop. If you choose to set it up on the floor or tabletop, it is possible the cars will go everywhere. Provide some empty paper towel tubes or wrapping paper tubes and cars which are small enough to fit inside the tubes. What will your child do with these materials? Will they explore slope, velocity and trajectory? Will they explore whether they can move the cars through the tubes while they are flat on the floor like tunnels?

Art Invitation: Exploring glue and collage

This art invitation is not only an avenue for new forms of creative expression, but also an exploration of the properties and possibilities of glue. We suggest offering a small cup (such as a clean yogurt cup) with a little glue in the bottom, and a variety of small collage objects along with a sturdy substrate like cardboard. Invite your child to explore how they might use the glue to adhere things to the cardboard/paper. They may want to stick things on, and then remove them, only to adhere them again.

Good morning! Welcome to the final month of Lakewood at Home. School will be starting again at the beginning and we cannot wait! Here are three invitation offerings for toddlers for the first day of July.

Sensory/Fine Motor Invitation: Small rocks (or sand) and shells

Many of us have been missing the beach, so we wanted to create a beach-like sensory experience for toddlers today. You can use sand, small (but not choking hazard-size) stones, shells, and perhaps some water in a large bin or kiddie pool. Invite your child to explore what they can do with these materials.

Fine Motor/Building Invitation: Block building

Block building is available every day, in every classroom at LACS. Children delight in creating structures, lining blocks up as roads or sidewalks, and seeing how high they can build their towers before they topple over. Sometimes teachers will organize blocks by color, or set out a collection of people, animals, or loose parts as an invitation to explore blocks in a different way or build on work children have already been doing. If you do not have a large collection of blocks at home, you can add empty paperboard or cardboard boxes to add a new dimension to your child’s building.

Connecting/Helping Invitation: Sending art to a friend/relative

As Safer-at-Home continues, it’s important for everyone to connect with other people. Today we invite you to help your child reach out to someone in your circle, maybe a neighbor, friend or relative. They can select a piece of art they have already made, or create something new to send.

Good morning! Here are three invitations for toddlers on a warm June day in Durham. It’s the end of Pride Month, but at LACS we value and honor all families and children’s unique selves all year.

We also want to share this parent resource from Resilience in Challenging Times. We are thinking about all the families who might be stressed and struggling right now.

Science/Sensory Invitation: Frozen Yogurt in a Bag

Small or quart-size ziplock bag

118 ml (½  cup) plain, yogurt

A selection of fruit (soft fruits such as berries work best)

Honey to taste (you can also use jam in place of the honey and fruit)

3.7-liter (1 gallon) ziplock bag (or a large mixing bowl)

473 ml (2 cups or 10-12 cubes) crushed ice

59 ml (¼ cup) salt (table, rock or Kosher)

Kitchen towel (optional)

Spoon (for tasting the yogurt)

 

In the small bag, combine the yogurt, fruit and honey (or jam). Seal the bag very well! In the large bag, combine the ice and salt, put the small bag into the large bag and seal the large bag well. You may want to wrap the large bag in a kitchen towel to protect small hands from the cold. Invite your child to shake the bag vigorously (you can turn on some dance music to make this even more fun). Shake for 10-15 minutes until the yogurt is firm. RINSE the smaller bag before opening. Your child can eat it straight out of the bag, or put it into a bowl.

Fine/Large Motor Invitation: Paper tunnels and balls

This invitation involves some adult set-up. You will need paper strips, some painter’s tape and small to medium balls. Fold back ½” on both short ends of your paper strips, use these little ledges to tape the paper in tunnel shapes on the floor or tabletop. Invite your child to see if they can roll the balls through the tunnels. What other things might they want to roll through the tunnels? This invitation builds both types of motor skills.

Outdoor/Large Motor Invitation: Another round of sponge toss!

For this invitation you will need a couple of large to mid-size containers of water, some sponges and a hula hoop or sidewalk chalk. Your child might want to wear a swimsuit for this invitation! Set the hula hoop on the ground, or draw a round shape with the sidewalk chalk. Invite your child to dip the sponges in the container of water and see if they can toss them into the hoop/shape. Your child might also want to use the sponge to move the water from one container to the other, or practice filling it with water and squeezing it out.