Most Saturday nights I sit and I scroll through last week’s Link & Learn to see what y’all linked up. All I can say is WOW! When I started this linky I did it because I wanted to share great blogs with others , especially new blogs. I never expected to be bombarded with so many great kids crafts, book related activities, science experiments for kids… seriously it all just plain rocks. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your Sunday to share!

If you have never linked up there is no reason not to. Share a post that you wrote about anything you think our readers will find helpful in their quest to have fun with their kids.

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We have been living outside lately and unless it starts really raining I am not sure the playroom will getting many visitors. Here are some of our old favorite toddler activities that my 2 year old and I have been re-visiting over the last few weeks. I hope you find something on this list to turn into an old favorite !

Color & Clean Car Wash
Sound Safari For Toddlers
Fly Swatter Painting
Sidewalk Chalk Games
Play In The Dirt
Painting With Nature
Gardening For Letters
Painting With Water
Backyard Car Wash
Color Hunt On The Go

The post 10 Outdoor Activities For Toddlers appeared first on No Time For Flash Cards.

Playful Learning’s Put-Ups and Put-Downs is so much more than a product it’s an eCourse that will change your family for the better. When I was asked to write a sponsored review I jumped at the chance. The course is all about teaching your kids respect, the power of their words and why kindness matters.  We may spend all day telling our kids to be nice but we often fail to explain why nice is important and what happens when we aren’t. This course simplifies that for us while modeling the right choices for our kids.

Let me tell you about my experience with this course and not just why I liked it but how my son ( the real judge) did.

The first thing that you will notice about this course is that there are two sections one for parents and one for kids. You don’t have to be a teacher to help your child navigate this course , everything you need is there. The videos are engaging and the suggested books for further reading are spot on. After checking out the parent section I was pumped to dive in with my six year old son. I waited until before bedtime , we closed the door so the sounds of his sister in the bath wouldn’t distract him.  He was captivated. The fun and dynamic videos of children talking about feelings, and the power of their words grabbed him from the get go.  We paused the video countless times to give my son a chance to share his thoughts on what was being discussed . The extension activity went over great but the biggest hit was the little quiz . My son is a results kind of guy and for him doing the quiz was very important. For me it helped show how much he really absorbed.

Not only did Put-Ups and Put-Downs give us talking points it gave us a common language for specific actions and reactions. He begged to show his dad and re-take the quiz the next night.  He also couldn’t wait to print out cards to write Put-Ups on . This is my favorite one.

We took the Put-Ups and Put-Downs eCourse last month and since then I can tell you that our house has been a friendlier place. Even the most loving family has times when they aren’t as careful with their words as they should be and feelings get hurt. Practicing to be more respectful makes more sense when you understand what happens when you aren’t , this course helped teach my son that valuable lesson. I am excited to share this because it’s useful and important.

Now it’s your chance to check out Put-Ups and Put Downs .Check it out  here.

Enter for a chance to win!

One reader will get a free registration for Put-Ups and Put-Downs, a gift certificate so they can gift the course to a friend ,and Mariah Bruehl’s book Playful Learning: Develop Your Child’s Sense of Joy and Wonder .

Enter Here

Fine Print

This sweepstakes is open to American residents 18 years or older. To be eligible for the sweepstakes you must enter your name and email address in the Google document on this page.  1 winning entry will be drawn at random, using Random.org, after the sweepstakes closes on Wednesday May 22n at 8:00pm PST. The winner will receive one spot in the Put -Ups and Put Downs eCourse, a gift certificate for a friend and a copy of Playful Learning: Develop Your Child’s Sense of Joy and Wonder . After the winner is notified he or she has 48 hours to respond with their mailing address for shipping their prize package,or another winner will be chosen at random. No purchase necessary.The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Any information gathered through the sweepstakes including email and postal addresses will not be used in anyway other than contacting winners and shipment of winnings.   VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW.

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If you read my post Monday you may have heard my dear daughter is trying to give up her nap. If she refuses to sleep we go outside if possible. This art activity was so much fun. We use our water table as big sensory tub and with this activity we also turned it into an open ended art activity. The results were awesome.  This super simple sensory tub painting will be done over and over all summer I promise you!

