Terri Thompson

Water Play for Toddlers

November 7, 2011 By Terri Thompson

Over the weekend, I set up a water play station for AJ.

I laid out a bowl full of water, a few empty containers, and scoops, spoons and dippers. I placed the containers in a baking dish in the hope to contain some of the water.

Yes, I did set out glass containers for my toddler. I planned on sitting with her the entire time, so I knew that wouldn’t cause a problem.

She was eager to begin once she saw the set-up. She grabbed a measuring cup right away and started scooping.

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She spent a lot of time at the beginning transferring water from one container to another.

She scooped and poured and scooped and poured.

She tested the limits of the containers to see just how much water she could get in one and then enjoyed watching the water flow over the edges.

At one point, she even tried to see if she could pick the water up with her hands. That didn’t work!

And then, she tried pouring… oh dear!

We had a lot of fun, soaked a few towels, and had to completely change AJ’s clothes.

Nonetheless, I’m sure we’ll do this again! Although, the next time, I may just lug all the (plastic) containers into the bathtub.

The Little House Book & Craft

November 4, 2011 By Terri Thompson

The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton has always been a favorite of mine.

It’s the story of a house, built well and with a lot of love. The little house watches the days go by and then the years go by until eventually a city has grown up around her. Eventually the great-granddaughter of the couple who built the house see her and decides to move the little house back out to the country.

The whimsical illustration have always drawn me in, even at a young age. So, I wanted to do a art project with the girls inspired by the book.

I started the girls (and myself) out with a simple drawing of the house made with black crayon. After reading the book, we set down to make our own illustrations.

We decided to draw the countryside around the house.

We drew hills, trees, flowers and even a path leading up to the house all with the black crayon.

After the drawings were completed, we grabbed our paintbrushes and some liquid watercolors.

The girls started painting and I joined in as well.

I just couldn’t resist a project based on The Little House.

When we were done, we had some bright, colorful illustrations that mimicked the illustrations in the book.

We made a few observations about art during the process as well. Most notably, Lizzie learned that the biggest paint brush is not always the most desirable.

Sometimes you need a smaller brush to get the job done. She also told me that she wants to learn to make pretty pictures. I guess I’ve got some art lessons in my future! (Don’t worry, I’m kind of excited about it.)

Here are our finished pictures! Lizzie’s is first, then AJ’s, then mine. I was glad I joined in this time, instead of just observing and assisting. I plan on doing this many, many more times!

Farm Animal Charades

November 2, 2011 By Terri Thompson

Things get a bit silly when you start imitating farm animals!We played a game of farm animal charades recently and had a blast.

I found several clip art images of farm animals, then printed, laminated and cut them out. We borrowed a pot from the play kitchen and put all the pictures in.

The rules were simple. We took turns drawing a picture and then had to act like that animal while the others tried to guess.

Yes, the guessing part was easy, but pretending to be the animals was a whole lot of fun!

We were chicken, horses, cows and sheep.The concept was easy enough that AJ, at age 2, was able to play and understand.

Plus, she’s a pro at animal sounds!

By far, the most popular animal was the rooster.And yes, there was some rooting around in the pot to find the rooster card because who doesn’t love saying “cock-a-doodle-doo” as loud as possible?

To round out the fun, we found a great book called Moo Who? by Margie Palatini. It’s the hilarious story of a cow named Hilda Mae Heifer who gets knocked in the head with a cow pie and loses her moo. She talks to a series of different farm animals and tries out all of their sounds until she finally figures out that she does indeed moo. It’s a fun book to read aloud and it encourages laughter and silliness.

Have fun!

Happy Halloween!

November 1, 2011 By Terri Thompson

The porch light is off.The candy bowl is empty.

The kids are in bed.

Halloween is over.

My little bear and my little witch had a great time wandering the neighborhood with Daddy while I stayed behind to hand out candy.

By the time they got home, their excitement had gave way to exhaustion.

Tomorrow is November and all the Halloween fun gets put away until next year.It was a blast and we made many good memories. Hope your Halloween was fun!