Homemade Lacing Cards

I found some cute lacing cards from Totally Tots and I wanted to make some for myself. I tweaked them just a little so I thougtt I would share.

I picked up a package of Foam Sheets at Hobby Lobby for $4.99.

Cut out shapes. Punch holes around the edge.

The problem I noticed was that if she pulled the ribbon too hard it would come back through the holes. I made a coordinating ribbon for each shape. At the end of the ribbon I attached a piece of the foam so that it could act as a stopper.

Not only can they practice lacing and shapes but they can practice matching the colors.

Now what to do with this?!?

Need mats? Go to Target

I found these Bamboo mats at Target today for $2.50 each. I really wanted some toddler size mats for school and these are perfect!

Actual size: 18"x24"

Great Online Store for Melissa & Doug/Montessori Toys

You may have noticed some of our new Melissa & Doug toys. Most of the new toys came from our family for Michaela's birthday. (We could never afford to buy her all of these great toys!) I did a lot of research to try to find the best prices and the most affordable shipping.

I came across a great family owned business: Out of the Toy Box. The customer service was excellent, the shipping was very fast, and they even included a little bear for Corbin as a gift. (I was trying to feed Corbin while we were on the phone and I think she could hear him screaming ;) I love being able to buy items from a small business! You can click here to learn more about them.

Originally, I was going to get some of the traditional Montessori equipment from other websites but I wasn't able to beat the shipping price: It is FREE if you spend $99 or more. When you get a few people together to make a purchase you can all benefit from the shipping prices! The prices for the M&D items are very comparable to other websites and stores you can purchase the toys from.

And the best part: They are going to start carrying traditional Montessori equipment for the classroom. I'm so excited!

I can't wait for Christmas now!

1+1+1 Introduction

One of my favorite blogs is having a celebration!

1+1+1=1 is celebrating 1,000 subscribers. You can read my introduction here but make sure to get to know some of the other wonderful Momma's who read her blog.

My name is: Amanda

I have: a two-year-old daughter, a 4-month-old son and a wonderful husband

I am: a Child of God, Mommy, Wife, Sister, Daughter,

The name of my blog is: takingoffmyshoes.blogspot.com

I blog about: Mostly my children. I also touch on my relationship with God and my husband

I have been reading at 1+1+1=1: since March 2009

This is my first time commenting on 1+1+1=1:no

My favorite Bible verse: Psalm 118: 24 This is the day the LORD has made;
let us rejoice and be glad in it.

I participate in Tot School: yes

Tool for Learning Colors

I was reading about Rocker Mom's connect four cards and it reminded me to post about the color cards I made. We are on a tight budget and cannot really afford to buy colored ink for the printer. Hence the homemade matching squares. This is a super easy idea and you could use any colored items to match your papers.

I chose to use these small wooden blocks for matching.
I made some cards with a single color to focus on the individual colors

And cards with a pattern for more of a challenge.

Final Product:

Click on the button below for more great Tot Tools!

Our Trays

I had a few people ask where I got Michaela's trays from. I was going to respond in the comment section, but I wanted to show a few pictures.

I actually got this idea from Carisa at 1+1+1=1. She suggested using the trays from her Melissa & Doug toys. We have a few different sets of these toys.
I emptied the contents of these trays and viola: Perfect trays with compartments. Some of the trays are a little more complex which will be great once we start sorting more objects.
I love yard sale season. I found these M&D toys for $4.00 each in someone's front yard!

Tot School Update

Michaela is 19 months old

I've mentioned this in my confession this week, but Tot School was very sporadic. We worked on activities at different points throughout the day. Once Corbin is here and we have more of a routine, I plan on having a specific time for "school" everyday. For now we are just going to enjoy playing together everyday.

We've had these blocks since Christmas, but this is the first time she has really enjoyed playing with them.

Thankfully, she enjoys cleaning up after herself. The top of the bucket has a shape sorter so she got to clean and learn at the same time!

