C for Color and Caterpillars!

Here's a peek into our C week. :) I plan out the days, but sometimes the activities get switched around or ditched depending on whatever else is going on. But this week, with more sickness for Hadassah keeping us home from church on Sunday, it was really nice having activities we hadn't gotten to during the week (especially with Ryan off two days) to fill the time without Daddy on the weekend.

 C is for cut! Over the weekend I happened to decide to cut both of our hair. We're loving the shorter do's and less tangles!

 C is for cake! We used a mat to make a cake and decorate it. She was more interested in cutting it into shapes though, which is totally fine!

 C is for Candyland! For this very special time (I emphasized that, as I didn't want her asking every time!) we played her favorite game with some candy to eat once we reached the Candy Castle!

C is for color hunt! We used this printable and went for a stroller ride. I had to laugh that our intended hunt for colors in "nature" yielded a purple bike, a red car, yellow signs... Yeah, we definitely live in an apartment complex! But it did make her notice more color around here and she got very excited as she pointed various ones out.

 C is for curtain - and Ellie love playing curtain peek-a-boo for our play with baby time!

 C is for color maze on c's, cow and cloud (made with cotton), caterpillar finger painting (printable here), and a cute chick!

 C is for color! I cut out colorful circles, intending to make them into a numbered caterpillar hop for Dassah and her friends, but I didn't get that far. I did number them and taped them to the floor for kids to get some energy out before Bible study, as they hoped on the colored circles and then crawled through a tunnel. But while I was getting ready for the day, Dassah found the leftover pieces of paper and lined them up on her own. So C is for creativity too!

 C is for Christ is Risen! We read Matthew 28 and acted out the story. Hadassah was the angel so we had a white pinafore and I told her to choose something for her head. She chose the butterfly and said "this is a beautiful butterfly! It's good for an angel, right?" Of course I said yes. :)

 We had to dance to her absolutely favorite song too, "Christ is Risen!" by Keith and Kristyn Getty. It's been her favorite since she was just over a year...

 C is for cookies! As I cleaned for Bible study, this Cookie jar number match kept Dassah occupied for a bit. I made the cookies out of felt to make them last longer.

 C is for Cars! I painted her name as a car track for her while she did her caterpillar fingerprint sheet. She's never been huge into cars, so this didn't last her as long as some on kid blogs suggested. ;) But it was a fun idea! By the end of it, she decided to have her dolls walk on it instead of using cars.

 C is for clown! These printables are great, and kept her occupied through four sheets as I ironed. It wasn't too hard to stick magnets to pom poms, and it helps them work for activities like these so much better, as before when we've done stuff with pom poms they're always rolling away. ;)

 C is for cupcake! We did this activity for some mommy-Dassah time while Daddy had some Ellie time. She was very serious about getting the right amount of candles on each cupcake according to the number I'd put on it. She's getting great at counting since starting these activities, counting things she sees randomly during the day.

 Ryan enjoyed extra time to kiss Ellie - I mean, who can resist her baby skin?

 Then as I got Ellie ready for bed, she was excited to show Daddy her car track. It lasted longer when she had someone to talk to and do it with her!

 On Wednesday we got to watch the sweet 2 year old of a friend while she had a prenatal appointment. It was easy to watch someone extra when I already had fun activities planned to keep them busy!

Are you sensing a theme? I feel I'm not very good at spur-of-the-moment play, as I easily get distracted by all the chores and things that could be done instead. Planning activities has been so good for us both, as I love accomplishing plans and it makes me more intentional about doing fun activities, which in turn speaks love to Dassah as she gets mommy time!

 They made some cute paper cupcakes in our cupcake factory! It was cute watching them choose colors and of course the sprinkles were the hugest hit (and mess!) ;)

 C is for more cookies too! These cookie play dough mats were fun to give focus. Dassah doesn't play with playdough on her own very long, but she enjoyed making cookies with me and working on counting 5-8. I also managed to snap green beans for lunch around supervising cookie cutting for two kids. It was a little more tiring having an extra around as I was always on call to one of the three, but it was also a lot of fun! He was a sweetie, too, saying "thank you" every time I gave him something.

 C is for choo choo! They loved this simple game. They took turns wearing the "train driver hat" and choosing where we went when we said the last choo choo and arrived. And yes, he's wearing a dress. His big sister LOVES dress up so he just follows in her footsteps and chooses a dress to dress up in almost every time he's over. ;)

 Even Ellie got to be the train driver, which was pretty much the most adorable thing ever.

 Per Dassah's request, we had to play Candyland again!

 C is for caterpillars, out of circle stickers! The idea I saw was to glue pompoms on popsicle sticks, but stickers allowed them to do it themselves which helped me with lunch prep.

 C is for coloring! Dassah has gotten much more attentive to what she's coloring with the different sheets we've done in the last few weeks. I was excited to see her carefully coloring each foot, drawing glasses on the face, and filling in the words! And yes, a princess headband and ballet leotard is definitely necessary for the activity. ;)

 C is for circle painting! Dassah wasn't too into it for long. But I thought it was fun and plan to use my flower and collage for stationary ;)

Dassah had more fun making handprints and getting messy - totally appropriate for a not-yet-3-year-old!

 C is for climb! Not that this is new though. She's been doing this daily for a few months now!

This one can't wait to take after her!

 It's fun having all the color around as we change out crafts and sheets completed during the week. She also loves to tell everyone who comes over, "look what I made in preschool!" I bought a pretty cheap notebook with page protectors to slide the crafts into when they're taken down. Saves me having to figure out what we'll throw away for now. I know we can't keep it all, but it's hard to think about getting rid of anything yet. ;)

 C is for chalk! We drew Cs of varying sizes and then erased them with water as a tracing activity. She drew some of them - backwards and horizontal mostly, but she had the shape down. :) I love her excitement when she does something too - she's the best student in my opinion, but of course I'm a bit biased. ;)

 C is for cat! She is not as into puzzles as she used to be (when she'd do them over and over around age 2) but putting some away for a while and then bringing them out for preschool makes them seem new (and allowing me to get some lunch prep done!).

 As an active number activity, I spread out her number puzzle pieces on a path and asked her different questions (how many people are in our family? How many fingers are on your hand? How many eyes do you have?) and she ran and picked up the right number and brought it back for Ellie to play with. She had a lot of fun!

 It was great for a outside break and a new activity to give motivation to move.

We also did a chalk color hop. I'd tell her which color to hop on, sometimes giving a pattern (do blue, pink, blue). Sudden rain gave the excuse to go back inside for lunch.

It was a fun week! I am thankful for the ideas gleaned online and in the Toddler's Busy Book I picked up at a bargain. Being intentional with playing with Hadassah is a blessing to us both. I am realizing that sometimes she gets too reliant on me, though - at times saying "give me an activity, mommy!" so I am trying to emphasize that at times other than "preschool" time she sometimes has to find something to play by herself! But overall, it's been positive thus far!