Themes
and Projects

The
toddler curriculum may be theme or project based.  Teachers must plan themes or support
projects that are relevant for the children.  Toddler themes should include art,
sensory and science experiences, songs, books, finger plays, puppets, stories,
photographs, pictures, and interesting objects to share.  Teachers need to include objects that
toddlers can investigate and manipulate.

Suggested
toddler themes are: balls, what our hands can do, up and down, shoes, hats,
clothing, what’s up in the sky, the people in my family, babies, nursery
rhymes, cats, dogs, pets, transportation (a rich theme for toddlers in the
city), the garden, insects, food, cooking, boxes and cartons, animals on a farm
(especially at sites near a farm), machines, black and white, recycling,
dinosaurs, among others.

Toddler
classes may go on field trips.
Directors must approve of the field trip before it is planned.  There needs to be a goal for the field
trip.  The minimum supervisory
requirement is one adult for every two children.  The MDS field trip policies must be
strictly enforced.  Toddler teachers
need to train parents as well as children- usually neither have
been on a field trip before.
Toddler field trips may include: visiting a farm, the zoo, a bus ride, a
bakery, the super market, parents at work or the library.  It is also suggested that classroom
visitors be encouraged: pets, babies, parents and friends.

Fine
Motor Activities

Children
need to be encouraged to create, explore, and manipulate materials.  Two year olds love to mix paint, squeeze
glue bottles, and rip paper.  Many
enjoy easels, stuffing bags, finger-painting, clay and creating collages.  Toddlers spread glue and paint all over
their hands and arms and friends!
They will pile objects onto one piece of paper until the paper
tears.  They will mix colors, dump
the paint, and lick the grossest brushes.
An art experience must not be confused with an exercise in following
directions.  Some appropriate fine
motor activities are:

·
Mixing,
squeezing, kneading

·
Bake bread with
the children

·
Puzzles with
knobs

·
Duplos

·
Squeeze glue,
glue different materials together

·
Paint on easels,
paint with brushes, rollers, vehicles, utensils, sponges

·
Paint on fabric,
wood, plastic, paper cut into different shapes

·
Cut play dough
with scissors

·
Tear paper-stuff
paper in bags (great to make creatures)

·
Cooperative
sculptures

·
Crumple paper
into balls and throw them

·
Stick items onto
clear contact paper

·
Play with bubble
wands and strawberry baskets, etc.

·
Hammer golf tees
into Styrofoam

·
Drop objects in a
can

·
Different types
of play dough and clay

Art,
Science and Sensory Explorations

Toddlers
learn primarily through their senses.
Whether it is eating foods, crawling on the floor, or exploring outside,
sensory and science experiences also happen all the time.  Additionally, children need planned
sensory activities.  Sensory
materials and bins must be available every day.  Sensory experiences are calming and
encourage emotional release.

Art, science and sensory are
integrated experiences for toddlers.
Toddlers learn through their senses.  Whether is crawling on the floor,
exploring dirt, rolling a ball, blowing bubbles, eating, or washing, science,
sensory and art are happening all the time.  Food, eating, drinking and cooking are
rich art, science and sensory experiences.
Few things are more colorful than a lunch table when toddlers have
finished eating!

Sensory
materials and bins must be set up every day. It is best to give each child a
separate bin or tray  with sensory materials in it. Cat
boxes are excellent for this. By having his/her own bin children feel ownership
and can relax as they interact.

Teachers
need to understand that they are often messy and should focus on the richness
that sensory exploration provides for the children.  Sensory experiences are calming and
encourage emotional release.  When
engaged in sensory exploration children socialize, learn to collaborate, use
gross and fine motor skill, and practice language skills.

Always
gather all the materials ahead of time.
Encourage but do not force children to wear smocks.  It is helpful to mix liquid soap
detergent in the paint.  Expect
children to leave and return to an activity.  Chat with children during the
activities.  Whenever possible have
toddlers be part of the preparation and clean up process.

The
teacher’s role is two fold.
One is to set up different experiences for children to explore.  The other is to take advantage of
“teachable moments”.
Comment about your observations and ask the children open-ended
questions.  The teacher needs to sit
with the children and join in the activity.  It is important to interact with the
child without being intrusive.
Teachers need to:

1.
Describe changes
that children can observe.
“Look, you are washing the blue paint off your hands.  Now the water has turned blue.”

2.
Share what you
see.  “Oh, I see you put black
paint at the top of the paper.”

3.
Help children
problem solve.  “The paint
spilled, what do you think we should do?”

4.
Write the
child’s name on her projects.
Always write in printed block letters.

5.
Comment on the
children’s actions:
“Lulu, you are pounding that clay very hard.”

6.
Always value the
process- not the finished product.

·
Flour, corn
meal, rice, used coffee grounds in the sensory bin.  Never salt.  Put in
approximately two to four inches.
Give the children cups, funnels, toilet paper rolls, or different
objects to explore with.

