Crafty Corner ~ Spring Flowers

Happy Spring!

I've seen this craft idea a few times, and I think it is really cute! We did this today at the Y for TGIF. Sweetpea (age 40 mos) stayed at my house with Grandma while I was there, so she wanted to do one when I got home.

We took a blue piece of construction paper and glued 5 green strips on it.Next we used 5 mini cupcake holders flatened, and glued one on each stem. After that she glued five mini cupcake holders to the centers. Finally she glued on some leaves.

Here is a poem we glued onto it at the Y:

5 Little Daffodils Fingerplay

One little daffodil had nothing much to do,

Out popped another one, then there were two.

Two little daffodils were smiling at a bee,

Out popped another one, then there were three.

Three little daffodils were growing by the door,

Out popped another one and then there were four.

Four little daffodils were glad to be alive,

Out popped another one and then there were five.

Five little daffodils were wearing golden crowns,

They danced in the breeze in green satin gowns.

I got this over at http://katiesnestingspot.blogspot.com/2009/03/storytime-art-cupcake-holder-daffodils.html

This Crafty Corner post was written by Abbie, you can visit her at her blog, Second Star to the Right and Straight on Till Morning. Thanks Abbie for sharing this great craft idea!

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!

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

Terrific Tot Sites ~ Kneebouncers

Recently I found a fun site for toddlers called Kneebouncers. Aside from the cute characters, great graphics and fun games, they had me when I read the phrase; "To the sleep deprived, the spit-up donning and the beaten down...welcome." Made me love them already! {grins}

Kneebouncers was created by parents for parents babies and toddlers and I can't sum it up any better than this quote from their site:

"Our goal is to provide you and your family with a whole lot of thumping, bumping, crashing, bashing, smashing, splashing, popping, bopping, wiggling and especially giggling."

Some of the great games are: Pop-a-lot (bubble popping), Music Maker (music you create and watch), The Bed Jumping, Vroom! (big vehicles!) and so many more! The games are simple for your tot to run ~ just bang on a keyboard, touch a key, slide the mouse ~ the movement triggers the games to work.

There are several characters you can 'meet' by clicking on the that character's bubble: Sly Cat (the courteous cat), Caesar (the silly little puppy), Freddy (the brave little bear), Horatio (the happy, happy hippo), Foo Foo (the funny, honey bunny), and Sammy (the busy, bouncing monkey). Each of the characters focuses on a specific character trait/manner also: saying please and thank you, waiting your turn, cleaning up, washing hands, sharing, and helping at home.

In addition to the games you can play online, they also have some other great features: an online forum for parents to meet/talk, free coloring pages and games to embed/download to your webpage, and a newsletter. Should your child get attached to the characters, they even have some character merchanidse available. Be sure to check out Kneebouncers with your little one!

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

Get Real with God ~ Good Friday

A Story for Good Friday

I heard a story once about a father who was a drawbridge operator. Often he would bring his son to work with him. On one such day, while the father was in the booth working and the son was outside playing on the trusses of the bridge, an unexpected passenger train came barreling down the tracks. The father who was taken by surprise tried to get his son’s attention, to get him back in the office, but to no avail. He didn’t have enough time to run outside so the boy could hear him and there was no way to get the train to stop. He was faced with the most horrible dilemma…close the drawbridge on his son and save the hundreds of people on the train or save his son and send the people on the train to their deaths. With the impossible before him he closed the bridge and sacrificed his son for the lives of hundreds. Can you imagine….let it sink in…..in his place what do you imagine yourself doing….if you can imagine it at all without being sick.

When I first heard that story I was only a kid. I have no idea who told me or, for that matter, why they told such an awful story to a child, but it has stuck in my head to this day. Back then, I was saddened by the story, but now as an adult and a parent of three little boys of my own, I am horrified. I can’t imagine having to make that kind of decision. The strength that it would take to sacrifice my own child for anyone is more than I think I have.

I have no idea if this story is true, if it really happened….I hope not, but it does make me think about another story …..one I know is true. One where the Father really did sacrifice His ONLY Son as an atonement for us…for our sins.

As we approach Easter and the awesomeness of the resurrection, I find it impossible to pass Good Friday without remembering the sacrifice made by one Father and one Son.

Picture this story with me. Go there. Put yourself, as the parent. Imagine this is your son, the child of your heart. You have sent your only child to live in the world, to dwell with the people you created. Don’t forget you love the Son, He is you. You watch your Son love people, teach people, and heal people. You watch as he is tempted by Satan and overcomes evil. You watch the world treat your son badly and on that last day as he prays in the garden of Gethsemane and calls out to his Father, "Abba, Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine (Mark 14:36)." you do nothing. His flesh cried out to be released from the suffering, but He knew as do you that He must suffer in order for all who call on His name to live. As the Romans capture Him, humiliate Him with taunts and cruel words, beat him until he is bloody and bruised beyond recognition and crucify him on the cross, you choose to stand back and let it happen. It was the plan, your plan….Romans 8:3 says, The law of Moses could not save us, because of our sinful nature. But God put into effect a different plan to save us. He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin's control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. This was no accident.

