Halloween Activity Bins

I wanted to give "Baby" O some Halloween activities, but finding things for a 1 year old can be a little tough.  Then I thought back to when I create her sensory bowl, which she stills plays with.  I looked through my Halloween bin from when I taught Pre-K and found lots of things that I could use in one way or another. 

This is the main idea of what items I used to create fun, entertaining and educational activities for"Baby" O.

First, I added a 2 sets of Halloween cups.  We stack them and knock them down, put items into the cup and nest the cups.

The second activity was a pumpkin basket filled with spiders and a scoop.  We scoop the spiders, put them into the cups or the basket, count them and so on.

Of course "Baby" O is never without books.  We have both board books (pictured) and what we call "Mommy's Books" which are paper back and she is not aloud to play with yet since she has ripped a few already.  She loves to just sit and look at the books and sometimes reads them to us.

Another activity was a little felt basket filled with cookie cutters in Halloween shapes.  We talk aboutthe different shapes, sort them, stack them, make patterns and so on.

This activity was another pumpkin basket filled with mini stuffed pumpkins.  The pumpkins are 2 different sizes so we sort them by size, make patterns, stack or attempt to stack them, throw them into the basket and so on.

There is not much, but this is the start of our Halloween dress up stuff. We will have to add to this activity over the years.

This is just a large furry spider that we play with.  It's legs are bendable so we create different positions for him.

Our last activity is Halloween stuffed animals.  We don't do much with these as far as sorting or anything, but we make them talk and dance.

"Baby" O has enjoyed all of her Halloween activities.  Sometimes I let her choose which she wants to play with or I give her a single basket for more quiet individual play.  Something that I did not take a picture of are her musical balloons.  I filled orange balloons with things such as beads, rice, pasta and so on.  After I blew them up I drew faces of them to make jack-o-lanterns and strung them up with green ribbon.  When she hits them they make different noises and she has a blast with these. 

With Halloween here in just a few days I need to come up with some fall/Thanksgiving activities for "Baby" O.  I gave away a bunch of items for Thanksgiving last year that I am know wishing I didn't because she could play with them, but oh well.  We can just start from scratch. 

Happy Halloween!! 

Product Review - Mama May i

I have gotten Baby O  some toys, both handmade and store bought, that I feel are top toys.  Since these toys are so awesome I decided to do some product reviews about the toys we have and ones that I am planning for the future.

The first toys come from the Etsy shop Mama May i.  I wanted to fill Baby O's Easter basket with good educational toys that would help her to explore and work on fine motor skills.  I came across this shop on Etsy one day.  After spending at least a week deciding what I might want to get her, I contacted the creator Jessica to inquire about a custom order.  I knew what I wanted, but wanted them in rainbow colors.  The colors would be great to get an early start of the 6 main colors and they would be unisex so if the next baby is a boy he could use them too.  Jessica was very helpful and friendly.  She gave detailed response to me messages and was very honest about any time issues.  I ended up purchasing 4 items from her and could not have been happier.  They arrived very quickly and are well made.

The Tiny Tickler was one of the first items I wanted to get.  Baby O loves to laugh and pretty much anything will make her laugh so this item was a must.  We had her cracking up on Easter in front of everyone just brushing this over parts of her body.  I still use it on her - before and after a bath, diaper changes and anytime she gets dressed.

The Grab it Gadget was the first item I wanted.  I thought it would be a nice toy to have, especially for in the car.  WIth Baby O about to start teething, the think fabric seemed like a nice alternative to chew on.  There is usually only 5 "tabs", but Jessica made one for me with 6 "tabs" - one for each color.  It is so well made and a nice size too.  I absolutely love this toy!

The third item I got was a major custom order.  I always look through people's feedback on Etsy.  This is not only to see what reviews the items I want got, but also to see items that the seller used to have.  I found the Sound Gizmo is the feedback section, it was not even an item for sell in her shop.  Jessica was so awesome and made one for me and again, in my rainbow colors.  Baby O really likes this item, especially the purple and yellow sections.  The purple one makes a rattle sound when hit and the yellow makes a squeak sound like her Sofie (a later review).  This is another great car toy.

The last item I got which was literally the last item I decided to get is the Rainbow Ribbon Lovey.  This item was already in rainbow colors so no custom order needed.  Baby O has been showing a lot of interest in this lately, she really like the Mama May i tag, haha.  The blanket is a really nice size, Baby O is almost 8 months and it can still cover her.  The strip of solid colors is of various textured fabric.  All of the ribbons are different materials as well. 

My experience with Mama May i has been wonderful.  I am planning another order within the next month (another review) and I have gifts picked out for her birthday, Christmas and Easter.  This is a shop worth checking out and the products are well made and a Baby O approved.

And so it begins!

Hi! I’m Kelly a semi stay at home mom of a beautiful daughter (Baby O). Through my teaching experiences and my own research, I have realized that the best time to teach children is when they are younger. The younger the better!  Young children are so observant to the world around them.  Everything is new and I love the look of wonder they get.  It seems like Baby O is always discovering something new, even if it is a toy she has played with several times before.  That toy may look different from a new angle or make a sound she didn't know about.  Because I love the look she gets when I just let her explore, I have decided to look into the Montessori method of teaching.  I began researching the Montessori method of teaching and am going to implement so many of its aspects into my daughter's life. Not everyone in my family understands these concepts or thinks they are necessary which is why I am being this blog. I want to share various learning and teaching concepts and ideas that I found to incorporate into her life. I am also planning on including party tips since we have one about every month as well as fun crafts for both you and your children (again most of my family thinks I'm nuts for putting so much thought and effort into such simple things, I love it what can I say). I am trying to supply the best for my family whether that is natural toys, organic and healthy food or just my time and love. So keep in touch and follow me on my journey of creating a healthy, happy and educated family.