Sunday, February 15, 2009

Tot School

Luke is currently 45 months old
Kimberly is 33 months old
Tot school seemed to revolve around Valentine's Day and fun this week. Many of our Valentine projects have been posted about, so I will provide links to these activities.
A favorite activity this week was making Daddy a special valentine. You can see how we made it here.
We learned about the real Saint Valentine and made very nice mosaic valentines. I cut the paper squares and Kim and Luke spent a good deal of time gluing the squares onto their hearts.
Activities like gluing really make apparent the difference between the two kids. Kimberly spends a great deal of careful time positioning and gluing her squares. Luke, on the other hand, sticks a few squares on and calls it done.
I don't know where I saw this idea, but what a great idea it is. I bought three different sized padlocks from the store. Look at the concentration on these cute faces as they work to open the locks.
This is an activity that they have come back to again and again this past week.
I love how they had so much determination to be successful with this.
Another big hit this week was this Listen and Learn Farm Sounds game. I am sorry I can't find a link to this game.
Laura helped the kids play the first time. You play a cd that has animal sounds on it. The kids then match the sound to the animal on their cards. The first few times, Laura stopped the cd for the kids to look at the cards and find the correct animal. After a few times playing, they were able to do this at the normal speed.
Another great thing about this game is that everyone finishes at the same time, with their cards full. Everyone is a WINNER!!
Everyone got into the fun.
I made some bacon and eggs out of felt for the play kitchen. I am adding new felt food as time becomes available to make it.
Luke was very good at this new activity. I simply put the number 1-5 on small pieces of paper, Luke then put the correct number of stickers on each paper. I like using re-enforcement circle stickers for things like this because it is so easy for little fingers to remove them.
This is a fun game that I got from Wal-mart clearance for $10.00, Leapfrog-Match up.
Level 1 is perfect for both Kim and Luke right now. Level 3 is great for Grace-7. It is a memory sound matching game--very cute!
Make sure you check out all the great Tot-School posts this week.

3 comments:

Jennifer said...

The bacon and eggs look almost too good to eat. Now my brain is working to think of what else I can make for our kitchen. I also just heard about the idea with locks, now I can't wait to get some for my child. Thanks for the ideas

Carisa said...

The locks are such a great idea!!!! I love seeing these 2 work side by side so much!
Carisa

Katie from ABC&123: A Learning Cooperative said...

Looks like a fun week at your Tot School. We would like to feature your counting activity with the reinforcement circle stickers on our educational site, with your permission. We would be happy to link back to your post so our readers can see all of your other neat ideas. Please let us know if this will be okay.
Thanks for sharing!