New and Updated Features for 2012!!

Over the last two months we’ve been working behind the scenes to tweak a few of our features and planning a fun new one for you all! Our new schedule and team of writers will start on the 1st of January, but we wanted to give you a little ‘heads up’ to get you excited about what is coming!!!

Ready for a little sneak peek into the 2012 Totally Tots year??

We are so excited to introduce a new feature called Montessori at Home! This once a month post will be written by Jodi and featuring ideas that are talked about in John Bowman’s ebook, Montessori at Home. John has also been writing monthly guest posts called the Montessori Minute over at 1+1+1=1.

While we are saying a goodbye to a few of our features {for now} and also a few of our writers from this past year, we do have many that will be staying with us and continuing on during the upcoming year as well!

Continuing Features and Writers…

In addition to the new features above, we also have some writers that will be switching around behind the scenes and taking over some of our current features. Here’s a quick look at the list of monthly features and the writers behind the posts.

~ Crafty Corner….Mama Jenn will continue to write this feature.

~ In My Heart…Val will continue to write this feature.

~ Little Hands-on ABC’s and 123’s ~ Michelle will be taking over this feature.

~ Mommy Made Printables…Carisa will continue to write this feature.

~ Now I Know My ABC’s…Carisa will be writing this feature.

~ Once Upon a Book…Maureen, LaToya, and Sara will be writing for this feature.

~ Play With Me…Jolanthe will continue to write this feature.

~ Simply Made….Sara will continue to write this feature.

~ Treats 4 Your Tot…Carisa will write this feature.

~ What’s in the Tub?…Sarah will be writing this feature.

Stay tuned over the next few days to meet the new writers that will be joining the 2012 Totally Tots Team! We’re excited to have some AMAZING ladies on our new team!

Feel & Find World Icons ~ Play With Me

This month our Play With Me toy is a bag filled with a fun sensory toy from the Guidecraft eco-friendly toy line for your little ones ~ the Feel & Find World Icons.

What’s in the Bag?

The Feel & Find World Icons come with 20 wooden disks and matching puzzle-piece shape inserts as well as a cloth bag to store the pieces in. The pieces are made from rubberwood and then stained with a low VOC aniline dye, so you don’t need to worry if they get chewed on by little ones in the home. 

To play the game, you typically lay the disks out and reach in the bag to find the matching shapes to fit the disk puzzles. But…here are a few different ways that you can play with the Feel & Find World Icons.

Play a matching game. Pick a smaller amount of the disks {8 to 10}, turn them facedown and take turns playing a matching game. When it’s your turn, flip a disk over and try to find that shape in the bag. If you can match it, you can keep it! Who will make the most matches?

Color Matching Memory game. Rather than match the pieces, place the disks face down on the table and flip them over in pairs. See if you can find two disks that are the same color. If not, turn them back over and let the next person try!

Stack them!! How high of a tower can you build with the pieces when they are in puzzle form? How high can you stack the pieces themselves?

Tell a story. Pick three shapes out of the bag and make up a story to go along with the pieces. If you’d like, continue pulling shapes out of the bag and adding them to your story {love this idea from Mama Jenn!!}.

A few more ideas for using the Feel & Find World Icons:

• sort the pieces by color
• create simple color patterns {orange, yellow, orange, yellow}
• create a hands-on graph with the pieces. Pick 10 pieces out of the bag, sort by color and see which one you have more of.

Find Out More

Feel & Find World Icons can be purchased directly from the Guidecraft website, via their NEW Facebook page, or from Amazon. Want to win a bag of your own? Head over to visit Thanks, Mail Carrier to enter. Giveaway ends on September 7th!

Recommended for ages 3+

Much thanks to Guidecraft who provided this toy for us to use and review as a part of the Guidecraft Mom Bloggers team.

Play With Me ~ Guidecraft Water & Bead Blocks

Not long ago we shared with you some fun uses for Guidecraft Rainbow Blocks. This month our Play With Me toys are a set of wooden blocks with a colorful twist ~ Crystal Bead Blocks and Shimmering Water Blocks from Guidecraft. The Bead Blocks and the Water Blocks both come in a set of eight blocks per package ~ four rectangle blocks and 4 half circle blocks in the colors of red, yellow, green and blue. They are made from hardwood with acrylic centers. The beads inside are colored plastic and the water blocks have added glitter inside to make them shimmer. 

Other than building, here are some creative ways to play with the Crystal Bead Blocks and Shimmering Water Blocks.

Observe! ~ What does the world through a different colored lens?

   

Stack and balance ~ see how tall you can make your block pile grow! Have fun balancing the different block shapes too for an added challenge.

 

Try to get all of the beads in a single layer ~ a fun challenge for little ones!

Have fun measuring different things around the house ~ including your tot!

Let the animals have some fun ~ Set up some feeding troughs and water holes for your animals and people!

Sort by color and shape.

Put together 3 letter words ~ use letters to put together small words inside the rectangles.

Crystal Bead Blocks and Shimmering Water Blocks can be purchased directly from the Guidecraft website, via their NEW Facebook page, or from Amazon. Be sure to check out their Rainbow Blocks too ~ we LOVE those!!

Much thanks to Guidecraft who provided this toy for us to use and review as a part of the Guidecraft Mom Bloggers team.

Book Basket ~ July/August 2011

Here is a heads up on the books that we’ll be using during the months of July and August 2011 for the following 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'!

