Tuesday, October 20, 2020

The Tender Toddler School

 I have started writing a toddler school curriculum for Zeke, and I wanted to share it here for free! First, let me share a little bit about what the curriculum is.



I don't think toddlers need schoolwork, but I do think they need special focused time with Mom. The Tender Toddler School centers around a book a week. The books are very toddler-appropriate, mostly board books and some of Zeke's favorites. I have an activity listed for four days, and then there are four more extra ideas you can use. You can either use one for the fifth day, add one or two to the other days, replace an activity with another one, or skip them altogether! 



The activities build fine motor skills and hand strength, teach sorting and classifying, teach colors, shapes, and numbers, work on gross motor skills, and more. I use the ideas for Zeke's Tot Trays, which you can read more about here. There are detailed instructions for each activity as well as a list of supplies. Most things are found easily in your home. I also have additional book suggestions for each week.

You are welcome to use this curriculum for free. I would love to have a weekly Toddler School link up, so if you're interested in that leave me a comment and let me know! I also have many toddler school activities and more printables in my Etsy shop - link is in the side bar.

Click HERE to get the first month's curriculum!

Click HERE to get the first month's printables!

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Musik at Home

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.

 The past month, Zeke and I have been singing and dancing with Musik at Home. Musik at Home is an early childhood music program for children ages 7 down to babies. We received 3 months of Musik at Home Membership, which gave me access to over 400 musical activities, games, stories and more! 


Musik at Home is designed for the parent to use alongside the child, but it is an open-and-go program. You will need a few props for your child: a set of rhythm sticks (we used wooden dowels), a shaker (rice or beans in a container), and a scarf (you could also use a cloth napkin). 

You can choose from so many different videos! There are lots of different categories so you can find the one you want for your child. Some of the categories are Finger Independence, Dancing, Instruments, Songs for Special Days, Scarves, and Rhythm Sticks. They also have categories for multiple age spans, like Babies and Toddlers, Ages 1-5, Ages 4-7, and Mixed Ages. The categories make it super simple to decide which videos you want to use.

Zeke and I tried the Babies and Toddlers videos first, since he is almost 2. However these videos were too babyish for him I selected the 1-5 category and those were much more age and skill appropriate for him. 

Zeke doesn't get much (if any) screen time, so I was hesitant to try this with him. However, he did enjoy watching it in 5 minute increments and joining in some of the movements and motions. He wasn't really into the songs, but he really liked the rhythm sticks! He had fun pretending to play the drums and xylophone. 

The videos are well done and the lady singing has a beautiful singing voice. Zeke loves music and singing, and we do lots of it already. Watching the videos made the music a little less natural for us. I had a hard time singing along, which is a big part of the program. I also do not like Zeke having screen time since he isn't even 2 yet, so this is not something I would use with him regularly.

However there are several things I will continue to use with him, including the rhythm sticks and some of the movements and motions modeled in the videos. This would be a fun addition to a preschool or kindergarten's homeschool day. If you don't already sing with your baby or toddler, this would be a great introduction! 

See what the other reviewers thought about Musik at Home by clicking the banner below.

Musik at Home Membership {Musik at Home Reviews}