1. Gather your materials. You will need a tub ( we love ours and use it daily) but a large shallow Rubbermaid type bin would work perfectly too. Paint, some brushes and plain paper.  You may also want a hose ready for clean up.
2. Start by letting your child chose some paint colors . 
3. Paint the inside of the tub. Explore. She made squiggles with both ends of the pain brushes,added more paint,  pretended to drive the cap all around the paint , and mixed with her hands. 
4. Next grab some paper and print! I was amazed at how well these turned out. They were all different and totally rad.
5. Hang up to dry. Finally I had a use for this trellis that has been bare since I killed the plant that was on it. I am good with kids, not so much with plants.
6. Now clean out the tub with the hose. Arguably the best part even though the painting was super fun. Who can compete with this?

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Make them laugh and they will come back for more. These 25 books have all made us laugh a lot. I am not talking about a little chuckle, I am talking serious laughter , some even made me snort. Some are silly, some witty and some are plain gross but they are all great ways to get your kids reading and more importantly loving books. This week is Children’s Book Week and what better way to celebrate than with funny picture books.

Parts by Tedd Arnold is so funny. Readers follow along as a 5 year old boy begins noticing things about his body he’d never noticed before like belly button lint, snot, peeling skin and more. His anxious assumptions about his body falling apart will have you in stitches. My 2 year old laughed and got most of the humor but slightly older children will be laughing hysterically at how silly the little boy’s worries are.

I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More!by Karen Beaumont is guaranteed to entertain your child, even my toddler was laughing and anticipating the rhyming text which tickled me to no end! Now I have had some parents in the past not be happy about the use of “ain’t ” and the little boy in the story painting everywhere, I would counter that by saying people do use “ain’t” and kids do paint on things they aren’t supposed to you can use this as an example of what you aren’t supposed to do, and ask your child what they think should happen if they painted all over the house? As far as using “Ain’t” I would play the traditional “It ain’t gonna rain no more” and explain that the author used that song as inspiration for the book.

Moo Baa La La La by Sandra Boynton always makes me laugh. There is something about the facial expressions her animals always have that crack me up, and lets me honest if the book is good for the adult reading it, it’s always a plus. Super bright colors on each page is a huge plus for my baby girl as I flip the pages, and even though she doesn’t get the humor yet she will soon enough and it’s a book that will grow with her.

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin is a hilarious look at working conditions on a farm and cows going on strike. I have yet to read this book without giggling and in the 2003-2004 school year I think I read it 500 times! The story has a wonderful message of fairness and negotiation . During a transit strike we read this to a Kindergarten class to help explain after we were asked why the bus drivers didn’t want to work- it was a great tool!

My Little Sister Ate One Hare by Bill Grossman is  a hilarious counting book that counts all the disgusting things the narrator’s sister ate from 1-10 . The rhyming text builds and repeats as she eats and eats! My son was thoroughly entertained.

Barry the Fish with Fingers by Sue Hendra is a goofy fun book that had me wrapped around it’s fingers with the title, I mean a fish named Barry? And he has fingers?! I love it. Thankfully my judgment was smack dab on because the inside of the book was as funny as the cover. Barry isn’t just a fish with fingers he is a hero when his fingers save the day. The illustrations are so fun, the text is zippy and both my kids ( 4 and 10 months) loved it from start to finish.

Julius, the Baby of the World  by Kevin Henkes is such a funny book that I actually called my mom the day I bought it to read it to her over the phone. The book is about Lily who is adjusting to her new role as a big sister. The thing is Lily isn’t adjusting well, and it’s hilarious because it’s so true ! So often books depict older siblings happily welcoming babies into their lives and that just isn’t always the case. Lily is not happy, she unlike her parents do not think this baby is special and she is openly hostile to Julius. I laugh out loud every time I read this book, I particularly love when Lily tells a passing pregnant mouse that she will regret being pregnant. I think this book opens the floor for a real talk about feelings when a new baby comes, it’s important to remember just because the big people are excited doesn’t mean the little ones are too!

