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12 Must Have Books for Baby’s First Year
Reading is one of the most powerful ways you can promote your baby’s speech, language, and cognitive development, and it is never too early to start. Reading well before baby is speaking, is an important bonding experience and exposes him to language, rhythm, sentence structure, and new vocabulary. Books with simple and rhythmic text, simple pictures in high contrasting colors, and books that offer a variety of textures are initially the most engaging. There are so many wonderful books out there, written specifically for young children, that it might be hard to determine where to start. After observing my two babies, and using children’s book in countless speech therapy sessions, I…
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Water Safety Awareness Month
Disclaimer: We are provided free swimming lessons by Goldfish Swim School in exchange for collaborating blog posts. All thoughts and opinions are my own. May is “Water Safety Awareness Month.” According to the Centers for Disease Control, drowning is the leading cause of accidental-injury death among children ages 1 to 4. Goldfish Swim School aims to educate families during lessons by teaching steps that can be taken to prevent accidents from occurring. One of the major reasons I have both of my children enrolled in swim lessons is to help my children understand that water is a powerful and how to handle oneself around/in/out of water. If one of them were…
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Back in the Water at Goldfish Swim School
Disclaimer: We were provided free swimming lessons by Goldfish Swim School in exchange for collaborating blog posts. All thoughts and opinions are my own. After a year and a half hiatus, we are back in the water at Goldfish Swim School – Westerville, with a preschooler and a baby. We originally attended Goldfish – Dublin, so with the move to a new location I found myself wondering how lessons would be the same and/or different from our first experience. It took only one lesson at Goldfish for my preschooler to be hooked again. The baby was a bit serious during his first swim, but after a few lessons and implementing the…
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9 Earth Friendly Ways to Play
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn commission if you click through and make a purchase. We have been trying hard to take a look around our house and make decisions on how we can reduce our carbon foot print. We have joined our neighborhood compost program, we aim to use reusable grocery bags when we go shopping, and we are in the process of switching from one time use products to a more sustainable option. One area I have really been focusing on recently is how we reduce, reuse, and repurpose our play materials – especially during…
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Baby Talk: 7-9 Months
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn commission if you click through and make a purchase. If you are reading this, I’m sure you are thinking, “how is my baby 7 to 9 months old already?” It happens so fast! Baby is most likely on the move, continuing to put everything in his mouth and making some really cool changes with his language. At this stage, you will start noticing baby looking at you when his name is called. He is probably starting to use gestures – clapping, giving high fives, blowing kisses, and waving hello/good bye. You…
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Baby Talk: 4-6 Months
Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn commission you click through and make a purchase. If you are reading this, it means you did it, you survived the 4th trimester! Now that the first three months are under your belt, you are probably noticing that baby is staying awake for longer stretches, becoming more in tune with the world around him, and starting to experiment more with his voice. When baby is 4 to 6 months old you will see even more changes in his language development. He will begin to really listen to the world around him…
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Discover Columbus Scavenger Hunt
Take a stroll through the Topiary Park and see if you can spot the monkey and the pug. Find the deer statues along the Scioto Mile. What can the deer see from their spot on the water? Find a must read book at Cover to Cover. The only bookstore in Columbus designed for young readers. Take a walk on a Story Walk. Search for the giant rooster at the North Market. Take a picture with it and be sure to say CHEESE! Hunt for Bison at Battle Darby Creek Metro Park. How many can you find? Take a ride on the Carousel at the Columbus Commons. What animal are you…
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Snow Play
The first accumulating snow has fallen in Columbus and with that comes all of the snow related activities. Read on for 9 ways to say-n-play in the snow! Do you want to build a snowman? And then label body parts, clothing items, and use spatial concepts in order to build your child’s vocabulary. Take a moment to make a Snow Angel. Describe how to make it and then make one together. Which angel is bigger? Paint the Snow. Liquid watercolors are a perfect way to color the snow and can be spread via a spray bottle or a paint brush. What colors are you using? Play with snow gems. Create these…
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14 Outings to Beat the Winter Blues
Hunt for Bison at Battelle Darby Creek and then explore the Battelle Darby Creek Nature Center. Both are located in the Battelle Darby Creek Metro Park near Galloway and completely free to the public. The Nature Center offers a “living stream” with toads and fish that can be explored from above, below, and beside. In addition, the nature center has interactive exhibits and a variety of animal pelts for children to explore. Outside, there is a heard of bison that roam freely within two enclosed pastures. If you are lucky, they will be in the pasture near the parking lot when you arrive! Finding your way there can be a bit tricky, so be…
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Toy Testing: Picasso Tiles Ferris Wheel Set
We just received our latest happy mail delivery from Picasso Tiles and were so excited with what we found. The package contained the PicassoTiles PT62 Kids Toy Building Block Ferris Wheel Set LED Light Children Construction Kit Magnet Tiles for us to test in exchange for our honest review. This Ferris Wheel set includes the Picasso Tiles pieces to build a ferris wheel, LED light inserts for the square pieces, and different shaped confetti filled inserts to create sound blocks. My daughter pulled out the Picasso Tiles and immediately began building. Once I put together the Ferris wheel frame, she was then able to create a simple Ferris wheel on her own.…