Ever since my son turned three, we have chosen a Letter of the Month. We do all sorts of activities, listen to music, eat food, pick colors, all around the letter we pick. I thought it might be fun, but it has turned out to be my best parenting idea ever. Here's why:

1. It keeps our daily focus on what we DO not what we HAVE. I am trying to raise minimalist kids by putting my energy into experiences, not things, because toys are just going to be a burden of waste for them as adults. 

2. It reinforces letters and sounds without banging them over the head. We are playing with words in a game-like way, that I hope will help with literacy when it's more developmentally appropriate.

3.  It keeps me from getting bored. Stay at home parenting can be an exercise in stamina when you do the same monotonous tasks every single day. It is way too easy to get complacent, let your boredom take over, spend hours on screen time, etc. I feel like this motivates me to stay creative.

4. It's really fun. Can I sell anything as exciting if it starts with the letter of the month? Do we make chores and errands into adventures? Oh hell yes. We have a great time!

So, our first month was the letter P! We chose it because it was potty-training month, and we wanted it to be a fun new experiment among many. I will share some of our greatest hits, will point to some fun Pinterest activities, some books, and then do a big old list of other brainstorm ideas to help you get inspired!

P Foods

We love food at our house, and the majority of our family time in the evenings is spent preparing or eating. So food is a big part of the fun for us. If you are trying to stretch your picky eater, this could also be a fun way to test new things.

Poke! This is a favorite treat at our house, so we kicked off P month with poke. Might be a fun way to experiment with a new food!

 We also had a make your own pizza night, and we read "Pete's a Pizza" while it baked! Super fun and he always likes putting all the toppings on pizza.

P Making

Other P Projects: 

Painting. Paint with your kids! There are a million painting projects out there, from finger painting to watercolors, but your kids will absolutely benefit from this kind of play.  Check out local resources for places to go and paint (we are at a Paint Playground in this picture), or bust out all your paint stuff at home. This is so good for your kids small motor skills and their creative thinking. Go paint. Make a good mess.

P Adventures

Use a Peeler. These don't have to be big! It can be as simple as learning to use a peeler. Kids love to help with cooking, and we love the time we spend in the kitchen together!


Have a Picnic. We think of picnics as a summer, event, but you can really have them any time as long as you are properly bundled! On a warmish day, we went and had a beach picnic with lukewarm dogs. We also picked a beach with a pirate ship playground, do not to toot my own horn, but we nailed this one (toot toot).



Visit with Penguins. Our usual trips to the zoo can be ALL over the place, so we tried really focusing on one animal, talking about what they were doing, etc. Our zoo also has chances to feed the penguins, which would be super memorable too! If you are in a more rural area, what about going to a farm and checking out the pigs?



Play with Puppets. The Bub had received Paw Patrol finger puppets in his stocking, so we started putting on puppet shows and acted out little adventures with them. Whatever puppets you already own will work OR you can make them from socks, paper bags, or anything else!


Throw a Tiny Party. We threw our own little Dragons Love Tacos Taco Party at our house. Everyone dressed up like dragons and we ate regular old tacos. It's amazing how little you have to do to make a regular dinner into a special night.


Pokemon Go. We'd go out on family walks (yes, even in dark and cold January) and look for Pokemon. The kids get crazy excited. So does their dad, but that is a little more embarrassing.

P Books

I like to have some favorite books to tie into our theme. It is ALWAYS tempting to buy new ones, but most months I just use what we already have! Here are a few to go check out at the library if they don't live at your house already. A few of our best P books are The Paper Bag Princess, The Pout Pout Fish, Pete's a Pizza, and LMNO Peas.

More P Ideas!

This is just the tip of the iceberg! Here is some more P Inspiration to get you going:

Princess, Pirate, Pink, Purple, Potatoes, Pickles, Pancakes, Peas, Plants, Parrots, Pumpkins (this could be a great October letter), Panda, Pig, Polar Bear, Polka Dots, Parade, Pond, Pool, Peace, Puppies, Polite, Play, Pineapple, Piano, Push/Pull,


Yay for P! Not sure what letter to pick for next month? I have ideas for you:

How To Come Up with Your Letter and Ideas

1. Look at your Schedule- I do not recommend going  in alphabetical order. Instead, pick each letter based on what is already on the schedule for the month. We are doing M for the month we go to Disneyworld. We did B for the month we went home for a baptism. And we did P the month we dove into potty training. Think what you want to be doing, and tie it in.

2. Think about what is local to you. If you are in a region with intense seasons, think about what is great to do in the time of year you are in. Have concerts in the summer where you live? Pick M for music or B for band.

3. Every so often, pick a hard one. Pick those letters worth LOTS of points on Scrabble, or you will get to them all at the end and it will be miserable. Just saying.



One month down, LOTS to go! Check out the Green Family Page for more ideas for experience-based parenting!