Puzzles are always a favorite

You might remember these from your childhood. It's a towel that expands once you put it in water. Daddy loves doing water activities with Michaela.

She's watching the towel get bigger.

We went to the park for awhile one day. I love the warm weather! Unfortunately, this park did not have a slide. I thought all parks had a slide. Michaela was pretty bummed about not sliding but she soon forgot.

I was in the midst of moving Michaela's clothes out of the nursery so that we could move Corbin in and Michaela desperately needed something to do.

I thought this would be a great opportunity to work on her transferring skills. This kept her attention for about 10 minutes.

Check out this blog for other ideas from Tot Schools.

My Little Helper

I love when teachable moments come that I do not expect. Some of you may not think this is a very teachable moment, but I think it is a great way to teach Michaela how to become a great woman.
I was cleaning the window of our front storm door. I had walked outside to wash the other side and when I looked down Michaela was "cleaning" the door with my older wipes. It was so adorable! She watched me clean and did exactly the same thing.

(Please excuse the glare. I was outside taking the picture.)

So, why would I call this a "teachable moment"? I really feel that a lot of little girls are not being trained to become true women. Women who can clean a home, nurture their children and love their husbands. The gender lines are being so blurred. I feel that any time I can make Michaela understand what it really means to be a woman I am being obedient to God.
I know helping a 1 year old "wash" a window doesn't seem like being obedient, but all too often we look over the importance of raising our children to be godly. We begin to see it as an every day task instead of our mission and ministry from God. At least I do all too often. I'm trying to open my eyes to see more of God in my every day tasks.

Playing with the Doll House

Michaela has really started to enjoy playing with her dolls. Nana L. got Michaela this vintage Little Tykes doll house and she loves it! It is very basic but she finds so much to do!

She likes to transfer the people from one chair to the other.
(I think that might just qualify for a montessori hand transfer activity!)
She also likes to put the people in their bedShe always wants to show me that she can put them in bed. She is showing off her work!

Nope- I don't want to do any of your Montessori Activities

I think if my 13-month-old daughter could talk that is what she would say.

Every activity we try, she does something different. We tried water pouring and thankfully we did that on the kitchen floor. She liked to turn over every container on the floor.

We tried to screw on caps and she decided to sit them down. That was interesting enough for her.

I tried to teach her what stickers were but she wanted to learn to sit in her chair instead. She put the sticker in her hair.

She is just not into this right now, but I'm going to stick with the method. Which means that I need to figure you exactly what would interest her and find something on her age level.

And right now she is interested in books, babies and food. I am going to focus on reading lots of books with her, playing with her doll house and cooking lots of plastic food. I'm sure along the way I will figure out ways to incorporate learning into this, but either way we are having fun together and we are going to create lots of great memories.

Wet and Dry

Yesterday, we decided to play with a few objects in a cup. We started off with water(wet), cotton balls(soft and dry), and sunflower seeds (hard and dry). I really didn't want to use sunflower seeds but it was all I could find around the house. I soon realized what a mistake it was to use sunflower seeds.

The sunflower seeds either went to the dog or in her mouth. We took them away rather quickly.




However, once I took away the sunflower seeds, I had unknowingly created the "wet/dry experiment".

At first, she would put her hand in the container and feel the water.

She would also reach into the other container and touch the soft cotton balls.











After a few minutes of exploring, she started to put the dry cotton balls into the water.

In the end we learned a few lessons:

1. Mom should always put a towel down before playing water activities
2. Michaela learned the difference between wet and dry. You can see in the picture below she is holding 1 wet cotton ball and 1 dry cotton ball. She immediately got to experience what happens to an object once it is put into water.
3. Mom also learned that Michaela can get very wet during water play!!
4. I need to let her explore. She will suprise me! Babies are very smart.
5. Learning is fun. Be spontaneous.
6. And finally, don't try to give her something that can't be put in her mouth.