Sunday, February 1, 2009

Tot School

Luke was born on May 6, 2005
Kimberly was born on May 3, 2006

Sunday comes, and I always think, "What did the "tots" do around here this week? Did we do any learning?" Well, I look back at this week's pictures and posts and it always amazing me what actually is accomplished with these little ones.
This week our Tot-School learning was enhanced by participating in Operation Playtime. For the past 12 days we were encouraged to enjoy unplugged play and we had a great time. Above you can see Kimberly loving her paper hat and boat on the day featuring pretend play.
Even the bigger kids got involved when I found them all fishing one afternoon.
I made this fun little color game for Kimberly using the idea of her favorite book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?"
We started by having one of the kids pick a mitten, and then we would say, "Red mitten, red mitten, what do you see? I see a blue mitten looking at me." Now, Kimberly would find the blue mitten and line it up next to the red mitten. We continue until all the mittens are in a row.
Another Operation Playtime feature was "playdough, gloop, and yuk". We had a tremendous amount of fun playing with cornstarch and water. The big kids had a snowday this day, so everyone joined in the fun.
If you haven't ever done this, you have too. The consistency is so unusual and it carries with it a built in science lesson.
Of course, I couldn't resist posting this photo again!
We opened up a new game this week, Cariboo, by Cranium games.
We have started with the easy cards (two set of cards are included in the game). These consist of colors, shapes, counting to 4, and the letters A, B and C.
The kids match cards to the board, use a special key to open up a door, and hopefully, you find a ball inside.
If you are lucky enough to find all the balls, a magic treasure chest opens. This game has everything "tots" love!
We worked on our cutting and gluing this week. Kimberly, though, resorted to tearing and gluing.
If I give Luke paper and glue sticks and scissors and he stays put for at least an hour.
Outdoor fun was enjoyed this week. Kimberly loved sledding out back with big sister Amy.
Luke did a great job on his own. I have decided that the temperatures are never going to go up, so I let them go out at a temp of 19 degrees.

Make sure to check out all the Tot School fun at 1+1+1=1.

5 comments:

Pamela said...

Found you thru the tot school linky. I love the mitten idea, my little one loves that book also, so we will have to try that idea out! I hope to get my pics up tonight!

Rhonda said...

Never a dull moment at your house is there? Always so much going on and lots of learning.

The Golf Widow said...

wow mom of the year! I only have 4 and you get out glue with 10. My hero!!!

Mozi Esme said...

Looks like a terrific week! We'll definitely have to try the cornstarch and water mix... :)

Amy Clary said...

Oooh...that cranium game looks like fun! Thanks for the tip!
I'm a first-time tot-school participant and I'm collecting all of these helpful hints. :)