Hi!
I know it has been a while since you have seen me……but man it’s been a rough ride and I just couldn’t write. My older son has speech language delays which makes parenting OH SO INTERESTING! While yes I was a special education teacher for the 0-5 year old crowd it is SO not the same with your own children…..so if your struggling please don’t think it’s any easier for anyone else I can PROMISE you it is tough. I think the hardest part for me was I knew all the things I needed to do but would get so overwhelmed between both kids needs, my husbands needs, the animals needs and then my own needs (which never got met) that I couldn’t do it. The mom guilt AND shame just from myself would paralyze me. Now I have done parent training and behavior intervention services where parents would look to ME for help…..here I am sitting with my own kid thinking how in the world do I even DO this? With my husband away ALOT because fire services + pandemic never ending equals mom has to be a superhero solo. Lots and lots of tear later (and some therapy) I began accepting help from others, knowing my limits and ultimately listening to my OWN words that I would tell parent when I began training with them. Your doing a fantastic job and you do what works for your family. EVERY SINGLE FAMILY is different and has different needs.
Whelp that’s all for this installment….I hope you all join again as I take you on this life journey with us!
“You’re beautiful because you know your darkness, and still,that doesn’t stop you from finding your light.”

I know the name makes you think of something else but making a “tent city” for your little ones can be a fun time for them! I have a bunch of pop tents and tunnels in my outdoor toy arsenal…..my toddlers LOVE to tunnel through things so its a perfect match!

I like to keep it interesting and put things inside each tent for them to do. I even include their fire truck, trampoline and slide sometimes! Kinda like an obstacle course with extras! Today I did not feel like lugging the ball pit and catching all the balls so I opted for a simpler one. So I’ll set up all the different tents and tunnels connecting them to one another. Then I’ll go in and give each tent a theme or some toys that go together so it keeps them intrigued for some time. I always make sure the library teepee is attached somehow so that they have a quiet space. Today I added in the center or “start point” the little Einstein gear and color table with paper and crayons! Getting a little creative!

In one tent I have a tea set and in another a John Deere front loader. We also love rolling a big ball to each other through the tunnels! The tent on the end has a bunch of holes and a basketball net which can be loads of fun to out different sized balls through. Get down in there and play with all the toys……do as many of the activities as you can….remember you are modeling for them how you want them to play. The more they see it the easier they will be able to copy it! At some point they will play with it all independently and you will get some time to yourself. This is a common theme here…..invest some time in teaching them how to play (and really it’s just playing with them and they LOVE that) and then they will venture off to do it on their own!

As always get messy and have fun! Enjoy all these moments with your family!!! Leave a comment/picture of your family enjoying this activity!! Stay safe and well!!!

All things sensory can be helpful with little ones in the house…..the capture their attention for a while and can help to calm them down. They are also super duper fun to do together. This sensory bottle is both an experiment and sensory bottle in one! Very little prep for this one and not a lot of materials needed make it super easy to do (over and over if you need to). What you will need: a plastic bottle, oil, water and food coloring….I know not that much!

To start with you add oil to half of your bottle then fill it up with water….fill it almost to the top. You and your little one can watch as that oil and water separate….because they DO NOT like each other!! Then you let your little one squirt dots of food coloring into the top of the bottle and as they rest in there they will drop down. You can actually see it which is super cool and will also help your little one to look for/focus on the dot to follow it down. This part is up to you how many drops you wanna put in there…..the more food coloring the brighter the color. Then you put on the top and let your little one shake shake shake it up…..after it settles from being shaken you will be able to play with the “lava lamp”.

Some little one need more sensory input than others and this is a nice calming sensory bottle to leave around for when its needed. However its not just for special little ones who require it…..everyone needs sensory at times to zen out. You can make a neat little science area with all different sensory bottles/boxes as well to give your little one a space for those moments where they need to emerge themselves in all things sensory!

A fun extension on this activity can go to colors as well. Make a bottle in every color of the rainbow and then ask your little one to find/shake a certain color. This really gives a lot of opportunity to teach and promote language development. You can also ask your little one to put them in rainbow order.

