We did it! This week marked the beginning of our Tot School! I had been looking for projects and educational activities to help further my three year old daughter Tootsie's learning at home. She spends three to four days a week and the preschool center in which I work so it was important to me that the activities have a somewhat different approach than those she is introduced to at school. I began following some fantastic homeschooling/tot school blogs (
1+1+1=1 Tot School being one of my favorites) and have been collecting ideas and materials and making projects. Unfortunately many of these projects haven't seen the light of day and all of it has ended up in one big, unorganized jumble. Our previous attempts at Tot School have been frustrating for both Tootsie and myself. I found myself running around to gather materials from the jumble or print things while she grew more and more impatient. The wheels quickly fell off from there. So I spent a weekend organizing and bagging all materials and projects and made a plan for our next home day together. I put together tot trays, planned art (always Tootsie's favorite) and movement activities and gathered new things for the sensory tub. As her attention span tends to be short, I made sure I had plenty to do and was more than willing to follow her lead. The result was a success! Check out our first organized week playing and learning together!
Our Tot Trays for the week:
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| A combination of a few ideas I found: I traced the letters of her name and then hid the sticky letters around our living room. She found then and then stuck them on. Tootsie loved this so much I ended up opening up some repositional letters and hiding them many times. I then made ABC letter cards with the repositionals and laminated them for future use. |
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| I made this as an alligator letter project to coincide with the Animals ABC's by Carisa at 1+1+1=1. I found the project at No Time For Flashcards. We haven't completed it yet because Tootsie hasn't been too excited by the Animal ABC's. |
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| Pouring pony beads into a tall and a small glass jar. She loved this work and did it a few times throughout the week. |
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Spooning flat marbles. Tootsie didn't like the spoon I initially provided for this project so she went and picked one of hers out of the silverware drawer!
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| Our art project was supposed to be making dot snowmen using q-tips. After just a few dots Tootsie requested glitter paint and a roller. A few quick swipes and she was on to the easel below (a great buy at Ikea!) |
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We danced to Swingset Mamas Swing, Dance and Sing DVD. Tootsie and I both love this video! |
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| I saw the idea for muffin tin lunches at Chasing Cheerios awhile ago and loved it. Tootsie had cheese, humus, pit chips, strawberries, veggie lunch slices and tomatoes. She ate it all! |
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| Later on in the week I caught her playing with the sensory tub filled with blue and white things, tongs, clothespins and a few containers and a sorting tray. |
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| The girl loves to play in water! I usually just set out a big bowl and a tray on a towel. She started with some pouring things and began collecting things from her kitchen set to use. She stayed at this for at least a half an hour, which is a miracle for her! |
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| Tootsie had to go to the doctor this week to get her cough checked out - turns out it was bronchitis! While the doctor was examining her she let Tootsie make cupcakes via an app on her I Pad. She loved it so much we downloaded at home and have spent lots of time decorating cupcakes. We decided to make some real ones to enjoy! |
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| After decorating them, she didn't do much more than taste the frosting! |
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| Here's a look at another sensory tub we have right now - colored rice with scoops and funnels. Messy but easily swept up. Tootsie also added some things from her kitchen set to this tub and then decided that the rice needed to be microwaved! |
We can't wait for this week's Tot School! Will be sure to take photos an post soon!
Thanks for checking us out!
Kate
We did it! This week marked the beginning of our Tot School! I had been looking for projects and educational activities to help further my three year old daughter Tootsie's learning at home. She spends three to four days a week and the preschool center in which I work so it was important to me that the activities have a somewhat different approach than those she is introduced to at school. I began following some fantastic homeschooling/tot school blogs (1+1+1=1 Tot School being one of my favorites) and have been collecting ideas and materials and making projects. Unfortunately many of these projects haven't seen the light of day and all of it has ended up in one big, unorganized jumble. Our previous attempts at Tot School have been frustrating for both Tootsie and myself. I found myself running around to gather materials from the jumble or print things while she grew more and more impatient. The wheels quickly fell off from there. So I spent a weekend organizing and bagging all materials and projects and made a plan for our next home day together. I put together tot trays, planned art (always Tootsie's favorite) and movement activities and gathered new things for the sensory tub. As her attention span tends to be short, I made sure I had plenty to do and was more than willing to follow her lead. The result was a success! Check out our first organized week playing and learning together!
That is a really cute sensory bin!
ReplyDeleteI love your name letter hunt activity. We'll have to give that a try!
ReplyDeleteWe are still doing this activity two weeks later!
DeleteFollowed your link from Tot School :) Looks like you had a GREAT first week! Thanks for sharing all your ideas!
ReplyDeletethanks! We had a great time!
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