Name Scavenger Hunt

Here's a fun and easy learning game to set up for your child during his/her naptime. Plus, it only take 10-15 minutes of prep time so that leaves the rest of little one's naptime for you to complete that never-ending list of chores.

Use some scrap paper and write your child's name over and over again. Then cut them out. Don't worry about them looking pretty. They're for your 18 month old and she won't care if all the angles are 90 degrees.

Then tape them up around the house where you child might see them. Once naptime is over, help your child find them around the house. Use a basket and prep for Easter hunts!

Talk about each letter and make funny noises for each. For example, when I point to the letter "R" I say "Ruh, ruh, ruh" loudly and enthusiastically and when I point to the "S" and run my finger over the curves of the "S" and hiss like a snake, etc. After making a fool of yourself, remember to finish up by saying their name slowly while pointing to each letter in turn and then repeating their name quickly. For "Rose", I have to explain that the "E" is silent. That's the English language for ya.

After all your letters and name cards have been collected you can keep them for another day. I keep some posted around the house so throughout our normal day we can stop and spell our name. It's the first step to learning the alphabet!

DIY Shape Book or Flashcards

After making some simple window clings for Rose, I had some left over foam that needed to be used. I've seen some felt DIY shape books online and decided foam could be an alternative and just-as-good material. The foam I used came from a 36-pack bought from the Dollar Tree.

For this project, I only needed 12 sheets to make the book. I began by cutting 6 sheets of foam in half to make two pages. I then punched a hole in the top left corner of each in case I wanted to string them together later.

After that, I carefully cut out two identical copies of 11 different shapes: heart, circle, oval, square, triangle, rectangle, rhombus, trapezoid, pentagon, hexagon, and star. One of each shape was then glued onto a page of the book while the other one was traced with a sharpie and then set aside. Lastly,

I labeled each shape that was glued to the page. And that's it. You can string the pages together to make a book or keep them flat to use as flashcards

Rose surprised me when I handed her the heart and circle and she correctly placed them on the corresponding card. I was so proud of her. This fun learning activity will now be a part of our daily routine.

Afternoon Activity: Bathtub Painting

Rose and I are stuck at home for the better part of today while waiting for a contractor to come and patch up a hole in the garage ceiling. Luckily, we were able to run to the late story time at our library where Rose had an awesome social breakthrough and detached herself from me for a whole 5 minutes to play with the parachute. It was a big proud-mama moment.

After we came home and ate lunch, we were pretty bored and didn’t know what to do with ourselves. I thought about finger painting but I really didn’t feel like cleaning up the big mess that was sure to come with that activity, which of course would lead to a bath. That’s when it hit me. Why not skip the middle part? Why not make the mess IN the bathtub? Well, that’s exactly what we did. I prepped Rose’s paint tray (icecube tray), attached cotton balls to the ends of some clothespins, and let Rose go at it in the tub.

I made sure to use washable finger paint. I recommend the Crayola brand, but you could always experiment making some DIY finger paint (although be careful when using food coloring, it may dye your child’s clothes and/or your bathtub).

My favorite things about this activity is that the prep time was minimal (around 2 minutes) and Rose enjoyed playing for about 30-35 minutes! After about 15 minutes of play Rose started getting bored with the cotton balls, so I introduced some q-tips and she continued playing with those for another 10 minutes. Once she decided that she had enough of painting, I turned the water on and she had even more fun playing in the colored water and helping mom clean the sides of the tub. The one “bad” thing about this activity is that it left a lovely red ring around my tub; but since I used washable paints, it was easily removed with a wet rag.

Overall Rating: 5+ Stars!

Below is a quick summary of why this activity was so awesome and received a 5+ rating:

• Minimal prep time
• 30-35 minutes of play time
• Sensory play: cotton, water, goopy paint
• Learning opportunities for colors, counting, and letters
• Creative play: making art, mixing colors 
• Easy clean up