Tot School - Thanksgiving

Sophie is 18 months old.

This week and last week were all about Thanksgiving!  We had lots of fun with these activities.  Sophie is cracking me up with all of the turkeys we are seeing everywhere - she knows that turkeys say "gobble gobble gobble" and can say it when asked, but everytime she sees a turkey she gets really excited and points and says "bawk bawk" like a chicken.  I totally see how they look alike to her little brain, but it just tickles me every single time.

Sensory Play

File this week's sensory play into the "regrettable" category!  It consisted of feathers and sparkly foam leaves.  I had gotten some inexpensive colored feathers a while back, but had hesitated getting them out for her because they "shed" EVERYWHERE.  I decided to bite the bullet for Thanksgiving, but oh my goodness.  Sophie had a great time playing with them in the pool, and did a great job obeying my instructions to keep them inside the pool.  However, the lighter than air pieces of feathers flew absolutely everywhere.  No corner of my house was safe.  Sweeping didn't work because they just floated up into the air.  I finally got them all vacuumed up, but I learned an important lesson.  Feathers are worth paying a little extra for to get some that won't completely take over my house.  We'll do feathers again, but I'll splurge for a little higher quality - these are going far far away!

We also played playdoh with leaf cookie cutters.  This was her first time trying cookie cutters and she really liked it.  I think this girl needs a playdoh accessory set for Christmas!

Tot Trays

Her first tot tray was a printable I made for The Activity Mom.  It is a turkey feather matching game.  I used the version where Sophie had to match the colors and she did a great job.  Next time I may put some velcro or something on the feathers so that they stay when she puts them down.  Since I had laminated everything, they slid around a lot.  You can get your free printable here.

Her second tray was by far the favorite!  I got this idea from Stephanie at Twodaloo.  I cut a foam ball in half and painted it brown.  Then I painted some dowel sticks I had rainbow colors, and inserted them into the ball with hot glue.  I popped on a circle with some eyes, a nose, and a gobbler and we had ourselves a turkey!  Sophie would put her Melissa and Doug lacing beads onto the dowels.  I made it so she could color sort if she wanted, but she was much more content to make the turkey have bright colorful feathers instead, which is fine by me!  She loved this turkey, as evidenced by the fact that she had to give him kisses every time we played. :)

Her third tray was a one-to-one correspondence activity using a turkey do-a-dot printable I found at DLTK Kids.  Using foam cylinders, Sophie put one foam piece in each circles.  I found these stayed put better than pom balls.  She liked this one a good bit as well, although her favorite part was taking all the pieces in and out of the cup.

Her fourth tray was a Thanksgiving sorting activity I made for The Activity Mom.  This was a little difficult for her, but she could do it with help.  She was not incredibly interested in it, though.  I think I got a little carried away with the number of things to match (my OCD wanted to fill all the spots in my serving dish... :/), but I think it was too much for her.  Next time we'll try it with just two or three types of items.  You can download the free printable here.

Other Activities

Of course we had to do turkey handprints!  I had it in my mind to make cards to send to family using her sweet little handprint, but she was NOT a fan of her whole hand being covered in paint.  So, we basically just got a keepsake version for us!  I found this cute little poem at The Activity Mom.

She really enjoyed playing with foam stickers as well.  Stickers are always a hit, but these seemed to be extra exciting to her. 

We'll spend the next couple weeks doing some winter tot school activities (even though it's still technically fall...I know) before we move on to Christmas!  I can't wait!

For tons more ideas be sure to visit these sites I'm linking to this week!

Tot School Gathering Place at 1+1+1=1 

Teaching Tuesdays at Intentional Homeschool
Tot School Tuesday at See Vanessa Craft
Tuesday Tots at Rainy Day Mum
Link and Learn at No Time for Flashcards
Show and Share Saturday Link Up at I Can Teach My Child

Tender Moments with Toddlers and Preschoolers at The Chaos and the Clutter 
Sunday Showcase at Learn Play Imagine
TGIF at 123Homeschool4Me
For the Kids Fridays at Sun Scholars