Must-Have Monday: Baby Toys for 6-12 Months

Must-Have Monday...it's back!!  I admit, I got a little bogged down with the must-haves.  To be honest, nothing is really a must-have.  I mean, food, water, shelter.  Those are must-haves.  Baby toys? Not really.  But, I like making lists.  And I like sharing my favorite things.  Call me Oprah.  Without the money.  Baby girl got a TON of toys for Christmas.  More than any baby needs, if you ask me.  She'd be happy with a box and a remote.  But a real remote.  Not one of those fake Fisher Price deals.  She knows the difference.  Baby genius.  But anyways, I thought I'd share some of her favorites.  If you can even call it that.  Do I really know they are her favorite?  No.  It's not like she's talking to me, telling me, "Hey, I really like that toy over there.  You should put it on your blog so other babies who have sucker mommies will buy it for them too!"  But, she does show some preference to some toys.  And there are some toys that I just really enjoy as well.

1.  Green Toys .  My sister-in-law found them in a specialty toy store, but I found them on Amazon.  I win.  First of all, they're made in the USA. Who doesn't love that?  Second, they're green.  Not the color green. Well, some of them are.  But they're made from recycled milk jugs!  We have these stacking cups and a little toy car.  So while you're teaching baby how to stack (they also nest for easy storage), you can also teach her about the environment and recycling.  Kidding.  Kind of.  They also have numbers 1-6 printed on them and they also are "volumetrically accurate."  Who knew volumetrically was a word?  I think I like it.  Anyways, as baby gets older, you can teach math concepts with these as well.  If you pour water in the cup labeled 1 and the cup labeled 2, together they will fill up the cup labeled 3.  Pretty cool, right?  I'm excited to make a water/sand table this summer and play with these.

2. Bright Starts Having A Ball Toys, Count and Roll Buggie.  This is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen.  First of all, it teaches counting and numbers.  It also teaches hand-eye coordination, because babies put the balls into the bug to make it start.  Once all three balls are placed in the bug, it starts rolling around and playing music, then eventually the wings open and dumps the balls out.  My baby is not a crawler yet, but I'm sure she will have so much fun chasing them around.  Fair warning, it doesn't roll very well on carpeted floors, but everything else works great.

3. Fisher Price Laugh & Learn Toys.  We have more Fisher Price Laugh & Learn toys than I know what to do with.  We have the medical kit, shopping tote, vanity mirror, and lamp, among others.  I actually just bought the Learning Home second hand on a local selling wall. Big time score!  Baby girl and her big brother LOVE to have tea parties though.  I dare say he enjoys it more than she does right now!  He was very disappointed when a little girl in his class had a tea party for her birthday and only invited the girls.  :(  The tea pot sings and counts.  It also teaches manners by saying, "please" and "thank you" and has sound effects as you tip the kettle to "pour" into the cup.  Of course, it's always fun to pretend to eat the yummy desserts.

4.  Cloth Crinkle Books Of course, books are always a great thing for kids of all ages.  Baby girl especially loves the touch and feel books right now, but the cloth crinkle books are also a great option.  My kid loves the sound of the paper at the doctor's office.  The crinkle books make the same sound, and she goes wild for them!

So these are just a few of our favorite toys right now.  The neat thing about these toys is that they really do grow with the child.  So if your child begins to get bored, put them away for a while and get them back out in a few months.  Just don't be like me with my first and put toys away and never get them back out again!  Anyone else have other recommendations for baby toys?  Feel free to comment to add to the list!


This post contains Amazon affiliate links, but I was not paid for the review of any items.  I, or someone else who loves to spoil my kid bought everything on this list for her.  

Snow Day Fun! Snow Ice Cream!

I LOVED snow days as a kid.  And now, since I'm a teacher I get to enjoy them with my kids!  There's just something thrilling about getting that 5 am phone call.  I'm not even kidding.  It doesn't even make me mad to get woken up that early.  One of my favorite snow day traditions is snow ice cream.  Even if it's too cold to go outside to play, we still will go out long enough to fill a bag with snow so that we can make some delicious snow ice cream.

There are TONS of variations that you will find on the web, but this is our tried-and-true recipe.  I offered to add chocolate once and my son almost lost it on me.  We don't mess with the original snow ice cream!

You will need:

That's it, people!  No need for the sweetened condensed milk or any of the other crazy ingredients I've seen.  These are all things we always have on hand, just in case a snow day hits us by surprise!  Just kidding, we obviously have these things on hand for other reasons.  Like cookies.

