This is not a penguin. Just sayin’.
This summer I’m going to have fun here. Nothing heavy. Nothing long. I’m just going to post short little things about what I like. My kitchen hacks. My favorite make up. Shirts. Hair color. Books. Music. It’s Summer Lite. But I don’t want it to be about me. In the comments section, I’m going to invite you to share YOUR favorites. We can all get some good ideas from each other.
Toddler Hack
Today I’m going to give you a peek into my life. Here’s a video of me reading (singing) a Sandra Boynton book to my 3 yo. We have tons of Sandra Boynton. They are adorable and humorous. You can get them at half price books or second hand children’s clothing stores – or Amazon.
She also has many of her books put to Broadway style music. Listen FREE on Spotify. Learn the songs – and then SING the books to your kids. Hey – it breaks up the monotony of reading the same book 54,796 times. It’s a Toddler Hack.
Click on this icon thingy to find Boynton book music on Spotify:
And now here we go, and please ignore the horrifically dirty fan in the background. Cleaning it is on my to-do list which is now 68 pages long and getting longer for some odd reason. I need a hack for that.
Question: What’s your favorite Toddler Hack? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
My son just discovered the joy of painting with his cars. He’s really enjoying being creative at the moment!
He’s blazing a trail…ha! I am scared of kids with paint. Kids with CARS and paint? You are a good mom.
OMGosh, Nat. He is sooo adoreable! I can’t believe how big he’s grown! We, too, always loved Sandra Boynton around here! I believe r very 1st one was , ‘Moo, Baa, La, La, La”, and other faves were ‘Birthday Monsters’ & ‘The Going To Bed Book’. Don’t think there’s a bad one in the bunch ,0) Since JC is insistent upon growing & no longer a toddler, we purged an awful lot of r very extensive children’s book library. We did, however, save all of r SB books. So thank u for ur very entertaining post, Natalie. (And I really enjoyed hearing that amazing voice of urs, again ,0)
Moo Baa was our first too. We’ve gone through two copies of that one. I think it’s my favorite one of all.
Gah! Now that song is stuck in my head!
New idea that I just recently found: putting a bit of unflavored gelatin in the juice before you freeze homemade popsicles. Then when the toddlers take too long to eat them, instead of a puddle of juice, you have jello!
Oh my, I love this.
Very entertaining! Especially the second half, lol!! What a great singing voice you have, Natalie! I think I’ll share this with my kids. We love Sondra Boynton as well! Don’t you sometimes wonder how she comes up with this stuff?
I have wondered. She has a quirky, creative mind.
Oh, we LOVED Sandra Boynton books here. I STILL sing Snuggle Puppy to the kids (and now the puppy
)
One of my favorite toddler hacks was putting the kids outside (driveway, deck, patio, yard) with various size storage bins of water. Like a do it yourself water table. And measuring cups, funnels, strainers, etc. HOURS AND HOURS of play.
I am totally doing this today. What a great idea for this heat too…thank you for sharing!
Bethany and I had more fun listening to you than David this morning! What a treat! I love the Sandra B books! We have some on our i-pad, too and they are interactive. What fun!
FUN! I wish I still had this size people in my house.
Favorite toddler books that we have held onto over the years: Big Red Barn, That’s Not My Lion, Guess How Much I Love You, Goodnight Gorilla, Big Red Balloon, Happy Babies, Go Dog Go, Goodnight Moon, Little One God Loves You, The Big Book of Bible Stories, Bible Beasties…
Favorite fun toddler activities: fingerpainting (with pudding and yogurt is extra fun because they can “lick” their fingers!); I second the painting with cars, marbles, anything that moves! Also, WATER play in a dish tub–with bubbles, with plastic cups, animals…messy, but fun! Ball games are favorites! Try dropping a ball through a paper towel tube (you can tape several together, cut holes in some to run sideways, etc… and make your own paper towel ball tube). Hide-n-seek under the bed sheets. “Helper man,” where we go around the house “hammering, drilling, etc…” alongside me, with giant hugs of appreciation at the end! Singing & dancing as we play in and fold the laundry, as we carefully put away appropriate dishes, wash tables and counters, etc…. Again, followed with giant hugs and tickles of appreciation!!! Lots of giggles and cuddle time, and making sure they know how very much they are loved by you and by God! Soak them up; they grow soooooo fast!! Enjoy your little man!!
Lots of great ideas! Thank you!
Never heard of Sandra Boynton.
Now, I feel like I really missed out.
You have a beautiful strong voice. How lovely you sound singing and having fun with your little one. You are a good Momma.
We are enjoying the Grandparents that arrived today from Brazil and will be spending 2 months with us. Nothing better than Grandparents to enjoy a lazy, easy and wonderful summer.
It’s our favorite time of the year. The kids love to spend time with them. And we love having babysitters for the first time during the year. 
Enjoy your time – and I hope you can get some time alone with your husband too! Free babysitting – WOO HOO!
We love Sandra Boynton but shockingly have never done the songs! My two year still occasionally reports pig noises as “La la la!”