Traveling with a toddler on an airplane

We are on vacation! Yay! Florida is a bit chilly these days, but still awesome, comparing to Newmarket, Ontario.

I was silent for some time as we were preparing for our travel: cleaning, dealing with the last minute issues, like plumbing and a sick cat, finding ways to get to and from the airport (thanx, Dev! You are the best!), and a whole bunch of other little things that accumulated into a one big set of emergencies.

On top of everything else, I was stressing out about traveling with Santino, who is 28 months old, a very active little boy, often unable to sit still and concentrate for a long time... Well, here is where I was inspired and a bit relieved from my stress. All our sensory activities have been such an "attention grabber" for Santino, that I decided stop worrying and get ready.

I thought of everything what we've been doing, all Santino's favorite activities, and put together a little travel kit for a toddler on an airplane. Now, this may seem a little over the top, as I packed a lot of different activities. In a normal circumstance, this would take a few hours of quiet play. But. I remember how moody Santino can get, and the usual interest may change in an unusual setting, so all this doesn't seem that over-the-top.

So, here we go:

Santino creates his own sensory activity: salt and pepper

According to the Montessori Method, it is important to observe and follow child's interests in order to create beneficial activities for him. I've noticed a while ago, that water is Santino's number one choice of sensory experience. Today Santino clearly pointed at the salt and pepper shakers and I gave them to him.

St.Valentines for a Toddler: sensory box and a little bit of science

I arranged a little sensory experience for Santino. Basically, I used the chocolate rice from before and added some heart candies from the dollar store. I didn't tell Santino, that those were candies and, luckily, he didn't try to eat them. These candies came with a plastic cup, which worked great for playing.

A Cardboard Fire Truck

Oh, what joy! Another fire truck, only there is Santino in this one! He couldn't keep his hands off and played with it until until it was ripped into pieces. Am I upset about this? Not at all! I am happy that he loved my craft so much!

Toddler art: St. Valentines 3D poster

Here is a beautiful St.Valentines poster me and Santino made with a large sheet of construction paper, a few tissue sheets, masking tape and glue.

Some DIY activities in preparation for writing

Santino was introduced to a few new exercises yesterday and today: matching and recognizing shapes and letters. He also showed a tremendous progress in managing playdough!

The View From My World. II

More photo experiments by Santino (2 year old.)

/The first one here/

Finger painting, dinosaur footprinting and playdough 3D art

While exploring all these fun sensory activities, we had put art aside for a little while. Now I started encouraging Santino to do more art, and to do it every day.

 

A Cardboard parking lot!

Here is a fun use of cardboard box I've been saving for a while now. I loved making this fun toy parking lot for my little Pipidinko. Hope he will enjoy it tomorrow first thing when he wakes up.

A fun little experiment with shaving cream and color

It was supposed to be a quiet activity to keep Santino occupied in his high chair while I am cleaning up after dinner. I got a jar and filled it with water, added a few squirts of shaving cream on top. I then gave Santino 2 little plates with different colors and a spoon.