Little Learners Curriculum: A, B and C weeks!

My good friend, Gretchen Abbott, and I teamed up months ago to begin writing a curriculum with our daughters in mind.  You see, we both taught together and especially have a passion for literacy.  Since we have almost two year olds, it made sense to create something catering to their needs.  We still have a lot of work to do BUT we are really excited about what is to come.  When the curriculum is complete we will be selling it and sharing our new blog.  Here is a small peek at some things that will be available...Grace is my guinea pig right now!

Disclaimer: PLEASE don't be put off by the words "curriculum" and "two year old" being put together.  Yes, it's important for kids to play and that is what the curriculum mainly consists of.  However, you might be surprised at how much your child will love to learn and just how much of a sponge their brains are.  Gretchen and I started using alphabet and number flashcards here and there when the girls turned one. Grace knew her letters and Brooke knew her numbers by 15 months of age.  Consistency pays off!!

Each week focuses on: a letter, color, number, shape, animal, song and snack ideas.  I am going to give a taste of what is to come!

Week 1: Letter A

Red (color of the week) scavenger hunt.  Grace is not developmentally ready to identify colors or distinguish between them consistently right now BUT I pulled all of her red toys in one spot and she played with them.  Lots of small moments identifying "red" will eventually lead to a connection.

Simple and cheap color themed activity.  Red is the color of the week so we colored with markers, crayons and finger paint.

Finger-painting in the bathtub is her new favorite activity.  The great news is we can do it each week using the color of the week!  Thanks to a tip from my mother-in-law, I would suggest using bathtub finger-paint.  It cleans off easier than regular finger-paint.  Here is a link to some (I am not sure what store sells it as I have not looked yet)

 http://www.amazon.com/Alex-Paint-in-the-Tub/dp/B00000IRYM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359168024&sr=8-1&keywords=bath+tub+finger+paint

Well the shape and color of the week couldn't have been tied together any better!  This girl loves Elmo!

This was a sensory activity from the week.  A bowl, some cups, and some white rice I had in the cabinet.  30 minutes of entertainment.  Days following she was ask to play with the "ice" bin.

Pipe cleaners and a pasta strainer...great motor skill practice!

Week 2: Letter B

Finger painting a bear mask.  She didn't want to sit and cover the whole mask in paint so I let her do as much as she wanted.  When she was finished, I wiped her hand off, let her go play, and I finished it myself.  In order for children to want to learn and do activities like this at this age, you don't want to ever push them too hard.

I adore how her eye is peeking at me...she loved walking around looking through this!  We kept saying "B" is for "bear".  Very short, cheap and simple activity!

I thought it would be crafty to melt an orange popsicle stick and use it for the handle since that was the color of the week...Grace realized it tasted like a treat still...haha.

Bath time has a whole new meaning now that we found some fun activities on Pinterest.  I used food coloring and fish from the Dollar Tree, froze the cubes and then threw them in the tub.  She loved it!

"B" is also for pipe cleaner balloons

Week 3: Letter C

One of my favorite activities from the week.  "C" is for cookies.  She LOVED her chef hat...it was made out of a piece of construction paper.  You could also use a piece of tissue paper  over the top to make it look even more realistic. I meant to do it in yellow, the color of the week.

"C" is also for chocolate chip pancakes...yum!

Finger-painting a paper cupcake (hard to see because it was white at first).

"C" is for chalk.  She is a righty but kept switching hands because she liked the device holding the chalk.

"C" is for car track painting.  Another Pinterest idea.  I used finger-paint, a paper plate and cars from the Dollar Tree.  Tape some paper together and you have FUN!  

Grace loved rolling the cars back and forth because the paint showed their track marks.  To all of you "clean" freaks...it can make a MESS!  You will have to get over that because little ones love that :)  Keep some wipes nearby for wiping fingers...I also used them for wiping the floor.  

TIP: don't get the cars that wind up by pulling backwards and go off on their own...just saying.  You will have paint everywhere!  On the flipside...these were good cars to use because of the tires...I think some toy cars have smooth wheels which would still be fun but not as noticeable maybe.

So far it has been a lot of fun!  I am trying to get better at capturing the themed moments on camera but there are just so many!  Also, once you get started it's easy to come up with ideas on the fly.