Imagine your reaction to watching your child being treated this way. To see him suffer. It is incomprehensible. I know my heart would break in two, if not a million tiny little pieces. It is easy to leave this part of the story out. To not think of this as a sacrifice of a Father as well as a Son, but remembering this makes the story more alive, more real because we know what it is like to be the parent. We can relate and in relating we are put in a right perspective. We are more able to feel the magnitude of what happened that day on the cross.

Of course we are not God and we do not have the ability to see the beginning and the end, but what we do know is that the love we have for our children does not even compare to, nor is it even in the same realm, as the love the Father has for us through his Son, Jesus. 1John 4:10 says, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” So to prepare our hearts, we must remember that we deserve nothing but death. Our sins have made us unable to stand before our Heavenly Father on our own, but because of the great sacrificial death of His Son we are able to stand before Him, clean and forgiven.

Thank Him with me for this Easter “story.”

Simply Made ~ ideas from GREAT blogs

A few fun Simply Made ideas from some great blogs...

Squeeze and Match from Chasing Cheerios...

This fun spring transferring idea and more, from My Montessori Journey...

Matching Clothes, from The Wonder Years...

The web is FULL of great ideas, remember if you don't have a way to organize all of your favorites, give Evernote a try, it's where I had all of these stored to share with you!

**If your idea is featured in this post and you would like the "Featured on Totally Tots" button for your site, just email me and let me know!

Once Upon a Book ~ The Noisy Egg...POND week 2

After reading: The Noisy Egg (Little Scholastic) you and your LO can make some fun Duck stuff!
Footprint Duck:

Need:

• Yellow Paint
• Paintbrush
• Paper plate
• Paper
• Markers or Crayons

To Make:

• Paint your LO's foot with the yellow paint (you can paint each so you would have 2 ducks for the pond)
• Press onto the paper and set aside to dry

• After dry add the beak, eyes, and feet

• Cut along the duck (so there is an edge around it)
• Glue to your pond

Duck Water Scoop:

Need:

• empty clean plastic milk jug
• permanent marker

To Make:

• turn the water jug so its on its side with the handle up
• Draw a duck mouth on the flat end
• Cut out
• Draw eyes and wings on each side
• Now your LO is ready to play in the tub

Duck Action Play:

Little Baby Ducklings (from PreschoolExpress.com)

Little baby ducklings (Ducklings move back and forth in a waddling motion)

Dash, dash, dash! (Ducklings run in place)

Jump in the pond. (Ducklings make jumping motion)

Splash, splash, splash! (Ducklings use hands to make splashing motions)

When their mother ,“Quack, quack, quacks.” (Mother duck quacks)

Little baby ducklings swam right back. (Ducklings make swimming motions)

Adapted Traditional

Visit our website to see other POND books and books cooming up!

Did You Know ~ Skin Care Part 2

Natural Skin Care Continued…

Thanks so much Carisa for the great post on Skin Care from last week, as well as for the great resources. I thought I would share some products that I have come to love. For example, I really really love the California Baby line.

They have shampoos, lotions, and sunscreen. They can be found at natural food stores, such as Whole Foods, as well as at Target. Compared to some other organic or natural brands, they are quite reasonably priced. I looked them up on Carisa’s great link (Skin Deep) from last week, and their products rate very low on hazardousness.

Little Twig and Weleda are other lines whose baby products I love.

A product that might be great for the rest of the family, because it is very reasonably priced is the 365 Everday Value line from Whole Foods. Whole Foods sells 365 Everyday Value Shampoos, Conditioners, Body Lotions and Shower Gels in 16 oz or 32 oz sizes of mint, citrus grapefruit, lavender, and unscented. We usually buy the 32 oz sizes, which last us quite a while and cost under $4! I really love those products for myself and my husband. Last year the shampoo earned “America’s Healthiest Beauty Award” from Health magazine. Each product found in the Whole Body department at Whole Foods is carefully evaluated and never tested on animals. The products do not contain ingredients such as parabens, polypropylene and polyethylene glycols, sodium lauryl and laureth sulfates.

Also, stores, such as Target or Trader Joe’s more and more offer organic skin care products, such as hand soaps, lip balm, lotions, shampoos, conditioners etc. They are starting to be more reasonably priced as well, so this is definitely something to look into on your next shopping trip. I just bought the Nature's Gate Organic hand soap from Trader Joe’s (also available at Whole Foods), which I really like.

