Fun for 5 and Under

My friend (and old roommate from college) has just started an awesome blog called Fun for 5 and Under.  She works with toddlers and their parents for her job and has some great ideas to keep toddlers interested and learning.  I am so excited to have some new activities to do with Dexter as all he says these days is: "play! play!".  He always wants something new to do.

I think I'll start by making him a name banner for his new room:

Name Recognition:

Helping children to recognize and learn their name can be part of everyday tasks. You can start pretty early with talking to them about their name around 12 months. Having the letters of their name on the wall above the changing table has really helped me. Every time I changed Noah's diaper we would look at his name and talk about it. Pretty soon he had the letters memorized(only 4 letters) and now he recognizes his name on paper and we will be work on writing it next. You can make up fun chants to help them remember and let them decorate their name. You can use cheerios, marshmallows, buttons, candy,etc for a fun way to learn their name.