The Butterflies Hate Us.

I'm serious.
Those darn butterflies could not wait to fly away.
I didn't even get a shot of them!

Perhaps it had something to do with Breck showing them all his dinosaurs and the noises they make.

I was really hoping to get a cool shot of the butterflies on a hand or face, but that didn't happen. In fact, I think those poor butterflies met a quick and ugly end. Soon after releasing them, I saw a bunch of birds dive bombing and maneuvering through the trees.

Things didn't go much better inside.
One butterfly did not develop properly - he was missing both lower wings - and died in the "cage". Yes, we fed it. And another one only made it half way out of it's cocoon before biting the dust.

But, we still have one healthy, living butterfly left!
...for now...

Creative Recycling: Bowling with Pop Bottles

I've been wanting to make this game for a while now and I finally got around to doing it! As you can see, it's pretty darn simple.

All I used was 10 pop bottles, some paper, tape and a marker.

I cut paper strips to the correct width (to fit inside the groove of the bottle), then taped each end to the bottle and finally wrote numbers on the front.

If you wanted to make it prettier, you could decorate it with colored tape or even papier mache each bottle into the shape of a blowing pin!

And, of course, you'll need a bowling ball - we used a ball we already had.


Both kids really like this "new" game. Breck lines up the bottles instead of making the bowling triangle. And Rowan skips the ball altogether and opts to knock down the bottles with her foot.
Sometimes I have Breck hand me the bottles in 1-10 order, but not often - I want to keep this game as fun as possible.

Tot School - Week of 2/14/10

This week started out with a new 'routine' for cleaning. As per Breck's teacher's suggestion, we implemented a specific song as our clean-up-song! And, who better to lead that song than the best cleaner-upper ever - Mary Poppins!

Breck loved it! (Rowan didn't care one bit.) We listened to the song twice, which was long enough for the toy room to be cleaned!



Painting
Breck hadn't painted for a long time, so he got to while Rowan was napping.
(but, he did have to practice cutting with the scissors before he could start - he hates cutting, but needs to learn)
Oh, and I used contact lens cases for his paint - that way if there's paint leftover, all I do is screw the cap back on and save it for next time! ;)



Puzzles
I got several puzzles at Dollar Tree this week. They had a pretty good selection of 25 piece puzzles in various characters. The one below is Ice Age and we also got Nemo and Care Bears. Breck did all of them this week. And with each puzzle, I helped him less. By the time he got to the third puzzle, I only had to give him a few hints - otherwise, he put it together by himself!



Silly Monsters
These are from Breck's Highlight's High Five magazine. He did not want to mix and match, so he only found the 'correct' parts for each monster. What I had intended to be just a fun thing without much learning turned into something that made Breck think about options and choices.



Alphabet Recognition
I found this foam alphabet at Dollar Tree. Breck spelled out his name with the letters, then Rowan's and then said most of the letter names as he put them back in their spots.



Problem Solving
So, technically these blocks are for Rowan and kids much younger than Breck. But, he still had to use his head and figure out how to stack these. I got these on clearance after Christmas at Target.



This week I also rearranged and organized the toy room by taking pictures of most toys and then putting that picture on the shelf or basket where it belongs. I keep trying to get Rowan involved, but she never wants to do anything I have for her, so she mainly plays with the toys on the shelves: stacking rings, shape sorters, her babies, etc.

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For lots of other great ideas, head over to 1+1+1=1!

Tot School is Back - Week of 2/7/10

If you read my parent-teacher conference post, you already knew this was coming. After a very long break, we're back at tot school with light to moderate force. Because we wouldn't last long if we went at full force!

This time around, I'm not doing themes and I'm probably not going to make up my own games. Instead, I will print off things that someone else has already figured out! :)

Breck is still attending preschool twice a week and his teacher regularly evaluates the kids and puts notes in his folder, so we know how he's progressing and where he needs a boost. I'll be going off of that for the most part.


Letter Tracing
(found at DLTK)
This is by far the activity that Breck dislikes most. But when he actually tries, he does a pretty good job!



Story Time
Lately Breck has been wanting me to read him lots of books. As in 5 or more in one sitting. And usually it's Mercer Mayer!



Matching Uppercase and Lowercase Letters
(found at File Folder Fun)
Breck played this several times this week. The first time was a bit overwhelming. So the second time he played, I broke all the lowercase letters into 'levels' and once he completed one level, he moved onto the next - just like the game on Daddy's phone! ;)



Monster Manners
(found at File Folder Fun)
Breck played this game three times in a row the first day. I think he liked putting the monsters into their designated 'homes'.



Memory Games
(these are from his Highlights High 5 magazines)
"We" played two different memory games this week. One was sea shells and one was mittens! Breck did not want me to find any matches, but wanted me to play. Good thing we also worked on manners this week! :)



He did a pretty good job of remembering where certain cards were. I had to slow him down a little so he actually looked at the card and then I gave him a verbal description of it, which I think helped a bit.


Numbers Bingo
(cards from DLTK)
Breck can not identify numbers, so I though this game might help him along.
We started out with me just calling out numbers, but he didn't do very well. So, I made up little calling cards with the number and corresponding word. This way he had a visual aid for comparison and did much better. We used buttons for markers.



"BINGO!"



Baking Cinnamon Rolls
Something Breck's teacher recommended was to have him use his hands whenever possible. I think this is to keep him busy and out of trouble. ;)

Either way, he gladly helped me make cinnamon rolls!
He sprinkled the yeast, stirred the dough, was the official taste tester and helped roll it into a log!



"If one thumb is good, I bet 10 fingers would be even better!"

Tot School: Week 7

Breck is 42.5 months

Rowan is 18 months

~~~~~~~~~

Fine Motor Skills
Fun with Beads
While Breck was at preschool, Rowan and I spent some time playing with beads.
She strung them onto pipe cleaners, put them through the holes of our foam peg boards and dumped them back and forth in film canisters. The film canisters were a huge hit! She dumped those for probably 20 minutes straight!




Arts & Crafts
Rowan colored - her face, hands, shirt, and the top of a rubber stamp.
(thank goodness it's washable!)


Breck and I worked on "gingerbread" houses.



Reading & Letters
Rowan worked on Name-Letter Matching. I told her what the letters are and where they belong to spell her name and she placed the letter caps on the correct spot.


Breck works on letters a lot at preschool and he's shown some big improvements in identifying them, so we don't focus on them too at much home...instead we casually talk about them in daily conversation, such as when Breck sees the letter B, he says "B is for Breck!" and I'll quiz him here and there during the day.

Although, we did work on writing the letter G.



Following Directions
Bingo
I found some printable/customizable Bingo cards and, well, we played Bingo!
(we used the 3x3 size since I wasn't sure how into this Breck would be)

Tot School: Week 6

Breck is 42 months

Rowan is 17.5 months


~~~~~~~~~

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.

~~~~~~~~~

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.