Tot School: Fourth of July

Miles is 14 months old.

This past week was Miles' first Tot School shelf and he loved it!  I should go ahead and have the disclaimer that I have next to no completely clear pictures of my sweet son.  My sweet little tornado is constantly moving! :)

Fourth of July Parade.  This activity was actually for both Miles and Sophie.  I put on Stars and Stripes Forever by John Phillip Sousa and we shook our patriotic maracas and waved our American flags all throughout the house.  Sophie was into it right away.  Miles took a bit to warm up, but after a minute he decided to join in the fun!  (No...I did not dress him to match intentionally...but he looks adorable, doesn't he!)

Sensory Bottle.  I put some sparkly red "Easter grass", some pom poms, and star beads into a plastic jar for Miles to explore.  Pretty much anything that makes noise when he shakes it is a hit.

Patriotic Pom Pom Push.  Miles' favorite activity by far was the pom pom push.  I took a small snack cup I got from the Target Dollar section, cut a whole just a bit smaller than the pom poms, and showed him how to push them into the cup.  This was a great activity for him.  It was a bit of a challenge at first, but after a few tries he figured it out and probably played for ten minutes.  I was impressed by his perseverance!  This was really the first time I had seen him trying to really make something work the way he wanted it to.  It reminds me how much I love doing Tot School with my little ones to be able to witness all these learning moments!

Block Transfer.  Wooden blocks in colored cups.  Pretty self explanatory, but he enjoyed taking them in and out.  Sophie wanted to play with it too!  I had to laugh that she wanted HIS red and blue blocks when we had a whole basket of identical blocks in the playroom.

The last bag on the shelf was full of a few random red and blue odds and ends for Miles to explore. A sponge, a bean bag, a plastic star, and a squishy ball.  He never even touched it.  Hence, no pictures.

Overall, I think his first week of Tot School was a success!  It was nice to have some intentional play time with him.  I will need to figure out how to either involve Sophie productively, or find another way to occupy her so that Miles can have the focused time he deserves.  She would be playing well independently, but when we would start doing Tot School she would rush over to get all involved.  I did tell her that she could play with the items on his shelf, but if he got interested she had to give it to him right away. We'll figure it out, but Tot School for Miles is here to stay!

Linking up at 1+1+1=1 Tot School Gathering Place and Teaching Mama's Everything Early Childhood.

Tot School: Apples (Adam and Eve)

We are continuing to follow the basic structure of Intentional by Grace's Fruit of the Spirit Curriculum, so this week was all about Apples and Adam and Eve.

During our Bible and Tot School Board time, we read the story of Adam and Eve and the Fall of Man from a couple of our toddler Bibles, including the Jesus Storybook Bible. We also worked on our memory verse for the week Psalm 34:8a, and continued to recite the Fruit of the Spirit.

Literacy Activities 

Apple "a". We used a Do-a-Dot marker to make "apples" on our lowercase a.  Sophie made the apples and then added stems with a marker.  This was great prewriting practice! (Don't worry, we adjusted pencil grip!) Oh, and for the record, we most certainly have a left-handed little lady.  

Apple Tree Uppercase/Lowercase Matching.  I drew a tree and wrote the uppercase letters all over it.  Then on red dot stickers, I wrote the lowercase letters.  Sophie matched up the lowercase "apples" to the correct spot on the tree.  She is getting really good at this!  (She had a few issues because the stickers were circles and would get turned around...note to anyone who might try this activity!)

Uppercase/Lowercase Letter Matching Puzzles.  Sophie matched the letters we have done so far using these cards from Homeschool Creations.  They match our letter cards from our Tot School Board.  I keep thinking I need to put magnets on the back of these or something because Sophie gets really bothered when they don't line up just right.  We have a serious perfectionist on our hands...

Apple Picking Game.  We did a simpler version of this game back when we did the Letter A when she was two, and I shared about it over at the Activity Mom.  This time, I wrote lowercase letters on the apples and placed them around the room.  She would find all the apples and put them in her basket after telling me the letter and the letter sound.  We played this game almost every day, multiple times.  Definitely her favorite activity.

