Theme-o-Rama Mama

Alright, I don't know if anyone would care about this, but here goes. Usually on Monday I change out the toys/activities in Keely's little play corner (top picture posted previously in the Flickr Corners Pool). We put down fresh paper on the table and goofy me &/or excited Keely picks a theme for the week. This week it is Dogs and Cats (she picked). We go through her stuff in her closet and many bookshelves and find related stuff. Then we put it on her corner bookshelf in the living room. She loves to help do all of this. It makes her stuff seem new again. She plays here throughout the day by herself sometime and often with me. At night, during mommy/daddy talk time, she usually will pull out her stuff and play at her table for awhile. Lots of items stay there continuosly: basket of small animals, blocks, dress-up items, crayons, magnadoodle, balls etc. She still has all of her toys in her bedroom and in every other room of the house, for that matter. If she wants something that is put away I will get it for her. Not like I'm some toy nazi. The corner spot is just a little sampling of her things relating to some theme. I started this when she was around 8 months old. Thematic baby toys on a walker tray? What kind of nut am I? It keeps her interested in her things because lots of her toys just sit around untouched for long periods of time and then I pull them out and pair them up with something and suddenly she thinks they are the greatest toys ever!

So this week for the Dogs and Cats theme there are: books like Have You Seen My Cat? and Go, Dog, Go, Cat and Dog Puzzles, Flashcards for the words Cat and Dog and foam letters to spell them out. There are her stuffed animals too. As soon as the fresh paper was down she busted out the crayon to make her mark. She then sat her cat and dog in their chairs and gave them puzzles to do. She will let them talk to all the other cats and dogs around her on the cards/puzzles etc. Books will be read to them and they will read the books too. I could go on and on, but I may be boring you to tears. My apologies. I was thinking of maybe making a weekly post about Keely's corner theme. Thinking maybe it could give some other parents ideas. If anyone wants to hear more please let me know.