I made a list of South Florida field trips for toddlers.  They can be found on the options at the top of the blog.  I asked around on a mom's group on Facebook for some ideas of places for a 15 month old to have some fun and learn a little something.

I've gotten a lot of  "Why didn't you include xyz?"  Well let me explain.  I want these field trips to be educational.  I do not want to list places like Check E Cheese (which by the way grosses me out completely and I hope my son never has to attend a birthday party there!)  I want these to be places that children can learn and experience.  The only exception I made was for splash pads and mini-water parks.  Children learn a great deal about their motor skills in those environments.  

Feel free to check out the link up top.  If you have recommendations, please feel free to leave them for me.  I'd be happy to add or update the listings.

I will be slowly, attempting to, visit each one over the next year or two.  So as I visit one I will include more feedback as well as photos of the place so that you can get a better idea of what they offer!

Just this past weekend we went to Coconut Cove in West Boca (see photos below).  Tomorrow I am visiting Bees Knees.

For the people out there who think I am crazy for writing "lesson plans" for my 15 month old, I promise you I am not.  First of all, they aren't lesson plans like I wrote for my job.  That would be insane!  These are simple.  I bought an inexpensive Lesson Plan book from the local teacher store.  

     I created my own categories: Books (at least 2 per day), Field Trip (not daily, a couple per week), Letters, Numbers, Motor Skills, Art/Music, and Misc.  I felt like these were the most natural things to do with a young toddler.  I don't include details, just a few words to remind myself what the topic is for that day.  Check out the photos below.  These are not yet completed, but they will give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

So what's it like to be a stay at home mom after two days?

     Well, so far I've sliced open my finger while making dinner (it still hurts), discovered that my son prefers the shopping carts at Publix over all other stores (Target, take note please), and made a splash park in my yard that scared my son (he only went in with me)! Yup, it's going great so far!

     In all seriousness though, it's been nice to be at home with him.  I can already see that I am going to have to work on discipline with him in the day.  He laughs when he does something he isn't supposed to, like standing on his playroom table!

     So I got this idea one day when we had a large box left over from a family gathering.  Connor kept climbing inside the lid of the box and just hanging out there.  I kept thinking that this box could have some sort of purpose.  This little nagging thought wouldn't let me throw it away.  

     A couple of weeks later he began grabbing pencils, pens, markers, etc.  So I thought "Hey, this box would be a great place to contain him so he could color without getting it all over the furniture and walls."  Regular crayons are very hard for a 14 month old to use so I ordered Jumbo Crayons on Amazon that day, and thanks to Prime got them two days later ;) 

     It took a few tries to teach him that he needs to stay inside the box but can color anywhere in that box.  Sometimes we put paper down in the box to teach him to color on the paper.  If he scribbles off the edge it's no big deal because it's his coloring box!

     Below are some pictures of the box and crayons.  I also have a picture that shows the size difference between the Jumbo Crayola and standard Crayola crayon.  Now Connor is obsessed with coloring and scribbles.  If he finds a pencil, pen, crayon, etc he grabs it, runs to his box, and wants to color.

*Feel free to click on the photos to enlarge them.

Well, I've been off from work for two whole days and I'm already having trouble letting go of being a teacher.  I spent yesterday re-boxing all of the items you see in the photo to the left!  This was about 1/3 of the items I brought home from my classroom that I have collected over the last 9.5 years.  We got rid of our guest bed mattress and I am turning our guest room in to a play/ learning space.  I also began painting an old bookshelf my grandfather built for me when I was little.  I had it in my classroom for years, but since it's now home I though I'd fix it up a bit and make it nice for my son.  Here are before and after pics!

So, the letting go part...  Well I bought a lesson plan book and have begun to create lesson plans for my son.  Yes, I know he is only 15 months, but he's been in daycare for the past 10+ months and I don't want him to backslide.  My plans are rather simple, I am making mini-themes.  If we read about Butterflies on Monday we'll also trace the letter B, color with a blue crayon, practice learning/saying B words, etc.  I plan to tie everything in together so it's more natural.  I'm not going to make him sit at a desk and do all this, it will be in his natural environment.  Maybe in the afternoon we'll go over to Butterfly World!

Okay, so I will admit it, I am a control freak.  Just a little though.  I don't want to drive my son nuts.  

Let's see how this journey goes!