My Inspiration, A Few Tips, Monthly Template
My Inspiration: I started doing a "Letter of the Week" with Easton when he turned 18 months old. I was looking for fun activities to do at home (especially in the long winter months ahead) when I came across the Measured Mom blog. Her blog inspired me to start a Letter of the Week with Easton. Each week, children learn a new letter through crafts, nursery rhymes, books, math connections (numbers and shapes), and sensory play. She shares a variety of free resources, and I chose which ones would be the best for Easton. I also found other ideas from various internet sites that I thought were relevant. At the end of each month, I would take some time to plan out what to buy and print for the following month. Eventually I will have a supplies list all ready for you, to save you the time. My purpose in blogging is to share ideas with other moms and to remember these ideas for my future children. Stay tuned as I update the remaining letters. I love these ideas on how to start teaching the alphabet to a toddler from the Measured Mom blog.
A Few Tips: I look forward to teaching Easton a lot of new things, but the two main purposes of our activities are: FUN and QUALITY TIME with mom. As we've gone through over half of our series up to this point, I've noticed a few things that help us have the most fun:
1) Allow Easton to explore and do things his way. I have a perfectionist personality, so I sometimes have to tell myself to hold back. The bird's eye is on his tail.. oh well. A big part of learning and development for toddlers is through exploring in their own way. If there is an activity that may stress you out (or be too messy), it's worth it to skip it and try something else that will work the best for you.
2. Do not have any set expectations. Easton is now two year old, so I can't expect him to do everything exactly as I plan. Sometimes I go to a lot of work planning an activity and Easton isn't in the mood to do it. I have to tell myself not to get upset, but to try later or another day. I remember doing a Christmas Tree pom pom stamping activity a while ago, and in my mind I thought he'd stamp the pom poms to make beautiful ornaments. Instead of stamping, he painted the pom poms across the page. It wasn't what I had in mind, but I had to put my expectations aside (and my idea of a perfect photo) and let him do his own thing.
3. Don't get caught up in a perfect picture. I have to remind myself of this often. If I'm so focused on getting a great picture to post, there goes all my time I should have spent with him instead of my phone. The idea here is for quality time. Take one picture and be okay with it.
4. Never underestimate a child's learning capability.
Monthly Template: One of my friends, Megan, asked me if I had a monthly template to use for a Letter of the Week series. I thought it was a great idea and we both made one this week. I'm hope to share both of them, to give moms an idea of how to organize a Letter of the Week series. The first one is my template. I first write/type all the activities I want to do, what to buy and what to print. Then, I document them into a monthly calendar (the first week is written in as an example). I really enjoy planning a month in advance. That way, it only takes ONE day to organize, buy and print everything I need and I'm set for the month. The templates below are blurry, and are used as examples of ways to organize your month. I'd be happy to email clear templates - if you're interested email me at katelan.naylor@gmail.com.
Megan's Organizing Template: As a reminder, these are just ideas of what to do. The templates are blurry, and are posted only as examples of how to organize your week/month.
A Few Tips: I look forward to teaching Easton a lot of new things, but the two main purposes of our activities are: FUN and QUALITY TIME with mom. As we've gone through over half of our series up to this point, I've noticed a few things that help us have the most fun:
1) Allow Easton to explore and do things his way. I have a perfectionist personality, so I sometimes have to tell myself to hold back. The bird's eye is on his tail.. oh well. A big part of learning and development for toddlers is through exploring in their own way. If there is an activity that may stress you out (or be too messy), it's worth it to skip it and try something else that will work the best for you.
2. Do not have any set expectations. Easton is now two year old, so I can't expect him to do everything exactly as I plan. Sometimes I go to a lot of work planning an activity and Easton isn't in the mood to do it. I have to tell myself not to get upset, but to try later or another day. I remember doing a Christmas Tree pom pom stamping activity a while ago, and in my mind I thought he'd stamp the pom poms to make beautiful ornaments. Instead of stamping, he painted the pom poms across the page. It wasn't what I had in mind, but I had to put my expectations aside (and my idea of a perfect photo) and let him do his own thing.
3. Don't get caught up in a perfect picture. I have to remind myself of this often. If I'm so focused on getting a great picture to post, there goes all my time I should have spent with him instead of my phone. The idea here is for quality time. Take one picture and be okay with it.
4. Never underestimate a child's learning capability.
Monthly Template: One of my friends, Megan, asked me if I had a monthly template to use for a Letter of the Week series. I thought it was a great idea and we both made one this week. I'm hope to share both of them, to give moms an idea of how to organize a Letter of the Week series. The first one is my template. I first write/type all the activities I want to do, what to buy and what to print. Then, I document them into a monthly calendar (the first week is written in as an example). I really enjoy planning a month in advance. That way, it only takes ONE day to organize, buy and print everything I need and I'm set for the month. The templates below are blurry, and are used as examples of ways to organize your month. I'd be happy to email clear templates - if you're interested email me at katelan.naylor@gmail.com.