If you are reading this post in a blog reader, be sure to click through to read the full post and see the books we have planned. :)

Little Books for Little Cooks

Now I Know My ABC's

 

Once Upon a Book

 

Play With Me ~ Fraction Action

This month our Play With Me toy a fun and colorful math toy from Guidecraft ~ Fraction Action and Fraction Cups. 

 

Both are wooden fraction manipulatives made from an eco-friendly rubberwood and then stained with low VOC aniline dyes ~ safe for even your little ones to chew and drool on. See?

The Fraction Action Board is 9.5” square and not quite 1/2” tall and for ages 2 and up. The set has 18 stained wood pieces that fit into the nine shaped spots on the self-storing board: circles, squares and hexagons. Each shape has fraction puzzles of varying difficult ~ whole, halves and thirds. The Fraction Cups are four great little portable puzzles containing 10 pieces that explore the fractions of halves, thirds and quarters. Both sets come with a simple activity booklet for use with your child.

Here are a few fun things that you can do and create with the Fraction Action toys to extend your learning with your little one:

~ Have fun tracing the shapes together

~ Stack the blocks as high as you can!

~ Pretend to slice the circles using a wooden or plastic knife. This is a great way to practice fraction words: whole, half, thirds, and fourths.

~ Have fun duplicating the fractions using Mama Jenn’s Education Cubes along with the Fraction Pie insert cards. Older kids can roll the cube, tell the fraction shown, and then duplicate the fraction.

A few more ideas for using Fraction Action and Fraction Cups:

• sort the pieces by color
• create simple color patterns {orange, yellow, orange, yellow}
• create simple shape patterns {circle, square} after creating shapes with the pieces
• create a hands-on graph with the pieces once you have sorted by color ~ which color do you have more of?

Much thanks to Guidecraft who provided this toy for us to use and review as a part of the Guidecraft Mom Bloggers team.

Book Basket ~ June/July 2011

Here is a heads up on the books that we’ll be using during the months of June and July 2011 for the following 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'!

If you are reading this post in a blog reader, be sure to click through to read the full post and see the books we have planned. :)

Little Books for Little Cooks

Now I Know My ABC's

Once Upon a Book

Play With Me ~ Twisters and Twister Curves

This month our Play With Me toy a fun and colorful construction toy from Guidecraft ~ Twisters and Twister Curves.  Twisters are plastic pieces that can be ‘snapped’ together to create and build. Each set comes with small pegs that help to hold the pieces more firmly in place.

Twisters includes 66 pieces, 24 connecting rods, and a small pair of plastic pliers used to pull the connecting rods out of the pieces. Twister Curves include 66 curved pieces, 24 connectors and a pair of pliers {recommended for ages 3 and up, just be cautious of the small pegs}.

Here are a few fun things that you can do and create with the Twisters and Twister Curves to extend your learning with your little one:

Create shapes. See how many shapes you can create together using the pieces in your set. Then have fun sorting them by shape or color!

Use the small pegs to practice fine motor skills. Can your little one fill all the holes with pegs?

Stack them! After putting together a bunch of shapes, see how tall of a tower you can create before they tip over.

Make letters. Make the first letter of your little ones name, or trying making different letter of the alphabet. You can even spell simple words.

   

Stack and create graduating sizes. Which one is the tallest? Shortest?

A few more ideas for using Twisters:

• sort the pieces by color
• create simple color patterns {orange, yellow, orange, yellow}
• create simple shape patterns {circle, square} after creating shapes with the pieces
• create a hands-on graph with the pieces once you have sorted by color ~ which color do you have more of?

Twisters can be purchased directly from the Guidecraft website, via their NEW Facebook page or from Amazon.

Much thanks to Guidecraft who provided this toy for us to use and review as a part of the Guidecraft Mom Bloggers team.

Book Basket ~ May/June 2011

Here is a {LATE!!} heads up on the books that we’ll be using during the months of May and June 2011 for the following 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'!

If you are reading this post in a blog reader, be sure to click through to read the full post and see the books we have planned. :)

Little Books for Little Cooks

Now I Know My ABC's

Once Upon a Book

Play With Me ~ Interlox

This month our Play With Me toy a wonderful and simple building toy from Guidecraft ~ Interlox.  Interlox are plastic squares that can be clipped together to create and build. No screws. Nothing fancy ~ just clip and build. The squares all intersect as specific points and are made out of plastic, so you cannot bend and make curves, but overall are sturdy {recommended for ages 3 and up}.

Here are a few fun things that you can do and create with the Interlox to extend your learning with your little one:

Sort by the shape that is on the squares ~ we found diamonds, circles, starts, hearts, flowers, and octagons.

Sort by color…

Play mailman and drop the pieces through a slit in the top of an oatmeal container!

See how high you can stack and balance them.

Create a garage for some of your vehicles.

Sort by color and have fun counting them together.

A few more ideas for using Interlox:

• create simple color patterns {orange, yellow, orange, yellow}
• create simple shape patterns {circle, square} with the shapes on the pieces
• create a hands-on graph with the pieces once you have sorted by color ~ which color do you have more of?

Interlox can be purchased directly from the Guidecraft website, via their NEW Facebook page or from Amazon.

Much thanks to Guidecraft who provided this toy for us to use and review as a part of the Guidecraft Mom Bloggers team.