The Toby Show

Cheap & Easy :: Animal Matching Cards

I haven't been great about backing up where I'm finding stuff lately, but some late night on the internet I ran across a link to Jan Brett's website and found these animal matching cards.  Very cute and if you like her books, all the beautifully illustrated characters will be familiar.

There are 16 sets of 2.  I printed them off on some white, flecked card stock and cut them out with a rotary cutter that had an old blade anyway.

Once cut, I took them to the office supply store and had them laminated and cut.  Total cost about $4 worth of laminating and cutting.  Make sure you get them to round the corners--they have a nifty tool for that.

You can do a straight up matching game where you lay out one set and then match the second set to it, or you can play memory/concentration with them. 

Jan Brett's site has lots of free printable games and flashcards.  I haven't even begun to check-out all the cool possibilities there.  But this is a fun, attractive and cheap game.

Button, button, who's got the button?

We've been messing around with some Montessori type games lately.  I ran across the Montessori 'n' Such website somewhere and I loved the look of the games.  I knew Huck would love doing some of them, but it's pretty clear that most of the activities don't really require any output of money.  It's easy to implement the ideas using basic stuff from around the house.  So I put together a few activities, this being the first.

Button Sorting!

I had a nice collection of old buttons I scavenged from my grandmother so I sorted through them for matching sets.  I tried to gather matching sets of 3-6 buttons in bright colors and also did a small set and a large set in each color.  This way he can color sort or size sort or both.  And as he gets a little older there are also some buttons with 2 holes and other with 4 holes...even more sorting opportunities.

Pretty neat and he's very into it.  He will spend a good chunk of time sitting and working on this game.

Along these same lines, here's another great sorting activity if you don't have a bunch of buttons laying around.  These came in different colors, but check out The Crafty Crow for a link on how to dye pasta. Very cool.

I'm going to be posting a bunch more Cheap & Easy Toddler Games in the next week or so because that what we've been doing lately.  I made several cool things based on the Montessori activities, and some new stuff for the car trip to and from New Mexico, too.  We've been "test driving" them, so to speak, so once we're back we'll share the winners. 

In the meantime, check out simplemom's post about Cheap Toys for Young Children.  And go take a look at Chasing Cheerios, a great blog that focuses on Montessori activities for toddlers.

Our Weekend

Well, our trip to Albuquerque is almost over.  

We had a blast over the weekend.  We visited the Zoo, the Aquarium and the Botanic Gardens.  The Botanic Gardens were by far the highlight.  They have a castle, a min- train village, a whole over-sized world so you feel like your the size of a bug, a butterfly garden (pictured above), a smelling garden and farm and a koi pond.  It's just the most amazing place for kids.  Huck loved running and exploring.  I'll be writing more about it and the zoo on Travels with Children as soon as we get back and I have a bit more time to write.

We're taking it easy this morning but will be visiting two very special city attractions this afternoon...Wholefoods and Hobby Lobby.

The stars dig my toddler

Huck played big man on the film set today.  First he met Sarah Silverman, who Oooo'ed and Ahhh'd.  Then in the middle of a raucus game of hide and seek in the production office, in walked Steve Buscemi, one of the other stars.  Steve decided he'd sneak up behind Huck and give him a scare but Huck turned the tables on him--he wheeled around, looked the man straight in the eye and yelled, "Go hide!" 

Everyone thought he was very cute and very "outgoing."  Couldn't help wondering if that was code for surprisingly loud and practically feral, but whatever.  I'm sure it broke up the day for everyone. 

First stop...the mall

Living in the middle of nowhere, the mall is kind of thrill for us. I
was pretty beat from the drive so it was just the kind of "attraction"
I was looking for this morning.

We rode the little car rides, hit the carousel and I showed Huck where
Mickey and Dumbo live... The Disney Store!

Later we'll check out the hotel pool and tomorrow we plan to venture
further afield.

Dispatches: Albuquerque

Well, we made it--me, Huck, Blue Car and my sciatica.

Clearly, Stephen is a VIP here. Check out the red phone in the can.
Here's Huck working on the problems in Georgia. He says Putin is a
real ball breaker.

Dispatches: No room at the inn

It took us 3 hours in Moab to finally find a room. You'd think a
pregnant chick with a toddler would get more sympathy but the place
where I finally got a room made me wait until 8:05 to release a late
show room. I changed Huck's dirty diaper in their lobby though and
that made me feel a little better.

Dispatches: Salt Lake City, Utah

The children's museum was the perfect stop. He napped like a champ.

Road Trip!

Huck and I are hitting the lonesome road.  We're heading down to New Mexico to visit Stephen on the film set.  In fact, by the time this post (written last night) hits the blog, we'll be gone.

The trip will take us 14 hours and we're going to do it in 2 days.  1 long day broken by a few hours of play a Children's Museum along the way, then a second short day.  I'll chronicle the journey via iPhone and keep you posted on our adventures, some of which I'll probably be posting reviews of on Travels with Children. 

Huck has been wonderful on the couple of road trips we've taken but there have always been 2 adults--one to drive and one to entertain, or at least pick up stuff when he inevitably drops it into the floorboard.

I bought this to hopefully help with the dropping problem.  Hope it works.

I have some new books, stickers and games to dole out, too.  Like this Travel Mini Memory Game by HABA.  It's a great little game and the perfect size to carry in your purse for trips to the doctor's office or a restaurant.

I couldn't resist letting him try it out early.  It's his first memory game and he really got the hang of it fast.  

Huck also has a new backpack for the trip that he just tried out last night.  He LOVES it and is feeling like the biggest big boy in the world.  I highly recommend a backpack if you've got a kid this age.  Even if only for trips to a friend's house or out to eat.

 

Pardon the tuckus but Huck a nudist right now (and don't you just love it when pasty white girls from Texas use Yiddish?)

So the snacks, the toys, the potty seat are all packed and we're ready to roll.  See you from the road!

Lead Test Update

I finally got around to testing my vintage china for lead.  Just the thought of having wanted this china for so long, finally getting it all the way up here from Texas, unpacking it, washing it and putting it up and then possibly finding out if was full of lead had me rather paralyzed about testing for a while.  But I finally did it.

I used this kit that my Mom sent to me when all the lead in toys crap first started happening.

It's a really easy test and only takes 2 minutes to do. 

And the verdict?

Clean!  A negative for lead!  I get to keep them!

Mom, I know you'll be happy.

I would have been heartbroken if it had been positive.  Thank you Ali for bringing to my attention the potential problems with lead in old china.  I'm glad I tested them and now have peace of mind about this set. 

My niece and I did risk it and break them in with grilled cheese sandwiches while she was here but I really can't wait for Stephen to get home so I can serve a big nice meal on them.

You can get the lead test I used for $9.99 at Linen's 'n' Things or similar ones for roughly the same price from Ace Hardware, WalMart, Amazon, etc, etc.  I think they are still all over the place.