to and fro

The Car Transporter, hand-painted and assembled in Poland by Bajo, has beautiful, sturdy construction, smooth textures and is painted in bright primary colors.  The transporter takes two little cars where they need to go, whether it be from room to room or across the rug.  The soft, smooth surfaces and rounded edges are perfect and gentle for a toddler or preschooler's hands.  Stack up some blocks to make a cityscape, lay down a washi tape road and now all you need is someone to direct traffic!  Washi tape road found via Apartment Therapy Family.  Thanks to Land of Nod for sending us the Car Transporter.

more green

After her second time reading Green, Avery made a "moon map."

spot it!

I originally found a recommendation for this book on the Wee Blog.  Spot It! is by French author, illustrator and designer Delphine Chedru, and is a collection of stunning patterns, one on each set of pages, with a hidden creature.  The task of finding each skillfully disguised creature is a good exercise in visual discrimination.  The fun we had with this book will definitely have us looking for Chedru's other works!

avery's bakery

Collaborative pretend play (also called "dramatic play")  is essential for building language, learning everyday scripts, rules of play and social norms, perspective-taking, turn-taking and a host of other important early childhood skills.  I thought Avery would love running a bakery, so I gathered all of her pretend baked goods which included an assortment of breads, cupcakes, a cake and a pie.  I also threw in a couple of strawberries, measuring spoons and jars of jam and honey.  A couple of other details that helped complete Avery's bakery counter were Nod blocks spelling out the word "bakery," a bell for customers to ring and hanging oven mitts.  A rainbow felt garland added some colorful whimsy to the setting as well.  We talked about the kinds of items that bakeries sell and how customers visit and buy things with money.

Sources: Play food collected over the last few years (from IKEA, Haba Toys, Pottery Barn Kids, Plan Toys), wooden trays (Plan Toys), cake stands (Macy's), oven mitts and apron (Anthropologie), bakery boxes (Susiecakes) and play money (Sanrio).

little cloud

This was another story book-based art experience that Avery had when she was a toddler.  We read Eric Carle's Little Cloud together, which is a charming and of course beautifully illustrated and collaged story about Little Cloud and his shape-changing adventures.  Avery glued cotton balls onto paper to resemble clouds.  Other creative ideas for pairing art with Little Cloud can be found here.