Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers Lilypie Third Birthday tickers

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Tot School - Week 5

Tot School
M is 30 months old

Official Tot School
Alphabet Bingo
Golf Tee Hammering
Sticker Counting
Tissue Paper Apple Tree

Extra Learning
M played a lot with her puzzles this week.
She has a strange fascination with bugs and so when we found a spider she learned about relative size.
She had fun reading to her brother.
We had some fun messy play out in the rain this week.
We took a fun field trip to a corn maze/harvest festival.



Teacher Lessons
Don't be afraid to ask for help.  I've been struggling a bit with being able to get lessons set up for M with my new schedule (in bed by 9 so I can get up 4ish to go to the gym).  My wonderful husband saw how tired I was and offered to watch the kids 3 nights a week while I go to the gym so that I don't have to wake up as early.  You have to understand that this is a pretty big sacrifice for him considering that R screams nonstop every time I am not in the room, and he is a teacher who brings home hours worth of work each night.  But I know that this little bit of help will make all the difference in the world, and it taught me not to be afraid to ask for help from my partner when I need it.

That's all for this week!  To see what other toddlers are learning this week, check out the official Tot School Website!

Tissue Paper Apple Tree

I liked this art project because not only was it something M was able to do mostly on her own, but it also actually looked like art!

Tissue Paper Apple Tree

Theme: Art/Music

Materials: red tissue paper, green & brown construction paper, glue, paintbrush

How to: Cut a tree out of the green and brown construction paper and glue to a blank piece of paper.  Cut the tissue paper into strips and place some glue in a bowl.  Have your child first roll the tissue paper into little 'apple' balls.  Then have them paint some glue on the apples using the paintbrush.  Finally, have them place the apples onto the tree.  Let dry before displaying.

Source:  Inspired by Lilly Cakes

Sticker Counting

This was the first counting activity that we did that M was actually successful at!  I think it helped that we built up slowly to 10, instead of trying all at once.  Usually she skips 4, 5, and 6 when counting, but when we got to ten with this activity, she got all the numbers!

Sticker Counting
Theme: Preschool Skills

Materials: Paper, pen, stickers

How to: Divide the paper into 10 boxes (or whatever number you want to count to) and have your child put the number of stickers that corresponds with that number in each box.

Source: The Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

Library Corner

Every other week we go to the library and fill our big library bag with as many books as can fit. There's no rhyme or reason to what books we pick, we just make sure to grab some that look relatively age appropriate. Enjoy our reviews of our favorites from each trip!

Jump, Frog, Jump!Jump, Frog, Jump! - This was a book that I used to love reading as a little girl, so it was really fun reading this to M.  She especially loved yelling out the refrain: Jump, Frog, Jump!

Llama Llama Red Pajama Llama Llama Red Pajama - This was a cute little bedtime book.  M felt sympathetic for the poor llama, but I was a little distracted with the hilarious fact that I kept wanting to say "yama" - yeah, can you tell I'm Hispanic? ;P

Goodnight, My Duckling Goodnight, My Duckling  - Another cute bedtime book.  M enjoyed trying to find the turtle on every page.

Go to Bed, Monster! Go to Bed, Monster! - Unable to sleep, the little girl gets out of bed and draws a monster to play with.  Unfortunately when she's finally ready to go to bed, the monster isn't tired!  This was definitely fun to read!

Harry Takes a Bath (Easy-to-Read, Puffin) Harry Takes a Bath - This is the second time M has checked this book out.  It's a cute little chapter book that follows Harry Hippo's bath time routine.  Since it is designed to be an easy read for beginning readers I think M likes the simple rhythm of it.  I keep finding her "reading" this one to herself!

Dinosaurs Galore! Dinosaurs Galore! - I've never met a toddler that didn't like dinosaurs, and M is no exception!  This book has a different dinosaur on each page, and a small little rhyme explaining some of their characteristics.  M really enjoys repeating the dinosaurs' names (there are phonetic spellings under each name in case the mamas and daddies are having a hard time!), and there is nothing more adorable than a 2 year old saying "Jee-ga-No-toe-sore-us"!

The Little Green Island with a Little Red House The Little Green Island with a Little Red House - This book was probably the top pick for both of us.  It has a nice reading rhythm and some neat little features to help involve the younger set.  For example, each color word is actually printed in that particular color.  Other descriptive words such as shiny and slithery are also printed in fonts that are similarly descriptive.  This would also be a wonderful book to try a stArt project with.

Bearum Scarum Bearum Scarum - A counting book that follows Bear's friends as they capture and scare away the bear hunters.  It was a good read, but I think there were a few times that M got annoyed with the slow pace of the book.

In the Yard (Compass Point Early Readers series) In the Yard - A quick little read that talks about the changing seasons and the various activities that go into maintaining a yard each season.  I always try to get a mixture of long and short books so that if M wants me to read one and I'm really busy, I can always indulge her by saying "Just one!" and then reading the shortest one!  Tricky?  Perhaps, but a mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do!

Where Is the Green Sheep? (Horn Book Fanfare List (Awards)) Where is the Green Sheep - If you are trying to teach descriptive vocabulary to your little one, this is a great pick.  It describes all the various types of sheep until they finally find green sheep on the last page.

How Kind! How Kind - This is kind of a strange book (it basically centers around a hen giving away one of her eggs), but for some reason Michaela likes it and has continued checking it out.  In fact this is the third time she found it on the shelves and asked to bring it home.  It's kind of interesting to watch her discover favorites like this one.

A Box Can Be Many Things (Rookie Readers) A Box Can Be Many Things - Another quick read that describes all the various things that a box can be with a little help from the imagination.  If you have an empty diaper box laying around, it would be neat to incorporate a little playtime in your day after reading this book!

Some other library books we enjoyed reading this week:







This post is being linked up to What My Child is Reading at Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns

Disclosure: The links for the books are connected through Amazon Associates and I may earn a small revenue if you click through and purchase any book listed.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Golf Tee Hammering

A friend of ours takes her 2 year old to the Lowes kids clinics and it sounds like so much fun!  I'm a little bit worried if we go, that M won't have the skills to hammer and will get frustrated, so I decided to practice with this little activity.  She loved it!  I had to push the 'nails' in a tiny bit at first to get her started, but then she had so much fun hammering them in all the way!

Theme: Practical Life/Motor Skills

Materials: piece of styrofoam, golf tees, kids hammer\

How to:  Have your kids hammer the tees into the foam.  Start them off if necessary, and make sure to teach them how to hold the nail. :)