er favorites on any typical day:~Crayons, play dough, and finger paint
~Melissa and Doug Wooden Food - we have the spices, sandwich kit, eggs, and fruits & vegies
~Wooden puzzles
~ Miss Patty Cake DVD's
~Dolls and stuffed animals - Lydia is an organizer and loves to organize her dolls and animals in her crib before she naps as well as to group them in play. For example, she'll take a book with animal pictures and then find stuffed animals or other pictures and place them on the pictures in the book. She's now doing this with colors and numbe
rs too. She has two Melissa & Doug wooden animal puzzles and these have been great not just for putting the puzzle together but for organizing and sorting with her other animals and books.~Leap Frog Fridge Phonics Magnet Set - This teaches the alphabet and she loves to put the different letters in, listen to the sounds they make, and hear the abc song. I've even heard her beginning to sing her abc's (which makes me so happy since she's really not hearing it anywhere else where we live!!).
9 comments:
How do you keep her from taking the alphabet letters all over the house? Carli (23 months) can now pick out the B for Baby, C for Carli, D for Daddy, M for Mommy, and Z for Zebra! :-) But, she has lost the G for Granny and V for Violet! I have tore the house apart and can't find them. I'm wondering if she may have thrown them in the trash.
All that to also see if anyone has any ideas for a 2nd birthday present that teaches the ABCs, but is all CONNECTED so no letters can be lost?
Thanks for all each of you do!
Mariah
swan5475@hotmail.com
www.cmbadura.blogspot.com
Ha ha. I have 2 boys and they also play with these toys. My little one (17 mo) loves to dance to the ABC song on the fridge = so cute! Play doh is huge, as is coloring, reading, puzzles, play kitchen, and baby Einstein DVD's. They are boys after all so the Thomas stuff is everywhere, but it's not the only thing =)
I think it's so neat that even as toddlers, girls and boys are so different - following a design God placed in them. Maggie also loves painting, coloring, stickers, play-doh, BABIES, AND she LOVES "making" me breakfast or tea or coffee and bringing me cute little empty tea cups and plates piled high with a conglomeration of play-foods.
About the wooden food... do you have a good place to order, Krista? I want to replace all our plastic food, but the only place i've found wooden or felt food was at Target (and I'm not even sure the food is actually made of wood; it doesn't specify on the pkg), and it's a little more than I want to spend.
I know I can make our own felt food, but I just can't find the time to do it... unless someone out there (Hollie??) wants to make some for us! You know, Lilly's birthday is in two weeks, ahem. haha. Just kidding!!!
Ok, maybe I have a dumb question. Why does everyone hate plastic food so much? Is it related to the BPA problem with bottles?
KC,
There are several possible concerns with plastic toys in general. They contain chemicals used to soften the plastic, making it less likely to break. They aren't the same as BPA in bottles, but the basis for the concern is the same. Too many chemicals that can be harmful for our kids! Plastic toys are not as concerning with an older child - but younger children tend to put everything in their mouth. Especially play food. I would imagine that lead can be a concern too.
Hope that helps!
Shannon and KC,
We got our M & D wooden food on Amazon - and, best of all, it was a gift from Josh's mom! It's pricey, but is so much better quality than that plastic junk. It's non-toxic, safe to put in their mouths, and it is more fun because it is velcroed together so Lydia can cut it apart with her knife and cutting board. She loves to cut different foods, pile them on a plate, and serve me breakfast. I can teach her about "halves," "thirds,"
"quarters," etc. The little bit of plastic food that we have is such poor quality, it bends in, doesn't look real, is not interactive, and is toxic on top of it all.
This email reply was helpful, I hadn't thought of looking at the underside of the door. The G and V are not there :-( Our alphabet magnets are on the dishwasher. I'm thinking they got thrown in the trash, Carli is quickly learning the remaining 24... when she masters those, I may look into buying extra letters????
"Hi Mariah! I'm a friend of Krista, an author on the Prayer of Hannah website. I just wanted to reply to your comment from today. We also have the magnet letters that seem to grow legs and find good hiding places. You may have already looked, but if you have your letters on your refrigerator, they might be under there. Not just under the fridge, but I've often found them stuck to the parts of the underside of the fridge. How they get there, I'll never know. It's always a challenge to retrieve them but maybe that's where your G and V are! Happy hunting!"
Mariah
swan5475@hotmail.com
www.cmbadura.blogspot.com
Carli loves:
DVDs of Baby Signing Time
anything Elmo (she will be having an Elmo birthday party when she turns 2)
her Leap Frog DVD of the alphabet
anything Leap Frog
babies, bottles, her stroller
her "reading chair"
her princess chair
her vacuum cleaner
Daddy or Mommy's socks for hand puppets
boxes as cars (to ride in or push)
her pool
bubbles (outside and in the bathtub ... check out the automatic one by "Summer" that attaches to the side of your tub!
You can see pictures of some of these on our blog (address below) or email me for more info!
We are thankful that she is so easily entertained!
Mariah
www.cmbadura.blogspot.com
swan5475@hotmail.com
I simply love the topics you have lined up for the blog this fall. One tidbit I just wanted to contribute to this thread...is my all-time favorite diaper bag. I stumbled across these in Michael's last year as I was trying to narrow down my cart to one purchase to use my 40% off coupon on. They are called Knitpickers Carry all Travelers and Michaels still carries them. Its a sturdy laminated bag with two exterior pockets and penty of interior pockets. It zips and comes in mod prints. I have a red, green and khaki floral that's appropriate for a girl. Two more things I love about it...the handles are just long enough to reach all the way my strollers handles and with the 40% off coupon I paid a grand total of $12.50 for the bag. I've been using it for 2 years and no problems so far! Check out your Michael's store or google knitpickers carry all traveler online.
Hope this is helpful!
Jillian
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