As always have fun and get messy….its the best way to learn after all!! Please leave a comment or picture of you and your family enjoying this activity. Stay safe and stay well!

This week we came back to making some play dough! The same simple recipe of just 3 ingredients to make the play dough: flour, salt and water. The littles LOVE mixing up the play dough. This is ALL the sensory input for those little ones AND a great introduction to baking which is a FANTASTIC activity as it teaches SO much. On my facebook group I have a recipe card posted which you can read with your littles. This will introduce them to following some visual directions. Learning to follow directions is such a major skill for littles to learn during a time where so many of them just DON’T want to listen to anything you say!!!

So start by doing a little prep work and get out all the ingredients/supplies you will need. Print up that direction card so you can show them how to “read” the directions right along with you. Then get to work mixing up that play dough together!!

THEN the mission is to make some shapes and pictures with your play dough(depending on the age/skills of your little one)! I have a few printable worksheets on my facebook group (Jozie’s Learning Corner) as well to guide you along in this activity. I started out getting them to squish, squish, squish their dough and then rolling it out into a looooooong snake. Then you can form it tougher (or by themselves if they are able) into the different shapes on the worksheets. The worksheets are simply a guide to get them to create different shapes and pictures. With older ones after they make their shapes you can then ask them to take their shapes to create one of the pictures on the worksheets. Another fun activity would be to have them use their shapes to create their own picture. You can see how this might keep some littles occupied for some time creating masterpieces. Then take some fun pictures of their masterpieces to send to family or friends….ask them who they might want to show them too!

This activity is just another way to promote language and engage them in structured activities. During this (and so many activities) you want to be labeling things and talking non stop so that you are teaching them all the language skills they need. For older ones (and brave mamas who don’t mind the mess) it may also serve as an independent activity to give you a few moments alone. As with any activity I recommend starting off as a structured activity together and then letting them go solo so they know what they are expected to be doing.

As always have fun and get messy…..the mess is where they learn best at this age! Leave a comment of you and your family enjoying this activity! Stay healthy and stay safe out there!

Over the last week I have been doing book based activities and crafts on virtual mommy and me. This is something that is super common in preschool because tying in literacy is something we are always striving to do. On that theme I figured I would jump on here and discuss reading with your little one.

While it seems like oh reading yeah how hard can that be? Well we all forget that in the early years we really need to make it interactive. I have found myself forgetting (especially lately as I am always so stressed about the state of the world) to slow down and remember to make reading interactive. The whole goal is to make our little ones WANT to read on their own and be interested in learning what all these crazy markings on the pages mean! There are a few ways I have learned to make reading fun and interactive that I (TRY) to incorporate with my littles.

First and simplest way is to ask questions and encourage pointing as you are reading. This helps with letter/picture/word recognition as well as critical thinking. From the beginning (yes newborn) you want to be asking questions and labeling things for your kiddo. They are little itty sponges from birth so you wanna fill them up with as much as you can. Encourage them to point out letters/words/pictures while you are reading by asking them questions about what is going on in the story. (ie. where is the dog?) Pointing things out is a huge skill because it shows understanding and helps to teach how to follow directions.

Another way to make reading interactive is by making an activity to go along with your book. A printed out activity that can keep their hands busy but their minds focused on the story you are reading! Something that has them match or sort is fun to keep the mind focused.

The last way is to make an interactive book. Using velcro and laminated pieces choose a word for each page of your story to focus on. You will have your child find that piece and attach it to the page of the book you are reading. For example if your story book page says “where is the dog?” you could have your child find a laminated picture (or word dog) of a dog to match to that page. I have done this for colors, numbers, shapes and sight words throughout many books to keep a child engaged.

All of these methods are great however a big piece of this is also knowing where your little ones comfort level is. Sometimes books with lots of words are SUPER overwhelming for a little one AND that’s ok! Read simpler board books and picture books until THEY are ready to move on. You want to make reading fun AND you want them to feel successful so they will WANT to read in the future. Mommas no matter what anyone says you know your baby do what feels right.

