My friend Nicole Dean from Kids Activity Center has come out with a great new Easter activity to keep your toddlers and older ones busy this coming holiday.

Take a look at this Print & Play Easter Fun Pack with tons of Easter games, activities, crafts, and coloring printables, plus step by step face painting instructions to turn your little ones into bunnies! How cute is that?

I have been getting a lot of searches on “How to get my toddler to sleep” lately, and I thought I would give some new insight on a study I did with Johnson & Johnson a few years ago.

At the time my daughter was a baby and we were struggling with her getting a full night sleep, and just getting her to sleep in general.

I was lucky enough to get chosen for an in home sleep study for 2 weeks to see the effects of Johnson & Johnson baby bath products and my daughters sleeping patterns.

Well, guess what? After 2 weeks of the routine she was sleeping like a baby!!

Now, how does this fit in with a toddler? The #1 way to get your toddler on a good sleeping schedule is routine. With the Johnson & Johnson method there is 3 easy steps before bedtime that you MUST do nightly…hence getting into a routine.

Step #1 - Bathe your toddler nightly (approximately the same time every night is best) using Johnson’s Bedtime Bath. These products are in purple bottles.

Step #2 - Stay in the bedtime mode with a soothing massage on your toddler using Johnson’s Bedtime Lotion or Massage Gel (which is new).

Step #3 - Send toddler off to bed, you may read a bedtime story and play soft music, but this should be a quiet time in the house.

These 3 steps DID work on my baby, and really, does work well on toddlers too. I think it really takes up to two weeks of doing the 3 steps nightly before you will see it really working and getting your toddler to go to sleep on their own. The key to this is you must do this every night, even after your toddler is in a sleeping schedule.

By the way, I am not affiliated with Johnson & Johnson in any way; I have had good personal experience with their products and giving my recommendation.
Let me know how it works for you!

My daughter loves those Smuckers UnCrustables, and really, these are a great idea for an on-the-go sandwich you can take with you. If you are not familar, the Uncrustables are your typical peanut butter and jelly sandwiches without the crust, that are sealed shut in a pocket. They come frozen, and you can take them with you, within 20 minutes they are ready to eat. You could also microwave them for 10 seconds on each side if you want to eat them right out of the freezer. They are great, and my toddler LOVES them. They can also be expensive when you go through them as quick as we do!

I still buy the Uncrustables, but lately, I have been whipping up my own unique Uncrustables for my little one.

Some new, quick, variations of PB&J for your toddler

1. Our #1 favorite, white or wheat bread, cut off crust and spread on Peanut Butter and Mashed Bananas. Your toddler will go nuts!

2. Wheat Bread, cut off crust, spread on peanut butter and honey. Yummy!

3. A combo of #1 and #2. Mashed bananas and honey on white or wheat.

4. Original Peanut Butter and Jelly, cut off crust. Buy different types of jelly other than strawberry and grape! Jelly also comes in flavors like Cherry, Apricot, Blueberry, Peach, and Rasperry.

5. White or wheat bread, cut off crust, spread peanut butter and apple sauce! Another toddler favorite!

To prepare: Tear off crust first, spread toppings, and then cut sandwich into four pieces for easy toddler pickup.

Do you have any other PB&J variations you’d like to share? Make a comment and I will add it to the list.