Color and Word Games {Toddler Approved This Week}

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This post is quickly becoming one of my favorites because it is fun to see what activities we actually accomplish and it is even more exciting to sift through all of the awesome things I pin and decide which to try out. 

Last week it was HOT and gorgeous where we live! I spent a lot of time outside running with our double jogger (while my five year old rode his bike alongside). We didn't get much time for crafting or activities, but we managed to sneak a few things in.

Here are a few of the ideas we tried out inspired by several of the posts I shared with you last week...

Instead of making these May Day baskets, we did some May Day salad spinner art baskets. 

We tried out Teach Mama's Building words with Letter Lids activity which then led to loads of other letter lid activities... including a few we'll share with you this next week. We used our Melissa & Doug Alphabet and Number stickers which we love!

We did lots and lots of Lego building inspired by Lego Quest Kids.

We did an Indoor Alphabet Hunt inspired by the Outdoor chalk alphabet hunt shared by Gratefully Growing in Grace. Instead of using chalk on pavement outdoors, we wrote with markers on the ram board that is around our house (mainly because the baby was sleeping and it was hot outside). You could do this on butcher paper and tape it to your floor. 

The kids loved hunting again and again for the letters. The toddler matched the letters to the words and then my five year old read the words. They were a great team!

Lastly we did an Indoor Colors and Shapes Game inspired by the chalk colors and shape game shared by Tiny Sidekicks. Once again the baby was sleeping and I was enjoying the A/C so we opted to do an indoor version. 🙂

I drew colored shapes on large art paper and taped it to the ground and the kids came up with all sorts of ways to play games with this shape path. Their main goal was to walk from one side to another on the same shape or the same color.

We also spent some quality time talking about colors this week using art supplies. Stacking colored lids is way more fun than painting sometimes... and provides loads of opportunities to talk about patterns and colors too!

We enjoyed Screen Free Week all last week during the day and I think we'll be doing that for the kids from now on as much as possible. I underestimated them. I realized that I turn on DVDs due to sheer laziness on my part sometimes and they don't need to be on. The kids are so much happier and pleasant without them too. I am also much nicer and patient when I avoid screens when they are awake... so I'll try to do that more often. Sometimes it is unavoidable... since it seems most of life requires the computer, but I don't need to be online as much as I am.

Last week we also attended a wedding and so I had to throw in a picture of my littlest guy. He is now six months old. The time sure flies!

This next week we are going to be focusing on some simple preschool skills- listening, hand-eye coordination, cutting, and pretend play. 

Here are some of the activities and crafts we'll be trying out this next week...

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar Threading via Here Come the Girls
• Invitation to Scoop and Pour via The Sugar Aunts
• Giant Connect the Dots via What Do We Do All Day?
• Five Playful Ways to Work on Listening and Following Directions via Playing with Words 365
• Pretend Hair Salon for Dolls via Inner Child Fun
• Easy DIY Books for Young Writers via Imagination Soup
• Aliens Love Underpants craft via Rainy Day Mum

We also plan to read a few related books...

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar 
• Aliens Love Underpants!
• My Mouth Is a Volcano!

I can't wait to get started on a few of these projects today!

Did you try out any new activities last week? What were your favorites? Please share any links in the comments!