facial features + discussing emotions with toddlers.

emery has always loved pointing out and naming facial features when snuggling up with people. she likes to count people's eyes, nose, ears, chin, mouth, and eyebrows. just in the last few months though, she's been loving imitating emotions and facial expressions. 

i wanted to help her explore emotions more, so i dug up some fun things i pinned on my toddler and preK boards awhile back. i printed off the goods and got them laminated for 25 cents/foot at mardel! she's LoViNg it!

playdough faces:

Planet of the Apels has printable pages for playdough books! most of them are above emery's level right now, so i just printed off the 2 blank face pages. emery is definitely not to the stage of rolling a "snake" and bending it into a smile, or rolling up balls for eyes, but she pinched off chunks and put them in each spot, telling me which feature they were. she gave the girl a bunch of tiny balls for teeth instead of lips :-)

to discuss emotions, i plan to create the faces for her and chat with her from the dialog described below.

paper faces:

i found the idea at The Iowa Farmer's Wife and tweaked it a little bit to fit our needs. 

• she found her features in magazines - i couldn't, for the life of me, find enough that were big enough and the same general size, so i gave up and got them off the internet. i didn't want to use the same features from the same people, so i copied each picture into paint, cropped off a different feature, pasted it into word, resized it to fit my preference. it took awhile and sure did pull up some gross faces. if anyone is interested in the word document i created, let me know and i'll email it to you!
• all of her mouths were smiles - because i wanted to specifically talk with emery about emotions, i chose puckered lips, a tongue sticking out, a baby crying, and a smile. she loves imitating each one! (i also chose a nose with a nose ring because she loves touching mine and ears with earrings.)
• she attached hers to a cookie sheet - i love this idea for things like the car, but for some reason i'm addicted to sticking things on our fridge! {see here and here} i love that the activity stays off my floor!
• i taped heads onto the fridge for her to use as a guide on where to put the features. i found them here!

am i the only one with a toddler that likes
to dress herself like a goober? i sent her upstairs
 to get panties on and she came downstairs with an
extra headband on her head and
a head band around her waist like a belt!

discussing emotions with toddlers:

right now we're at a very basic level of talking about emotions. emery doesn't usually dialog about theoretical stuff, she mostly just answers black and white questions. here are some examples of how we chat:

with the sad face:

• Is the boy crying? can you frown too? what do you think made him sad - do you think he got hurt? could it also make him sad if a friend took his toy? could he be sad if his mommy said "no more TV today"?

then we dialog about biblical responses:

• if he got hurt, how can you make him feel better? if you hurt him, what should you say?
• if you took his toy, should you give it back? should you say sorry? is it ok to take people's toys? no, it's not because God tells us to think of others as more important than our selves. You're thinking of your self as more important when you take a toy from someone. God wants us to love our friends and we can do that by sharing!
• if his mommy said "no more TV," is it ok to throw a fit? no, he needs to respect his mommy! if his mommy says something, he needs to obey and say "yes, mommy!" God teaches us in the bible that we're supposed to be joyful in all things and to have self-control. Self-control is choosing not to throw a fit even if you're sad and joy is being happy even if you don't get what you want. i bet his mommy can help him find something else fun to do when he gets control, and stops crying!

with the happy face:

• is the girl happy? can you smile like she is? what makes emery happy? are you happy when you ride your bike? are you happy when daddy tickles you? are you happy when you're holding cooper?

dialog with a biblical tie-in:

• do you know what makes mommy and daddy happy? we're happy when we snuggle emery and cooper! we're happy when people come over to our house! we're happy when we're cooking with you in the kitchen! but what makes us happy more than anything is knowing that when we disobey God and ask him to forgive us, He does. that makes mommy and daddy so happy - we're so thankful God loves us!

with the kiss face:

• what's he doing with his lips? can you make a kissing face? who can emery give kisses to?

with the silly face:

• what's she doing with her tongue? can you stick your tongue out? what's another silly face you can make?
• emery's not to the point of knowing that sticking your tongue out can be an attitude issue, but once she gets there i'll definitely address it! it would probably sound super similar to the chat above about a good response when mommy says no more tv :-)

she's mastering the silly faces with daddy!

i love when emery plays with this while i'm making dinner and being able to talk with her while i cook. she has fun mixing and matching all the features to create new "people!"

what are some ways you teach your toddler emotions??

love and silliness,

amber.

fall art for toddlers.

i'm still not game for much DiYing lately, but i only have 3 weeks left until the end of first trimester! can't wait to be back to myself again!

here's a fun time-killing project emery and i did back in august that she absolutely loved!

crunched leaf art:

my little leaf collector :-)

her loot. 

she helped me crunch them up in the bag.

then we smeared glue all over
our paper with a paint brush.

i love this face!

she got into a groove :-)

as usual, we made a mess,
but as usual, it was worth it!

we made several and delivered them to a few family members. daddy took the turquoise one to work and mommy hung one up on the fridge! they didn't last very long, but it was all about the process, rather than the result!

if i'm feeling up for it today, i'm going to enlist emery's help after nap - our yard is full of sweet gum seeds that i want to make a garland out of and i need an experienced collector.

love and crunching leaves,
amber.

3 toddler activities.

**even though many of these activities are common knowledge to most mommies everywhere, i like to think of this blog as a scrapbook of memories, so i'm posting about them anyway :-)**


emery has officially reached that stage where a basic toy just doesn't cut it. she's always preferred to play by herself and do her own thing, but last week a switch was flipped. now she wants to interact, to be challenged, for her toys to engage her and make her think. my thoughts on this?

i'm in mommy heaven.

i've been waiting and waiting (since before she was born) for the day she would be excited about planned activities. my 5 years at the preschool were not in vain - they will now be poured into my little  girl as fast as she can take it.

because my time at the preschool was with *ahem* preschoolers, i'm still figuring out this toddler thing - what she's capable of, what she's interested in, and what's gonna go right over her head. so, for our first planned playtime, i started simple...

creative idea #22: outdoor water painting.
idea sparked by: moneysavingmom.com

 

she loved playing with the ice and stirring it around with her brushes! obviously, this didn't keep her occupied for long {not much does these days} but we took it inside and played with the ice cubes on the floor in the kitchen and that kept her occupied for a little longer. she loved it! :-)

creative idea #23: box of stars.

idea sparked by: playathomemom3.blogspot.com

i stabbed holes in the
box with closed scissors

just poke mini lights in
the holes and plug it in!

 

         

we had a blast reading, playing with toys, touching the stars, and playing peek-a-boo out of a hole cut from the side of the box. 

creative idea #24: playdough. {i shouldn't be calling this a creative idea.}

idea sparked by: ...basic common knowledge that playdough is awesome. 

  

i made myself a playdough bracelet and little emery got the giggles when i made it smaller and put it on her :-) i love having a girly girl!

love and sweet memories,
amber.