Tot School - Winter

Sophie is 18.5 months old.

If you have seen a weather map of the country lately, you would probably know that while a Winter themed tot school would be perfect for most of the country, it seemed highly inappropriate in Florida this week!  We have had almost 80 degree weather some days.  The state obviously hasn't gotten the memo that it's December...but I digress.  Needless to say, even though it was almost hot outside, we were talking about a winter wonderland inside! :)

Sensory Bin

Sophie really liked the sensory bin this week.  I used cotton balls as the base and then added some "ice" in the form of clear and blue glass stones.  I also included some sparkly plastic snowflakes and Sophie's favorite part - two pretend cardinals (tree decorations from the Dollar Tree).  Her favorite thing to do (other than kiss and "love" the birds) was to pull out all the glass stones and put them on a plate.  The cotton balls kind of bothered her, because they pulled apart ("uh-oh"), but she loved separating the parts (a great toddler-created sorting activity!)

Tot Trays

Her first tot tray was a total mom failure.  I got a snowflake stamp and an ink pad and planned to let her explore stamping.  I thought she would love it.  She did - only her mother made a horrible assumption that an ink pad placed with children's crafts and children's stamps and called "Silly Winks" would be a washable ink.  WRONG.  My daughter strongly dislikes getting her hands dirty, so when she got ink no them, I tried to wipe it off and allow her to keep stamping.  It wouldn't come off for anything.  She started freaking out, looking at her hands crying and saying "rub rub" (what she calls washing her hands).  I did what any sane woman would do in such a situation - called my mom for a solution!  I tried every suggestion she and google had (that wasn't a strong chemical or potentially harmful) and that ink wasn't budging.  My daughter was traumatized the rest of the night.  Way to go, Momma. I'm adding washable ink pads to her Christmas list.  We'll try again after we both recover.  Needless to say, there are no pictures of this one. ;)

Her second tray was MUCH less eventful.  I made one-to-one correspondence sheets for the numbers one through three and gave her enough plastic snowflakes to go in each spot.  We would count as she placed them in the circles. 

Her third tray was a big hit.  She definitely needs practice with a spoon, so I got some large jingle bells and a snowflake bowl for spooning practice.  She was occasionally successful with the spoon, but the real fun was shaking the jingle bells to music. :)

The fourth tray was more one-to-one correspondence and transferring practice.  The idea was to use the tweezers to move the "snowballs" into the ice cube tray.  She did that a few times, but the tweezers are still really difficult for her.  However, she likes exploring them, so I keep including them for her to play and practice with.

The fifth tray was by far the favorite and the one we spent the large majority of our time on this week.  It was a pouring activity using two metal condiment cups (four for a dollar at Walmart - they were absolutely the perfect size and one of my favorite finds!) and small glass beads.  She LOVED this activity.  It was the first pouring activity I had given her and we seriously spent all week pouring back and forth.  She did a great job, although sometimes she liked spilling the beads on purpose and playing with them on the tray.  

Her final tray was probably her second favorite.  I cut out some foam snowflakes (umm...WAY more difficult to do than I anticipated!) and she put them in and out of the snowflake jar.  She loved opening and closing the snap lid.

Other Activities

Window clings - these were such a hit for fall that I had to get her a new set for the winter and Christmas season.  She loved the "window stickers" and put them on and off all week long.  These will stay up through the new year.

Painting with cotton balls - She painted with cotton balls and white paint to make snow.  She really enjoyed it!  Although I honestly think she likes cleaning up afterward more! :)

Up next week:  Christmas!  I am so excited about the Christmas activities I have planned for her.  We've been doing several different crafts for Advent (I'll share some soon!), but tot school for the next two weeks will be all about Christmas.  I can't wait! :)

I'll leave you with this sweet picture from the Christmas parade last weekend!  Care to guess who she gets her great dimples from? ;)

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

Cookie Day - Our Black Friday Tradition

While other people are scurrying around huge crowds of people trying to get the best deals, my family has always spent Black Friday staying home with ridiculous amounts of flour, sugar, butter, and plenty of creativity baking cookies all day.  We call the tradition (very creatively, I might add!) Cookie Day.  It is probably my favorite family tradition.  Each of the kids could invite a friend and we would spend all day baking batch after batch of different types of cookies to share with neighbors and take to Christmas parties in the coming days.  Christmas music playing, we gorged ourselves on cookie dough and ordered Chinese for lunch.  I have so many sweet memories of this day and it is one I plan to continue with my own family.

This year was Sophie's first opportunity to participate in our own little Cookie Day.  (Unfortunately, my family lives too far away for us to join in the "big" festivities).  We had so much fun baking together, as we always do, but this day seemed extra special.  And the teacher in me can't help but see all the fabulous life lessons she's learning as we spend this sweet time together!

We made chewy oatmeal cookies - nothing really special or even Christmasy, but it's what I had on hand.  (Unlike my brilliant mother, I had not done a spectacular job planning for the day).

Sophie was a great helper pouring in the ingredients.  We would count the scoops of flour or sugar as we poured them in.  One day this will be a great lesson in measuring, as well!

She loved watching the mixer do its thing, and of course pushing the buttons to make it happen.

Baking is full of fun sensory experiences like smelling cinnamon and feeling flour between your fingers.

The food processor is her favorite kitchen tool by a long shot.  She's already a professional at pushing these buttons. I love the excitement on her face!

Our tradition had something my family's didn't have - a Christmas music dance break in front of her reflection in the stove.

And of course, no Cookie Day is complete without sampling the fruit of your labor!

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