So after you've gone outside to play in the snow, grab a gallon-sized bag.  Better yet, take it out with you so you don't have to traipse snow throughout the house and get everything wet.  There's nothing worse than wet socks.  Fill the bag with snow that you haven't touched yet and hasn't touched the ground, then come inside to warm up and get started on the ice cream.  After you're nice and toasty, fill the bag with the sugar, milk, and vanilla, then have fun mixing.  The kids love this part.  Shake, shimmy, turn on some music and dance.  Once you feel like it's well-mixed, you're done!  Serve in bowls or eat it right out of the bag!

Even baby girl got a taste!

What We're Reading Wednesday-Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

 

Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson is one of our favorite Halloween books and we keep it special because we only get it out in October.  Does anyone else do that?  My son has so many books that we put some away and only get them out at certain times of the year.

Room on the Broom

  Room on the Broom features one of the nicest witches since Hermione Granger.  While traveling on her broom with her cat one night, her hat blows away.  While directing her broom down to the ground, a dog brings the witch her hat and the witch invites the dog to join them on the broom.  The book follows this pattern until the witch invites so many creatures to join her on the broom that the broom snaps in two!  While on the ground, a dragon chases the witch and decides he wants to eat her.  She is saved by a giant monster, who scares the dragon away.  The monster is, in fact, all of the witch's new friends who are covered in mud.  The witch is so happy to be safe from the dragon, that she uses a spell to create a brand new broom with enough seats for her and all of her friends.  

On the surface, this book is merely a rhyming picture book to read to young children at Halloween-time.  In actuality, this book has an excellent message for young and older readers alike:  helping others will bring rewards.  The golden rule comes to mind.  Because the witch was kind to the creatures and invited them on her broom, they helped her when she was in need.  Room on the Broom also features excellent vocabulary and we are able to use context clues to determine the meaning of the interesting words.  Just tonight my son was able to deduce the meaning of the word 'clambered'.  This is a word we study in fourth grade while reading James and the Giant Peach!  I was quite impressed!  

If you're looking for a book to gift this Halloween (because books are always better than candy!), I highly recommend Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson.  

What I'm Pinning This Week - Halloween Crafts

I'm one of the head room moms for my son's kindergarten class.  Basically that means that I help plan the parties.  I'm in charge of the craft for the upcoming Halloween party, so I went to everybody's favorite site for crafty ideas-Pinterest!  Our schools still do Halloween-how fun is that?  No "Fall Parties" or "Harvest Parties" here.  And the kids and teachers still dress up!  See, they haven't taken all the fun out of school!  Here are some of my favorite pins this week-Halloween-craft-style for kids.

DIY Monster Pencils from the36thavenue

How cute are these?  The weirdo teacher in me hates that you ruin a perfectly good eraser, but the erasers on these decorative-type pencils are usually no good anyways.

Fingerprint Bat Silhouette from Crafty Morning

This looks like a fun one.  After I pinned it, I think it was pinned again 12 times!  I probably won't do this at the party, but I might try it with my kids at home.  While finger-painting is fun, you could also use a paint brush, a cotton ball, q-tip, or pencil eraser.  

Scissor Skill Pumpkins from Nurture Store

Scissor skills are HUGE in kindergarten!  My little guy is still working on his skills.  This is a cute craft that incorporates a necessary learning activity.  

Paper Plate Witch by Crafty Morning

Crafty Morning may just be one of my new favorite blogs!  The witch's hair is the kid's hands!  Adorbs.  If I were doing this at school, I would pre-cut pieces for the hat and the eyes to save time.  I would also have the kids color the face with markers instead of paint.  The kids can practice their scissor skills by cutting out their own hands.  A little prep beforehand, and this might just be the perfect halloween party craft! 

Cotton Ball Ghost by 366 days of Pinterest

First of all, what a neat concept for a blog!  I'm just not that crafty or handy to do a Pinterest project for every day of the year.  I guess I could try every day, but I can guarantee you they would not all be successful.  This is cotton ball ghost is probably the craft we will do at the party.  It's simple, it takes very little prep, and will not cost very much money.  

