Toddler Fish Crafting

     A few months ago I was looking at the idea of preschool for Cutes Patoots. A few hours of the day to myself to work on homework sounded like a good idea and Cutes would learn so much. But then I looked at the tuition for a moderately decent preschool and I am pretty sure my eyes are never going to go back in my head properly. $300 a week for 4 hours 3 days a week! I am sorry but that is insane to teach kids their colors, shapes, letters, and numbers especially when I know I can teach her those basics. All I was gaining was a few hours to myself and let's face it for the first month I'd have been the creepy mom hanging out in the bushes peering through the window. Cutes Patoots is my baby girl and sometimes I am convinced I have forgotten how to function sans baby. Some of you may think that is sad or crazy but keep in mind she is my only baby and is likely to be the only one I ever have. I want to soak up every giggle, every hug, every milestone, every tear and yes, even tantrum that I can. Having watched her progress over the last two years I have really realized that they grow up so, so fast. They go from baby to toddler in a blink (that could be the sleep deprivation but I don't think it is.) I suspect she will go from toddler to little girl before I realize it too. So the idea of paying someone huge sums of money to miss those special moments when I don't have to suddenly seemed like the stupidest idea I had ever had. But she still needs to learn her colors, numbers, letters and shapes. My solution was simple I would set aside an hour or so a day Monday-Friday to do crafting or activities with Cutes Patoots based on a theme, I would get books from the library about our weekly theme, and we could watch movies and discuss our theme at random intervals throughout the week. This week's theme is fish and the letter F. Outlined below are a few of the things we did this week.

1.       We read the book The Rainbow Fish and then created our own rainbow fish.This craft is very free form and the preparation is simple. I took a paper plate and cut out a wedge for the mouth and gathered the rest of my supplies.

       What You'll Need:

• paper plate
• scissors
• a coffee filter
• cupcake liners (optional, you can also use the cut out wedge to create fins)
• Washable markers
• Spray bottle of water
• white glue
• paint brush (also optional, I put the glue in a cup and let Cutes paint it on)
• sequins, buttons, beads, tissue paper, glitter, foam stickers, basically anything goes. Left overs from previous crafting sessions are great even if they are out of season. I had some leaves left over from the fall she used.

     After I gathered my supplies I laid them out (except for the markers and coffee filter), separating the different types (no they didn't stay that way but it let her see what was available.) She immediately took to painting glue and sticking on sequins, leaves, stickers and anything she wanted. I handed her a spare googly eye and she glued that on too. Remember this part is free form. Just let them have at it. Cutes was suddenly very interested in sequins and was gluing those on like crazy. The only guidance/assistance I gave her was eventually I just painted the whole plate with glue because she forgot she needed the glue to make her doodads stick and got frustrated when they didn't stay where she put them. Other than that though it was all her choice.

      Once she was done gluing all of her beads, sequins and such I picked up all of the glue and doodads and handed Cutes Patoots the markers and coffee filter. I encouraged her to scribble to her her hearts content.The more they scribble the better this part will come out. So don't rush and just scribble. When she eventually lost interest in the markers we took the coffee filter to the kitchen and sprayed it with water to allow the colors to bleed. Once dry I folded the filter into quarters and stapled it on and folded the cupcake liners up and stapled those on as well. If using the wedge from your mouth cut out be sure to let your child decorate that piece as well. You could also use glue.We watched Finding Nemo while we waited for our filter to dry.

      2.      On another day we read In My Pond and created a fish bowl after using paper plates and
               contact paper. This is another one where you can  use extras you have on hand.

      What You'll Need:

•           2 paper plates
•           clear contact paper
•           construction paper
•           glue
•           scissors
•           stapler (optional, you could use glue and clamps)
•           tissue paper, construction paper, sequins, whatever you happen to have

     Before sitting down to read I did all of my prep work which wasn't much. I cut out a fish shape from orange construction paper, and some free form shapes in green and red for coral and seaweed. (Cutes just turned 2 a few days ago and is not ready to operate scissors yet. If your child is older this can be adapted and they can do the cutting) I then cut the center from one plate and glued a cut to fit piece of contact paper to the plate (sticky side in so you can use the adhesive to stick stuff on the "glass" on the inside) and then removed the paper backing. Me and Cutes then glued torn blue tissue paper to the second non-cut out plate for water. Once that was done came the fun. I let Cutes go to town gluing decorations to both plates. Yes I will be finding sequins in my living room from now until she is 18 but she had a blast. Once she was bored gluing I I stapled the two plates together so you can see the blue through the contact paper. We wrapped up that afternoon with cuddles and The Little Mermaid.

These are just two of our units from this week. While we did each craft we discussed thing we knew about fish and the various colors of the objects she was gluing. We also talked about the story we just read. At 2 she is very talkative but if your little one doesn't want to talk just keep up the chatter yourself. I always ask questions and give her the opportunity to reply. If I ask something about the fish and she gives a one word answer I then try to reuse her word in my next sentence. So if I ask "What is this?" and she says "Orange." My response maybe something like "Yes some fish ARE orange." Of course this doesn't work when she just gives a random word like "pretzel," but do try to use whatever she gives as an answer some context. We are hoping to end our week with a field trip to a local aquarium. I always love when we end with a field trip. We will go on the weekend and this gives Papasaurusrex a chance to take part in "preschool."
     I will eventually give up some control and let her go to a formal preschool, probably around 4 to help her adjust to not having me around all the time, but for now I am content to be with her and watch her grow and learn every moment of her day.