Sophie loves writing in her book with dry-erase markers.  I used the Prewriting Practice pages and just for kicks threw in the Aa and Ee writing pages as well, both from the 3 Dinosaurs Romping and Roaring A Pack.  She was SO proud of writing her letters!

Math Activities

 Apple Patterns.  We did simple AB patterns with our apples.  This was our first real try at patterning, and she eventually got the hang of it.  We definitely will need to continue to work on this skill.

Apple Number Sequencing Puzzle from Amy Lattin on Teachers Pay Teachers (free!). This was also played with almost every day.  

Other Activities

Coffee Filter Apples.  We did this fun craft from Gift of Curiosity.  In this picture, she has "written" the names of everyone in our family around the outside of her coffee filter.  :)  Her favorite part, though, was definitely spraying it with the water bottle!  This activity will be a repeat for sure.

Miles (14 Months)

Starting next week, I think Mr. Miles is going to get his own Tot School post because he will be getting his very own Tot Trays!  He is getting so curious about everything and I am really seeing he get interested in figuring things out and repeating what he sees his sister do.  

This week, he tried coloring for the first time!  He was so happy of himself. (Don't know that reference? Do yourself a favor and check out this video - the adorableness will make your day!)

He also really enjoyed playing with Sophie's apples.  He would put them in the basket and dump them out over and over again.  Forgive the diaper picture - it's already full-blown hot here!

Up next: Our Fourth of July Tot School Activities!

Linking up at 1+1+1=1 Tot School Gathering Place and Teaching Mama's Everything Early Childhood.

Tot School: Days of Creation

Sophie and I have been working through Intentional by Grace's Fruit of the Spirit Curriculum. We have really enjoyed doing this together and it has led to many opportunities to discuss and practice behaviors common to toddlers (patience, anyone?).

We don't do all the activities, and I modify or add others to supplement, but it has served as a great backbone for our Tot School time.  It focuses on uppercase letters, which Sophie already knows well, so we focus on the lowercase letters instead.

This week (and last) has been all about Creation.  I decided to stretch this unit and focus on one day of creation each day.

We did several activities each day of this unit.

- Tot School Board.  We start our Tot School time with our board, which displays our Bible verses, letter of the week, and letter gross motor activity, as well as anything else we are focusing on.  Sophie says her memory verse (or if she is feeling a bit stubborn, she listens to momma say it) and then identifies the other items on the board.  Our memory verse was Genesis 1:1.  The letter of the week for the first week was the letter "Z". (This picture is from the following week!)

- Days of Creation Sequencing.  After reading the creation story (from our various children's Bibles or storybooks), we talk through each day and do little motions to help us remember what happened on each day using these Days of Creation cards from PreKinders. (In the pocket chart shown above). If Sophie is interested, she puts them in order, but usually we just talk about them.

- Days of Creation Song from DLTK-Bible.  My girl is all about music, so this is by far the best way for her to remember the Days of Creation!

- GOD Gave Us the Earth Interactive Sight Word Reader.  Sophie knows all her letter sounds and is showing lots of interest in letters, words and reading.  I'm not doing anything formal with her yet, but since this reader fit so well, I decided to introduce her to the idea of sight words.  She really enjoyed doing this book.  She is obsessed with Little Einsteins, so as we were reading the sight word book each day and would get to the page of the day with the word God missing, I would dramatically exclaim "Oh no!  Big Jet took the word and scrambled it all up!" She loved pretending she was solving a Little Einstein problem while cutting the letters apart and gluing them in the correct order.  So fun!

- Days of Creation Book.  I saw this adorable idea at The Art of Being Mama and we did the page that corresponded to the day we were learning.

Day One Activities
- Light and Dark.  We sat in my closet with the lights off and talked about what we saw and heard outside at nighttime.  Then we turned the lights back on and talked about how the day was different from the night and what we saw and heard then.
- For snack we had chocolate pudding with whipped cream to represent day and night.

Day Two Activities
- Beach Day!  This happened to work out perfectly with a mommy and Sophie day, so we headed to the beach to look at the clouds and the seas up close!  This was the first time Sophie was brave enough to head into the water and she had a great time!

- Clouds in a Jar.  Sophie LOVED this activity!  She wanted to do it three times and just had to show Daddy when he got home.  It was so simple, but she felt so grown up.

