Tot Trays

From Left to Right and Top to Bottom:

Ping pong balls with tongs

Rhyming puzzle cards

Sorting and patterns with leaves, acorns and gourds

Turkey feather pom counting game

Cornucopia

Scarecrow number puzzle

Bobo's favorite tray from this series has been the ping pong balls. The package came with eight balls, so Bobo went on a hunt to find more white objects to tong. The most challenging tray contains the rhyming cards, so we'll continue to work on those as his interest continues. I think he enjoys the puzzle aspect more than the rhyming one!

TGIF

Tot School: Super Hero Squad

I've been following Bobo's lead in school this year. What has it led to? Lots and lots of superheroes! We've used several preschool packs I found online, Royal Baloo's and Over the Big Moon.

Matching symbols to their hero

After independent play, while I'm making breakfast, Bobo and I make our way to his room for our version of circle time. Bobo loves using the Learning Resources pocket chart for superhero matching.

Puzzles fit too!

Super hero lair

We keep the building toys in Bobo's room. He built a super hero lair and used the paper pieces from the matching game to play. NOTE: He used the paper figures for lots of play this week as his other toys were in time out for not being put away.

Writing center- pre-writing

After we play outside, Bobo works at his writing center. This time, he helped the super hero catch the bad guy with pre-writing worksheets. We use the dry-erase center, so he can do it over and over. Plus, if it's not just right, Bobo likes to start over. I can see a huge difference with his writing skills from before summer break.

Cutting & sorting

His scissor skills are still a work in progress. Thumbs up, Bobo! He's asked for the hero and villain cut and sort sheet several times.

Bobo has colored these types of sheets before. The text is written in the color each figure should be, as directions. I'm a bit behind on the blogging from being away, so he did this activity weeks ago. Today, he looked at his work and "read" the colors. Yay, those symbols are beginning to mean something!

Tot School: Math and Imaginative Play

Computer station

We are slowly working our way back into scheduled learning. We are still spontaneous with our play and activities in many respects, but I want to be sure we are learning the skills Bobo will need to start school and be ready to read. His fourth birthday is coming up, after all!

Educational television program

When Bobo wakes up, he has independent choice time. So far, I've given him the option of computer time, television time or V-tech Smile play time as these are things he can do on his own. He played Elmo's A to Zoo Adventure, which we checked out from the library. Some of the letter games are too challenging, at this point. He did better with the shape and color games. Bobo is a huge fan of The Magic School Bus shows, so we check out several each week. I think he's over Sesame Street at this point.

After breakfast, we head outside usually in pajamas. We have lots of active toys that I think are better suited to outdoors play like bowling, wiffle ball, frisbee and basketball. Bobo thinks they work inside as well.

Then, we work together on Tot Trays. With our trays, I'm focusing on an area of study with each one. For instance, these counting cubes are paired with dice and number puzzles and fall under the Math category. This is the first time Bobo tried any patterning, which he did without any prompting. Then, he built a transformer, lol.

Look closely. It's a robot in disguise!

Last Bobo has choice time with an emphasis on literacy. He can choose library time, book making or a book activity.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears finger puppet set.

It's definitely a work in progress, but I know Bobo appreciates it. He told me yesterday, "Mama, doing projects is my job." Of course, later on he told me, "Mama, playing video games is my job." 

Book Activity: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I'll be honest. TVHC may be my favorite children's book of all time. That caterpillar is so stinking cute! It is the first flannel story I shared with a group of children after becoming a librarian. Unfortunately, Bobo doesn't share my enthusiasm for the story. So I brought in reinforcements...

After we shared the story, we got out the caterpillar that I brought home from work. He lives in my office! Bobo re-told the story by slipping the food into the little pockets on the sides of the toy. Then, we played with the wooden food, sorting, counting and imagining. There may be hope, yet!

Linking up with Read.Learn.Explore.

Book Activity: That's Not My Monster

One of the books we've had since Bobo was very little is That's Not My Monster by Fiona Watt. It has been a favorite from the very start. The book tells why each monster is not the right monster through descriptive sensory words.  "That's not my monster. Its horns are too rough."

I've been having a little trouble convincing Bobo that he can make a book. He says he doesn't know how. The bookmaking center is supposed to help with reading readiness, but I think it will have the added bonus of instilling self confidence. 

Since he was so reluctant to start a book. I suggested we use our favorite book for inspiration. First, we drew and decorated a monster on construction paper. Bobo made a sheriff monster and dubbed mine a spiky monster. We glued our pictures into the book once they dried and added our text. Voila, a book!

Linking up with TGIF and For the Kids Friday.

Tot School: PRE school days are here again

We've got lots more "stations" this year, so our school has spread out over the entire house. Husband has not complained and we only have the one kid, so... The changing table has been used for toy storage in the living room for almost a year now. I decided to use it for educational games and activities.

From Left to Right, Top to Bottom:

Barn (the animals are in a drawer)

Eric Carle Box-set

Nursery rhyme books

Push-pin numbers

Crayons

Magnet Letters with monster letter flashcards on cookie sheet

Coloring books

Counting cubes with number puzzles

Dry-erase center with superhero practice writing shapes

Our library is in Bobo's room. I started sorting our books by topic, so I can rotate them and it won't be so overwhelming to choose one for reading time.

