Cute Tots

Tots sure are cute, aren't they? Be sure to click on the photos to visit the mom bloggers of these cute tots!

Is one of these tots your tot (or has your tot been featured as a Cute Tot in the past)? Grab this button for your blog to share with your readers...

<a href="http://totallytots.blogspot.com/search/label/Cute%20Tots" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="Cute Tot" src="http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv250/carisafrank/cutetotfeature150.jpg" /></a>

Want to send in a photo of your Cute Tot? Click Here!

Terrific Tot Sites ~ Tot School Highlights

Every Sunday Carisa hosts a feature on her other blog called Tot School. If you are one who doesn't know that, you can go here to read more about it! She has over 60 moms joining up weekly, so there are plenty of wonderful resources and ideas to find.

This week I'd like to introduce you to Denise at Explorations: Exploring the World With My Girls. She has two girls, Julia {age 5} and Lauren {age 3}. She was a kindergarten teacher for 11 years and is now loving home-preschool with her 3 year old. I have been following her blog for a bit now and love the practical activities that she is doing with Lauren.

A white board along with magnetic letters makes a great alphabet sorting game! How quick and simple is this? You can even turn this into a counting activity, what colors... I'll be using our whiteboard for this too now!

Color mixing with an eyedropper is a great science activity that also incorporates fine motor skills.

Denise gave Lauren a slotted spoon and she went sifting for letters of the alphabet in a large bowl of rice. She then had to transfer them to the cookie sheet for a little added challenge.

Lauren had to sweep beans into a 12 x 12 square that her mom outlined on the floor. The broom ended up being a little too big, so they switched to a dustpan and small broom ~ she loved it!

Sorting lots and lots of lids ~ all by color.

Then sorting lids by size and having fun stacking them.

Denise always has some great ideas for things that you can use around your house as learning tools. Be sure to stop by and visit her blog {and tell her hi!}.

Hope you enjoy this Terrific Tot Site! To see more featured sites, click here!

Once Upon a Book ~ Halloween, Is It For Real?

Halloween: Is It For Real?
by Harold Myra

Summary: Teaches a Christian view of Halloween by presenting it as a holiday on which to celebrate God's victory over evil and evil spirits.

Bible Verse

"And the light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out." John 1:5

Song Time

Once I Had A Pumpkin
(from Dr. Jean’s website)

"Sing to the tune of Did You Ever See a Lassie..."

Oh, once I had a pumpkin, a pumpkin, a pumpkin.
Oh, once I had a pumpkin with no face at all.
With no eyes and no nose and no mouth and no teeth.
Oh, once I had a pumpkin with no face at all.

So I made a jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern, jack-o-lantern.
So I made a jack-o-lantern with a big, funny face.
With big eyes and a big nose and big mouth and big teeth.
So I made a jack-o-lantern with a big, funny face

Craft Time

Orange and Black Sensory Tub

Put orange dyed rice and black beans, tiny candy holder pumpkins and a spoon in a tub/bin for a great sensory tub. To see a picture go to Mommies Wise Little Bookworms.

Yellow and Black Blotto

Have your LO paint a piece of paper yellow and then squirt a dab of black paint in the center. Fold the paper and let your LO smear it together. Open the paper up and let it dry. Once dry, you can add the Bible verse.

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!

Celebrating Your Tot ~ October

Praise God for the lives of these precious tots! If you'd like to wish any of these October Tots a Happy Birthday, just click on their photo which links to their Mommy's blog!

Welcome to TOThood...

these little ones are turning 1 year old this month!

Happy 2nd Birthday...
these tots are celebrating 2 years of life this month!

Happy 3rd Birthday...
these tots are celebrating 3 years of life this month

Moving on Up...
these tots will be turning 4 this month!

This will be our last Celebrating Your Tots post! Thanks to all of you who have submitted your tots for this feature!

** Please email me to let me now if I linked you wrong, forgot to link to your blog, or got something else wrong-I will fix it ASAP!

In My Heart ~ 1 Peter 1:25...Ee

Verses are from: Songs for Saplings: ABCs
(You can get it here, or here)

Find the PDF files to download here!

See our Raising Rock Stars posts here!

See our intro post about teaching Bible memory verses to tots here.

Now I Know My ABC's ~ Zz

It's time for some fun Zz activities!!! We hope you enjoy these! If you are new, you can visit our ABC webpage to find links to any other letters we have done, letters (with books listed) coming up, as well as the PDF of the cover sheet for your ABC notebook!

1, 2, 3 to the zoo : A Counting Book
by Eric Carle

Summary: Each car on the train has one more zoo animal than the one before, from the first car with an elephant to the last with ten birds.

