Where do they live?

I was going through some fabric and my daughter asked if she could play with the blue minky fabric.  I let her have it and a little while later I checked and found her playing with her stingray and turtle.  She told me "they are in the ocean". 
 
I asked if she wanted to find some other fabric that she could use for her land animals.  She went through everything.  She picked out a really fuzzy brown for mud and a flowery table runner for a meadow.

She placed her animals in the area where they live.  Tiger, cat, unicorn, and horse are in the meadow.  Her dog named mud-puddle is in the mud.  And stingray and turtle are in the ocean.
 
We spent some time talking about the difference between the animals and why some of them live in the ocean while others live on the land.  We discussed the differences in characteristics and how most land animals could not live in the water and vice verse.  We also talked briefly about amphibians but did not have any stuffed animals to use as an example. 
 
What a great teaching lesson that started with my daughter just playing with extra material.

Neon Bath

Bath time fun with black light and neon paint!
I was not able to get very good pictures but it turned out great. 

 
While my daughter was outside with daddy I quickly set-up a surprise neon bath.  I wrote "     's Neon Bath" on the shower wall and then added a bunch of stars. The yellow neon paint worked the best by far but the pink was readable.  I set up a black light and then called her in from outside. 
 

 
She was super excited. I gave her two bowls of paint and brushes so that she could decorate all of the walls.  I think her favorite part was painting herself so that she could glow in the dark.

Musical Wrenches

What kid doesn't like to make music or noise in general?

 
My daughter loves to make everything into a musical instrument.  While we were rearranging furniture to make room for the new baby she grabbed all the wrenches and started playing songs for us.
 
I plan to make a outdoor music area this coming spring.  I am currently trying to come up with lots of fun ideas.  If you have an outdoor music area or any ideas please share them.

Domino Matching

My family plays Mexican Train often so my daughter loves playing with domino's.  It makes her feel very successful when she can create long trains.  She keeps telling me she is almost big enough to play with the grownups. 
 
I have not taught her any game rules yet.  I just give her the box of domino's and tell her to try and connect them all.  I help her when she needs it but after a couple times of playing she is pretty independent and only wants help when she really gets stuck.  

 
She does a lot of matching by color but some of them she does count to make sure she is matching them right.  I have plans to start using domino's for different math games so I will post those game ideas as we play them.

Shaving

Shaving with Daddy!
 
 
What child would not love to spend time shaving with Daddy?
 
Even play time like this is important to your child's development.  Learning life skills and responsibility is important.  Let your child join you in your daily activities such as cleaning, cooking, and even personal care like shaving.  Mimicking you is how they learn to accomplish these tasks on their own.  As they work along side you they gain the confidence they need to become independent.
 
 
 
Link Up Party-

Cubes

Here are just a few ways that we have been using cubes to teach math concepts. 
Please share any ideas that you have.
 
 
Learning Addition
 
 
Counting to 100
 
 
More or Less
 
 
 
Estimating