Fall, Food and Me Themed Month

November is the beginning of the holiday season. It seems like after Halloween is the race to Christmas. There is still some fun to be had in November though. In my house, we kick November off with a bang. My little guy will be 2 on the 3rd. We have several other Birthdays in our family in November too. Of course, there is Thanksgiving as well and all that yummy food.

This month our themes will be Fall, Food, and Me. Obviously, the season is Fall and there is still so much fun to do outside before it's too cold to be outside. There's racking the colorful leaves and jumping in the piles. We belong to the Arboretum, so we often go to see all the beautiful leaves changing.

Thanksgiving is a holiday based a lot on food. I also know my little guy will get some play foods and grocery store stuff. I'll be making his little shelf into a grocery store play area this month. We will work on naming foods and pretend play.

Since it'll be my little guy's birthday we'll work on saying his name, and how old he is. I'll also be making some keepsakes like a string of how big he is on his birthday.

The other holidays we'll do are

2nd- Look for circles day

14th- Pickle Day

16th- Have a party with your bear Day

17th- Homemade Bread Day

28th- French toast day

Our Activities-

Look for circles-

I'll have a circle for reference. If it's nice enough we'll walk to look for circles. We'll look for circles in the house. We'll make little round pancakes for dinner to go with our circle theme. Circles are one of the shapes we're working on and my little one can identify it. works on identifying familiar items, naming a shape

Pickle Day-

Making pickles can be easy and fun. Since I got my little one some toddler knives, he can cut the cucumbers even if they're not even pieces. work on fine motor skills, following directions, understanding action words

Have a party with your bear day-

My little one has a special bear from his 1st Birthday and will get another for his 2nd Birthday. We will use them to have a party along with his pretend play food. I think we might make it a Birthday Party and we can use leftover party supplies from his party. works on pretend play

Homemade Bread Day- In our house, we like to get Beer Bread mix from Trader Joe's, it's only out around Super Bowl time so we stock up. It's so easy just the mix and a can of beer (or soda), and melted butter. My little one can pour the mix and beer in the bowl and mix it. He likes to "paint" the pan with melted butter. I usually pour the batter into the pan, then he can dump the melted butter on top. I put it in and out of the oven. works on following directions, understanding action words

French Toast Day- Yes we'll make French toast. Since French Toast is made with an egg and a hot pan, I'll probably do that part. He can cut the bananas or strawberries we'll have with it. He got a cute toddler knife set and is doing awesome with it. works on following directions, understanding action words, fine motor skills.

Other Activities for the month

Sensory bin- I'll be dying some rice in fall colors- red, yellow, and orange. Here is taste safe way to dye rice. We'll add some fall leaves (fake ones but you could use real ones if you want). We'll sort colors, and count them. works on naming one color, counting, Sensory activity, Understands the concept of one, uses plurals

Playdough- We're going to play with just regular playdoh but we'll play with leaves from outside to make leaf prints. I also have a Fall Cookie cutter set. We'll be using the leaves out of it. I used the apple and pumpkin in the previous months. works on Sensory activity, following directions, fine motor skills.

Leaf prints- We will take a walk most likely at the Arboretum but around the block works too. We will collect some leaves that have fallen. We can go home and use our paints to make prints. I like the Veggie Paints we have but will probably use the regular paints for this. I feel like they work better. works on Sensory activity, following directions, fine motor skills.

All About Me- This is really just a keepsake for you. You can do it each year and remember how small they were and when they were obsessed with Mario. Here's an All About Me page to fill out. For older kids, you can ask them the questions. I'll be using a piece of yarn to measure how big he is and putting it with his paper. Then I can add in new ones year after year. I have a lot of keepsakes from my oldest and now I feel like I didn't keep as much from my little guy so we're trying new traditions. Works on Refers to self by name, Answer simple questions,

Try new foods- Thanksgiving is a fun time with family and it may have new foods to try. My family has over 20 people so the big people can be good models for the little people to try new foods. With kids a little older you can have more discussions with it, and maybe even pick a new food and cook it together. If not on Thanksgiving maybe another day. Trying new foods can be fun. We like to pick new fruits or veggies out at the store to try.

Who's My Family- Sometimes with big holidays we'll see some family we might not see often. So it's sometimes good to look at pictures and review who everyone is. It can help with being super shy around those people we don't see often. Works on recognizing family members' names

Goals worked on

Expressive-

21-24 months Uses 50 different words

Uses new words regularly

Relates personal experiences

Refers to self by name

Uses early pronouns occasionally

24-27 months

Imitates two numbers or unrelated words upon request

Uses action words

27-30 months

Names one color

Refers to self by pronoun consistently

30-33 months

Answers questions with "yes" or "no'

Imitates a series of three numbers or unrelated words

Uses plurals

Uses prepositions

States gender

State first and last name

Receptive-

21-24 months

Chooses one object from a group of five upon verbal request

Follows novel commands

Follows a two-step related directions

Understands new words rapidly

24-27 months

Recognizes family members' names

Understands the concept of one

Understands size concepts

27-30 months

Responds to simple questions

Identifies four objects by function

Understands location phrases

30-33 months

Understands five common action words

Follow two-step unrelated commands

Understands the concepts one and all

Answers yes and no questions correctly

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