Zz is for Zoo

Print out a Zz Zoo picture and have your LO color it and then glue onto a piece of construction paper. Add holes and put it your alphabet book!

How to Build A Zz

Print out the letter Z (make 2 copies) and put one onto a piece of construction paper. Hole punch and add it to your alphabet book. Cut the other letter Z into 3 pieces each to make them puzzle pieces for your LO to build their own Z's.

Treats 4 Your Tot

Here are some more cool giveaways for tots/moms of tots, check them out below and let us know if you win something we told you about!!!!

Kolcraft Contours Double Stroller...ends 11/19/09

Kolcraft Jeep Stroller...ends 10/31/09

Babalu Toy...ends 11/5/09

Hot Hugs Monkey...ends 10/26/09

FuzziBunz OS Cloth Diaper...ends 11/1/09

Built Lunch Tote...ends 10/30/09

2 FuzziBunz OS Cloth Diapers...ends 11/3/09

Knickernappies OS Cloth Diaper...ends 11/3/09

Rockin Green Soap...ends 11/2/09

PopATot...ends 11/9/09

Terrific Tot Sites ~ Webtots

Webtots is a site geared specifically to tots. It has lots of interactive graphics to keep your tot paying attention to the game and engaged.

When you first log on to Webtots you can choose the theme you want displayed {ocean is default}. So if your little one is more interested in farm animals, you can easily switch it over for him. There are several different themes to choose from {I chose bugs...}.

image copyright webtots.com

The site has games, puzzles, a place to draw/color, music, clocks/numbers, a calculator, and my personal favorite - egg face, where you can create a face by dropping and dragging facial features onto the egg.

Stop by the site and have fun browsing around. Some cute games for your tot! Hope you enjoy this Terrific Tot Site! To see more featured sites, click here!

Once Upon a Book ~ My Happy Pumpkin

My Happy Pumpkin
by Crystal Bowman

Summary: Young children delight in picking out and carving their first pumpkins. Now help them learn about God's love by comparing the experience to God's choosing us and shaping us to his delight.

Bible Verse

Younger: "Let your light so shine before men." Matthew 5:16

Older: "Even so, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16

Craft Time

Pumpkin Gospel: Make a Gospel Pumpkin and read the poem that Carisa made. You can also read all about their Halloween Edition of Rock Stars.

Some Extra Crafting Fun

Make a Happy Pumpkin

Carve a pumpkin and make it a happy pumpkin! Have your LO help you dig out all the "yuckies". The you can gather all the pumpkin seeds and roast them.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

- 1.5 cups of pumpkin Seeds

- 2 TBSP of butter

- season to taste

Roast at 300 for 45 mins and eat!

Song Time

Shine Jesus Shine
(For the whole song go here)

Chorus:

Shine, Jesus, shine
Fill this land with the Father's glory.
Blaze, Spirit, blaze
Set our hearts on fire.
Flow, river, flow
Flood the nations with grace and mercy.
Send forth your word
Lord, and let there be light.

Want to see what's coming next (and books we've done in the past)? Click here to see our Once Upon a Book webpage!

Meet Kara...

Kara is 15 months old and the baby of the family. She has two big sisters, Olivia (11) and Alyssa (4) and one big brother, Aaron (9). She enjoys being the center of attention and won't let you forget it. She is fun, wild, sweet, and fiesty. She can be gentle and hug and kiss you one minute and the next turn her little nose up with a "humpf" and swat her hand. Being the baby of the family has many advantages and she takes full benefit of all of them. Never without a big brother or sister to defend her, she is brave and believes the world is really all about her. Lunchtime is never complete without her favorite lunch buddy, Jackson, our dog. Or maybe it's the other way around as she never fails to share her lunch with him. Life with Kara is fun, exciting, and exhausting. A little tidal wave of joy and attitude hits you with a great big splash and you can't help but love her.

Top Ten Tot School Toys

1. Large Crayola Crayons

2. Play Doh

3. Large foam dice (she actually stole these from her sister and brother)

4. Leapfrog Fridge Phonics Magnet ABC Set

5. Mega Blocks

6. Her big sister's workbooks

7. Brainy Baby Flash Cards

8. Goldfish and little plastic tubs to practice "sorting"

9. Kitchen playsets

10. Water and Sand Table by Step 2

Favorite TV shows/DVDs

1. Wonder Pets

2. Dora the Explorer

3. Baby Eienstien

Favorite Books

1. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you hear?

2. Goodnight Moon

3. Daisy Says Coo

4. The Hungry Little Caterpillar

5. Mr. Brown Says Moo

Kara's Mommy blogs at Under the Golden Apple Tree