Getting Ready for Tot School!

My bloggy friend, Kristal, wrote a post talking about Tot School and provided a link to the blog that started it all: 1+1+1=1
(Did you know your post changed our lives?!)

So I read...and read...and read about this tot school business. I've been wanting to provide the kids with more learning activities but had no idea where to start!
Now I do!

October 5th Breck and Rowan will be starting Tot School!
...or sooner if I get organized before then!

Since Breck seems to be a kinesthetic learner, we'll be doing a lot of hands-on activities. I'll choose which things we do each week and he'll decide which day we do them and for how long. I'm going to relax and let him lead - if he isn't having fun then we'll move on to something else.
For Rowan, I'll set out toys appropriate for her age and let her free play.

We'll have Tot School on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I'm planning on designating 1 hour each day to this.
(eventually Breck will go to preschool for socialization and hopefully some Spanish, but we'll keep doing Tot School on days he isn't in preschool.)

Here are some things I've already done/found (or already had/knew about) to get our little classroom in order:

Map of the US
Dollar Tree - $1
This is just for the kids (mainly Breck!) to get a grasp on what our country looks like and where we are in relation to family, etc.


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Baskets with handles
Dollar Tree - $1 each


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Tub for bigger projects
(such as coloring pages, crafts, etc)
Dollar Tree - $1

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Websites:

StarFall.com
This little site has educational games for preschoolers. Breck has already played a few of the alphabet games and liked them ok. We'll see if he enjoys the others any better.

NickJr.com
Although not all of these are educational, some are and Breck really likes to play these games. At the very least, he'll be enhancing his computer skills. I'll use these sparingly and as a reward.

PBS Parents
This is a handy resource, as activities are sorted by age. And they have activities and tips for all areas of learning and development. They also have games!

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Our existing library of kid books
(and Breck has a subscription to Highlights High Five magazine (thanks Grandma Scott!) which has a lot of fun and useful info and games in them)


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Educational toys we already own:

- Alphabet peek-a-blocks
- Puzzles (but I'm wanting to get more)
- Spelling puzzle match-up thing (Breck really likes this and does a good job of finding the letters that spell the selected word.

We have a lot more learning toys, but this is just to give an idea of what we'll use.

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If you have ideas that would be good for a 3 1/2 year old and 15 month old, please feel free to share in the comments!