Throughout this post I have put pictures of just some of the books I love! They focus on everything from feeling to letter recognition and are fun at the same time. Use different voices, tones and paces to make it fun to read. Doing this also allows them to learn how to use their voices!

As always have fun and get messy! Enjoy every moment with your little one!!! Leave a comment, a picture of you reading together or a picture of your favorite children’s book!!

I know it’s been some time since I posted but quarentine got to us in a BIG way in the last week! So today I am going to talk to you about making a busy box. What is a busy box? Well its really just a discovery activity/toy for your little one to get lost in. It starts with an ordinary box (one that you get your Amazon Prime deliveries in) covered in construction paper with a square cut in the top. Then you fill it with some fun thing for your little one to discover! I like to take some tissue paper (the kind you would use for a present) and scrunch some up in first then I like to put in some toys/things for my little one to discover. My son is sensory seeking so I always love to mix in some sensory with my activities. You could focus on foods, shapes, numbers, colors or textures…..you could even do a smell discovery box (although I would suggest keeping that HEAVILY supervised!).

There are two ways to use this little box…..either supervised or “unsupervised”. If you are going to supervise you can direct the play by asking questions and providing the language to your little one (SUPER DUPER important stuff for littles). You can say things like “what have you found” or “thats a blue square”. If you want your little one to independently explore their busy box you just hand it to them and let them dig in! They may come to you with objects found inside and then is a great time to give them the language of “oh wow you found a (whatever they have found)”. Also for older ones you could make an activity out of it by hiding puzzle pieces or blocks inside then asking them to complete an activity with whatever they have found inside the box. The more creative you are with your busy box the more intrigued your little one will be!

As always get messy and have fun! Enjoy all the precious moments with your little one!!! I hope you enjoy this activity and please feel free to leave a comment/picture of your family enjoying this activity!

It has been a rainy week…..it feels like it’s been raining for weeks at this point! So we talked about rain today. Sometimes just using what is going on around you and making it fun is what you do! Neither of my kids likes to be stuck in on rainy days so it has been a LONG few weeks for this mama. Both kiddos are having meltdowns and are super duper cranky because it has been so yucky out…..AND daddy has been gone a lot for work. SO I figured lets get our hands dirty and try something fun!

First I found some super cute rain related videos to draw them in on youtube. Rain Rain Go Away and a book called The Rainy Day…..we watched the song first then did the book after to get them into what we were doing. (SIDE NOTE….neither of my children were cooperative with this AT ALL because they wanted to do it their way!)

So our supplies are super simple: a see thru container, water, blue food coloring, shaving cream and a dropper. Fill up your container 3/4 of the way with water then squirt on your shaving cream (the shaving cream is your cloud). Then mix your blue food coloring with some water. You are going to have your little one squirt blue food coloring water out of the dropper into the shaving cream. The shaving cream is your cloud and as the water gets heavier it will start to drop blue “rain droplets” into the clear water below. With my little ones it was like blue filling into the clear water because they were impatient! BUT they still had fun squirting the water AND THEN playing with the shaving cream (it was EVERYWHERE).

To extend here with the experiment you could have older children mix colors. ALSO you could have them experiment with different dropping tools to see what might get rain droplets faster or slower.

Afterwards I had a printable with the letter R. My son is speech delayed and so recently we have been concentrating on sounds to get him to be more verbal. We colored the R blue and made the R sound and talked about different R words! ALSO we worked with our color match learning materials from JozieLearning on Etsy (link below).

As always get messy and have some fun with your littles!! They are only little for a short while so enjoy every moment you can. Leave a comment and/or some pictures of your family enjoying this activity!!

Today was BEUTIFUL out so during virtual mommy and me there was a quick activity! Everyone just wants to be outside when its so nice out….totally understandable! With little ones you really have to play to their interests because attention spans are short with this age group! So today we did some tape shapes.

To start off we watched and sang along to a shape song on youtube. Participating in these song and not just watching is key to getting your little one to engage. Sometimes we have to make fools of ourselves to get them to learn….its all good AND its a fun time! So answer the questions, sing along and draw in the air with them….get them engaging and using those little brains!

