Flowering Baby Review

     These last few weeks I have had the pleasure of using not one, but two different years of Flowering Baby curriculum.

     I chose to use One to Two with my 17 month old, Charlotte.

     I also used Three to Four with Hannah { 3y10m }, and on some days Kadafi { 3y4m } as well.

{ About the Product }

     Flowering Baby is a "A whole child developmental approach for birth to five " curriculum designed for parents to help grow their little flowers by using all sorts of materials, books, and time together.

     I received both years in pdf format.  This made it extremely quick and easy to access.  I printed out each months materials and popped them into a folder. Each morning just before we started school { I homeschool a number of older children as well } I would quickly open my folder and highlight all the key words for the activities and jot them down on a piece of paper so that I could tick them off as we did them for the day.  That way I knew what we would be able to try when I got some free time.

{ Years One to Two }

     Years One to Two come with a month by month curriculum  guide.  It is ninety-nine pages long.  Each month is headed up by the age of your child.  This makes it easy to find where to start, and easy to use.  It also gives you a list of supplies, books, and music suggestions for each month.

     Then it begins the month.  Day 1 - with the suggestions for that day.  Then Day 2 - with the suggestions for that day, and so on each day.

     There is a slight fluctuation on how many days each month covers but it is roughly 22-25 days worth each month.

     How did I use it with Charlotte?   Some days we read books, some days we did the activities.  When I didn't have the exact book listed I just substituted.  Things that I did from the curriculum that she hadn't done before were listening to a classical composer, play with play dough, some new nursery rhymes and songs, and tried jigsaws.  She loved the wider variety of books that I gave her.  She even played peekaboo with a scarf.  I tried to have Charlotte do her activities early in the morning. 

{ Here is Charlotte trying out playdough for the very first time. }

     I do recommend this product for busy mums who need quick, easy ideas and activities to do with their toddlers.  For a full years curriculum and suggestions it only costs $30.00.  A good investment, especially if you can use it with more children.  It's always nice to have ready made ideas at your fingertips.

       * * * * * * *

{ Years Three to Four }

     Years Three to Four came in two different parts:  a monthly curriculum guide { 115 pages } and a theme curriculum guide{ 78 pages }.  Included are a list of useful websites where one can obtain worksheets and materials to complete the program.

      Similar to One to Two, Three to Fours monthly guide comes with suggestions for supplies, books, and music.  They even list Holidays for each month - just in case you want to spend some time on those. 

    In regards to prep work:  I did the same thing as I did with One to Two for Three to Four.  Each morning I would quickly peruse the days list of items to do and highlight the key words of suggestions for us to try out.  Then I'd transfer that over to a piece of paper and tick off as we found the time to do them.  

     A typical day for Three to Four from the main monthly guide would include things like:

1.  ABC's

2.  Math

3.  Shapes / Colors

4.  Physical

5.  Social

6.  Composer of the Month

     A typical day for Three to Four from the theme guide would include:

1. Reading a book.

2. Do an activity.

1. Questions at the end of the theme.

     How did I use it with the three year olds?  We tried all sorts of things.  Depending on what ideas were being presented on any given day.  I did try to stick close to those suggestions though.  I wanted to see how easy they were to achieve.  I did substitute some activities.  The curriculum is a just a tool, so I felt very relaxed about what we could achieve with it and what we had to pass. 

     Both children love scissors.  I just had to make sure that they were supervised.  As you can imagine, Hannah has a history of cutting hair.  We tried books, coloring, shapes, sequencing, music, jigsaws, play dough, and counting. 

     Whenever we did an activity, if I found that Hannah could already do what was required I would just ask her to continue on and extend the activity.  An example of that is when she was counting from 1 - 5.  I would get her to count to 20.  The program is very flexible and easy to adjust in a jiffy.

     This years curriculum costs $38.00. So if you're thinking about purchasing, I highly recommend it. 

{ Can we get samples? }

     One of the awesome things provided by Flowering Baby is a HEAP of samples.  That way you can try it out before you purchase the full curriculum.  You can do this for FREE~!!

The links to the samples are at the bottom of each product description page.

Each year is a separate product:

Birth to One
One to Two
Two to Three
Three to Four
Four to Five


{ What I thought of it. }     

     What a blessing to have a plethora of ideas and suggestions to help us do our jobs as mothers.  Ideas and activities that not only grow our little flowers, but build and strengthen the bonds between parent and child.

     Although homeschooling older children I was still able to find some time for the younger ones to have activity time with me.  Each activity didn't take long to do.  

     This product originates and comes from America. I am in Australia.  It worked well for me, and will work well for other Aussies, and I believe for anyone in England too.

    They also sell their curriculum through Currclick.com for international customers.

     Right now Flowering Baby is offering a 10% discount on their products for customers ordering directly from the website.  So if you're keen to save - use this code when ordering:   "Blog10"

Thanks for visiting, and don't forget to:

tour Flowering Baby for additional information about each year;

and check out some other reviews as well.  :o)

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 any other way. All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.