The Doctor is in...

This morning we had a blast with some pretend play. It took just a few minutes to gather some simple supplies that has provided hours of entertainment for my girls. I got their little doctor kit (bought a couple of years ago from Kroger for $5...has been a much beloved toy in this house!), grabbed some princess stickers, Candy Land Band-Aids, ice pack, gauze, and a small clipboard. I made little check lists to go on the clipboard. Then we made a waiting room in our living room complete with Highlights magazines. A corner of the kitchen was set-up like a doctor's office. A table, lamp, toy computer, doll bed, stool (for the doctor to sit on), and an ottoman (for the patient to sit on).

 

 

 

Some of our supplies. And yes, I realize I am not the best artist, but the girls loved their little check list.

Our doctor's office.

The girls in the waiting room ready to be called back.

We all took turns being the doctor, nurse, and patient. Here is Dr. Rowynn examining Mr. Froggie.

Getting his shot.

Mr. Froggie had to get a shot so he got a sticker for being a bravie froggie. And of course he got a frog sticker!

 

Nurse Finley asking RoRo has she is feeling.

Looking in her eyes.

Dr. Finley examining her patient, Rose.

Dr. Finley informed me that Rose had hurt her leg on the playground when she slid down the slide. Haha, love her imagination!

Since Rose broke her leg we had to wrap it in a cast.

Which meant that Finley wanted her leg wrapped too.

Rowynn's Band-Aid.

Finley using the ice pack on her sore leg.

I love this activity for so many reasons. First of all, pretend play is sooooooooooooooo important for toddlers/preschoolers. It let's them step in someone else's shoes and use their imagination to be anything they want to be!

It also increases vocabulary. We used words and phrases like, "Hello, how are you feeling today?" and "Can you tell me what hurts?" or "Once you get this shot you will be much better." "I'm just going to listen to your heart now." and "How did you hurt your leg?" Great communication skills for both of the girls.

Pretend play also teaches problem solving skills. What's wrong? How do I fix it? Pretend play is essential for little ones.

Environments that support and encourage that are so important. And don't just lock your kid in a room with a bunch of toys. Play with them. Model for them. Introduce new ideas and phrases. I love playing with my girls...yes, sometimes it gets tiring, but just remember there is going to come a time when they will not want to be with you every second of the day; when you won't be their #1 play mate.

This activity is also great for any kid who may be afraid of the doctor. My girls haven't ever shown much fear, but if your child has anxiety about going to the doctor's office, engage in some pretend play!

I also like that this activity encouraged some basic nurturing skills. They had to take care of one another and really listen to find out what was going on.


Happy playing!!!

My Peeps!

Here are some random pictures of my peeps!

 

 

Rowynn hanging out with brother on his mat.

All three kiddos on brother's mat. Love these babies!

Reading to E-man. He LOVES to be read to! Ignore the jammies and crazy hair...that's just how I roll most days!

Saturday we gave Emerson his first bite of cereal. A tad earlier than we did with the girls, but his doctor wanted me to add more calories to his diet.

He likes it!

My two silly boys...they crack me up!

LOVE these sweet guys!

Took this of the girls before church. Oh my, I love the cuteness exploding out of these two!

Lord I Lift Your Name On High

I remember learning this song and hand motions at summer camp many moons ago. I've been singing it with them at bed time and they love the hand motions! Any song that has hand motions is always a hit with my girls and I love the message of this song.

"Jesus came from Heaven to Earth,

To show the way.

From the Earth to the Cross,

My debt to pay.

From the cross to the grave,

From the grave to the sky,

Lord I lift Your name on high."

 

 

Such a easy way to teach them the gospel message of Jesus Christ. I love that they love it. There is so much I absolutely love about this video. Of course, I love the message of the song. I also love their sweet voices; especially Rowynn's; she's just learning to sing different songs. I love how she watches big sister and how big sister is teaching her. I feel so blessed by these two!

 

 

 



Penguins

The other day we had some fun learning about Penguins! I gathered a couple of books, "Little Penguin" and "Polar Lands," our little stuffed penguin and sat down with the girls. We talked about penguins; and listed everything we knew about penguins. (WWK=What We Know). Then they took turns holding the stuffed penguin. After we read the books we added to our chart everything we learned about penguins. (WWL=What We Learned).

 

Then we had some fun. I had the girls put a ball between their knees and they practiced walking like a penguin. They loved it!  

