Bugs, Bugs, Bugs! {Toddler Tuesday}

This week I focused on teaching my 2 year old about bugs.  He has become intrigued by them. My little man will also shout out, "EW! Dirty Bugs...Dirty!" It is the most hilarious thing to hear, and his scrunched up nose expression is priceless. 

To jump-start Bug Week, Joshua and I went to our nearby resource center that had a bug day for kids.  Joshua  loved finding plastic insects in the mound of spaghetti noodles. It was his first time using kid tweezers.  I highly recommend trying them out for your toddler because they help with fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination.  Little Man had a tough time understanding how to pick up the bugs with the tweezers...something I will continue to work with him on. 

There was also a playdoh table with insect cookie cutters. We tried to make butterflies, snails, and caterpillars out of playdoh.  Little Man spent 75% of the time playing at this table.  It was also his first time playing with playdoh (horrible mom here...but originally thought Playdoh was better for kids ages 3 and up...I was wrong. Even 2 year olds enjoy it!). 

As you've heard from other Toddler Tuesday posts, any time I can find something my son has a love for I try to encourage it.  He has gone through a music phase, alphabet phase, bubbles, and now really enjoys Playdoh. So I made a trip to the store and bought him some. We also have a home-educator that visits Joshua twice a month to make sure he's on the right track developmentally and ready for preschool.  She came over yesterday and we made playdoh. Again, bad mommy/teacher here because I have NEVER made playdoh in my life.  Oops. It is really easy to make and is more cost efficient.

One day, I scattered Joshua's plastic bugs around the house and had a Bug Hunt.  Joshua ran around collecting all the buggers and put them in the "bug house".  *On a side note: I hate these bugs!  Joshua leaves them all over the house, making me do a second-glance because they look so real.  I think I'll have to "free" these buggers someday soon... I also get a kick out of the fact that Joshua will come over and poke me with these critters to scare me.  Such a boy.

I completely forgot I had these felt bugs lying around. At the last minute yesterday, I snapped a photo and wanted to include this in the post.  Joshua had found these in a teaching box a few months back and I was thinking why in the world he would want them.  It's amazing how kids naturally gravitate towards something and play with it in their own way. I've seen my son stick these on the side of my bed since the felt sticks to the bed comforter. He has also lined them up on the floor and the couch. 

You can't go wrong with themed learning. As a former kindergarten teacher every day was focused on themes. Every day we did activities to promote the alphabet and numbers. The class also had a full week of an apple unit, space unit, farm unit, and all about dinosaurs.  It was a blast!  That is basically what I want to focus on here for Toddler Tuesdays for awhile--doing themed toddler units.  I will also focus on favorite children's books and come up with activities to go along with the book. So stay tuned!