Tootsie Takes the Lead

Tot School this week didn't play out as planned but that doesn't mean we didn't do anything or I wasn't satisfied with the results.  Just goes to show that it really does pay to let the little one take the lead sometimes!  Tootsie was excited to get going but really just blew through a few of her trays and then moved on to her own projects.  We read a ton of books, spent quite awhile with her Mega Blocks and played a few of her games.  It was actually a pretty low key day for Tootsie.  I was able to redirect her to some more trays throughout the week so I feel that she at least was introduced to the concepts.

This week's Tot Trays:

Tootsie worked at putting the pipe cleaners in the shaker and then adding foam shapes.

I prepped a page with the same number columns as letters in her name then stamped them in order at the top.  Tootsie used the stamps to add the correct letter to each column to make her name.  We are really working on recognizing the letters in her name and ordering them correctly.

 "A is for Alligator" magnet page.  We are slowly working on the Animal ABC's from Carisa at 1+1+1=1.  I added this as an extension.

 She loves looking at photos of herself!  I made a collage of some from different time periods and printed two copies.  I cut one up and had her match them.  I also spread them out and had her close her eyes while I took one away.  She compared the cut outs to the page and decided which was missing.  I think I will probably cut up the other and make a matching game soon.






Tootsie has had these nesting dolls for about a year but she still really likes them.  When I first gave them to her she worked at matching the tops and bottoms.  Eventually she began nesting them. It was fun to watch her figure it out over time!

 I wanted to do a snowflake counting game with her but knew she really wouldn't be enthused about just counting into containers so I  made it a grab bag game.  I used the numbers from her number puzzle and covered the cake mix box from last week with a snowman.  She added the snowflakes to the box as we counted.

Tootsie considers my I Pad her new toy! 

We spent a lot of time with Megabloks 80pc Lrg Mega Bloks Bag.  First we built a "really, really big" car for her teddy bear.  

Next, we got out the GROOVY GIRLS and built a house for them.  She laid one out in her sleeping bag and then read her stories.  When she was all done she turned off the light, kissed her goodnight and said, "See you in the morning!"

Tootsie got this memory game for Christmas and has been enjoying it.  Right now we just choose about twenty cards to play with at a time.

I brought this game, Oh Rats, home from school for her to try out.  She likes it because it has a individual puzzles and a spinner.  I like it because she works on color recognition, something that hasn't clicked for her yet.  It came from Discovery Toys but I couldn't find it on their website.  I think it's been around awhile.

So this photo didn't turn out that well but she looked so cute sitting on the steps working on her Tot Time Notebook from 1+1+1=1.  She loves it and does it quite often.  It kept her entertained in the car this weekend too!

Our girl definitely does not like to get her hands messy but she does like using utensils with shaving cream.  We added food coloring and when she was all done made a very cool print.  I saw this idea at chasing cheerios awhile ago.

More work on the letters of her name.  This idea came fromluvin my bug

Water play again this week!  I am amazed at how long she will stick with this!

Thanks for checking us out!  

Kate