I used to run this blog when my children were much younger and I spent a ton of time making Pinterest worthy lesson plans for them. I hope that it continues to be a resource for people even though I no longer call it my blogging "home".
Since closing up shop here, I have taken the "official" plunge and started homeschooling my two oldest. We now follow a Charlotte Mason style of education and have a new home at Homeschool Is Where the Heart Is. I have found freedom in our new method of education, and I hope you can check it out to see if it is something that might interest you as well. My other personal blogs are closed up as well although they are still searchable. I am considering starting up my cooking blog again, but we'll see where life takes me as I am notorious for being a lazy blogger. :)
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Sunday, September 23, 2012
So long again
Oops! I published the wrong address for my new blog! It is www.threeringmommy.blogspot.com. I also corrected the link in the original post.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
So long, farewell
Well, not really. I just have a new blog and won't be posting here any more. Check me out at www.threeringmommy.blogspot.com
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Valentine's Day Tot School and Preschool Corner
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| M is almost 4 years old |
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| R is 26 months old |
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| Heart Tanagram Printable from Making Learning Fun We use the pieces from our Melissa & Doug Puzzles |
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| Which One is Different & Beginning Letter Sounds from Over the Big Moon |
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| Pre-writing Sheets from Homeschool Creations |
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| Heart Sticks in a Parmesan Cheese Container Source: Playing House |
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| Pouring Erasers Saw this on multiple blogs |
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| Transferring Heart Toothpicks to Ice Tray M used tweezers (we are still working on correct grip) R used his fingers |
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| Open and Close Tray They opened the hearts and put the correct color buttons inside, then opened them again to remove the buttons. |
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| Pinning Tray M tried to pin rose petals to the edge of a yogurt container w/ small clips. This was a bit too hard for her, so it's a skill we'll work on. For now, I let her just attach the clips to the petals and not use the yogurt container. Source: Adapted from Hands on as we Grow |
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| Cutting Hearts This was a bit difficult for M too. She's left handed and I'm having a hard time teaching her how to cut. We managed to get several done with me guiding her along, but we definitely need more cutting practice! |
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| Toilet Paper Heart Stamping I made hearts out of toilet paper rolls and the kids used paint to stamp the hearts all over the paper. Source: TP Craft |
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| Valentine Stencils I found these cupcake stencils in the dollar bins at Target. I taped them to paper and had the kids paint or dot marker over them. |
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| Tape Stencils I taped hearts to a piece of paper and the kids painted or dot markered over them Source: Adapted from Playing House |
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| We used the various art projects above (plus the hearts M cut from the Montessori Tray) to make Valentine's Cards for family members. |
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| And for the kids' friends that they would be handing out at our MOMS Club Valentine's Day party. |
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| The kids made little foam heart puppets. This was one of the goodies they found in their mailboxes (see below). |
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| Bird Valentines The kids threaded heart shaped cereal onto pipe cleaners to make Valentines for the birds. Source: Under the Table and Dreaming |
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| Heart Window Tracing M decided to add a face to her heart Source: Mama to 4 Blessings |
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| Meanwhile R just enjoyed the opportunity to scribble with the window markers! |
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| We went to a fun Valentine's Day party put on by my MOMS Club. The food was super yummy and the kids had a blast! |
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| Valentine Mailboxes I put out little mailboxes a few days before Valentine's Day and the kids enjoyed finding a new surprise in there every morning. It was usually homemade items like a homemade sticker book, or a little strawberry & nutella heart snack. |
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| I made a yummy heart pancake breakfast for the kids on Valentine's Day. Source: Random Thoughts of a Supermom |
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| Toddler Valentine Snack Mix My contribution to the MOMS Club party. It has Quaker heart cereal, Strawberry Shredded Wheat, cranberries, Chocolate Graham Goldfish and White Chocolate Chips Source: Inspired by One Little Step at a Time |
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| We've also been spending a lot of snuggly time with the kiddos! My due date is today and we have an induction scheduled for tomorrow, so we are trying to squeeze in tons of extra lovin' before the baby gets here! |
Are you on Pinterest? I always have so many more ideas than what I actually use, so check out my Valentine's Day Theme and Valentine's Day Pinterest boards if you are looking for more ideas or for the original sources for many of our activities.
Past Unit
Make sure to check out our Valentine's Day posts from last year. Here is our general post and our post about books.
That's all for this week! To see what other toddlers and preschoolers are learning this week, check out the official Preschool Corner website and Tot School Website!
