Toddler Fun, Week 22: Star Wars Week! Letter Y, Number 1, Green and Yoda

We are a Star Wars family.  My dad liked Star Wars, and then my brother LOVED Star Wars, and then I married Dan, who also loves Star Wars.  

Aidan's first toys were plush Star Wars characters, he saw the Star Wars movies sooner than he probably should've, and he came very very close to getting a Star Wars themed nursery.

So, when the most interesting animal I could find that started with Y was a yak, I decided to give in, and do "Y is for Yoda".  I knew it would really help the letter stick.

Week 22

Letter: Y

Number: 1

Color: Green

Theme: Yoda and Star Wars

Activities

1. Jedi Training - Letter Spotting

This was going to be an outside activity, but it was so windy, we had to take it inside.  I used a large reel of paper, taped that up, and then taped some of the recent letters on it.  Then I would tell Aidan to "find the letter Y", or "find the letter Q", and then he had to skewer it with his light saber.

 He had very good moves!













2. Dueling and Role Play

 We had THE best family fun, when all three of us grabbed light sabers, ran outside, and dueled and giggled... best time ever!

 I made Aidan these Yoda ears to help him with his pretend play.  Imagination is so important! And pretend play is very underrated!  Aidan loves to pretend he's characters from his favorite show, so these were a hit!

3. Fine-Motor Skills

I found this fine-motor cutting practice sheet!  Although the source link didn't work, I just printed out the picture larger (and a little grainier).  Aidan has these great toddler security scissors, that open themselves back up, which helps a lot.  I helped Aidan out on the first couple, but then he took off!

 And did great!

The next day, I had a similar sheet, but this time He had to use his marker to trace a dotted line between a character and a TIE-Fighter.  He did pretty well!  Also, he wrote his name all by himself. :)









4. Counting/Number Recognition

 I found these Star Wars themed number cards.  They each had a certain number of items on each card, with three numbers on the bottom.  He doesn't really know his numbers yet, so this was a group effort, but it was good practice!

He did a great job counting, as well as "circling" the correct number!












5. Ordering By Size

 One of the really important concepts kids need to know is ordering by size.  Lucky for us, we have three Yodas, all of which are different sizes.  Most kids naturally start sorting by size - for example, the big one is always "daddy", the middle one is "mommy", and the little one is "Aidan".  So, the first time, I asked him to put them in order, smallest to biggest.  Then, biggest to smallest.

After that we compared and contrasted them: They're all green, they all have a robe, crazy ears, an white hair.  BUT, only the middle one had a cane, and only the two biggest had nails that stuck out.  Fun activity!

Snacks

1. Yoda Breakfast

 I made Aidan green pancakes in the shape of Yoda's head, body, hands and lightsaber.  I'm not like that amazing dude who does those Disney pancakes, but it wasn't bad!  Then baked some prosciutto (I didn't have any bacon) for the robe, and made some eggs.  Yummy it was!




2. Yoda Kiwi

For this adorable creation, I used kiwi for the head, and fruit leather for the robe.  Candy eyes, and cucumber stars. 

3. Yoda Grape Face

I don't know if this one really looks like Yoda or not, but it sure is cute! :) I cut the grapes in half, and arranged them to look like Yoda.  I cut a mini marshmallow in half for the whites of the eyes, and blueberries for the pupils.  Oh, and a strawberry smile, of course. 





4. Yoda Juice

I have been making Aidan and I smoothies lately.  This one was actually his favorite so far!  I used an Outshine veggie and fruit popsicle (for the frozen part), pealed grapes (harder than it sounds), kiwi, apples, cucumber, added some apple juice, and honey... and it was a HUGE hit!  Now he's been asking for Yoda juice everyday!






5. Star Wars Jello Jigglers

Okay, I'm not really a huge Jello person, but Dan really likes it, and I'm pretty sure most kids do. So, a few months back, He bought some Star Wars themed Jello (because there was Star Wars themed everything), which came with these molds.  He kept the molds, and we had Jello laying around, so I made some jigglers.  Not my best work, but hey!  Aidan loved it, so there's that!

Crafts

1. Y is for Yoda

For this adorable craft, I cut out a giant letter "Y", then a green Yoda head, brown robe, green hands and feet, and a lightsaber.  Aidan put it all together, and ta-da!









2. Yoda Best

For this cute craft, I painted Aidan's foot brown and and green, and pressed it down.  Then I added ears, wrinkles, eyes, hair, and the outline to his robe.  We made a few of these, and are going to send them to some of our favorite people!

Books and Media

We Read:

1. The Star Wars Little Golden Book Library

Aidan got this amazing book set from his aunt and uncle a little while back.  It's very kid-friendly, and still manages to give a really good synopsis of each movie!  There are a couple of intense illustrations, but they don't seem to bother him. :)






2. Star Wars: The Forse Awakens: Golden Books by Caleb Meurer

 This is the next installment!  No Yoda in this one, but he actually went to see it with at the movies, so he remembers it pretty well!






3. Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown

This is a very cute book, about what might've happened if Darth Vader had ended up a single parent to Luke Skywalker.






4. Other Star Wars Themed Books
Okay, so unfortunately I didn't get these books, BUT you should totally get them.  There are Star Wars Alphabet books, as well as counting books.  So much fun!


