Tot School: Week 6

Breck is 42 months

Rowan is 17.5 months


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After a month long tot school hiatus, we're back with a little more motivation!
I changed up our activity station so it's only for tot school stuff - the kids can get into everything anytime they want, but we won't be putting non-tot school items on that shelf.


And instead of laying everything out by day, I'll be categorizing it. I've seen this on quite a few other blogs recently and find that it's helpful to me when I'm looking for ideas, plus I think it'll help ensure we're working on the things he needs help with and to build off of what he learns at preschool.

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Arts & Crafts
Play Dough "sculpting"

Breck wanted to play with his new play dough he got for Christmas (thanks Aunt Amanda!) so we set up at the island with a rolling pin and cookie cutters. Then he proceeded to list off all the animals I should make for him! He didn't like it much when I told him he needed to try before I helped and that I was not going to do it for him. So, he ended up making a lot of caterpillars.

Painting

While Rowan took her nap, Breck asked to paint. Again, we set up at the island. He chose four colors and painted away. He started to turn his freshly painted page over and my gut reaction was to stop him, but then I thought we could make some Rorschach paintings!
He didn't want to squeeze the paint onto the paper, so he picked the colors, I squeezed it on the paper and we both mushed the two pages together. He was amazed at how cool his mushed painting turned out! And truth be told, so was I! It had some pretty awesome textures going on! Then we talked about what we saw in the painting - he saw a monkey, caterpillars and snakes and I saw a hammerhead shark, a headless body builder and a sea shell!


Science
Chemical Reactions - Vinegar & Baking Soda

The kids loved this!

First, we put some baking soda in a bowl and then I asked Breck what he thought would happen when we mixed in the vinegar.
He thought we'd get Powerade. :)
They were surprised when it started to bubble and fizzle!


Then we poured vinegar into a pop bottle and put baking soda into a balloon. (we don't have a funnel, but a 1/8 tsp measuring spoon fit perfectly into the balloon opening!) Then I stretched the balloon over the bottle opening and dumped the baking soda into it.
Again, I asked Breck what he thought would happen - this time he thought we'd get a tornado.
The kids were even more surprised when the balloon started blowing up!

We talked about the chemical reaction and how that reaction produced carbon dioxide, which made the balloon blow up.

After these two experiments, I made some Irish Soda Bread and the kids played in the soda and flour - messy, but it kept them occupied and happy! ;)



Critical Thinking
Breck worked on the Farm Tot Pack from 1+1+1=1 a little.
His favorite activity is the animal match up game.


Legos are a daily hit at our house. Breck can build some of the neatest things - usually related to transportation!

"These are the same. But, one is red and one is yellow."


"Wait!!! It's not done yet!"



Large Motor Skills/Math
Bean Bag Toss

I've had this idea floating around in my head for a long while now. And I've had all the materials needed to make the bean bags, but just haven't gotten to it until now.
I made ten bags and sewed the numbers 0 through 9 onto them with felt. They are various colors so we can play number recognition games and/or color games!
I also used three different fillers: beans, seeds, and pasta, so they are various textures and weights.

To begin, I had Breck line up all the numbers in order, 0-9. He didn't know many, so it was more of a guessing game.


Then he threw them into a bucket.


After that, we made it more of a structured game, which Breck asked to play again when we were done! In this game, we made a line (extension cord) and he had to stay behind the line when throwing the bean bags into the bucket, which started out right in front of him. He also had to tell me what the number on the bean bag was. If he got it right, the bucket stayed right where it was. But if he got it wrong, the bucket moved further away.


Here he is whispering sweet nothings to bean bag #5.
(I think he was trying to persuade it to go into the bucket!)



Sensory
Rowan loves to get into all the small, messy things like the I Spy tub and beads.