- Snack time: Blue jello with marshmallows to represent sky and clouds.


Day Three Activities
- Observed and watered the plants in our little vegetable garden

- Apple Tree Counting Playdoh Mats from Life Over C's

Day Four Activities
- Starry Night with a flashlight and a colander
- Counting star buttons in a muffin tin

- Snack time: Star cheese (umm...cheese cut with a star cookie cutter...creativity at its finest!). She wanted to pretend it was a cookie and put sprinkles on it.  Sure, why not. Gross.

Day Five Activities
- Bird Feeder out of toilet paper roll, peanut butter, and bird seed.
- Categorizing whether something goes in the sky or underwater.  We used this pictures on our Day Five Creation Book instead of on the worksheet.
- Snack time: Goldfish Crackers

Day Six Activities
- Sorting various Toob Animals by their habitats (forest, house pets, farm, water, etc.)

- Move like animals gross motor play.  This is totally simple - I just call out an animal and have Sophie pretend to move like that animal.  Simple, yet hilarious.
- Snack time: Animal Crackers

Day Seven
- I tried to get away with just taking naps during our Tot School time, but Sophie totally wasn't game for it.  So in honor of resting, I stayed in my pajamas (because obviously, I would never do this any other day!...)
- We just reviewed the other days and did our favorite activities over again!

For a Creation activity geared towards the younger toddler crowd, be sure to check out my God Made Everything color book. 

Linking up at 1+1+1=1 Tot School Gathering Place and Teaching Mama's Everything Early Childhood.

I'm back! - And Birthday Themed Tot School

I know, its been like twenty-seven forevers since I have posted.  Between adjusting to having two little ones, selling our house, living with in-laws for 4 months while renovating a house, and trying to get settled, something just had to give.  I thought maybe I needed to hang up the blogging for good.

But I had been thinking about starting some Tot School activities with my son who just turned one, so I came back and started scrolling through the blog.  I LOVE being able to look back at all the developmental strides Sophie took.  It was like a scrapbook or a journal depicting our days together and the learning that she is doing each and every moment.  And it made me a little sad that I have missed out on having this past year documented like that.  So....I'm going to try to blog about our learning experiences.  Even if no one but me ever reads it, it is something I want to try to have for my family and myself.

Quick catch up on my little ones.

Sophie just turned three.  She is a fun-loving, dancing, singing, princess and playdoh obsessed little lady.  She has a giggle that can melt my heart and acts way older than a three year old.  She is learning in leaps and bounds and makes me worry about keeping up with her!

Miles is 14 months old.  He is the sweetest, most loving little boy ever.  He hasn't met a food he doesn't like.  He's just started walking, loves playing ball, dancing to his sister's music, and trying to imitate anything Sophie does.  He is a momma's boy through and through, and is curious about the world (a kind way of saying "into everything!").

Birthday Theme Tot School Activities

In honor of Sophie's birthday a few weeks ago, we did a week full of birthday themed activities.  She absolutely loved having a week all about her birthday!  

We made a birthday banner to hang for her party.  I wrote her name in pencil and she painted over the lines with a paint brush.  We had done this a few weeks earlier for Daddy's birthday and she totally surprised me with her ability to trace with a paintbrush (she had shown no interest in tracing with a marker before). But she loved it and was so proud to show it off!

I made a cupcake upper/lowercase letter matching game which we called "Cupcake Shop".  She loved pretending that I was ordering letter cupcakes and she had to put the correct icing on the cupcakes.  

I also made a number recognition printable, which will be shared soon at The Activity Mom, which invoved putting the correct number of candles on the cupcake.  She loved singing "Happy Birthday to Sophie" and blowing out the candles after each number card.

She also really enjoyed putting do-a-dot "sprinkles" on a cupcake coloring page.  

We did several birthday themed printables from Homeschool Creations and 1+1+1=1 as well.  Sophie really took to the tracing pages this time.  Her favorite by far, though, was the Find the Birthday Cake game from Homeschool Creations.

Happy Third Birthday, Sophie!

Linking up at 1+1+1=1 Tot School Gathering Place and Teaching Mama's Everything Early Childhood.

