Tot School - Hearts (Valentine's Day)

Sophie is 21 months old.

Better late than never, right?  This post is a little late in the writing, but we had so much fun with heart week I had to share!  We ended up spending two weeks with this theme because Sophie loved the activities so much and we were traveling for a few days the second week.

Sensory Bin

The sensory bin for heart week was filled with candy conversation hearts, small plastic heart containers I found at the dollar store, and foam hearts.  Sophie really enjoyed pouring and making noise with the conversation hearts.  I never had any issue with her trying to eat them since she had no idea they were candy, I just had to inform everyone that entered the house that she didn't know they were candy so they didn't say something that would encourage her to taste them! :)

Tot Trays

The trays were a hit this week!  Her first tray was heart sticks (umm...no idea what these things are actually called!) in floral foam. She loved it!

Her second tray was playdoh, which is always a winner.  I got out some heart cookie cutters and she made some hearts, but mostly she put it on her nose (Daddy taught her that) or made little balls.  This is her new "show your teeth" face.  Hilarious.

The third tray was a conversation heart color sorting printable I found at Teaching Tiny Tots.  She did this a few times with ease, but really preferred the other trays instead.  

Sophie's fourth tray was an heart lacing idea from Nicole at The Activity Mom.  Sophie tried this one and got frustrated and never really wanted to try again, unfortunately.  I just think she isn't quite ready, even though I thought this was a good stepping stone to threading.

Her fifth tray was utilizing one of my favorite DIY toys - a heart bracelet stacker.  We used heart-shaped bracelets from the Dollar Tree.  These bracelets have since been added to her purse, because they are a must-have fashion accessory.  She preferred stacking them on her arms to stacking them on the dowel rod, but she loved them!  One of her favorites!

The last tray was by far the favorite tray of the week.  This was two small bowls of conversation hearts for Sophie to practice pouring back and forth.  She got SO good at this skill during these weeks.  I think the bowls and hearts were the perfect size for her to practice with and were easy to clean up.  I was very impressed by her progress pouring - and she was so proud of herself.

 Other Activities

We made heart cookies with her BFF!  We had so much fun cutting out and decorating cookies on Valentine's Day with our good friends.  They turned out delicious, and of course they were works of art.  Sophie decided to pose with her cookie to make sure we got a good picture.

We also did several different arts and craft activities this week, including a heart do-a-dot, foam stickers, and gluing conversation hearts on to a heart outline.  (Be sure to get my free printable shape outlines here!)

 The weather started to warm up here (though it has since turned cold again) and so my loves got to spend some quality time riding the bike and playing outside! She kills me in those shades! :)

 Next up will be a really simple rectangle week!

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
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