Archive for the ‘tot school’ Category:
Growing Frogs
Simon kept telling me one day that we had a frog in the tadpole pool. I didn’t believe him. Finally, he showed it to me! Simon sat out in the hot sun to play with this little guy. Unfortunately, he was very good at jumping and hopped away.
Tot School ~ June 8th
More workboxes. More fun. More memories with my tot!
Simon’s "Sprinkles" Project
I put some contact paper and leftover hole punchings in a workbox. I had to open the contact paper for Simon, but he took over from there and made this "sprinkle" rectangle. He wanted it in Jason’s Father’s Day card (act surpised, honey!), so in it went!
I did the books in a box thing again. This is a series he has loved from the time he was just months old. 
We also love Sandra Boynton. I found most of these at a second hand shop before Elijah was even born! They’ve been loved to death by both boys.
We read Who Said Red? together and then we went on a red hunt all over the house. Simon filled this workbox will all his red finds.
Another easy idea is to fill a box with fun foam scraps (cut into shapes) and let your tot take a glue stick and stick, stick, stick until everything is sticky he has a beautiful picture.
Elijah had a great clay experience this week and Simon wanted to tag along. Here are the eight snakes he made. I think he did great! 
The tadpoles he has been caring for~
Simon never tires of painting
Here he is with his collection of "ships" (spaceships) that he made one day while I was working with big brother.
Tot School ~ June 1st
Simon loves the magnet pages from Making Learning Fun. He can use his Do-a-Dot markers on them on one day. Then, on another day, we can put them on a cookie sheet for him to add the magnets.
More doodle-doodle-dots (that what Simon calls them)
dinosaur stamping was a big hit this week
This is a very Montessori-ish game I have from when Elijah was a tot. Simon and I tried to play Feel and Find, but he just isn’t ready, so I modified the game. I told him to close his eyes and pick a piece from the sack then find the puzzle to match it. He loved this. I had an idea later in the week to try to play Feel and Find again but to only put 5 pieces in the sack. We may try next week.
Simon LOVES sounds bingo! He loves it so much that he can set up all four boards and play them at once by himself. I love things he can do indpendently; I just have to put the CD in the player for him. (This is Disovery Toys, but I was lucky to get it for cheap — used from a friend. I am not sure if they still carry this product, but I’ve seen others like it at Rainbow Resource.)
Who knew that a preschooler would love to transfer cotton balls from one dish to another? We have the cheat thingy on the chopsticks (thanks to Noodles & Company!).
An old standby that we’ve had for years- a $1 garage sale find; Lauri shape puzzles
painting with new floppy brushes from Let’s Explore
more painting (he really can’t get enough!)
Simon is doing really well with workboxes of JUST BOOKS. I try to find little collections and make them look attractive. He has been sitting quietly for 15-20 minutes with just books! Hooray! We also do plenty of mom/Simon reading time, too. I believe that reading is one of the most important things I can do with him.
Last week we sorted the animals into big and little. This week I decided to add medium. I put a tub of cars for sorting on his workbox cart, and we worked through this activity together. I plan to do it again as he needs more practice with the size sorting (and he enjoyed finding cars in a workbox).
We played again with some of the Brown Bear things we made last week. We used the puppets for a color matching game. I gave him a partial pack of M&Ms and had him sort the colors to match the animals. This was a HUGE hit (as you can imagine). He keeps asking when we are going to do this again!
The fun continued outside as Simon watered and weeded his garden, dug holes, planted beans, and even fed tadpoles (I don’t have any pictures of this, but these little guys have been a big part of our week!). Simon also discovered the Mourning Dove sitting on her nest and has been quietly watching her a few times each day.
Happy Tot-schooling!
Scrapers & Shaving Cream
For those of you who think I am insane, I am (but this was just TOO much fun). The scrapers are from Let’s Explore.
I sprayed Simon’s name on the table and he took over from there.
Fantastic Fun!
The clean-up was worth it because the activity kept him busy for almost 40 minutes!
Simon’s Second Day with Workboxes
I love taking pictures of Simon’s busy little hands!
Today’s workboxes included:
1. Brown Bear book
2. Brown Bear puppets made from a printable pages from Kizclub
We pulled these out two at a time and had fun asking the animals what they saw; we also used them to have fun with animal sounds
3. Animal Puzzles
4. Paper & Muffin Tin Crayons
(Elijah and I made these crayons when he was a preschooler!)