We are also participating in:
Monday, January 9, 2012
Christmas Tot School & Preschool Corner
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| M is 3 2/3 years old |
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| R is 25 months old |
Printables
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| Nativity Christmas Preschool Unit from Musings of Me She had to remove this unit because of copyright issues, but we still had it from last year so we went ahead and used it again. |
Shadow Match from The Nativity Pack from 2 Teaching Mommies (Forgot to take pictures!)
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| Nativity Preschool Pack from 1+1+1=1 Size Sort, Christmas Counting, Beginning Sounds |
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| Connect the Dots Number Page No idea where I got this from. I found it (unworked on) in last year's Nativity Folder, so I laminated it so that we could reuse it next year too! |
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| Nativity Pre-K Pack from Over the Big Moon Which One is Different |
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| Connect the Letter (M) and Coloring Page (R) from Making Learning Fun I also have to point out that this is the first time M has actually colored sections intentionally rather than just scribbling all over the page! |
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| Color Matching R matched colored pom poms to the Christmas lights printable from Tons of Fun |
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| Bow Tweezing M transferred the mini bows from a bowl to their original tube packaging using tweezers. |
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| Ornaments They both added ornaments to their mini Christmas trees ($5 at Target!). Takes a lot of fine motor skill to get them hanging just right! |
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| Jingle Bell Sound Sort There were several bells in my package of jingle bells that didn't have the little ball inside and so were silent. M sorted them by shaking and listening. |
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| Jingle Bell Open and Close I put a bell inside each of the containers above and they had to open them and put the bells into the little basket. R had a rough time with a few of them but M did great. |
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| Bow Size Sorting R sorted the bows according to size (large and small). |
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| Stocking Hanging M clipped the mini stockings to the edge of an empty box. This was a bit difficult for her - I think we need to work a bit more with clothespins. |
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| Gift Color Sort R sorted these mini gift ornaments according to color. |
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| Bow Fine Motor Work M put the bows back into their original packaging. This took a bit of concentration to fit both ties in the back of the bow into the tiny holes. |
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| Pouring R's favorite activity is pouring, so he found a couple of containers and spent a long time pouring both the red ribbons and mini gifts back and forth between the containers. |
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| Gift Patterning M spent some time making patterns out of the mini gifts. |
We did a lot of art and crafting over the break, but I didn't really take any pictures. Here is a picture of one of their little Christmas trees full of ornaments that they crafted.
Activities
Daddy shows up in a lot of these pictures because as a school teacher, he had 3 weeks off from work!
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| Christmas PE Anytime the kids started driving me crazy, I handed out instruments and turned on our Pandora Christmas station. Probably their favorite time of day, and what a great workout for me too! |
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| Hot Cocoa Spoons We went to a friends house one day to make hot cocoa spoons as gifts for family members. The kids mostly just ate chocolate off of spoons, but it was still fun! |
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| Graham Cracker Gingerbread House Making We split into teams with Daddy helping R and Mommy helping M. Guess which one the girls made? |
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| Lots and LOTS of reading! We checked out a ton of Christmas books from the library and read them all about a billion times. |
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| Christmas Cookies We made Chocolate Orange Snaps, which were absolutely divine! |
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| We went to the local Christmas light parade. It was FREEZING, but the kids were begging to go so we couln't miss it! |
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| Bean Bag Toss |
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| Candycane Maze |
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| Snowman Golf |
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| This is usually where the jolly old elf sits, but we went on a day that he wasn't there. Photo op! |
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| Meeting Santa! You can see that R has absolutely no desire to go near him, other than the fact that he is being offered a candycane! |
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| Bundled up and checking out the lights! |
December held TONS of snow for our area - highly unusual given that we live in a fairly snow-free corner of the Southwest. In fact, we were snowed into our house for at least a week! The kids didn't seem to mind all the snow though!
We had a very relaxing Christmas this year. The kids both opened up a few presents (most of them handmade) at home and then we spent the afternoon at my sister's hanging out with family.
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| Opening Presents |
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| Playing with Grandpa later in the day |
Are you on Pinterest? I always have so many more ideas than what I actually use, so check out my Advent and Christmas Theme Pinterest boards if you are looking for more ideas or for the original sources for many of our activities.
Past Unit
Make sure to check out our past Christmas Activities and Advent Activities!
That's all for this week! To see what other toddlers and preschoolers are learning this week, check out the official Preschool Corner website and Tot School Website!
We are also participating in:
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