From Left to Right, Top to Bottom:

Play books (books with fingerpuppets and regular puppets)

Tag books (these are loaded and ready to go)

Concept books

Just my size books (little books- size-wise)

Baby Bug magazines

Bobo's writing center has blank books to write in, a basket of favorite books, writing tools and some art supplies. It also doubles as his computer work station as he uses my laptop. You can see a little bit of his imaginative play area with the play stove in the background.

In the works:

Cleaning school room to make a circle time area and art area

Going through the boxes of school supplies in the basement

Making the back deck into an outdoor learning area

Now that's out there and I have to follow through! I'd love to see others play/school areas, so leave me a comment and I'll visit your blog.

I'm linking up with The Kid's Co-Op and Tot School.

Simple Science: Ivory Soap in the Microwave

I've never really been comfortable with science. I zone out when someone (uh-hum, husband) tries to explain WHY something works. I prefer to be in wonder, just like my little man. You'll find lots of fun science ideas on this blog, but if you want to know why or how it works, you'll have to Google it!

We put a bar of Ivory soap in the microwave for 3 minutes. Cool!

I expected the texture of the product to be like foam, hence the whisk and food coloring. However, it was hard. Bobo chose to explore with the tongs.

Then, he got serious.

Last, we brought the experiment to bath time.

Tot School: More April Trays

Do-a-dot Easter eggs.

Play dough bunnies and snakes (imaginative play).

Jewels and tweezers.

Streamer, glue, paper and scissors. Bobo set up this tray similar to the tape Easter egg watercolor tray.

Easter egg skewers with styrofoam cubes.

Music drawer. This is something I always have available, along with two play dough drawers. Bobo gets instruments out for everyone and we sing or play music while dancing with our percussion instruments. We also have a piano in our school room.

Bobo found this bubble pipe in our closet o' fun. He has trouble with the traditional wands, so this is a great alternative. I'm pretty sure it came in a variety pack I bought for his birthday party.

Rainbow Sensory Bin

Hidden goodies lie underneath the colorful feathers and flowers of the Rainbow Sensory Bin. You can see the colorful craft sticks, penguins, bath toys and cups. The heavier items fell to the bottom: googly eyes, gems and mosaic plastic shapes. So far, the feathers have been the favorite.

A few activities that have been inspired by the bin:

1. Feather on a Stick Race: Bobo balanced a feather on a stick. I challenged him to a race to the end of the hall. Think egg on a spoon race.

2. Play dough people.

3. Tickle game with feathers.

4. Extreme Makeover Feather Edition: I don't know how he gets so many feathers to stay in his hair.

5. Dump and Pour: The animal cups were very hungry.

Tot School: Rainbows and Balloons

When I asked Bobo what he wanted to do for school next, he said, "Rainbows and balloons." I found more ideas than I thought possible. Children are fascinated with rainbows.

For the first activity, I filled the balloons with different small objects I had around the house. He had to shake the balloons and guess what was inside.

Then, I put out the cups with objects that were inside each balloon. From the left to right: play french fry, jingle bells, plastic necklace, foam ball and chocolate chips.

Bobo put the balloons on top of the cups he thought matched. Then, we cut them open to see if he was right. "Can we do it, again?" I think he liked it.

Super Simple Body Paint

At my house, we are always looking for that magical body paint recipe. We've had a few misses, but have found several good ones. We discovered this one by accident.

This started as a shaving cream activity. Bobo asked to add paint to make "Hulk's blood," which just means green. We added yellow and blue powder tempera paint. It turned the shaving cream green, leading to shedding all clothes, leading to painting the body, leading to sitting in the mixture. "Mama, my booty's green."

Tot School: Farm 4 and Halloween

Month: October
Theme: Farm and Halloween
Dates: 10/23 to 10/29

The Lessons


D is for Duck. Bobes still loves his dry-erase worksheets. I printed lots of letter D worksheets from 1+1+1=1 to accompany our Farm theme. Once he sees the letter over and again, works with it and moves with it, he usually gets it. He can pick it out of several letters, sometimes even the whole alphabet. It is very rewarding to witness his new skills.

We borrowed blocks from grandma. They are different colors and wooden, a little faded and boast soft edges from use. Bobo used the blocks to build a combine, his favorite farm vehicle.

He hunted for letters in our alphabet floor puzzle, purchased from Menards. Then, he'd bring me the ones I called out. I printed a color sheet from Kiddiddle's halloween songbook. I signed up for the newsletter from this site as I use the songs for story time. It's nice to have activities come right to your door, instead of always hunting for them. I printed a number activity, but Bobo decided to color the pumpkins black, thus making Monsters. Then, he'd wipe it off and say, "Just a pumpkin."

I set out the Farm with Locks toy. It was a gift, and I couldn't pull it up on Amazon. Bobo worked on colors, dexterity and animal noises. It also plays a couple farm songs. If you touch the rooster it says something that sounds like "moose face," but I have no idea what it's supposed to say.


