Savor...

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth

Empty the dustpan and poison the mothHang out the washing and butter the breadSew on a button and make up the bedWhere is the mother whose house is so shocking?She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stewAnd out in the yard there's a hullabalooThe cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrowFor children grow up, I've learned to my sorrowSo quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleepI'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

A Mother's Prayer...

Lord of all pots and pans and things,
since I've not time to be

A saint by doing lovely things
or watching late with Thee

Or dreaming in the dawn light
or storming Heaven's gates -

Make me a saint by getting out the meals
and washing up the plates.

Although I must have Martha's hands,
I have a Mary mind -

And when I pick up boots and shoes,
Thy sandals, Lord, I find.

I think of how they trod the earth,
whenever I scrub the floor.

Accept this meditation, Lord,
I haven't time for more.

Warm all the kitchen with Thy love,
and light it with Thy peace.

Forgive me all my worrying
and make my grumbling cease.

Thou who loved to give men food,
in room or by the sea -

Accept this service that I do,
I do it unto Thee.

-author unknown

Water is so much fun!

Because my little C loves to play with water, as I know most toddlers her age do, the next couple of posts will hopefully give you some ideas for playing and learning with water in a more structured way. This first "tivity" is one of C's all time favorites! It's simple to put together, cheap (which you know I like), and a great way to get in some fine motor practice for those little fingers. All you need to set this up is a paint palette (I got one at Wal-Mart for 99 cents, I believe), a small bowl, a dropper (I use a large medicine dropper that you can find in the medicine aisle at just about any grocery or drug store), food coloring, and water.

C has to fill each hole of the paint palette with water using the dropper and then refill the bowl by transferring the water from each hole back into the bowl.
We have fun playing with many different colors and she is always very focused during this "tivity."

Color Matching

Here is an easy, fun, and cheap "tivity" to work on color matching as well as fine motor skills. I visited my local paint store and picked out a variety of paint samples (make sure to get two of each color sample). I then cut up one of each sample and hot glued it to clothes pins.

C's job is to match up each color/ shade and clip the correct color clothes pin to each sample. It continues to be a little tricky because the shades are so similar, but it has proven to be great practice in concentration as well. We're still working on that!

Green Toddler

This is related to the previous post. . . here is what happens if you leave the bottle of food coloring within a toddler's reach! Yes, that is green food coloring all over my daughter's hands and body! Yes, it stains. . . . something awful! She was a green munchkin for several days before it all came out. Lovely, I know!

Learning Letters and Messy Play

Here is a quick and easy way to review letters while driving in the car. I bought a super cheap cookie sheet at Wal-Mart and filled it with a set of magnetic letters (also from Wal-Mart for $1). While we're in the car, I ask C to find various letters and then we sing the letter sound song. She loves it and has learned all of her letters and most of their sounds in the process. She usually holds the letter up for me so I can look back quickly and see that she has the correct one. (Oooh, I hope that doesn't make me a bad driver?)

Kids love to get messy and moms like to clean things up. Right? Playing with shaving cream is the best of both worlds, getting messy and smelling clean. This activity fits into the "messy play" category as it makes a grand one BUT, if you can stand the mess, it's the greatest activity for a couple of reasons. It is very helpful with fine motor skills, those visual and tactile learners will benefit greatly from this activity. It is also a fabulous way to review letters, numbers, and shapes as it explores the senses in a fun . . . and messy way.

I usually use food coloring to make it a little more exciting and I TRY to keep it on a cookie sheet, tin foil, or wax paper (a vinyl tablecloth would work too). But be aware that it will end up in other places regardless of what you do to contain it. At least it's very easy to wipe up and the smell is a nice benefit. Squirt a little pile on your child's work space and let them go to town. If you do add food coloring, mix it in with a spoon so it doesn't get all over those little fingers.
C has a blast "finger painting" in it and after she plays for a while making swirls and handprints, we work on tracing letters, numbers, and shapes. I will do hand over hand to guide her in tracing various things.

Happy "messy play" today!

Rubber Band Land

This is a quick and easy "tivity" that works on fine motor skills. I just grabbed a bunch of rubber bands and wrapped them around our back doorknob. Then C had fun taking them off one by one and putting them back on. After she did that for a while, we practiced counting them as she took each one off and wrapped it around her wrist. This makes for some great counting practice! Since the bands were various colors, I also had her sort all of them by color.

I have just left the bands on the doorknob since then and every once in a while I'll see her playing with them!