Please see our Did You Know ~ disclaimer here.

Meet... Little R

R is 2-1/2 and so full of exuberance and life! Her girlyness and prissyness seemed to blossom overnight, and she can often be found layering tutus, trying on shoes, or accessorizing her hair with hats and bows. She has an older brother, Little G, who is 4-1/2. R's favorite color is yellow, and she loves to sing, dance, cook at her toy kitchen, play with Barbies, talk, and, oh, pretend that she's a princess...more specifically, Cinderella. :)

Her (and Mom's) Favorite Tot School Tools:

1. Melissa & Doug Deluxe Nina Ballerina Magnetic Dress-Up
2. LeapFrog Tag Reading System(Ariel's book and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom are her favorites)
3. Highlights High Five magazine
4. Play-Doh anything
5. MightyMind by Leisure Learning Products
6. Learning Resources' Smart Snacks Sorting Shapes Cupcakes
7. Candy Land game
8. A watercolor paint box and lots of blank paper
9. Battat Shape Sorter House
10. Melissa & Doug See & Spell
    

Her favorite shows/DVDs:

1. Disney's Cinderella (DVD)
2. The Busy World of Richard Scarry (show)
3. Blue's Clues (show)
4. Sesame Street/Play With Me Sesame
5. The Riddle in a Bottle by Sisbro Studios (DVD)

Her favorite books:

1. Disney Princess Look & Find
2. Goodnight Moon
3. Richard Scarry books
4. Gingerbread Girl by Jan Brett
5. The Jesus Storybook Bible

R's mommy's blogs at Muses of Megret, and Muse Reviews

Do you want your tot to be featured one week? Go here to read more details!

Once Upon a Book ~ The Cross in the Egg

The Cross in the Egg by Shirley Taylor

Summary: Having met Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and followed him to Jerusalem, Rabbit experiences the wonder of the Resurrection and gives away colored eggs to remind children of the gift of eternal life.


Crayon Resist Cross:

Need:

• Oval Piece of Painting Paper
• Crayon to match your paper
• Watered Down Paint
• Paintbrushes

To Make:

• Cut out your Paper into a large oval egg shape
• Draw a cross on the egg with a crayon
• Water down your paint (we used purple but use any color or colors you want)

Let dry and Hang up for all to see! it makes LO's so happy to see their art up and showcased!


The Cross in the Egg (Easter Egg Dye)

Need:

• 1 TBSP of food coloring/paste
• 2 TBSP of vinegar
• Water
• Cups
• Hard boiled Eggs
• White Crayon

To Make:

• Draw a cross like in the book on as many or as few as you would like
• Make up your dye for each color you want:
  1 TBSP of food coloring
  2 TBSP of vinegar
  Enough water to fill the cup up half way
• Have LO stir to mix it all up!
• Have LO place the egg in the colored dye the longer it sits the brighter the egg
• You can use store bought kits too I just love the bright vibrant colors you get using the old vinegar and food coloring method!!
• Take out and show your LO the cross in the egg!

Jesus Loves Me with Egg Shakers:

Need:

• Plastic Easter Eggs
• Items to place in the egg
• Tape
• Glue

To Make:

• Open plastic egg and make sure to plug any holes with glue and let dry
• Once glue is dry place the item or items you picked in the egg pairs!
• Glue the egg shut and tape around the seam for added closure

To Play:
Sing Jesus Loves Me song and let your LO shake their egg shakers to the tune!

I made a Egg Sound Shaker game also with a whole set of these if you want to check it out.

Tot Food ~ What's on YOUR Tot's Plate?

Welcome to *What's on YOUR Tot's Plate?* if you'd like to join up, please write a post on your own blog and link to Mr. Linky below! I want to thank those of you who are linking, I am really enjoying seeing other ideas!!!

You can just share the photos, or also share any info about what was on the plate (did your tot like it, what was it, how to make it, etc.). I hope to begin sharing our plates soon, but I am not much of a lunch-maker right now in these last weeks of pregnancy!

You can ONLY link to the weekly Mr Linky if you write a post exclusively for this, link to that exact post (not your homepage), and provide a link back to Totally Tots in your post. I hate to be a meanie-but we gotta have rules or it won't work! If you have any questions, let me know. If you need help with how to do a direct link, go here and scroll down to see a photo-tutorial (just ignore the Tot School part). You are welcome to add your "What's on Your Tot's Plate" link anytime between now and Friday. We will put up a new Mr Linky each Saturday.

You can right click and copy the graphic at the top of this post if you would like to use it in your post. You certainly don't have to, but are welcome to.