Bobo's favorite Halloween creature is a skeleton. I found a skeleton decoration from Better Homes and Gardens site and thought it would make a great activity. I put it on our magnet/dry erase board. I put it together first, so he'd see what it looked like instead of just having the pieces out. He LOVED this activity. He even got daddy involved with the heavy lifting.


Art
I found a great foam Halloween stamper set from the Dollar General. It came with a black stamp pad, but I didn't trust that it would come out of or Off of everything and everyone so I used our stamp pads. Bobo's favorite activity this week was wrapping himself in crepe paper, like a mummy, then cutting himself out with his child-proof scissors.


Play
We attended a play put on by our high school drama club. You may be wondering why I would think my 3-year-old rambuctious boy could sit through a play? The play was Miss Nelson is Missing. It was adapted from the popular picture book by the same title. Bobo didn't just sit through it, he enjoyed it. The adaptation was engaging and interactive. There were so many different ages at the performance we attended and everyone had a fantastic time.

The detective who was looking for Miss Nelson came out in the audience and approached several people. He asked Bobo if he'd seen Miss Nelson. I thought Bobo might be scared, but he just nodded his head in response. The detective asked, "Well, which way did she go?" Bobo pointed towards the back of the auditorium. The detective took of running the way B pointed. It looked like it was rehearsed. My little actor!

Haunted Trail

Each year, our parks department puts together a haunted trail. You can bring the little ones through when it is still light out for a not-so-scary haunted trail. I don't have any pics of the trail. I didn't want to blind any of the actors (zombies). Bobo wasn't too scared. We talked about everything he was seeing. He did run up and kick a giant styrofoam skull. When we went back through the trail the second time, I was prepared and stopped him from causing further damage to the prop. His favorite part of the field trip was the hill at the end. He played until it was too dark to see, then I raced him to the car. He made it about half way before asking for a lift.

Books

We had to finish up our farm books since this was the last week for that theme. We read The Farmer in the Soup by Freya Little Dale and Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin. We started Halloween books with We're Going on a Ghost Hunt by Marcia Vaughan, Mouse's Haloween by Alan Baker, Halloween is... by Gail Gibbons, Heebie-Jeebie Jamboree by Mary-Ann Fraser, I'm the Scariest Thing in this Castle by Kevin Sherry and a few more featured below.

Tot School: Farm 3 and Halloween

Month: October
Theme: Farm
Dates: 10/16 to 10/22

The Lessons


We didn't get the weekly board up this week, because we needed more work with the letter C and the number 2. Bobo colored lots of worksheets and even began to draw his own letter Cs. The first lesson Bobo chose to do this week was a sticker sheet. He put witches on red paper. The stickers were on a long strip, so he used the strip as a rope for imaginative play. First, he used it as a seatbelt and put two stickers on his desk for buttons on the space ship. Then, he used it to climb over the water (2 blue mats) and as a bridge to cross.


Bobo used the Color Farm from the Farm Lap Book for Tots. Each picture calls for a different color. I covered these in contact paper, so I could re-use them. He still likes to color everything the same color, so this activity was a challenge. He already knows all his colors, though, and has chosen favorites.


My favorite activity this week was making glue ghosts. Bobo could do this mostly on his own. You squeeze the glue into ghost shapes on wax paper and use foam to decorate them. When they dry, they peel off and you can tape them to the window. Bobo was very proud of his ghosts. He made the ones with stars and legs.


Bobo still loves stamping. I set out several different letters to use this week. He chose to use the letters we studied: B and C. We used orange and purple ink for Halloween. Instead of using construction paper for the stamping activities, I've started using a notebook. We have a lot of stamping action going on so it is easier to organize in a notebook. Bobo drew ladders and bats in his notebook, too.


I found a Jack-O-Lantern activity in The Mailbox: Preschool. There are different face cards and shapes you can copy onto cardstock, cut out and laminate. I used felt to make a Fun with Felt Folder. Then, I store the pieces for the felt inside. I'm going to use these folders for the Library's play dates on Fridays. They will be easy to organize and re-use. Bobo made his own faces.


Bobo played with his Halloween Sensory bin. He sorted the ghosts and used cups for pouring. He fed corn to the skeletons. He practiced cutting Play-Doh with a knife and rolling it flat. He was so proud of his ghost project that he insisted on posing with them.


The Books
As you can see by the time dates, I'm posting these lessons a couple of weeks after the fact. I know we read more books than this one, but I didn't write them down. I'm sure they will show up in another post. We really enjoyed Chickens Aren't the Only Ones by Ruth Heller. It talks about all the animals who lay eggs. It is comprised on large, beautiful illustrations. Bobo's favorite part was the big versus little eggs. Ostrichs lay the largest eggs, while hummingbirds lay the smallest.

Art
We visited the Russiaville Library for art this week. Bobo painted his pumpkin pink, black and orange. He made a footprint ghost, which tickled his toes. We played and looked for books and chose a couple spooky movies (Garfield and Scooby Doo). He also completed his first art project on his own, a blue bat.