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Toddler Routine #1: Michelle's Ideas

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Winner #1-- Michelle:
Check her out! She designed this cute document completely!(I am in love with the fried eggs especially):

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And Michelle's email to me with some added explanation/ideas:

Hey Em,

Here's a rough schedule of what Eliana and I try to do each day. Of course, it's a little different for us b/c we have a newborn in the mix so we don't always get to everything! Of course the times are flexible but this is just a rough idea. You can also add in little field trips like the library, zoo, etc, whenever you feel like it. We go to our library occasionally for story time (we were going once a week before Everett was born but haven't been since and we also like going to the zoo occasionally.) Hope this helps and you find something you can use!

Michelle

I particularly love her concept of "free play". Michelle reports that when she first implemented it, her 2-year-old was really into it, and willing to work on playing independently of her mama during that time (which if you have ever had a 2 year old, you know is a MIRACLE. My kid runs in a TIGHT orbit around my ankles all day long!!). Something magic about using those words, "free play"captured Eliana's imagination and she really took to it. I am hoping I can get Noah on board with this idea!

Thanks, Michelle--- such a fun layout and great ideas! Everyone, give the girl some love in the comments, yeah?

:)

And you guys would be proud of me! I've been working on keeping to a THEME this week with Noah... taking time when I remember to do an activity or song or lesson about that theme. And this week's theme is:

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BUGS! (eww!)

We've been singing songs, coloring pictures, and even creating our own bugs online at Terminix.com of all places. When you print out your bug, it prints it BIG, without any of the webpage stuff around it. SO COOL! Noah was THRILLED!

And we've been playing with these rubber bugs from Target's Dollar Spot:

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And, well... It's been really fun! Noah has been incredibly into it, and really focused for long amounts of time, which is a great thing, believe you me.

Our main theme song for the week has been "Bugs Are Really Swell", from Jack's Big Music Show (Thanks, Dawn!!)... Here's some Noah video featuring the song and his usual antics:



And so.... We're off and running with this new routine thing! Gonna post some more sample routines in the next few days... Hope you all get some fun brainstorms of your own from seeing others' ideas!

14 comments:

  1. This is going to help me SO much...and LOVE the theme idea!!! Thanks, Em and Michelle :)

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  2. I love this idea! I am so excited to see what other mamas out there do with their little ones. Thanks for sharing the entries with us.

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  3. This is a great idea - I'm trying to figure out how to share the routines, etc. with some of the moms I work with without crossing too many boundaries... I like the "free play", too.

    And I like the "theme of the week" idea - way to go to brave "bugs", Em :) The really good developmental preschools did this, too (much better than my nightmare of a daycare/pseudo-preschool that I go to now to see a kid...) I think it actually helped me be more creative with my treatment activities/ideas.

    So great - thanks for sharing!

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  4. that's really cute! and may actually be something I could implement here! we need something cause at the end of the day I have extreme guilt for what we haven't done!

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  5. LOL! Love the creatures on the windowsill! So cute!

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  6. Right now we're trying to keep Rory from NOT touching bugs, but I love the idea of a theme! Hmmmm maybe I'll try that next week.

    Great job Michelle! I love the visual reminders on the schedule!

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  7. LOVED THE VIDEO of that darling boy! Thank you for sharing so many fun things with him!

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  8. Super cute. This reminds me of an elementary school schedule. The learning segments are broken into half hour increments. We even did 20 minute ones with the kids sometimes. Then you just keep moving!

    As for "free play," that's pretty much ALL we do here, so he is really good at it here, even when Callum is asleep. Just getting him practiced up for you. :)

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  9. YES!!! I love. LOVE. LOVE this!! I am already planning activities to get me through the summer with 3 kids. I only have 2 more Mondays till a "new" reality hits! YIKES!
    so.. I would love to know how you keep to this AND edit all those fabulous sessions. I was having big time mommy guilt yesterday as I spent much of her awake time at the 'puter! -(

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  10. I love to come here for a visit to see what you are up to. Love reading about your Mommy ventures. Not sure if I told her I put your flower tutorial link on my blog. Hugs

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  11. Excellent schedule Michelle!!!! This sounds so much like Ellie's preschool schedule it's almost scary. Including the weekly theme. So, you guys are BRILLIANT!!!

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  13. What a great idea to post a daily scheule and get new ideas!

    Your little man is so darn cute and I remember well when Soren was 2. Now that Dahlia is a year and a half things are busy BUT my children play together quite often now (they love to take all the blankets and pillows off the bed and do active and creative play--clean up not as fun ;)! They were always drawn to each other and made each other laugh but now it is full-on playing. It's so wonderful and I love hearing them laugh and interact.

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  14. I am so glad that I saw this post!
    I have been following your blog for a little while now and I sat down tonight and just decided to explore it.
    my sons almost 9 months and I have no idea what
    to do with him! (activity wise) i checked out the productiveparenting.com site and love it! thankyou thankyou thankyou!

    btw your littles are extremely adorable.

    -Jessica
    www.simplylovelyjhoward.blogspot.com

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