Here's another simple Valentine's activity! I bought a set of heart measuring cups (for a dollar from Dollar General) and put them in a basket on E(2)'s Montessori shelf. Done!
E puts them in order from smallest to largest. We talk about the different sizes, and we pretend that the measuring cups are the different members of our family. One day she was insisting that the biggest one was O(5)! Silly girl :)
I was SO excited when I saw this set of heart cookie cutters for just one dollar at Dollar General! They are perfect for toddler activities! E(2) puts them in order from smallest to largest. We talk about which one is small and which one is the largest. She hands me the ones that I ask for, and her favorite...naming them with our names. The smallest heart is E, then O, and on and on.
She enjoys putting them back in order within themselves, but it was a challenge in this rounded bowl.
So, I moved them to a flat container in order to ease her frustration and to help her be successful.
E(2) has enjoyed pouring the candy hearts. However, she kept sneaking them into her mouth, so I put them out of reach. Now, she just does that work with supervision :)
If you've looked at Pinterest in the last few months, then you've probably seen the solar night light jars made out of outdoor solar lights. When I saw the lights a few months ago, I decided to make a few for my girls and my niece for Christmas. However, I wanted to put a different spin on it...I wanted it to be a rainbow light that continually changed colors.
This was our last handmade gift to make, and we didn't finish the lights until after 1am on Christmas morning. I didn't type the "pet light" story for the girls until Christmas afternoon about 3 minutes before we gave the lights to them. The story told the girls that they must take care of the lights and put them in the sun each day since the sun provides them with energy to glow all night long. The girls named their lights "Zoey" and "Bella," and these are the coolest night lights I've EVER seen (and, of course, I'm not biased at all)!
Here's what we did...I bought 3 jars (from Hobby Lobby for about 4 dollars each). I spray painted the inside of the jars with about 4 coats of frost spray paint (about 8 dollars a can from Hobby Lobby). I left the top clear so that the solar panel would receive enough sunlight. Elliott dismantled the rainbow solar lights (these are impossible to find, but luckily my sister had a set of 3 in her closet). The dismantling was more difficult than we anticipated since the wires were threaded through a metal tube that was about a foot long. He had to remove the wires, cut, and splice them together again. Then he glued the light on top of the solar panel. He put the whole thing in the bottom of the jar, but we decided not to glue it down so that we could get to the on/off switch if we needed to.
Here are more pics Bella and Zoey.
Here's a video so you can see how the colors change.
The girls were THRILLED when we put together this basket full of Valentine's Day card making supplies! The basket includes pink, white, and red construction paper, heart doilies, Valentine's stickers, glue sticks, scissors, glitter, and Valentine's cupcake liners (E's favorite).
Both girls got right to work! O(5) cranked out at least 10 Valentine's on the first day. She was so proud and sweet when she gave us our heart cards. She made a small one for E (while E was in the middle of a tantrum), and E(2) threw it to the floor. O ran upstairs and made her a bigger heart to make her feel better because she was afraid E was upset that she'd gotten a small heart when the rest of us got big hearts. I love my sweet girl. E later apologized and hugged her sister.
Both girls were THRILLED when I set up some Valentine's cutting work trays for them! The trays didn't stay this nice and neat for long!
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We all love E(2)'s super cool scissors that she got for Christmas (well, we love them more than she does. She just wants to use exactly what her big sister uses. Luckily, her big sister loves these scissors, too!)
Both girls have enjoyed this simple work. They put one pom pom in each heart. I'd like to add a pair of tongs to this work, but they are all missing. *sigh* One day my house will be organized.
Both girls were VERY excited by this work despite the fact that it's much too difficult for E(2) and very easy for O(5). They love it because it involves candy!
O lined up numbered sparkly (or "farkly" as E calls them) hearts in order from 1 to 10. She then put the appropriate number of candy message hearts under each number.
They got to eat a couple of pieces of candy after O finished the work. Then, I had to put it out of reach of E because she kept sneaking pieces of candy!
Our snow dough hasn't seen much action since Christmas, so I decided to use it as our Valentine's Day sensory box. I took out a few things and added in some Valentine's objects from the girls' Montessori shelves. They LOVED it!!!
We had a lot of fun hiding and finding red treasures in the various containers.
