Toddler Academy - Treasure Box Alphabet

I love plexi-glass, you can see through it like glass but it's safe for toddlers.

Purchase a piece and you will find its a fab investment.

It's great for "Letter of the Day"

Put the Letter of the Day under the plexiglass so that it is seen by your toddler a lot during the day.

Whatever the letter of the day is, make sure you have things lying around that your toddler can
find throughout the day that pertain to that letter.  (Note:  You may have to point out some of them).

Here's some ideas --  Letter B

baseball, bat, brick, banana, balloon, biscuit, bread, (DVD Benji), boy, brush, bottle, bee, button

This is a good time to make a few toddler friendly items -- button -- cut a circle out of cardboard, cover it with paper or spray starch a piece of fabric and iron it on the cardboard, take a paper punch and punch two holes in center .  

Print out or cut out a picture of a boy and spray starch or glue to a piece of wood

Just use your imagination, but make sure you have items he/she can identify with easily as you work towards the not so obvious ones.  The reason for making some of these items, they will start to associate with the "same" items and that will essentially lead to further their ability to associate with other items.

The fun part though is this:  
You will need a see through container -- preferably one that you won't mind sitting out (treasures are meant to be seen you know) :)   As you work through the alphabet always have an item that would look great in their treasure jar, these are the "treasures of the day.  If you are going to include things that you would not really allow them to play with, then you will need to have a lid on it that they can not take off or placed high where they can see but not get into.

Chenille stems are great for making bees, worms, etc animals, so you might want to make some with those, I think treasure jars should have rocks, toy soldiers, dolls, doll accessories, book marks, buttons, marbles, bird nests, and all kinds of bits and baubles, but you can tailor this to a theme or just to whatever you have on hand.  This lends itself well to picking up items on walks and keeps the learning going.

Til next time......... toddle on ...........