Letting them lead

I am continuing my attempt to listen more and direct less with the children, in doing this I have been able to see there interest and watch how each one learns and incorporate that into our play.
They were all into playing house, the tool bench and blocks so I put my handy husband to work telling him that I wanted to put even more holes in the walls (his biggest pet peeve) and make a rope system that the kids could build their own tent structure from. Being the girl that I am I thought we could just hang some hooks from the wall and let the kids get to it! Mr Handy had a much better idea getting wooden cutting boards from the dollar store and door handles from the hardware store, some rope and hooks and voila we have hours of creative play.

This type of play has lead to team work, creative thinking, leadership, support and endless play. I can't wait to see what direction they lead me in next week.....is this really my job? SOooooOOoo lucky!

The Little People Place: Heart and Seek

The Little People Place: Heart and Seek: "The kids are really into hide and seek, but at 2 and 3 years old they haven't quite got the idea of hiding and they all want to do the count..."

Heart and Seek

The kids are really into hide and seek, but at 2 and 3 years old they haven't quite got the idea of hiding and they all want to do the counting. So I made these felt hearts that I hide around the room while they all count! Then they each have something to find and we line them up by counting the buttons on them from one to five!

So simple and fun!

The Little People Place: Valentine Work

The Little People Place: Valentine Work: "Here is what we will be working on for Valentines week! Our week at a glance Monday Mail boxes Heart sequencing Valentines day poem ..."

Valentine Work

Here is what we will be working on for Valentines week!

Our week at a glance

Monday
Mail boxes
Heart sequencing
Valentines day poem

Tuesday
Place mats
Post office play ( using the mail boxes we made)
Valentines day song
Pouring hearts

Wednesday
Painting Frames for our parents
Tonging
Heart Stamping

Thursday
Bird Valentines (we are making small bird feeders for our feathered friends)
Heart rubbing ( placing hearts under our paper and rubbing crayons over top)
spooning conversation hearts
Play dough

Friday
Making Valentines for each other
Word Matching
Baking Valentines day cookies

La La Love Valentines Day!

This Moment

this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember

How to bake with toddlers

The kids love baking and if they even see me move the flour in the cupboard they jump up on the chairs and announce to everyone that we are making something! I try once a week to have something for them to bake and here is how I make it work with so many little hands to help.

First I have everything set out, I do this either the night before or during nap.

Make sure the baby is happy

We take turns pouring things into the bowl

and stirring

If they can count how many chocolate chips I have in front of me they can eat them! I use this to help them count and to give me time to get the next ingredients ready.

Honestly we do this so often that we have very little mess at the end

and since they love to lick the spoon I pop three spoons into the bowl so everyone gets one!

I bake one tray and freeze the rest to cut down on the baking time and move onto the next activity.

Happy winter baking!