Book Basket: December & January

At the end of each month we want to give you a 'heads up' of the books that will be used in the two upcoming months for several of our features: Little Books for Little Cooks, Now I Know My ABC's, and Once Upon a Book. These lists are to help you out so you can be looking for the books at your library, digging through your stacks in search of them, or order those 'must haves'!

Little Books for Little Cooks is a new feature that we will be adding in January. We'll be featuring a fun book to read with your little one and then a cooking {or kitchen creation} to go along with the book. Just another way for you to have fun together with your little ones!

Here are the books that we are planning to use during the months of December and January:


Little Books for Little Cooks



Now I Know My ABC's



Once Upon a Book

Now I Know My ABC’s ~ D is for Dinosaur

It's time for some fun alphabet crafts!! 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!

Ten Terrible Dinosaurs

by Paul Stickland

Summary:Countdown from 10 to 1 as you read about 10 dinosaurs standing in a line that begin to push and shove each other and leave the line one by one. This is a great way to introduce the concept of subtraction to your little ones.

What You'll Need

• Green foam sheet or construction paper {I used two different colors}
• Scissors
• Pen {to trace letter}
• Googly eyes
• Glue

To Make the Dinosaur

1. Trace and cut an uppercase 'D' out of the foam sheet or construction paper. I used a foam sheet that was about 4" x 5" in size.
2. Using the extra foam, cut out several triangles for the dinosaurs back.
3. Cut out four rectangles to use as 'legs', an oval for his head, a neck and a tail.
4. Glue the legs, tail and neck onto the back of the letter 'D'.
5. Flip the dinosaur over and add his head, scales and eye.

Terrific Tot Sites ~ Little Fingers

Little Fingers is a website that develops software for children PreK up to 5th grade. While the company has a lot of software that you can purchase, they also have some fun games that you can play for free online.

** Note: Adobe Shockwave required to run online games. **

There are some cute games that are ‘samples’ or one from a series of games that Little Fingers offers. I played around in the Hat Shop first. You are shown some hats and then given a few other hats and asked to put them in the display. “Put the red hat under the purple hat, etc…” It’s a great game to help learn different directional words {above, below, left, right, and next to}.

Another fun game is the colors game. Children listen for the color word and then look for the fish that is that color to swim across the screen. When they see the right fish, they have to click on it and then are asked to find another fish.

There are several other games on the site that you might have fun playing with, so hop over and check it out. If your little one enjoys the games, you might be interested in the Game Parlor that you can download to use without needing an internet connection {$19.99}.

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

Once Upon a Book ~ Jesus, Me and My Christmas Tree

Jesus, Me, and My Christmas Tree
by Crystal Bowman

Summary: Little ones can't wait to put up the Christmas tree -- a clear sign of exciting things to come. But what's the meaning of this holiday tradition? Learn the symbolic meaning of the Christmas tree, from lights and ornaments and the star on top to the blessing of presents underneath.

Daily Activities

{click on the craft title for full directions}

Supplies needed: green paint, white or cream construction paper, green construction paper, star stickers, sugar cones, green frosting, and sprinkles.

Dec 1: Christmas Tree Handprint craft

Dec 2 Christmas Tree Mobile

Dec 3: Salt Dough Christmas Ornaments

Dec 4: Sugar Cone Christmas Tree

Bible Memory

December’s Bible Verse: “For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11

This weeks part for LO's to memorize: ‘for there is born to you’

Song Time

The Lights on the Tree
Sung to: "The Wheels on the Bus"

The lights on the tree go blink, blink, blink,
Blink, blink, blink, blink, blink, blink.
The lights on the tree go blink, blink, blink
All Christmas Day.

Other Verses:

The presents at the house go rattle, rattle, rattle, etc.
The mom at the house goes bake, bake, bake, etc.
The dad at the house goes snore, snore, snore, etc.
The grandma at the house goes hug, hug, hug, etc.
The grandpa at the house goes kiss, kiss, kiss, etc.

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! For the December activity schedule, please click here.

Changes for Totally Tots...

The masses have spoken and honestly your thoughts lined up with ours too so we will definitely be saying farewell to a few features here at Totally Tots...

Giggle Time, Meet, Did You Know, and Celebrating Your Tot.

These have been fun features but 3 of the 4 take a ton of time to do, and we feel the blog serves our readers best as a whole by putting our efforts into different areas. Thank you to all of you who submitted for these features and a great apology for those of you who had tots in for Meet that didn't get featured.

We have some new writers and some new features coming soon, with a complete reorganization going on behind the scenes! Our goal is to begin the new posting schedule in January, using December as a transition month. We will be gradually introducing you to new writers and features so stay tuned! I hope you enjoy the changes as they appear. December will be a month of blog under construction for us so please pardon our mess if you happen to pop in at a time we are moving things around!

**We will leave the archived posts up, but will be taking down our Meet featured buttons eventually as we reorganize. We will also be removing the header buttons from the right sidebar. You will always be able to locate old posts under the archives or labeled posts!

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!!!!

