Tot Trays and Shelves: What it looks like for US.

This whole journey into educating my little birdy has been a bit....overwhelming and daunting. There is SO much good information, so many great sites, so many creative and insanely incredible moms out there! My mind was spinning with all the ideas and I found myself wondering how I could afford to "do it right", and then I reminded myself that "doing it right" was simply doing the best I can with what I have.

For example, I simply can't afford the actual trays for "Tot Trays" right now, and I definitely can't afford all the nifty toys and things that I see on some of these great blogs---those amazing Montessori activities are INSANELY expensive! And I definitely don't have the time to make too many homemade activities as a working Mama. But, thanks to LB's amazing friends and relatives, she already has some really nifty and educational things of her own. I just had to sort, organize and put 75% of it all away so that she could focus in on a few things at a time. I will continue to compile a mental "wish list" of supplies and items that would be nice to have one day, but for now, I think this is working out really well!

I took the toy corner of the Family Room and cleaned it out (mostly),
and kept only the toys I want her to focus on.

Here are a few of the items in detail that LB is focusing on right now. All but one toy is pulled from what we already had in our toy collection!

This little birdy house is just fun: it came with four little birdies,
and I fill it with other little critters that LB is into. She loves
her cats and dogs. 

Counting bears and Counting/Sorting Farm animals. 

Infantino makes these: One is matching the animal to its tail and the
other is matching a descriptive to its object, i.e. Shiny to Fish, or Spotty
to Dog. Very fun, and very affordable.  I was surprised  by
how much LB loves these. She pulls these out EVERY day, several times
a day. 

This is the only item on the shelf that is a new purchase: I found it
at Ross---one of my favorite places for educational toys. Anytime
I want a Melissa and Doug toy or something similar, I check Ross,
TJ Maxx and Marshalls first!! 

This push cart was a gift from LB's grandparents
and it has just won me over. It's not something I would have picked,
but I LOVE it. LB does too, and pushes it around, and it's the perfect book
caddy for my little Bookworm. 

This is one of LB's "Featured Books", and it's an 

heirloom! This was made for me when I was a child by MY

Mama, and it's just an incredible book of animals, textures and 

it's great for Practical Life learning: it has snaps, zippers,

ties, buttons, buckles and laces. You can see the pages here.

I decided to keep the bottom shelf a "Featured Book"space for now.

A while ago I put some accessories together for LB's Stella doll and Fisher-Price stroller, both 1st Birthday gifts. She has a convenient Stella backpack to keep everything in, and along with the paci, bottle, "cereal bowl and spoon", clothing and hat, I added little hats, mitts and a pair of booties that I had made for LB when she was a newborn. I love that she dresses her dolly in things that I made and she wore! LB is already very interested in holding, feeding and dressing her dolly, as well as herself. She tries on Mama's shoes, tries to put her own socks on, etc. So I'm dubbing this set-up part of our "Practical Life" activities! Use what you have!! :)