Originally Posted by Jiminycrickets:
I keep lesson plans and themes simple (Fall, Water, Dogs, Fish) when I have littler ones or mixed ages (I do home day care now, but have worked with every age in centers, too.) Circle times I keep very short until they are about 2/2.5. Like, we read a book and sing a song and maybe look at some interesting theme objects or something together. If they won't stay, then no big deal, they will learn soon.
If I have one bigger one, I wait until the littles are occupied playing and then sit with the big one and play a simple game one-on-one, even for just 3 or 4 minutes. If they are a little silly, that's fine, they are learning even if they are pretending not too. If they are ridiculous (throwing cards or something) we are done, and they lose their one-on-one attention, which most don't like.
I don't know what your center requires, but even for 2 year olds you don't need to push letters and numbers and that sort of thing real hard. Just point them out in books or around the classroom, or get out some big crayons and color shapes and write their names. My 3s gave no hoots about letters until 2 weeks ago and suddenly they are obsessed with knowing what letters are for who and what, so when they are ready they will pick it up super fast.
Lots of sensory things can be good for that age, especially if you have a smaller group you can keep a close eye on. I like to put messy stuff in a plastic ziploc if it's something they might eat or get all over when you don't have time to clean up. Like paint, shaving cream, slime, leaves, colored rice. If you tape it shut they have lots of fun mushing it around but no mess.
Things like clean cardboard boxes, washed out milk cartons, balls, extra baby blankets or squares of cloth, plastic cups, are inexpensive or free. You can use them to stack, knock down, wrap up things like presents, hide things under, hide in or under, and any age will happily play with them.
Sing lots of songs, dance. I've had toddlers that love to try yoga poses and think push ups and jumping jacks are great.
For art with little ones I spread some white glue on paper and give them things (feathers, corn, paper bits) to stick to it, most of them pick that up pretty quickly. If your center is one that emphasizes academic-type things, you can put the glue down in the shape of letters, numbers, or geometric shapes, or do various objects in the same color. Or cut out some construction paper letters and let them paint or color them.
Older babies/toddlers can be a hard group to think of new ideas for, for sure, especially when they are at different levels from each other, but I think it's also okay to be fairly repetitive with them, doing the same sort of thing with little variations. They are still figuring out how their bodies work and how the world works, so they don't necessarily need tons of new and exciting all the time.
That helps. Thanks. Ive been trying to do all of that. Does flash cards help? I've got color and shape cards I show them at circle time