Shark vs. Train by Tom Lichtenheld is a story about imagination and competition and it’s hilarious. Two little boys are comparing a toy train and a toy shark but soon readers are sucked into their imaginations where the toys are put against each other in increasingly funny match ups.  Not only are the match ups brilliant in their absurdity but what the shark and train are saying during each are just plain funny. My son and I spend a lot of time playing imaginary match ups like this so this book is nothing short of a hit.

The Alphabet from A to Y With Bonus Letter Z! by Steve Martin was introduced to me by Rebecca when she sent it in for this post . When I saw it at the library I grabbed it and so glad I did. It’s a fun book with silly rhymes for each letter and I was surprised that my son sat all the way through it. It’s a pretty long alphabet book for a toddler. I liked the details in the illustrations even if the sometimes gross humor was not my favorite, but kids will love it .

Mortimer  by Robert Munsch is a fun bedtime book, it’s not the calmest and is pretty funny so you may want to read this one before some more chill books, but it’s so cute I couldn’t leave it off my list. I can’t remember the first time I read this book, but whether reading it to a group of preschoolers or to my son I have never had a child not sing along with Mortimer who is driving everyone bonkers by not going to sleep! Instead he is singing and making noise and not even the police can stop him!

Zoom! is another of my son’s favorite Munsch books. The little girl in the book is looking for a new wheelchair and isn’t satisfied until she has the fastest wheelchair she can get her hands on. What I love about this book isn’t the absurd humor ( which there is plenty of) it’s the fact that the main character being in a wheelchair is the norm. There is no long explanation about why she has a wheelchair , nothing preachy about children with disabilities. I think it’s important to have books that explain disabilities, and to learn more about them but also equally important to have books like this one that are seamlessly assimilated.

The Book That Eats People  by John Perry makes me laugh hysterically , so hard it was hard at times to read the words but it’s really really gruesome. This is not a book for kids that are squeamish, prone to imaginative nightmares or anxiety about death. That said if your child can handle a little funny horror, they will love this book. The story follows this human eating book as it wreaks havoc and gobbles people up! I beg parents to pre read this because it may be hilarious to me and my macabre little man but it may seriously frighten your child.

Goodnight Goon: A Petrifying Parody by Michael Rex. We loved this book, as big Goodnight Moon fans we were all laughing reading this before bed. My almost 3 year old thought that this was the funniest book ever made and would correct the book often with the original text .

Cowboy Camp by Tammi Sauer is funny and touching all at the same time. Avery is off to Cowboy Camp to learn how to be a real cowboy, only one problem, every lesson turns into a disaster. He can’t stomach cowboy food, he is allergic to his horse and ends up on a cow instead, and he gets rope burn when he is learning to lasso. After the other campers head to bed Avery encounters the nefarious Bad Bart a bad cowboy who wants to stop cowboy camp, Avery outwits him and saves the day. I loved that there was no teasing from the other campers and each time Avery came to an obstacle he was offered an alternative ( cheese and crackers to eat, a cow to ride and yarn to lasso with) instead of simply sitting out. Great book to read before summer camp!

No, David! by David Shannon is probably the author’s best known book, in it we follow the misadventures of little David and his eventual disciplining and hug from his mom. This book is a wonderful icebreaker for talking about rules with a class.  I have successfully used it with many groups of kids and my own as a reminder about rules and why we have them. Kids love watching other kids do naughty things ( and are quick to remind each other of the right way to do things) so this book is always a hit with toddlers on up.

Dinosaur vs. the Potty by Bob Shea is the reason my voice has been hoarse for days. My kids love, no ADORE this book.  My son who is 5 is in stitches every time we read it and my daughter who is 2  reaches for it time and time again. The thing about this book is you must read it with gusto for it to reach it’s full potential because it’s story isn’t deep it’s really just about a destructive dinosaur who doesn’t go pee when he should. Sound familiar? Kinda like little kids who dump toys, bang and stomp and deny that they have to use the potty until the very last minute. It struck a chord at our house and I have a hunch it may at yours too.

Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein will crack you up. The story is a bout a little chicken and how impossible it is to stop her from interrupting her bedtime stories, saving the characters and declaring the end of the story. It’s frustrating to her dad and a great learning tool for readers. Above all else it’s really funny. After she interrupts all the books he has to read to her she suggests she read him a story and he ends up unintentionally interrupting her.

The Teacher from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler is the original book in the very popular Black Lagoon series. The imaginative story is all about a boy’s worries that his teacher is going to be a terrible child eating monster. My son giggled through the whole book and loved the gore and dark humor. I do not suggest reading this to very sensitive kids or ones that really are very nervous about school. It’s humor may not be reassuring, but kids comfortable with school will find it hilarious.

Take Care, Good Knight by Shelley Moore Thomas such a sweet book about three little dragons who agree to cat sit a wizard’s pets and the Good Knight who helps them get it right. The story is filled with mishaps when the dragons who can’t read yet try to figure out the wizard’s written instructions. The outcome is hilarious and will have your children giggling. I also love the message about using pictures to give clues for reading, but to remember to ask “Does this make sense?”

Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach is so funny. I love books like this that have absurd humor thrown in. Before you even read the story on the inside flap you will notice a blurb that ends with “This story is not suitable for pirates” it just makes me giggle! The story follows the most anxious squirrel you’ll ever encounter as he tries to make his own beach, only to end up at a busy one! What I love about this book are the details, the small asides will have you laughing and the main story will keep even young ones totally entertained. My son loved it especially the part about the pool being the ocean and the flashlight being the sun, even at two he was trying to tell the squirrel how wrong that was. Super fun and a great message about overcoming fears as well.

Scaredy Squirrel at Night I love Scaredy Squirrel. is crazy anxiety, tendency to play dead and hilarious facial expressions never fail to make me laugh out loud while reading. I love this installment because it talks about something very topical in many preschooler’s life – nighttime anxiety. I was expecting a funny book but it was also really touching and useful in regards to conquering fears. I must say for any new parent the bits about sleep deprivation will hit home.

Falling For Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox is snort worthy. Yes this book is so funny the kids will be laughing hysterically and learning all about rhyming at the same time. Rapunzel is having a hard time hearing exactly what Prince Charming is asking her to throw down from her tower and hilarity ensues. Kids will love anticipating what she will throw down next. I won’t ruin the ending but trust me it’s hilarious and kids familiar with the traditional version will love telling you how this one is different. The illustrations by Lydia Monks add to the humor perfectly!

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!by Mo Willems might not need much of a review as I don’t know many parents who haven’t laughed along with their kids reading this book. But if you have never read this book let me tell you about it and why so many of us think it’s hilarious. The book opens with a bus driver asking readers to do him a favor and not let the pigeon drive the bus, easy right? Well just like my 5 year old son who is practicing for the negotiator of the year award this pigeon is relentless.  When I asked my son what his favorite part of the book was he giggled loudly while telling me that he loves the tantrum the pigeon has. Kids love seeing characters in books display the behavior that they want to do but only let slip through the cracks every now and then. I love when great underlying connections to kids come in such a goofy package. Love this book.  For early readers do not miss any of the Elephant and Piggie books, I haven’t managed to read a single one without laughing.

Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale by Mo Willems is hilarious and heartwarming all at the same time. The story is about a lost bunny, and a dad that can’t quite understand what his toddler is trying to “say” to him. Luckily the mom speaks ” toddler” and dad gets to be a hero by reuniting his daughter with her beloved bunny.

Jake Stays Awake by Michael Wright made both my husband and I laugh hysterically my son liked it too, but we loved it. It’s about a little boy who can’t sleep without his parents and they don’t like sleeping with feet in their faces. Can you relate, we can which is why we found this book so funny. What I liked was that Jake wasn’t disciplined for wanting to sleep with his parents, and they tried and tired all different places to sleep, they were just being honest that it wasn’t working anymore! My son loved the page that they were all sleeping in garbage cans and I loved that Jake looked to be about 12 , it gives me hope that my son may sleep alone by puberty.

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