Danielle's Place ~ 1 Year...ends 11/27/09

HazelAid Jewelry...ends 12/6/09

Gaddy Nipper Crayons...ends 11/27/09

Mega Blocks Play n Go Table...ends 12/1/09

Strider Bike...ends 12/2/09

Leapfrog Text n Learn...ends 12/2/09

Play Doh Burger Builder...ends 12/2/09

Build a Bear Frosty...ends 12/1/09

Ergo...11/27/09

In My Heart ~ Thanksgiving

The Songs for Saplings CD has an awesome section of songs at the end of the cd focused around seasons and holidays. We will be featuring these during the appropriate times! We hope you enjoy this special Thanksgiving memory verse this week as you teach your precious tots about all we have to be thankful for!

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 ~ C is for Clumsy Crab

It's time for some fun alphabet crafts!! 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!

Clumsy Crab

by Ruth Galloway

Summary: Nipper is a little crab with BIG claws that get in the way all the time. When he tries to play hide and seek they always give him away. His big claws come in handy though when his friend Octopus gets tangled in some seaweed.

What You'll Need

• Red foam sheet or construction paper
• Scissors
• Pen {to trace letter}
• Googly eyes
• Glue

To Make Clumsy Crab

1. Trace and cut an uppercase 'C' out of the foam sheet or construction paper. I used a foam sheet that was about 4" x 5" in size.
2. Cut out two 'claws' for your crab. I didn't use a pattern, just freehanded it.
3. Cut out four long, skinny rectangles to use as 'arms' and eye extenders for the crab.
4. Glue the legs and eye extenders onto the back of the letter 'C'.
5. Flip the crab over and add the eyes and the claws.

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 Jane, the mom of Esme @ Mozi Esme.

Esme’s mom writes the blog from Esme’s perspective as a two year old, and loves to share the alphabet activities that they do weekly. She always provides a bunch of fun ideas and links to the things that they do together. Here are a few fun ones…

Esme got to see how much she had grown since the time she was born. Her mom cut two pieces of yarn, one showing how long she was when she was born and the other showing how tall she is now, so that they could compare the two pieces.

Esme even got to help out ‘building’ her own schoolhouse…

When they talked about feelings, Esme had fun putting together face puzzles of different feelings that her mom made out of paper plates.

Some fun little froggies to celebrate the letter ‘F’…

…and making gumdrop counting and toothpick sculptures when talking about the letter ‘G’. Yummy!

Be sure to stop by and visit Jane and Esme and say hi! Hope you enjoy this Terrific Tot Site! To see more featured sites, click here!

Once Upon a Book ~ Christmas Activities

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!

During the month of December we have some great ideas in store for you to do with your little one ~ every day of the week! The activities will be posted the Thursday before the week begins, so you have a few days to prepare for the following week.

In case you would like to check through your supplies and round up anything that you don't have on hand, here is the list of what you will need to do the activities along with the books we'll be using.

Jesus, Me, and My Christmas Tree
by Crystal Bowman

Supplies needed: green paint, white or cream construction paper, green construction paper, star stickers, sugar cones, green frosting, and sprinkles.

Dec 1: Handprint Christmas Tree

Dec 2: Christmas Tree Mobile

Dec 3: Christmas Tree Ornament

Dec 4: Edible Christmas Tree

A Star for Jesus
by Crystal Bowman

Supplies needed: salt, flour, water, star cookie cutter, paint, clothespins, posterboard, cinnamon, sugar and tortillas

Dec 7: Salt Dough Stars

Dec 8: Clothespin Star game

Dec 9: Count the Star

Dec 10: I'm a Star Ornament

Dec 11: Cinnamon and Sugar Stars

My Christmas Gift
by Crystal Bowman

Supplies needed: plain wrapping paper or butcher paper, paint, cookie cutters and sponges, gift bows and 2 small boxes

Dec 14: Homemade Wrapping Paper

Dec 15: Sorting fun

Dec 16: My gift for Jesus

Dec 17: Pass the Gift Game

Dec 18: Gift Ornament

Happy Birthday, Jesus
by Kim Mitzo Thompson

Supplies needed: plain wrapping paper, markers and crayons, white/cream construction paper, flour, salt, water, peppermint extract, cake mix, frosting and decorations.

Dec 21: Birthday Banner

Dec 22: Candy Cane J ornament

Dec 23: Candy Cane Playdoh

Dec 24: Make and Decorate a Birthday Cake

Dec 25: Sing Happy Birthday

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!!!!

Rockin Green...ends 11/22/09

Diaper Sprayer...ends 11/29/09

Pop Up Nativity and Jesus Doll...ends 11/24/09

Veggie Tales Saint Nicholas DVD...ends 11/27/09

Hold it Baby Toy Organizer...ends 11/28/09

Evenflo Generations Booster Seat...ends 11/30/09

Tiny Tongs...ends 11/27/09

Baby Signing Time DVD...ends 11/29/09

PopATot...ends 11/22/09

In My Heart ~ Hh...Psalm 144:15

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.