Lauren's Tot School

I have enjoyed checking out Tot School on 1+1+1=1 and seeing all the wonderful things moms have done with their tots. This week I want to share the fun Lauren had working with her activity trays and tubs.



Lauren matched pictures of mommies and babies.

She used the tray of cut shapes to create a shape collage.

Lauren worked on spelling her name. For this activity I spelled Lauren's name with magnetic letters and traced the letters on a piece of paper. Lauren places the magnetic letters over the black letters as we name each letter.

She created with little Legos.

Here she is stringing pony beads onto Rex Lace.

She sorted buttons by color. They can also be sorted by shape (circles, squares, and triangles).

I cut cheese and fruit and Lauren used a toothpick to make fruit kabobs.

Lauren choose to paint at the easel several times this week.

Who Was In the Barn

Children practice animal names and sounds with this easy to memorize poem. The changeable pictures and word pieces add extra appeal.





Materials:

• Who Was in the Barn printed on printer paper

• Word cards and animal pictures printed on card stock. The animal pictures are from prekinders.com.

• one piece of 12x18 construction paper

• a small piece of yellow construction paper

• lamination film (if you do not laminate, then place a piece of clear packing tape under the velcro)
• velcro

To make the cart:

• Glue the poem to the top of a 12x18 piece of construction paper. Glue a yellow construction paper haystack to the bottom of the paper.


• Laminate the poem, word cards, and animal pictures. Cut the pieces apart.


• Attach velcro to the end of the last two lines of the poem, on top of the haystack, and to the back of the word cards and animal pictures.

To use the chart:

• Lay out the animal pictures, name cards, and sound cards as shown in the picture above.

• Place an animal on top of the haystack. Attach the animal name and sound cards to the poem.

• Read the poem with your child. Track the print with your finger or a pointer as you read.

• Change the pieces and read the poem again. Continue as long as your child is interested.

Feed the Chicks

Lauren practiced counting 1-3 objects with our latest counting game. This game uses a chick counting board, dot spinner, and popcorn kernels. The counting boards came from Workjobs by Mary Baratta-Lorton but they would be easy to create with clip art.

The child spins the spinner, counts the dots, and places the correct number of corn kernels in a chick's dish. Use a die if your child is practicing counting six objects. Use two dice to practice addition.

Wishy Washy Day

As part of our farm theme the girls and I had a wishy-washy day! We started by reading a few of our favorite Mrs. Wishy-Washy books.

Mrs. Wishy-Washy- The cow, pig, and duck jump, roll, and paddle in the lovely mud until Mrs. Wishy-Washy comes along with her brush and tub. Children love to see the animals get the last word in this fun, predictable book.

Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Farm- When the cow, pig, and duck get fed up with Mrs. Wishy-Washy and her tub they leave the farm and head to the city. They soon learn that there's no place like home!

Mrs. Wishy-Washy Makes a Splash- It's bath time but all the animals hid. Guess who ends up in the tub instead?

Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Splishy-Sploshy- The meanies invade Mrs. Wishy-Washy's shed and play splishy-sploshy with her paint. No mess is too big for Mrs. Wishy-Washy and her trusty scrub brush.

We went outside to enjoy a few activities inspired by the books. The girls stomped and rolled our plastic farm animals in a tub of mud (potting soil and water). Oh, lovely mud!

Along came Mrs. Wishy-Washy! Using a tub of soapy water and child-sized scrub brushes, the girls scrubbed the animals. It was fun to hear them quote the books as they played.

Next the girls scrubbed the outside toys.

Time for some more messy fun! The girls finger painted with brown finger paint. I have tried finger painting with Lauren before but this is the first time she was willing to put her hands in the paint. You can tell by the look on her face that she was not sure what to think. She spread the paint so carefully. Julia on the other hand has no reservations about messy art. She would jump head first into the paint if I let her!

We ended our wishy washy day by eating mud (chocolate pudding with crushed Oreos) and rereading our wishy-washy books. We had so much fun that we're already planning our next book themed day. Check back soon to read about our Fancy Nancy day!

Jungle Colors

Jungle Colors by Julie Fletcher is a simple rhyming book that features colors and animals. Lauren and I have fun practicing colors and shapes while playing with this book.


The book has a pink flamingo, yellow lion, red ant, blue butterfly, and green crocodile. To match the animal colors, I made a pink heart, yellow star, red circle, blue square, and green rectangle and attached the shapes to craft sticks.

As I read each page Lauren matches the color. Then she names the color and the shape on her stick.

After we finish reading the book, Lauren holds up a stick and we sing about the shape:

For the star:
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

For the heart:
Love somebody, yes I do.
Love somebody, now guess who.
Love somebody, have you guessed
that your the one that I love best!

For the circle:
A circle is like a pizza.
A circle is like a pizza.
Round and round
it never stops.
A circle is like a pizza.

For the square:
A square is like a box.
A square is like a box.
Four sides and four angles all the same
A square is like a box.

For the rectangle:
A rectangle has four sides.
A rectangle has four sides.
Two are short and two are long,
A rectangle has four sides.

Goop

Now that the weather is warm, Julia has been having a great time with one of her favorite things: goop!

First we put two cups of cornstarch in a pan and the kids explore the dry cornstarch with their hands.

Then we add one cup of water and a few drops of food coloring. The girls mix it with their hands and spoons. Is it liquid? Is it solid? I don't know but it sure is fun!

Julia and her friend had a messy, good time playing in the goop!

Ocean Animal Book

We prepared for our trip to the aquarium by making a book of the unusual animals that live in the sea. After reading about each animal Julia created a picture and dictated a fact about that animal.

To learn about jellyfish we read Jellyfish by Lloyd G. Douglas. This simple non-fiction book has interesting photographs and basic facts about jellies. We also visited the website of Monterey Bay Aquarium to see pictures of jellyfish and to watch a jellyfish swim. To make this jellyfish craft, Julia stuck strips of translucent paper to the bottom of a bell shaped piece of contact paper. Then she covered the bell with small squares of translucent paper.

Stars of the Sea by Allan Fowler is filled with fascinating pictures and information about sea stars. After reading the book we made bumpy sea stars. To create the sea stars, I cut a star from coarse sand paper. Julia placed the star under a piece of white paper, rubbed it with the side of a crayon, and cut out the star. (After seeing this picture I realize that I spelled 'stomach' wrong. I'm off to correct Julia's book!)

Julia loved the "Don't Just Sit There" activity in Sea World's Ocean Discovery for Early Learners Teacher's Guide. First, Julia had to pretend to be a sea anemone. She sat on the floor and used her tentacles (arms) to try to catch her prey (bubbles). Then she pretended to be a shark. She ran around catching prey. We discussed which animal is able to catch more prey and which animal uses more energy catching prey. We also enjoyed the simple text and awesome pictures in Sea Anemones by Lola M. Schaefer.

Julia is so proud of her sea animal book. I love it when she chooses this when I ask her to choose a book for me to read. Our study of these animals paid off during our visit to the aquarium. Julia was so thrilled to see the tank with sea stars and anemones!