Sensory Bins

Tootsie really loves sensory play - water, beans, sand - anything she can pour and scoop.  I've tried several different things recently but we always come back to the simple.  I've noticed that she will not play with a bin that is too busy.  Her winter bin was just too overwhelming.  I collected lots of blue and white items including pom poms, flat glass marbles, pipe cleaners, beads, table scatter, a couple of containers and tongs as well as a few other items.  She didn't use it much.  The Valentine's bin had white beans and an assortment of Valentine themed items.  She removed a lot of things and gathered items from her kitchen to use instead.  So for now, we'll skip the toys and figurines and stick to the pouring and scooping.  Here are a few of the bins we've used lately.

Dried Peas

Dried peas, a few Saint Patrick's Day coins, tongs, funnel, measuring spoon, pitcher and a few different shaped bottles.  The round one is a special Coke bottle salvaged from a family gathering.

Princess and the Pea!  Dancing dress and fancy shoes required!

Chocolatey Mess

This was an experiment in throwing things together based on Cloud Dough.  I guess you could call it chocolate sand/dough.  

We mixed flour, cocoa powder, a little salt, a lot of oil thanks to Tootsie's heavy pouring hand and sprinkles.

Dishes from her kitchen were quickly brought in. 

Not too long after that the dough migrated to her kitchen so she could cook it.

Worked ok until Tootsie took the sink out, filled the dishwasher and spread it around the stove.  This was a really messy project but luckily it swept up easily.  By the end of the second day, I had snuck a lot of it into the trash.  It was getting tracked everywhere!  We will definitely do this again because Tootsie loved it but I will wait until it's warmer and we can take it outside.

White Beans

After Valentine's Day, I removed the themed items and added some I Spy items (see here or a little more info) to white beans.  

Tootsie also liked using her dishes - were these ever a great investment!  She cooked the bean and then we filled up lots of the dishes, added some felt food and had a party.  It was a make up party as I had just had some friends over for an Arbonne party, in which she got to participate.

I loved the Barbie shoe drinks!

Blowing Bubbles

Not long ago I found a pin on Pinterest that said bubbles would freeze before they hit the ground if it was cold enough outside.  Of course, I had to try it.  I don't know if it wasn't cold enough here but the only way I could get it to work was to catch bubbles on the wand and let them sit for a few minutes.  Tootsie found the bubbles that I left on the counter and really wanted to blow some.  So even though we just got over a foot of snow and it's the beginning of March we headed outside on a sunny day and blew bubbles.  No luck getting any to freeze but Tootsie had fun and I got a good laugh out of watching her!

Tot School Revisited!

This week I didn't change too many of our tot trays, as we weren't as thorough with them as I would have liked.  We were away visiting family so we didn't spend any time over the weekend with them.  I revised a few trays and presented a few others differently and the others we just played with again.  I have noticed over the last week that Tootsie is able to recognize the number of small amounts of items and is getting better at tagging and counting.  She has been counting on her fingers a lot lately too!  Isn't it awesome to realize that the play/work you do together really makes an impact!

The clothespin activity as well as the popsicle sticks below came from a post about busy bags on second story window.  Tootsie loved the pinning.  At fist I held the felt clothes and she pinned.  After she figured out how to do both she was so excited she did a little victory dance!

Victory dance!  She was giggling like crazy!

Tootsie wasn't really interested in the popsicles the first week so I began hiding the colors around the living room and kitchen.  Once she found them, she matched them to the sticks.  We talked about the colors as she found them and listed those that were still hidden.  We've did this quite often.  Tootsie really liked hiding them for me and then "helping" me find them!

I made up this game a few years ago for my preschool class from an idea at prekinders I think.  Each small container has matching items.  Tootsie wasn't overly excited about this so the next week, I hid one of the matches in her bean sensory bin.  She liked it much better this way.

The Iowa Farmer's Wife blogged about this project found here.  Each color has just enough popsicle sticks to make a different shape.  Tootsie really liked playing with the popsicle sticks but just wasn't interested in making shapes.  I might try an idea I saw on Pinterest that adds velcro to the ends of the sticks.

We finished up the letter A by sorting and gluing upper and lower case A onto this printable from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  

After sorting some of them, Tootsie painted the rest with water colors.

Tootsie loves any game that involves food!  This fun one came from Criss-Cross Applesauce.  The trick was keeping her from eating all the Goldfish before the game was over!

Tons of Fun came up with this great idea.  It was so easy to set up.  I had a few wooden blocks from Michaels and I just used the Do-a-Dot Art Brilliant (set of 6) we already had.  Tootsie rolled the dice, we counted the dots if she didn't know the number and then stamped that many times.  

We've done a lot of painting over the last couple of weeks.  I have noticed that Tootsie is sticking with art projects longer than before.  Many times it took longer to set up the paints than she spent working!  I have been suggesting ideas for extending a project and adding new tools to keep her at it.  Recently, she has begun adding to the projects on her own too.  Clean up takes longer but she is really enjoying herself!