Centers At Home

My son is on Fall Break.  I loved fall break as a teacher.  It came just at the right time, after long nights of conferences, and with report cards due right around the corner, fall break was a much needed R&R.  My son woke up Thursday morning and groaned when he remembered he didn't have school.  That was my evidence that he has finally adjusted to school and actually likes (dare I say loves?) it!  He was truly disappointed.  I asked him, what is your favorite part of school that you wish you could do today?  Honestly thinking he was going to say gym or recess, I was quite surprised when he said "Centers!"  Centers?  I can totally do centers!  I can do gym and recess too, but centers actually have some learning involved.  It was time to brush off my teaching hat.

First, I asked him what his favorite centers were.  Evidently they have a center called "Farmer's Market."  I still can't fully determine what exactly they do at farmer's market, but I know there is a baby involved.  I'm guessing it has something to do with role playing and perhaps they're shopping?  Either way, our farmer's market was going to take place in the kitchen.  He's got an excellent imagination, he could make it work.  I even tried suggesting C could be his baby.  He didn't like that idea so much.

He also wanted a lego center, science, writing, and coloring center.  I convinced him to also have spelling, reading, and computers.  He wanted me to make him a board with his name on it.  Easy enough.  I found clip art to represent the centers, printed, and laminated it.  Yes, I have a personal laminator.  I'm a teacher, you shouldn't be surprised.  And it comes in handy way more than you would ever think.

Center Board

The farmer's market, lego, and coloring centers were easy.  I didn't have to prep anything; he has a lego table in his room and access to paper and markers.  I took to Google for the spelling and writing centers.  For spelling, I created a practice worksheet on www.worksheetgenius.com using his Kindergarten sight words.  For writing, I printed Kindergarten blank lined paper from Paging Supermom.  Because he loves to draw, I printed the show and tell paper with a space for drawing and blank lines for writing a sentence.

The Science center was the fun one!  Of course, Pinterest has all kinds of great ideas, and I found this Walking Water Experiment from Coffee Cups & Crayons. As soon as we started the experiment, T says to me, "Oh, I know this one! We did this at bible school!"  Of course you did.  You all know I ask him to tell me about the things he does at school, and bible school for that matter.  And because he's five, he doesn't always tell me.  So, we did an experiment that he's already done before.  But, because he's five, he didn't care.

I originally planned for about 10 minutes per center.  Usually the rule of thumb is a kid can keep his attention on something for about one minute per year he is old, but I was pretty certain he could handle ten minutes per activity.  Some activities he wanted to stay at longer, some shorter.  We're on fall break, it's not school, I was ok with that.  We had a great morning; he had fun and we squeezed in some learning!  Overall, I would say very successful!

Must Haves for Airplane Travel with Kids

It's Must-Have Monday!  I'll be honest, I'm starting to struggle coming up with these "must-have" lists.  But, since we just recently booked our next Disney trip (June 2015!), I thought this would be a good topic.  We have traveled with my son since he was a year old.  Our next Disney trip will be his 7th trip!  All seven trips we have taken an airplane.  It's probably safe to say he's been on a plane at least 10 times.  Each time is different.  Once, when I was traveling with him alone (he was two), we had to make a stop at Dulles.  It was just supposed to be a stop--no changing planes.  The best-laid plans right?  Well, as we were taxiing to our gate, our plane got hit by a fuel truck!  No joke!  There was no real emergency, but they did make us exit the plane and wait for a new one before continuing on to our final destination.  I must say, it's always a fun story to tell.  Definitely one for the baby book.

Since I feel like I'm somewhat an expert in the area of flying with kids, here are my must-haves for airplane travel with children.

1.  A Car Seat.  Don't check it; bring it on the plane with you and have your child sit in it.  Number one, it's safer and the FAA recommends it.  Number two, it keeps your kid contained during the entire flight.  I've been on many a flights (remember, we're always going to Disney) where kids are all over the place; in the aisles, standing on the seats, etc.  Not my kid.  He's always well-behaved strapped in his car seat.  Number three, you have your own seat if you are renting a car when you reach your destination.  Your kid will be comfortable and safe.

2.  An iPad or Tablet & Headphones.  You already know that we are an iPad family.  An iPad on an airplane is a must-have because it helps pass the time quickly.  Even our two-hour flights to Florida get a little long, so an iPad allows your kids to watch a movie, play games, read books, listen to music, etc.  Headphones?  Well those are for all the people around you.  Yes, I have actually been on flights where the children were using an iPad without headphones.  Very annoying.  We buy the kid-size ones, not earbuds, they're more comfortable and your kid is more likely to use them.