·
Bubble
solution:  Toddlers usually love to play with bubbles.  Help them mix:  2/3 cup of liquid detergent (Joy of Dawn
are suggested), 1-quart water, and 1/3 cup of
glycerin.  They can use strawberry
baskets, bent pipe cleaners, or bubble wands that are purchased.

·
Toilet plunger
art:  Spread paper on the floor and the table.  Give children both small and large
plungers and put paint in paper plates (that are taped down).

·
Ice chunks:  Freeze
ice in containers of varying sizes and shapes.  Children can add food coloring to the
water before it is frozen.  They can
also add rocks, flowers, leaves, or any small objects.

·
Washing chairs
and tables after messes:
Give children sponges, spray bottles with
water and rags to help clean up.
Never give children Envirocare bottles.

·
Easels with
fresh paint:  Easels need to be set up daily.  They need to be cleaned and paint put
away in the evening.  Use different
kinds and shapes of paper.  Use
different kinds of brushes and sponges as well.

·
Beginners play
dough:  3 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 cup water, 1
tablespoon salad oil.  Knead all the
ingredients together.  Form into
balls.

·
Goop:  3 cups
corn starch, 2 cups warm water.
Gradually add water to cornstarch.
Mix ingredients together with hands.  Goop is ready when it goes from lumpy to
satiny texture.

·
Baker’s
clay:  4 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 ½ cups warm
water.  Mix all ingredients together.

·
Moist modeling
clay:  1 ½ cups flour, 1 ½ cups warm water, 1
cup salt, 2 tablespoons salad oil.
Mix all ingredients together, form into a ball.

·
Cloud dough:  6 cups
flour, 1 cup salad oil, water to bind (approximately 1 cup).  Knead ingredients together.

·
Soap crayons:  1 cup
soap flakes, 1/8 cup water, 3 drops of food coloring.  Grease a plastic ice cube tray.  Mix ingredients together in a bow.  Pour mixture into the tray.  Allow time to harden.

·
Painting:  Children
may paint with fingers, brushes (thick, stubby), toothbrushes, foam rubber
brushes, dishwashing sponges, pom poms,
cotton swabs, spray bottles, etc.
They may paint on paper, cartons, sheets, wood, clay, etc.

·
Shaving cream:  Set it up
on trays and encourage children to add colors.

·
Scribble
Wafers:  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and turn
it off.  Sort crayons by color, or
create rainbows.  Remove the paper
from the crayons.  Place crayons in
separate sections of a muffin tin.
Put the muffing tin in the oven.
Remove it and let it cool.

·
Bars of soap
in the sensory bin:  Sail the soap boats.

·
Tape:  Provide
colored masking tapes and objects to tape together.

·
Finger-paint:  3
cups of liquid starch, 1 tablespoon powdered tempera.  Mix all the ingredients.  Add texture with sand, coffee grains, or
small rocks.  Give children cotton
balls to experiment with.

·
Ooblick:  Four
boxes of cornstarch and water.  Mix
the ingredients in tub or dishpan.

·
Dancing on
paper:  Put sand in the bottom of a nylon-stocking.  Tie the stocking.  Let the children use the stocking to
dance paint onto the paper.

·
Clay:  Pounding
and working with clay is wonderful for toddlers.  They enjoy adding water to it.

·
Toddler
shakes:  Children can put strawberries, bananas,
milk, ice cream, etc. in a blender.

·
Water play:  Water
play is popular and fun.  A
teacher must supervise it at all times.  It can be set up in individual bins or
in the sensory bin.  Always dispose
of it after it is used.  Some props
you might have available for children are: wire whisks, funnels, turkey basters, squeeze bottles, squirt bottles, cups, etc.

·
Toy washing:  Children
love to wash babies, toys, vehicles etc.
Be it a car wash, or washing chairs in the
classroom- toddlers love to bubble things clean.

·
Vegetable
soup:  Children bring a few vegetables from home.  They identify what they brought to
school.  Children wash, peel and
with direct supervision, help cut up the veggies.  Children put them in a pot of chicken
broth.

·
Mash potatoes:  Children
can try to peel potatoes.  Then the
teacher cuts them up.  Children feel
what the potatoes are like before they are boiled.  After boiling them they mash them with
potatoes mashers.  Children can also
mash avocados or yams.

·
Cream cheese
delights:  Using a plastic knife or craft stick, toddlers can easily
spread whipped cream   cheese
on crackers or bagels.  They can add
a few drops of food coloring and make rainbow snacks.

·
Eggs:  Children
can crack, stir and scramble eggs.

·
Jell-O:  Jello is a hit with toddlers.  They can make jello
jigglers and wigglers, use cookie cutters, or grate
carrots and put them in the jello.

·
Foot painting:  Children
paint their feet and walk or dance on large pieces of paper.