Tot School: B is for Ball (Outside Play)

Sophie is 26 months old.

Letter of the Week: Bb

Object and Theme:  Ball/Outside Play

- Memory Verse:  Ephesians 4:32.  "Be kind to one another."  We used the printable ABC Bible Verses from Homeschool Creations.  I put the card in my Bible as a bookmark in Ephesians and let Sophie open to that page when we were going to say our memory verse.  I want her to see that the words she is learning are coming from the Bible!

- Books: The main book we read with this theme was Stop that Ball by Mike McClintock.  This was one of Clay's favorite books as a child, so he enjoyed getting to read it with her as well!  I was impressed with her attention span, as this book is a bit longer than our usual choices.  Other books included:

• Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin
• Pete the Cat and the Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin
• Corduroy by Don Freeman
• Balls by Melanie Davis
• Biscuit Plays Ball by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
• Duck and Goose by Tad Hills

Sensory Fun

This week's sensory play was a bit messier than what I usually try, but Sophie had an absolute blast!  I got some water beads from the Dollar Tree and put them in a container with some foam letters and other small balls of different materials.  Using our handy dandy kiddie pool in the living room, Sophie played for almost an hour, pouring and smooshing the balls.  She was soaked and a mess when it was all over, but it was definitely worth it.  I'm working on not being so afraid of messy play...

I also had a bucket of assorted balls for Sophie to play with and explore.  

What's on the Shelf?

1.  Color Matching with Counting Bears.  I printed off a "B" do-a-dot and colored in the dots myself in colors that matched our counting bears.  Then I put it in a page protector and let Sophie line the bears up on the correct dots.  She could do this really well, but she wasn't very impressed.

2.  Colors Printable.  I used the colors printable from the Tot School Printables a little differently this week and it went over much better than last time!  I cut the pieces apart and laid out just three at a time with the appropriate color crayons.  She could color each individual ball, and when they were all finished we glued them to construction paper while we talked about the colors again.  This went over much better than coloring the sheet whole, and you know how my girl loves gluing.

3.  Big and Little Block Sort.  We used this for Squares week a while ago and Sophie was even better at identifying big and little this time.

4.  Ping Pong Ball Transfer.  I found these great little tongs at Walmart and they were the perfect size for Sophie's little hands.  I was very impressed at how quickly she got the hang of transferring using the tongs instead of her hands.  

5.  Beach Ball Sewing Card.  (not pictured) This was our first attempt at a sewing card and it wasn't very well received.  She did it a few times and then just wanted Momma to do it. 

Other Activities

Our whole alphabet activity this week was lots of fun!  It was lots of gross motor fun as well as pressure-free exposure to all the letters of the alphabet.  I shared the full details over at The Activity Mom.

One of the favorite books for this week was Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons.  I think we read this every single day after nap - such a fun book!  We did a counting "buttons" sticker activity using dot stickers that I made look like buttons.  I was really surprised how well she placed the buttons in the circles I had drawn for her.

So many yummy foods start with B!  This week we made brownies and bread together and I intentionally served bananas, beans, broccoli, and blueberries.

Fun with Printables

We using the themes from 1+1+1=1 Tot School Printables as a guide for our letter exploration.  I put some in page protectors to reuse all week with dry-erase markers, and others we used as a one-time activity.  We didn't do all that are available, but we will branch out more as we continue.  She really liked the shapes and color pages this week.  She especially enjoyed using our shape puzzle pieces to match up to the shapes on the printable.

Arts and Crafts

Our main art project this week was painting with balls.  I printed out a block letter B and put it and several small balls in a cardboard box lid.  Then I squirted some paints and we made the balls roll across the paint onto the paper. Sophie really enjoyed this and we ended up doing it several times.

She also enjoyed painting with a brush.  She told me that this picture was "crab - Sebastian." It was the first time she's told me she was making something specific!

Little Man

Miles is growing like crazy!  I cannot believe how fast he is getting big - it seems so much quicker than Sophie!  He turned three months old this month and has absolutely brightened our home with his sweet smiles.  Soon enough he'll get his own activity posts, but for now, just enjoy his sweet blue eyes, adorable grin, and multiple chins! ;)

For tons more ideas be sure to visit these sites I might link to this week!

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

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