We Watched

1. Star Wars Clone Wars - This animated Star Wars series is currently on Netflix (it is a kids' show - not one of those weird adult animated shows, but for some reason you can only access on an adult profile).  I wish the prequels had had more of what's in this show in them, I might have liked them better!  Best part?  Yoda is in it! (There's also a movie by the same title, that is a precursor to this show.)

2. Star Wars Rebels - This is a Disney Channel show, with Aidan's favorite characters - Ezra Bridger, Kanan, Sabine and Hera.  Who we all have to be when playing pretend, haha!

Toddler Fun, Week 11: Letter I, Number 1, Green and Insects

So, insects aren't my thing.  But, God made me a boy-mom, and so bugs are part of my life.  So this week is about insects!  I hope you enjoy it!

Week 11

Letter: I

Number: 1

Color: Green

Animal: Insects

Activities

1. Trip to the Zoo

 Our Jacksonville Zoo has a beautiful Butterfly Hollow.  It's a separate ticket, so we don't always do it, but we went with some of our missionary friends.  They had butterflies, and to our great joy, chrysalises too!  I recently backed up my pictures, but somehow missed those, so I don't have the those, but we had a wonderful time!

Aren't butterflies just stupendous!? 

2. Wild Kratts Creature Powers

We watched Wild Kratts Voyage of the Butterflier, and I'd already made Aidan some DIY Wild Kratts creature discs, so we were all set!  The distance monarch butterfly makes, would be the equivalent of a human trecking around the world... TWICE!  Without any assistance.  So, we pretended to fly, and crawl out of our chrysalis, etc.  So much fun!

3. We're Going on a Bug Hunt

 Lucky for us, we love in Florida, where there are bugs all year round!  So, it's November, and yet there are bugs everywhere!  So, we went to the back yard, and searched all over for insects!  (The way Aidan says it though, is "incest", which is just hilarious!)
We found a beetle, which I masterfully caught and put in a jar.  Aidan liked looking at him, we talked about whether or not he could fly, and tried to count his (fast) legs)

After that, Aidan collected grass, leaves and a stick, so make the beetle feel at home. :) We let him watch him for a while, and then let the bug go free, or as the the Wild Kratts would say, "Living free, and in the wild!"

Snacks

1. Dirt

Every kid needs to experience "dirt".  For this snack I bought pre-made chocolate pudding cups (I know, I know.  Don't judge.), oreos and gummy worms.  I crushed up the oreos and put them on the pudding, and then stuck the gummy worms in it.  Pure sugar high.

2. Butterfly Sandwich

For this snack, I used a butterfly sandwich cutter, raspberries, grapes and veggie straws. :)

3. Ladybug Strawberries

For this snack, I cut the green off of strawberries, then cut them to make "wings".  A chocolate chip head, I melted chocolate, and "dripped" it into polka dots, and of course kiwi "grass".

4. Butterfly Life Cycle

This one was my favorite!  We watched Wild Kratts Voyage of the Butterflier, and ate this tasty treat.  I used grapes for the caterpillar (and candy eyes), for the chrysalis I used part of the sandwich, the crust for a branch, and kiwi and mango.  For the butterfly sandwich, I used a smaller butterfly cookie cutter and veggie straws.  And mango arrows. :)

5. Dragonfly (or butterfly) snacks

These are simply veggie straws, pretzels and peanut butter.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy!

Crafts

1. I is for Inchworm

Look at that face!! OMG!  Okay, so for this addition to our "letter book", I cut out a brown uppercase "I", which he glued on.  Then, I cut out yellow and green circles.  Aidan had to name the colors, then he got to choose which one he wanted to start with.  He chose green.  Then I gave him yellow.  I explained to him that we were making a pattern; green, yellow, green, yellow... So, I asked him which color was coming next, and he said, "green"!  And so on, and so forth.  AB patterning for the win!

Books and Media

We Read:

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

So, this is a classic.  Clearly.  Hungry caterpillar, he eats everything, and becomes a butterfly.  Best book ever. :)

2. What the Ladybird Heard by Julia Donaldson

One of our friends sent us this from the UK.  There's an American version but I feel like that's taking away an opportunity to explain how dialects are different.  It's about a ladybird (ladybug) who overhears to thieves' plan to steal the fine prized cow.

3. Peep Inside Night-Time by Ann Melbourne

Aidan's grandparents got him this sweet bedtime book! It features a few of the bugs of the night, and the flaps are always fun to open for Aidan. :)

What We Watched:

1. Wild Kratts, Season 1 Episode 9, Voyage of the Butterfly - you can find this on iTunes, or if you have AmazonPrime, I believe it's on there.  It's really amazing what butterflies accomplish!

2. Wild Kratts, Season 1 Episode 5, Mystery of the Squirmy Worm - I admit, I did not realize how amazing worms are!  Also, they're not insects.  But, that's irrelevant if you're 2.  (Also, for the record, inchworms are, they're actually type of caterpillar.)

3. Beat Bugs - a new Netflix original show.  It uses Beatles songs, and builds the episode around that.  It's a super-cute show, and hearing Aidan sing along with "Lucy in the Skies With Diamonds" is priceless!