Toddler Time: I Can Eat Healthy Fruits

As seen in a recent post on my other blog, I do a "preschool" with my toddler. I decided that a better name should be "Toddler Time" but Davey knows it as preschool, so I stick with that. I decided that I want to post what we did every week, here on this obscure blog.

I highly suggest that any one with toddlers have a "toddler time" a few times a week. The routine, the schedule, the fun, the enrichment are all beneficial for a toddler. How would a toddler learn to sit still if never given a chance to practice? And sitting still (if only for 5 minutes) is a great talent to have.

I am still trying to formulate into words what I feel about doing activities with toddlers. I know the benefits, but I am still trying to explain. The most important time for a mom to develop a child's mind is before 5, so they say.

It doesn't have to be a lot of work. It doesn't have to be a lot of time.

But here is what I did this week, if you'd like to use these ideas.

It doesn't have to be with another toddler, it can just be mommy and me time.

Soap Box done.

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This week for "toddler time" the theme was "I Can Eat Healthy Fruits."

Book: The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Songs:
To the tune of The Itsy Bitsy Spider:
The Fuzzy Little Caterpillar lay down on a leaf
Around wrapped the cocoon and he fell asleep
He dreamt he could fly
And when he woke up
the fuzzy little caterpillar was a butterfly

Fruit Salad by the Wiggles

Five Fruits and Vegetable a Day by Geof Johnson

Nursery Lesson: Lehi's dream (1 Nephi 8); tie a bunch of scarfs together and tie one of each end to a different chair, have the toddler pretend he is asleep, then walk them through the dream, as a special extra place a small piece of fruit on the chair at the end of the "rod of iron."

Games: sock basketball (empty laundry basket and a handful of socks, easy), fruit find (print off pictures of fruit and hid them in the living room and have the toddler find them)

Crafts: A Rainbow of Fruits (have the toddler color a piece of white paper with the different colors of the rainbow (ROYGBV) use old magazines or grocery store ads to find fruits of every color, glue them on the paper),

Fruit Faces,

Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips, we had the kids "help" cut up the fruit,



Fruit Pizza, use any recipe you like. I pre-cooked individual sized pizza crusts (sugar cookies) and pre-cut the fruit then let the toddler decide how to top their pizzas!