Flowering Baby is a fun and interactive approach to learning focusing on developmentally appropriate activities parents, care-givers, and/or teachers can do with children birth to five.
Before I share with you the details of Flowering Baby, I'd like to briefly share why I was so excited to be able to review this Whole Child curriculum for children ages birth to five years old:
Step back in time with me to when my son was toddler age (oh, seems so long ago!). It was just him and I-- together.. all day, every day. He would have been content to just play with bouncy balls and cars, but this momma could only do those things for so long! Thus began my quest to find activities to fill our days-- crafts, stories, songs, etc. etc. etc. Now, I enjoyed those things and being that I didn't have other children around, browsing the Internet and/ or checking out tons of activity books from the library was something I could and wanted to do. Now fast forward to present day...
Computer time and extensive library time has significantly declined with our growing family. Our first born is now a big brother to a 22 month old and a newborn. My son still receives lots of mommy time because of our school time together and our newborn gets plenty of mommy time right now, too. That leaves my dear daughter with little one on one interaction with mommy. Until...
Enter, Flowering Baby, a fun and interactive 'curriculum' where you work with your child for twenty to forty minutes a day on various skills, according to their age; it is a resource that shares hundreds of ways parents, care-givers, and teachers can affect a child's development.
Flowering Baby Early Childhood Curriculum
The Flowering Baby Curriculum is broken into years. You can buy a physical copy of each year at their Online Store. Each year is also available for immediate download after purchase.
Birth to One Year
The goal of the first year is "to expose your baby to a variety of sounds, words, activities, music and your family environment."
The goal of the first year is "to expose your baby to a variety of sounds, words, activities, music and your family environment."
One Year to Two Years
Focus is spent on vocabulary development, motor development, and improving child's emotional intelligence.
Focus is spent on vocabulary development, motor development, and improving child's emotional intelligence.
Two to Three Years
Introduces math concepts, colors, and shapes.
Introduces math concepts, colors, and shapes.
Three to Four Years
Curriculum includes a general education guide and twenty-four mini units to incorporate throughout the year.
Curriculum includes a general education guide and twenty-four mini units to incorporate throughout the year.
Four to Five Years
Along with general education and mini units, your child will begin to focus on writing and phonics and more advanced math skills.
Since my daughter is currently 22 months, I received a physical CD of the One to Two Year and Two to Three Year curriculum to review-- both are priced at $30. The Birth to One Year is also $30, and the Three to Four and Four to Five Years are $38 each.
Along with general education and mini units, your child will begin to focus on writing and phonics and more advanced math skills.
Toddler Lesson Plans
Since my daughter is currently 22 months, I received a physical CD of the One to Two Year and Two to Three Year curriculum to review-- both are priced at $30. The Birth to One Year is also $30, and the Three to Four and Four to Five Years are $38 each.
There are 20-25 days of activities per month; usually it's something you "do," a book to read and/or music to listen to. The curriculum includes a recommended book and CD list. Most of the books can be found at your local library.
I tried to do the set activities for each given day-- some were well received by my daughter, and other days she was just not interested. Such is life with an almost two year old! We never did the days activities all in one sitting; typically we spaced them throughout the day. Usually the activity took place while my oldest son was doing his school work, I read the "book of the day" before nap, and the music CD was played during bath or play time. None of them took longer than 5-10 minutes (except the music playing in the background) unless she was really engrossed in the activity. The activities were very easy to implement-- often no extra work was needed on my part.
I am a believer that learning is always taking place whether it is just playing around the house and/or something that involves more planning. Flowering Baby helped me realize that my daughter is learning and engaging in her surroundings whether we use a "curriculum" or not. I did enjoy seeing a plan of what kinds of things we could do each day because in our day to day busy-ness, it can get over-looked. And it can seem like nothing "educational" happened throughout the day. But even before Flowering Baby, we loved to read, listen to music, play with play-dough, build with blocks and dolls and use references to positions, colors, shapes, sizes, etc. We were "doing" a lot of what the curriculum suggested already.
I tried to do the set activities for each given day-- some were well received by my daughter, and other days she was just not interested. Such is life with an almost two year old! We never did the days activities all in one sitting; typically we spaced them throughout the day. Usually the activity took place while my oldest son was doing his school work, I read the "book of the day" before nap, and the music CD was played during bath or play time. None of them took longer than 5-10 minutes (except the music playing in the background) unless she was really engrossed in the activity. The activities were very easy to implement-- often no extra work was needed on my part.
I am a believer that learning is always taking place whether it is just playing around the house and/or something that involves more planning. Flowering Baby helped me realize that my daughter is learning and engaging in her surroundings whether we use a "curriculum" or not. I did enjoy seeing a plan of what kinds of things we could do each day because in our day to day busy-ness, it can get over-looked. And it can seem like nothing "educational" happened throughout the day. But even before Flowering Baby, we loved to read, listen to music, play with play-dough, build with blocks and dolls and use references to positions, colors, shapes, sizes, etc. We were "doing" a lot of what the curriculum suggested already.
Things I liked:
- I LOVED having activities laid out for me because sometimes I get into a "rut" and we do the same things over and over again and/or we'll sing the same songs again and again.
- The curriculum gave me some fresh ideas and a new twist on activities we were already doing.
- It brought my attention to new books and music we had not read or listened to before!
- Most activities were developmentally appropriate. I did question an activity during Month 23 when it talks about having your child use a "three word sentence." All I can say is my 23 month old has yet to put two words together!
- The activities ranged from observing, imitating, and/or doing something and it helped me see what types of things my daughter is interested in now.
- Activities were simple, short, and often fun for both of us.
- Extensive library time/ shopping for materials was not necessary-- most items can be found in your home and the books can be found at your local library.
Things I didn't like:
- The format: Nowadays, everything has gone digital, and if you had a computer handy the format wouldn't be an issue. But, I would rather receive the curriculum in some type of book format. I don't like printing what I don't have too. I ended up printing two months of activities (8 pages of paper) so that I could have copies in my hand and not have to run to the computer to look and see what the given activities were for the day.
- The cost: I feel $30 for a PDF format/ CD copy of activities I may already be doing is a bit much, especially for the younger years.
- They layout: The activities are laid out in a (overly) simplistic list of Day 1, Day 2, etc. It may be a bit strict for those that like things more leisurely-- especially the child! As I mentioned above, many days she was not interested in what I was showing her, but thankfully the authors note that and suggest to move on to a different activity.
In short, if you want a simple, fun guide of activities to do with your little one... this is for you! The founder of Flowering Baby has offered YOU a 10% discount, just use code Blog10 when ordering. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this product through the SchoolHouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in anyway. All opinions i have expresses are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance to the FTC Regulations.