We squirted a ton of paint into a ziplock and added a pieces of paper.  She moved it around with her hands and then used a roller.

We put the bag on the floor after adding more paint and Tootsie stomped around for while.  

Tootsie wrote all over her paper with a white crayon and then painted it with water colors.  I added her name when she wasn't looking.  She loved finding it!

Tootsie made apple prints and then added streaks of purple with a paintbrush.  You can't tell from this photo but the apple has a bite out of it.  She tried to sample it while painting!

Easel painting.  Tootsie asks me to draw shapes a lot for her to paint.  I added a butterfly made out of capital Bs.

Thanks for checking us out!  We have lots more to share in the next few days!
Kate

Tootsie Style

So in reviewing the photos from the last couple of weeks I noticed Tootsie is usually half dressed.  We really do get dressed in the morning but she prefers not to wear pants whenever possible.  From the time she was able, Tootsie has removed any article of clothing she could when at home.  For awhile she spent as much time in a diaper or naked as she did clothed.  We finally convinced her to keep her diaper and then undies on but as soon as we walk through the door after school, the shoes, socks, pants and then coat come off.  Recently, we have noticed that while she still likes to be pantless, Tootsie has begun changing clothes three and four times a day.  She tries on different leggings and pants, puts on her ballet leotard, and loves her dancing dress.  Laundry is piling up at alarming rates these days!  It's fun to watch her grow and try out her style wings but a part of me misses chasing the little streaker around the house, diaper in hand.  They really do grow up too fast!  Here's a couple photos of Tootsie style.

Valentine's Day and Letter A Activities

Valentine's Day and the letter A kept us busy for quite awhile!  We had the Valentine theme trays out for a little more than a week and I think we were both a little tired of them - well maybe mostly me.  Tootsie was still wanting to play one that allowed her to eat conversation hearts!

Here's what we were up to:

I received a gift certificate to Kaplan Early Learning Company and one of the items I chose was these Geoboards.  There are quite a few in an order so I was able to take some to school and leave a few at home for Tootsie.  They have been a hit in both places.

Once she got the hang of the using the rubber bands, there were surprisingly few finger snaps!
 

This activity wasn't a favorite at all.  I added small figures and Model Magic to the tray.  I recently put this activity out in my classroom and it was the most chosen one for at least a week.  I figured Tootsie would like it too but not so much.  She immediately swapped the Model Magic for playdough and only played with it for a very short time. 

This was by far the most favorite tray!  I really wish I could find where I printed this from so I could give credit but I haven't been able to.  If I find it I will post!

I cut the sheet apart into individual cards and then spread them across the floor and set a baby food container (I am SO glad I saved some of those) on top so Tootsie had to move around to sort the hearts.  

After she did it once, I gave her a small dish of conversation hearts to sort.  She loved it!

After we sorted into dishes for awhile, I gave her a graph to sort them on.  We continued to talk about how many of each color there were, which had the most, which had the least and if there were any colors that had equal amounts.

I found this little Valentine tree at the Target Dollar Spot.  Getting the heart ornaments on was pretty easy for Tootsie but taking them off took a little more work!

The heart sticks came from the Dollar Tree.  I collected pink, red and purple beads from several of our activities and added them for stringing.  

Tootsie strung them a few times and thought they looked "beautiful" but then decided it was more fun to stack the biggest beads and then knock them down.

I don't have a photo of the finished product but I hung the pink piece on the wall and Tootsie ordered them by size and glued them on.  

Our Valentine sensory bin contained white beans of two different sizes, heart containers, a heart ice cube tray, pitcher, bowl, scoops and a few other odds and ends. 

Tootsie filled up the ice cube tray and a a dish and decided to cook them in her kitchen.  She is still cooking beans.  I have a feeling I will be finding these for quite awhile.

I also made Tootsie a letter A sensory bin.  I have taken a three drawer storage bin and turned it into alphabet activities.  The top drawer is this pom pom bin, the second is an "A is for Alligator" magnet page and a sand paper A, the third drawer contains her Animal ABC's binder from 1+1+1=1 as well as her Tot Time Notebook and some dry erase markers.

Here's a little better look at what's in the drawer with the pom poms (we just remove the whole drawer when she wants to play with it).  I collected upper and lower case A's made from different materials.  Below are the ones that I sewed from felt for her.  There are alligators, angels, airplanes, apples, tongs and a few dishes and bottles.  I wrote the object's name on the back so she could see that all items start with A.

I'm planning to make an entire alphabet of these stuffed felt letters.  Very simple and quick and it gives Tootsie another way to experience the letters.

We mixed Karo Syrup and food coloring to paint our
letter A.  It took forever to dry but the results
are very shiny!

Tootsie painted this heart with chocolate pudding!  Smells delicious and I didn't even mind if she licked her paint brush!  I noticed today that this heart is missing a few candies!

We made these cute Valentines that I found on Pinterest for Tootsie's friends at school.  She didn't break any of the glow stick - momma, however, broke four!

Hope you had a great Valentine's Day!

Kate