Toddler Science Activity: What Floats?

We spent a couple of hours in our backyard this morning. It cooled off after the rain, and Santino didn't want to play in his kiddie pool, but asked me to fill it up so that he could wash his diggers and play with the boat I made for him a few days ago.

 

Just a thought

... that occurred to me earlier today, when Santino and I went for a walk.

Montessori Summer Art Activities: Foot Printing

About a month ago I joined a Facebook group called "Montessori Summer Art and Music activities for the 2-6 year olds". The group was organized by Lisa Nolan, who offers easy activities and engages moms in the conversations about the challenges they face and the progress their little ones show. I "met" Lisa on Google+, such a wonderful place to find like-minders!

A field trip to the Canada Wonderland

This is not something unusual for us. After all, I did buy a season pass, so that we could go as often as we like, thanx to my friends Devin and Joana who drive us.

Santino's favourite lunch: dinosaur sandwiches

He loves his food, including vegetables and grains and meat and sometimes fish. He is rather easy to feed, but he is a child, so if I make the dinosaur sandwiches instead of regular square or triangular, this makes him very excited and happy.

The colorful plate I made this time was just for fun. He loved it!

A person's a person....

I just wanted to share this nice shot I took this morning on our walk in the woods. Santino stood for a few moments, watching the huge trees, and I just felt that he felt how small we are. Life is big. I hope he gets the most out of it.

Active fun: Hand-Eye Coordination and Sorting

We've had a few cold and rainy days in the past couple of weeks. This meant that we spent lots of time inside. Again. Santino can entertaining himself much better now, but I still like to spend time with him, incorporating some learning as we go.

Reviving sticky homemade playdough

Santino enjoyed playing with a sheet of revived playdough, which didn't turn out so great and became sticky. Here's how to make it: screw up the home-made playdough, put it in the plastic wrap. Enjoy!

Mystery Bags and The Colors of a Rainbow

I wanted to practice listening skills with Santino. I find, that a lot of times my voice is more like a white noise to him, I have to really come close and turn his head to me and repeat the same thing over and over for him to catch what I want from him. Now, this is not always, many times he hears me and does what I say, so I know this is not a hearing issue.

I just wanted a simple and fun activity, that I need to explain and he needs to understand and then follow the instructions. Mystery bags seemed like a good idea.

Toddler Science: Oil, Colored Water and Glitter!

This started as a science experiment, but turned also into a beautiful art project. Santino played with oil and colored water, adding it little by little and observing the colorful bubbles floating. He was more interested in the process of transferring water to the oil, rather than the science behind the two substances not mixing in a usual way.

He loved the texture of the oil, I could tell by how he watched the splashes. I myself was mesmerized by the results and kept trying to snap a nice picture.

Toddler science! Messy coffee grinds play at home and a little science outside.

This was such a simple experiment. I just gave Santino a magnifying glass and took him for a walk! The same day we spent at least an hour an a half playing with the coffee grinds. I remember how much Santino loved it last time, and now I wonder, why didn't I repeat this sooner?

Play Dough Again. Another Recipe.

A few days ago I decided to cook up some more play dough, as the one I made before had dried up. I looked up another recipe and it turned out great!