5. To the Zoo File Folder Game (he’s been loving this for almost a year now)
6. Window Writing
I found the Wax-O-Glas Crayons at Let’s Explore
7. Bonus Box- Creative Fun
I just gave him a box with a glue stick, some pipe cleaners, google eyes, and alphabet stickers.
He couldn’t figure out how to get the pipe cleaners to stick together, so I twisted two for him.
Meet "Eyeball"
A Little Workboxer
We took a one month break to enjoy the weather, but now we are back to school. I started Simon on his very own workboxes today; he LOVED them. He loved them too much and had a complete meltdown when he finished the final box. I need to think about adding more boxes as I only gave him six today.
His line-up
Box 1 ~ Books
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?
Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?
Box 2 ~ Puzzles
Heads and Tails Matching Puzzles (all the animals from the Brown Bear book)
These were from Carisa. It’s always lovely to find quality (FREE) things to use with my children…one less thing for me to make!
Box 3 ~ Sorting
I put the Schleich animals in a box and had Simon sort them into two piles- BIG and little. He loved this! Once in awhile he would put an animal in the wrong spot and the other animals would "talk" the out of place animal to the right spot. So cute.
Box 4~ Coloring
Simon and I made a mini-book of the animals in the Brown Bear book. This free printable was also from Carisa. This was great for reviewing colors, practicing fine motor skills, and for sequencing the story. I love the way this kid colors! He has some serious zeal for crayons!
Box 5 ~ Painting
Simon had a fun time creating with his new Paint Bellows. He made a red bird and a white dog. The tools for this project came from Let’s Explore (a super fun shop…the kind of place I would own if I had a shop!).
Box 6 ~ Play-doh
He spent quite a bit of his morning with some yellow play-doh, tin pie pans, and rolling pins. This is one of his favorite things to do.
My main goals for the week are to
~keep Simon’s boxes stocked with new things each day
~teach Simon to put things away when he is finished
~avoid meltdowns
I will keep you posted!
Simon School ~ Kumon Books
I wanted to have something on hand for Simon this year. Something that would make him feel included. I also needed this something to be easy, quick, and promote some kind of learning.
I found what I was looking for in the little Kumon books for ages 2+. They have four basic titles- Let’s Color!, Let’s Fold!, Let’s Sticker and Paste!, and Let’s Cut Paper!. They have four more that are more of the first four (More Let’s Color! More Let’s Sticker and Paste, etc.).
He has really enjoyed these books this year. The coloring book helped him learn his colors and to color on a target. The sticker and paste book has helped him learn how to apply glue to something and stick it down. The folding book is getting his little hands ready for all those fun lapbook folds coming in the years ahead. All the books are building fine motor skills, too.
After a few months of sticking, coloring, and folding, I just wasn’t sure where to put all these cute little pages. I was overrun with Kumon papers!
Here are two solutions I came up with, and Simon is happy with both!
I hole punched some and made them into a little book (about 40 pages so far) with rings.
I did not put any of the folding pages in the ring book. Instead, we used a Bare Board Book. We worked on this today. Another project he is proud of!
Here are a few pages from the inside
If you are interested in these products for your preschooler, Amazon carries them buy three get one free. They are also available at Rainbow Resource as well as Target!
Simon’s Sand Art
This has been a really fun activity for Simon (three days in a row now!).
It’s semi-independent, but it makes him feel so big!
First he picks a piece of construction paper.
Next I set him up with some watered-down glue and a "toothbrush" (actually a paint brush)
Then he tells me what color of sand he wants in the shaker, and I fill it.
He takes over for awhile from there.
He paints some glue on the paper.
He shakes some sand on to the spot.
He then shakes the excess on to a file folder
He continues painting and shaking until he is ready for another color and asks me to get it for him.
Then he just repeats the entire process.
Sand art from Monday-
Sand art from Tuesday
Pat-a-Cake Scones
Simon and I made some pat-a-cake scones for tea-time yesterday! They are easy and fun and yummy!
Pat-a-Cake Scones
1 1/2 cups self rising flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
colored sugar
Preheat oven to 375
Combine flour and sugar. Make a well in the center of the flour. Add cream. Stir till mixed well. Coat hands with flour. Knead a few times. Start singing Pat-a-Cake. (We sang it a few times!) Pat out flat. Cut into triangle or circle shapes. Sprinkle colored sugar on top. Bake 18 min. or until golden.