3.  Snacks & Sippy Cup.  If you're on a flight that is only a couple of hours, the flight attendants typically only come around once with snacks and drinks.  If you're traveling through rough air, they may not even reach your seat.  Bring pre-packaged snacks (fruit snacks, small bags of animal crackers or chips, etc.) or package your own in snack bags.  DO NOT bring a huge bag of pretzels!  Bring more than you think you'll need, and don't forget about your return trip.  If your child is sippy cup age, make sure you bring one on the airplane with you (and don't forget to pack a few in your luggage as well). I have even spilled those tiny airplane cups before, so you can imagine the damage a three-year-old can do.  If you are bringing a baby on board a plane, TSA will allow you to bring formula or breast milk through security.  They just have to test it first.

4.  Quiet Activities.  Although I think the rules are starting to change, typically electronic devices cannot be used until you reach 10,000 feet.  This means no iPad until you are well under way.  Bring a small book, a few toys, a coloring book or (even better!) a Color Wonder book.  We brought a latches puzzle with us once, and that was great, but it was kind of bulky in the carry-on.  I've also seen those really neat quiet books that you can make.  I'm thinking about making one for the baby for our trip next June.  Remember, any activities you bring can also double as rainy-day or even restaurant activities when you reach your destination.

5.  Blanket & Travel Pillow.  Airplanes are cold!  Chances are, you're bringing your kid's blanky with you on vacation anyways, so you might as well throw it in your carry-on to bring on the airplane as well.  My son loves his little "Nemo" travel pillow.  You know, the kind that wraps around your neck?  It makes for a comfortable airplane ride, and it's also a special lovey to have at your home-away-from-home for the duration of your trip.

I Am Not Low-Tech

Photo: "iPad2" by IntelFreePress CC by 2.0 added text

A recent New York Times article titled "Steve Jobs Was a Low-Tech Parent" quoted Jobs as saying, regarding his kids use of the iPad, “They haven’t used it...we limit how much technology our kids use at home.”  This article was published on September 10, 2014, but this conversation between Jobs and the author happened in 2010, just as the first iPad was released.  Since this article was published, I have seen numerous bloggers take this Jobs quote and run with it.  "Jobs didn't even let his kids use the iPad and you shouldn't either!"  "Steve Jobs banned his children from using an iPad." Or, my personal favorite, "Steve Jobs didn't want his kids to get addicted to Apple gadgets."  Now, I don't know about you, but I did not see anything about banning the iPad, or technology addiction anywhere in that Jobs quote.  He said he limits their use of technology, as all good parents should do, in my opinion.  At the time, of course his kids hadn't used the iPad yet, it was brand new!  I loved the visionary that Steve Jobs was, but I'm not certain even he knew the limitless possibilities the iPad would hold.  

The iPad can be a learning device.  My son was just a baby when the iPad was first released.  He learned the names of animals and their sounds from the "Pet the Animals" app. "Adam Learns Shapes and Colors" taught him his shapes and colors in a fun and exciting way.  "Elmo Loves ABCs" and "Endless Alphabet" helped him learn the letters and their sounds.  Just last week I posted about how Tally Tots Counting helped my son learn how to count to 30...he's up to 100 now!  As he gets older, my son is learning the art of storytelling through "Puppet Pals" and "Toontastic."  Even "Angry Birds" and "Cut the Rope" teaches problem solving.  The numerous books stored on the iPad allows stories to be read to him anytime he wants.  The iPad can be a learning device, and should be used that way.  

The iPad does not hinder creativity.  Steve Jobs was not wrong when he said he limits his kids use of technology.  Yes, my son has an iPad, but he does not play with it all hours of the day.  Sometimes a week or more will go by when he hasn't used it.  Despite having an iPad (or 2 or 3!) in the house, my son still has the greatest imagination of any kid I've known.  He loves dressing up in his superhero costumes, he loves playing outside, he loves playing with playdough, and drawing, coloring, and painting.  Just this weekend he and his Daddy and his Grammy had an elaborate sidewalk chalk map complete with pictures and a story drawn on the driveway.  As parents it is our job to foster our kids' creativity, and not allow the iPad to hinder it in any way.  

I am not a low-tech parent.  Anyone who knows me, knows I am a techy.  I absolutely love technology and all the knew ways of learning that come along with it.  We put our phones away during dinner, we have conversations about our day, we read actual books, we rarely turn the television on during the week, but we are not a low-tech household.  The iPad allows us to FaceTime with our family members out of state, and gives Daddy the opportunity to read us books when he's out of town.  

We limit technology, but we also embrace it.