Then I had some shapes taped out on construction paper to begin with and also had decided on the colors I was going to ask them to color with…..ALWAYS plan ahead littles really thrive when their are rules. Little ones don’t know much they are learning EVERYTHING right now soooo having clear rules makes it easier for them to succeed AND have fun! Basic shapes and basic colors were used today. We did our circle red, our triangle green and our square blue. You can easily extend this activity until the cows come home so today I am just going to talk about the basics! You can let your littles paint, dot marker or color….your call on that. I only had my crayons handy today which is so sad because this would be super fun with paint! Remember to talk, talk, talk here because thats where the learning is. As you hand them the green crayon tell them color your triangle green this is green. During mommy and me I had a print out of a shape match as well as a slide show up with a big old Circle/Square/Triangle in the color they were supposed to color it as well. Using that print out later or the next day for “homework” could extend the activity to matching the shapes for your little one.

As always have fun, get messy and enjoy all this time with your littles! Leave a comment or picture below of your family enjoying this activity!!

Recently I was reminded that because we are at home taking a child centered approach is sometimes the way to go! When we are all wrapped up in school and curriculum a child centered approach to learning is near impossible. BUT …..silver lining to quarentine/global pandemic…..we get to slow down so using this approach is something we have the privledge of! Child centered is exactly what you think it is…..taking something you know your little one already loves and creating a fun activity out of it! So here it is the weekend and little ones need to be engaged ALL THE TIME! But it’s the weekend AND a shift day which means mama is exhausted! So last night I set up a rock activity along with a few other things in my sensory/science area in the garage (where we play when it’s gross out).

Super duper easy I went out side and shoveled rocks/dirt into a shoe tray. Added a John Deere silo toy with a couple John Deere trucks…..all things I know that my son LOVES! And poof an activity is born. My goal was to get him to put the correct vehicle down the ramp and use the other to push the rocks/dirt around. Following these instructions instead of just throwing and kicking the dirt/rocks around is a huge accomplishment for him no matter how long it lasted. ALSO added bonus that they did on their own…..he shared with his sister even showed her what to do!

Also in my garage I had set up a quiet reading/tea party area. A tunnel connected to that leads to a ball pit, a tumbling mat with large shapes and a swing. Just to get some of those wiggles out of their system!

As always have fun and get messy! Not every day is perfect and that’s ok! Sometimes you just put the frozen 2 soundtrack on and have a dance party to lighten the mood! Drop a comment with a picture of your family enjoying this!!

Today on virtual mommy and me we did some color sorting! Depending on how old your little one is that will tell you how you want to do this activity. You can easily use objects found around your house to sort by color. Now you can either have your little in their high hair or let them move around. If you have them out and roaming I would suggest taking all other distractions away so they can better focus.

A fun way to start is always to read a story or sing a song that is about colors! Showing your little one each of the colors and telling them the word for it. This gets them in the mood for colors! Also it will tell you if they are in the mood at all! Below are a read aloud and song I found on youtube that were fun……both my littles were engaged and enjoyed them!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhVDvE4Fk4Y

For this activity you will need 3 bins to sort 3 colors into. Inside those bins or smaller containers you want to label the color. Then you will have a container with items of all the 3 colors in it. Ask your little one where each item should go by saying something like “where does this red ball go?”. Going thru every item in your bucket.

If you have an older little who knows their colors and has sorted before you can expand this activity. First by having them take their bucket to collect items from around the house in 3 specific colors. Then have them sort their collected items into 3 bins labeled with colors.

Afterwards you can pull out a fun coloring sheet! Something along the lines of color by numbers so they are following the directions and identifying colors further!

Remember that sometimes it will take a few attempts before they are successful and that is OK! Depending on age and development little ones will have different levels of success with this activity. Make it fun and get in there with them……be excited for ANY and ALL success they have!! That will motivate them to try harder the next time! Keep positive and keep trying.

As always have fun and enjoy all the moments good/bad/ugly! Leave a comment and drop a picture of your family enjoying this activity!