I Have Two Hands...I Can Help Clean Up!

Cleaning up after oneself is a good habit to teach early on, one that will surely benefit your tot (and you!) as he/she grows older. You can start by having your toddler pack away his/her toys before moving on to another activity (or tuning in to Nick Jr and Disney Jr). Always have him/her assist you or the yaya in keeping toys and books after playtime. If you are finding it difficult to engage your child in something as mundane as cleaning up, you can turn it into a game and eventually, he/she will get into the habit of packing up. Here are some tips to help your toddler get in the swing of things:

 (1) Sing a special song for cleaning up. You can look up these tunes that may already be familiar to your child:

Barney's version (Let's Go To The Firehouse): Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere; Clean up, clean up, everybody do your share

Dora's version (Dora Saves The Mermaids): Clean up, clean up, everybody clean up! Everyone everywhere!

Gymboree version: This is the way we pack away, pack away, pack away. This is the way we pack away here at [Gymboree] -> instead of "Gymboree", you can change to "[child's name] house"

(2) Make a game of it. Have your toddler toss the balls into a basket. Challenge him/her to arrange her toys by type, color, or size.

(3) Engage in pretend play. My daughter pretends that her table and boxes make up a "toy store" and her bookshelf is a "book store". She has to properly arrange the items she "sells" and "buys".

(4) Teach your child to pack away gently (i.e., do not throw) so that the toys and books remain in good condition.

(5) Do as you teach. Help him/her pack away and show him/her that you also clean up after work or play.

There's ABC and then there's abc

If you're starting to teach your toddler lowercase letters, you might want to consider using Kumon's ABC's Write and Wipe Lowercase Letters. This pack of flash cards represents each of the letters of the alphabet in lowercase format. Each card has the letter on one side and a sample word and picture on the other side. What differentiates it from other flash cards is that the letter side follows a tracing format using broken / dashes lines, which toddlers can attempt to follow using a pen (included in the pack). Once done, you can use the eraser (attached to the pen) to erase and have your toddler try again! The letters are quite big, perfect for first time writing attempts and the reusability factor is a must when dealing with kids this young. My only gripe is that the pictures are not colored, so it's difficult to identify some of them. Also while most cards feature a word that starts with the given letter, X is the exception - it shows the word "OX", which confused my child at first given the consistent pattern of the other cards. They could have used xylophone, at least.

Still, I'm satisfied with using the cards to practice lowercase letter recognition, writing, and spelling/reading. This pack of cards and other Kumon products are available locally, at Fully Booked.

Playhouse Disney Magazine - Still A Fan!

First day of school and my toddler had her biggest battle yet - against a bottle of glue :P It was her first time to handle glue and she didn't count on how sticky it was; particularly on her little fingers! She refused to finish the activity on account of wanting desperately to wash her hands. I dropped by National Bookstore to buy her her own glue to practice at home. I was also hoping to buy the Kumon workbook for pasting. Unfortunately, it was all sold out. Only the Pasting book for 3-4 years old remained. I bought the glue nonetheless and rummaged through old magazines when I got home, intent on cutting out pictures she could paste on a blank sheet of paper. I came upon her back issues of Playhouse Disney and realized that each issue has a cut and paste exercise! I buy these magazines for the tracing, counting, and coloring exercies (and the read aloud stories), so this is a bonus treat for me. My daughter had a blast pasting in pictures of Mickey Mouse, Pooh Bear, and Handy Manny. Each activity differs from the rest so it never gets boring. Now I'm eagerly awaiting the next issue of Playhouse Disney...soon to be Disney Junior!