 

                                

Then we made these cute little penguins out of construction paper. Love watching my girls learn and have fun!

Painting, Puzzles, & More

The other day my dining room table may have looked like this:

 

My girls love to paint; especially Rowynn. I didn't mind the mess; it was easily cleaned up and I loved watching my girls create! 

Finley loves to paint rainbows. She learned last spring, before her Rainbow birthday party and has enjoyed it ever since. She knows the order in which the colors appear and I just love her sweet rainbows!



Finley also likes to paint ice cream cones.

My parents got the kiddos this game for Christmas. (Sequence for Kids). They really love playing with it! I love that they are old enough to enjoy board games.



My mom bought this puzzle for Finley from the dollar store and I got her a princes puzzle also from the dollar store. Finley has enjoyed putting the puzzles together. She loves the story of the Three Little Pigs so she loves this puzzle.

 

Sweet boy. I laid him on his play mat for a minute the other day and when I came back he was snoozing!

Random craft of the day. I dug out my circle hole punch and used it to cut green circles out of paper. The girls glued them to form a caterpillar and added eyes, noses, mouths, and legs. Then they tore and cut construction paper and glued them in the outline of a butterfly. Something bright and cheerful to decorate the playroom!

Finley has talked about monsters and dragons before, and mostly the dragons and monsters chase Princesses. I want to make monsters silly so this was a fun activity. I saw this on pinterest and it was a super easy activity to put together. I just randomly stuck different sizes of "googly" eyes and had the girls finish drawing the faces. Then we named our monsters and made up a little story.


Finley's monsters

 

Rowynn's monsters

 

The other day I overheard the girls playing. They had their counting bears, a plastic fireman, and their barn. They were acting out the story of the three little bears. Finley had a perfect retelling. She loves acting out stories. Of course, in this rendition, Goldilocks was a Fireman. Gotta love that imagination!

Pancakes & Pajama Party

Last Saturday we attended a birthday party for our little friend, Kinley. She turned 3 and her awesome Mom, Whitney, hosted a fabulous Pancakes & Pajamas Party. Whitney is seriously super mom. She organizes our freezer cooking group and play group all while having FOUR girls!! She totally rocks motherhood! And the party was so stinkin' cute! Y'all know I love a good kids birthday, and she did a wonderful job! There was yummy breakfast food, a hot chocolate bar, an adorable cake, pink doughnuts, and super cute décor. The kids made cereal necklaces and got to take home personalized water bottles and super cute individual boxes of cereal.

 

Before the party. Finley and Rowynn in their jammies with their dolls and matching jammies!

Emerson at the party in his jammies and with his fox!

The kids eating their yummy breakfast food!

 

The favors!

 

Making necklaces!



            

 

Enjoying their necklaces!!!

 

 

Cake and cupcakes

Opening presents

 

 

 

Kinley with her Mom & Dad! Happy birthday sweet girl! Thanks for inviting us :)

Animals, The Mitten, & Some Princesses

These pictures are from a couple of weeks ago and just never got blogged about.

 

 

Finley has been obsessed with hippos ever since her winter recital, (she danced to "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas") so we bought her a little plastic hippo. Emerson also got a few large plastic animals in his stocking for Christmas. I found a book on our shelf called, "Wild Animals." I bought this book a couple of years ago from the dollar store, and to my surprise I realized that 4 of the 5 animals were the same as the plastic animals that Emerson got for Christmas. Know what the fifth one was? A hippo! So I gathered all 5 of our plastic animals and but them together with the book. We read the book several times and the girls loved playing with the animals as we read about them. It's important for kiddos to be read non-fiction books as well as fiction so this was a fun non-fiction book activity. After we read the book we made a chart and talked about everything we had learned from the book.

 

 

Animals & Book

 

We made hippos to go along with our book. I found this temple on line and the girls enjoyed painting and coloring it.

The other day we had some sweet friends come over to play. While they were here we read "The Mitten" by Jan Brett. I found a mitten outline from Jan Brett's website along with each of the animals featured in the story. I glued the mitten to a brown paper bag and we took turns "wearing" the mitten. Then as we read the story the girls took turns putting the animal in the mitten. At the end of the story I tossed all of the animals out of the bag/mitten just like in the book. Next, we put all of the animals back in the bag and the girls took turns picking one animal and we charted which animal was picked.

The girls love to dress up and much of the day I had four little princesses running around! Love all of these precious girls! So thankful for sweet friends for my kiddos!