Vote!

Although the idea of voting may be way over our toddlers’ heads, I still think it’s important to introduce our children to the democratic process of voting at a young age. Since having my second baby, I usually do mail-in ballots (because honestly it’s WAY more relaxing to look up all the lesser known candidates with a cup of coffee during naptime so I can make an informed decision, rather than rushing at the voting booth with two littles running around my legs as I try to read and comprehend some wordy amendment on the ballot), but this year I decided to have us all pop on our masks and head over to the ballot drop off location at our library to show my littles in a more hands on way what voting looks like! On top of that, this week we’ll be diving into some fun United States themed activities, meant to introduce even the youngest toddlers to what it means to be an American citizen! (I promise- it’ll still be fun!)

–Red, white and blue color match: I cut out some red, white and blue stars from construction paper and had my little sort them by color!

–Election Day parfait: We made yummy red, white and blue parfaits with strawberries, vanilla yogurt, and blueberries! Both littles LOVED them- they make a great breakfast or snack for Election Day!

–George Washington craft: I showed my littles a picture of George Washington and told them he was our very first president. Then I asked them to make a face like George, took their pictures, and used them for this super cute craft! My oldest did all his cutting and gluing himself except for his face, I cut out the pieces for my toddler and he put the glue on and stuck them in place (I told him where to put everything though). I got this idea from Dylan Franke on Pinterest.

–Bald eagle hand and foot painting: I used my little’s hand and foot prints to make a bald eagle.

–Star sticker counting: My little is really in to stickers right now, so I gave him a sheet of star stickers we had left over from the 4th of July activities we did and I counted them for him as he stuck them to the page.

–Star polk-a-dot art: I taped a few stars from the last activity down on a sheet of cardstock, then had my littles polk-a-dot all around the stars with red and blue do-a-dot markers. When they were finished, I had my little peel off the stars to reveal the white stars underneath all the dots! I got this idea from A Dab of Glue Will Do.

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–Supply/shopping list:

• blueberries
• strawberries
• vanilla yogurt
• star stickers
• Q-tips
• paper doilies
• dot markers