Learning Materials for Toddlers (21 Months)

As you may have noticed, I have no posts on Vito for a quite a while.  It's quite difficult to put up activities for him for the past weeks as all he ever wanted was to play with big brother Mavi.  The only thing that I'm consistent with him is the reading of books.
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There were occassions wherein I would introduce an activity or we would play together randomly, but that's just about it.  I find it refreshing though, of not thinking too much for the boys, of what they're going to do this summer. 

Anyway, it's been raining for the past few days and we're stuck at home.  Vito is turning 21 months in a few days and has entered the "sensitive years".  He has memorized Dr. Seuss ABC books, obsessed with identifying objects, learned a few dance moves through Horrible Histories and can't stop counting whenever he sees a number.  So I decided to organize a few materials for him to work on during the time big brother is in summer camp. 

TOP:  Farm animal basket, alphabet recognition and matching cards, bristle blocks

MIDDLE:  Melissa & Doug number puzzle, Montessori knobbless cylinders, soft blocks

BOTTOM:  Color matching, shape fitter, Melissa & Doug animal farm chunky puzzle

The knobbless cylinders is a current favourite, he loves stacking them every single day.  It’s the first material he would remove from the shelf to work on.

He loves using the bristle blocks as well!  This is a nice open ended toy, that also helps in the sensorial development of the child.

He enjoys touching the bristles!

Sorry about the letter B (Munchkin 36 Bath Letters and Numbers), Vito loves to bite it!  We used the foam letters in so many ways, just like when we read books, I would present it to him whenever we encounter a certain letter.

And he recently learned how to match the letters! I made these outline cards for matching activity and I was surprised that he can actually match them!

These soft blocks are totally awesome! We’ve been using it since he was a baby, and right now it is being used for stacking activities, counting and for sensorial, as there are impressions on the sides that Vito loves to touch.

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Welcome to the Learn & Play Link Party!

Here are the featured activities for this week!

Sound Sensory Jars to Make Play by Hands On As We Grow
Double Sided Tape Glitter Art Activities by Mini Monets and Mommies
Summer Side Walk Chalk Kids by Child Led Life
Felt Map by In Our Pond

Now it’s time for this week’s link party! This is a BRAND new link up for all blog posts that include learn and play activities and hands-on education for kids. We are excited to read your blog posts and to see what you have to share! Please link up below and grab our button to display on your blog.

If you are a blogger, share your family friendly posts here. We are looking for things which include:

• Montessori Education
• Homeschool
• Sensory Play
• Tot and Preschool Trays
• Fine and Gross Motor Activities
• Kids in the Kitchen
• Healthy Recipes for Kids
• Arts and Crafts
• Natural Living
• Free Educational Printables
• Family-Oriented Activities
• Healthy Living

Your post will be featured on each of our blogs where we will pick our favourite posts every other week. That means there is more of a chance that you will be featured!

Everyone, please meet our link party hosts:

Christian Montessori Blog ~ Please visit our CMN FB group ~ Pinterest

Vanessa from Mama’s Happy Hive~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Jennifer from Study at Home Mama~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Marie from Child Led Life~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Jae from Pinay Homeschooler~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Heather from Golden Reflections Blog~FB~Pinterest~Instagram~Twitter

Renae from Every Star is Different~FB~Pinterest

GUIDELINES FOR LINKING

• Please link up 1-3 posts
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• Remember that you must link back in order to be featured

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An InLinkz Link-up

Dental Unit for Kids

Baby and Adult Teeth

We started this unit with the presentation of the baby and adult teeth.  We differentiated the two set of teeth, from the sizes and the teeth count.  Mavi asked the following questions during this activity:

Why are there more teeth in the adult set?

Why are the adult teeth much bigger?

Why is there a change?

     

I answered his questions through scenarios, like, as we get bigger we eat solid foods.  Most of these are hard to break down and needs a solid set of teeth for it to be digested.  So our body provided us with a much stronger set of teeth to be able to chew, chop and grind the foods properly.
 

And as we go deeper into the knowledge of teeth sizes and shapes, we also examined the different kinds of teeth that adults have.  We have this lovely dental model (Science Time Dentistry Deluxe) of the adult teeth.  I got this from our local shop and it was perfect for our study.  What I love about it is that we can remove some of the teeth, specially the four major types, thus we’re able to take a closer look into it.  I swear, the teeth looks and feels real!

Different Kinds of Teeth

Now this is how our adult dental model looks like.  As I mentioned earlier, we can remove the four major types of teeth for examination.  I created the definition cards for Mavi to use, so he can learn more about each type and their functions. 

With the materials I provided, Mavi is now able to tell which tooth is for chopping, which tooth helps in swallowing, and which one is an expert in grinding!  He’s like “I didn’t know that!”.  Download a copy of the definition cards from here or click the image.

And here’s a closer look at the teeth, sorry, I just love looking at them!

Tooth Cross Section

After which, we also looked into the cross section of a tooth.  To read more about this, click the image below or the link here.

The nomenclature cards that we used are from here.

