First Offical Week of Tot School: Red

Sophie is 12.5 months old.

Well, I got my act together to try Tot School "officially" this past week.  I decided we would start with using the colors as a theme as a way to introduce them and make planning easier for me!  This week was all about red.

Sophie really seemed to enjoy "playing Tot School." When she went to bed the night before our first day, our little Tot School corner didn't even exist, so she noticed right away that something was different in the morning!  Her picture was the very first thing she noticed (no self-esteem issues in this house!).  Honestly, the tape on the back was way more exciting than the picture itself or the body parts I tried to point out.

Sensory Bin

Our sensory bin this week was full of red items, some familiar and some brand new.  Her favorite items were my velcro hair rollers, a maraca, and tinsel.  She also liked the plastic ice cubes (frozen of course!), but they kept going to her mouth and were a really bad size, so I didn't put them in after the first day.  I was surprised that she was so timid about exploring the basket.  I expected her to dive in gung ho, but it took her a little bit to warm up to it.  By the end of the week she knew exactly which items she wanted to go for.

Tot Trays

Her first Tot Tray was putting stickers on red paper.  She liked playing with the stickers and by the end of the week was (mostly) able to put them on the paper if I handed them to her just right.  A big improvement from our first day attempt! :)  She seemed to enjoy it, though.  Definitely one we will repeat in the future.

 Her second tray was her stacking cups.  This is a toy that is typically in her toy basket, but she doesn't usually play with it.  She did a little bit of stacking with it, but mostly she "drank" from them and put her puff balls into the hole (a fun game Daddy taught her).

I love the concentration on her face!

Her third Tot Tray was red puff balls in a paint pallet.  She LOVED the puff balls.  She immediately started taking them from the pallet and putting them in the little cup.  She later found other fun things to do with them like putting them on the shelf or in her chair.  The only problem was that she constantly wanted to put them in her mouth.  She did alright if she had a paci in, but if it came out she could get one to her mouth crazy fast.  This is one determined little girl.  

Book Bin

She loved reading books in her rocking chair!  She actually learned how to climb up into the chair by herself this week and would then point to whichever book she wanted to look at.  Her favorite is still Ten Little Ladybugs, but she also really liked My First Body Book and The Little Red Hen.

Other Fun

We finally got the hang of coloring this week!  I made her some muffin tin crayons that were easier for her to work with, and for the first time she really seem to enjoy coloring.

We also had our first real week of water fun!  Her little friend next door has a water activity table and she loved splashing and playing.  She also got a kiddie pool for her birthday and got to play in it for the first time.  I think we have a long summer of being soaked ahead of us!