Songs and chants

Little Guy loves when we sing with him. One of his favorite songs is "The Wheels on the Bus." He will even start to do the hand motions when he wants is to sing it!
He has learned the hand motions to many of the verses, and so he will show us what verse to sing next.  He'll rub his eyes to sing "The babies on the bus," he'll go "Shhhhh" with a finger on his lips and say mama for "The mamas on the bus," and he'll wave both hands to do "The wipers on the bus."  It is very cute!

The wheels on the bus go round and round!

"The Itsy Bitsy Spider" is the first song that I saw him do hand motions to on his own.  As an infant, I would help him make the motions.

Do you see the spider?

Another favorite of his is "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." He learned the hand motions to this song at school. It is also the song we sing when we brush his teeth.

This is "How I wonder what you are."

Old MacDonald is our go to song in the car. If Little Guy is upset, that is what we start to sing. It is amazing how many verses you can make in that song!

A chant that we do is "Ten Little Fingers." He really likes to put his fingers behind his back at the end, although he is now catching onto the difference between shaking them fast and shaking them slow!

What songs and chants do you do with your toddler?

Block Table

My goal with our water table has been to switch up the items that are in it, in order to give Little Guy a variety of experiences and sensory play time.  Although it was purchased as a water table, once autumn hit, the table was moved inside and turned into a corn table.  Next, I put his Duplo legos in it, as a way to keep them ready for play and contained.

Our next play table had wooden blocks.  We have 3 sets of small wooden building blocks.  I combined all 3 sets and they filled the table quite nicely.

Our block table.

The table was sitting next to our fireplace.  This gave Little Guy a nice place to build.  He could use either the fireplace hearth or the area in the center of the table.

Stacking his blocks.

Look at that cheesy grin!

We left this play table up for about a month.  There are many things that can be done with the blocks, and I love that open-ended play for him.  It was also very easy to clean up on a daily basis.

What is in your play table?

Shredded Paper Sensory Table

So we needed something new to put in our water table.  The wooden blocks had been in there for about a month, and had lost their appeal.  Since it was a Saturday morning, I could be a little more adventurous with what went in the table.  So I decided to try out shredded paper.

Here is our table with the shredded paper.  Doesn't monkey look cute with it?

Little Guy first started sticking his monkey into the paper.  He saw that the paper would stick to the monkey, so he would pull all the paper off, then stick him back in.

Hmmm, this paper doesn't belong on monkey.  I better pick it off.

At first, Little Guy did not like the paper that fell on the floor.  He would pick up all the pieces on the floor.  He soon got over that!

Picking up the paper.

To make the paper a little more fun, I started hiding his Little People zoo animals in the paper for him to find.  He enjoyed this for a few minutes.

Ahh! A flamingo!

What's over here?

Overall, the paper in the table was fun.  It ended up only staying in there for 1 to 2 hours before Little Guy was done with it (and I was done with the mess).  However, it was a great (free) way to change up the table.  It was fun while it lasted.  Now onto the next sensory table idea...

Tote bag

I have recently began sewing again (meaning, the sewing machine has been living on the dining room table again!).  I made an apron for Little Guy, then I made some burp cloths for a friend who just had a baby, so I was on to a new project.

My latest sewing project was a tote bag for me.  I saw this pin on Pinterest a couple of weeks ago, and just loved the bag, so I had to make one for myself.  The pattern for the bag is from The Long Thread.  I was pleased with how the bag came together!

Cute fabric!

Lined interior.

What is your latest sewing project?