Tot School

It was another busy week of Tot School , even with real life happening around us, I tried to find some activities to keep the "tots" learning.
Auntie Kim got the kids this alphabet puzzle which Kimberly and Luke both enjoy.

Luke can tell us how to spell his name now and can always recognize the letter L and sometimes the other letters. I do need to mention to Auntie Kim that we may need another set of these letters so that both Kim and Luke can spell their names at the same time--(we now need to share the K)

Keeping with our Nursery Rhyme theme, we learned about Jack Be Nimble this week.

Of course, we needed a candlestick to jump over, so I set about designing one.

Above Luke is painting the base of our candlestick, which was simply a round piece of corrugated cardboard. (be warned: if you let a "tot" paint with thick tempra paint, expect to wait at least 24 hours until the very thick paint to dries)

Gracie helped by painting our candle-a toilet paper tube. After painting the tube, I cut slits in the bottom of the tube, this is how I was able to glue the base to the tube securely. It needs to be pretty tough for when someone doesn't quite make it over the candlestick during a jump.The flame is yellow foam sheets, cut to flame shape and glued at the top. I discovered this book, Over the Candlestick, at the library. It is a real gem. It has very cute illustrations for the littlest kids among us, but it also explains the meaning behind some of the most popular nursery rhymes. We have all enjoyed this, from the age of 2 to the age of 42.

Here are Kim and Luke demonstrating how they "jump over the candlestick" We sing, "Kimmy be nimble, Kimmy be quick, Kimmy jump over the candlestick." This was a BIG hit this week.

This was an important week, because this week was the first time Luke did this Bead Sequencing Set successfully with no help. He set it up himself and then followed the pattern perfectly. Way to go!!

I also introduced the My First Leappad to the kids this week. They both enjoy it, and have spent quite a bit of time with it. I sat with each of them individually and showed them how to use it. They caught on quickly. At the ages of 2 and 3 it is educational when I do it with them and discuss what they are working on. When they use it alone at the table, they enjoy just listening to the different results they get from touching different parts of the page.

Make sure you visit other Tot School posts this week.