How Cavity Develops

Moving on, another activity I decided to add in our unit is the presentation of cavity development.  This explains the effects of acid and sugar in our teeth.  The aim of this activity is for Mavi to understand the importance of brushing our teeth, to avoid tooth decay.  The image below is a snapshot of the manual included in the dental set (Science Time Dentistry Deluxe).

The cards below are homemade.  It’s the development of cavity in a tooth, which I had Mavi arranged in order.  You can get the printable file from here or click the image for the link.

Care for the Teeth and Dental Hygiene

So now, the biggest question would be, how can we take good care of our teeth to avoid premature extraction.  These food cards are included in our dental set (Science Time Dentistry Deluxe) and provided us information of the foods that are essential in dental health.  He’s happy to see carrots and apples, eggs, milk and cheese, these are his favorites!  And I didn’t know that green tea is good for the teeth, how enlightening!

We also identified how to maintain a clean and cavity free teeth.

1. Brushing.  The most effective way of removing plaque from the exposed surface of your teeth is by brushing it using a flouride toothpaste.  It is essential to brush every after eating especially before bedtime. 
2. Flossing.  To clean in between your teeth, a dental floss is needed.  It is a piece of waxy string that is inserted in between your teeth to remove food particles that brushing cannot reach. Basically, it removes plaque that get stuck in between your teeth.
3. Dental Visit.  The dentist and hygienist helps check whether your teeth are developing properly, and see if the gums have any problems.  It is important to see the dentist every 6 months to make sure that your teeth are taken good care of.

And this concludes are dental unit study.  It was an amazing week of learning about our teeth!  Hope you find this post helpful, informative and inspirational. Till next time!

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Ultimate Collection of Practical Life Activities (Part Two)

I’m sharing another set of practical life activities that we do at home! If you enjoyed the first part of my post, well, here are more exciting stuff to do with your kids.

FREE Baby and Child First Aid App from British Red Cross

Dear parents, I have good news for you! Our friends from the British Red Cross (BRC) have a handy and must have emergency go to app for parents! It’s the British Red Cross (BRC) Baby and Child First Aid App, and you can download this mobile app for FREE. Yes, you heard it right, it’s for FREE, and it perfectly runs in Android or Apple mobiles. Now why am I sharing this? It’s important that we educate ourselves with first aid skills, especially with the knowledge on how to administer it to our children. As a mom, I consider the knowledge of “what to do in an emergency” as a very important life skill that could save my children’s life and that of others. And if you are someone who likes to be prepared and armed with this vital ability, there is no better way to learn this than through the BRC Baby and Child App.

What is the BRC First Baby and Child First Aid App?

This app is packed with useful and reliable information on how to properly and correctly administer first aid to children. Any parent can easily learn and acquire skills from this app as it has been meticulously designed and crafted to help parents learn how to take proper action when an emergency at home arises. In short, they were thinking about us parents when they made this!

Why I consider the Baby and Child First Aid App important

I have two hyperactive boys in the house and we never ran out of injuries due to minor accidents. Not to mention there are occasional attacks of asthma, high fever, allergies, cuts, bumps… you name it! I spend a great deal of time searching all over the web for immediate remedies whenever I have problems with my kids’ health. But with the BRC Baby and Child App, I don’t have to do that! I can educate myself ahead of time and be ready in case of emergency. With the knowledge, I can minimise the consequences of my child’s injury, reduce the pain until professional help arrives. And I feel confident and secured because the ones who provided the solutions are highly trained medical professionals with expertise on children.

A walkthrough of the features

Here are the three most important features of the app:

Learn – select this tab if you want to learn how to administer first aid to children. There are lots of options to choose from and each lesson is accompanied by a video, animation and tips.   Pictures below show how the app looks like in a smartphone and a tablet.

This is how it looks like when you press any of the tabbed selections. The picture below falls under “Bleeding heavily”. As you can see, there’s a procedural instruction on how to respond when your child is bleeding profusely and it is coupled with an animation to demonstrate the first aid further.  For your convenience, I provided screenshots taken in an iPad and tablet.

 

Prepare – this section contains prevention tips and how to prepare in case of accidents

Emergency – this section provides parents of the basic first aid that should be administered in case of an emergency situation. Buttons for emergency numbers are also provided whenever you need a professional help.

The picture below shows what to do in case your child is suffering from burns. I am so impressed of the step by step process they provided (even included a timer!) and how amazing that they included a speed dial for professional help.

 

I want to learn more, what will I do?

It is a good idea to take a proper First Aid training to cope up with an emergency. British Red Cross is offering a baby and child first aid course to parents, especially those with children from 0 to 12 years old. Your entire family will benefit on this very important life skills!

And to add more colour to BRC’s campaign on First Aid education, they have created this super cool video on simple first aid  techniques for parents about child poisoning. Come take a look! 

It is time that we should invest on preventive and primary healthcare. Knowing that we have British Red Cross, you know where to go when you need help. So don’t forget to download your free baby and child first aid app now.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by the British Red Cross