Tot School - A Little Fun

Esther is 2.5 years old

Here are some pictures from the fun we had over the past 2 weeks.

We played catch with our new beach ball and LOVED it.

I bought a beach ball from the dollar store and used a sharpie to divide it into 26 parts. I then drew a letter in each segment. I blew it up, leaving it slightly deflated making it easier to catch. We would toss it back and forth to each other and whenever we caught it, we would have to say the name of the letter that our hand was on.

I pulled out our hide and seek rice, but this time added measuring spoons cups and funnels.

My current plan is to focus on numbers for the rest of the summer. Currently Star can count to fourteen and recognizes the written numbers to ten. I hope to make it to twenty by the end of summer. I thought I would share the process I have been using.

I start with flash cards. I say the number, spell the number and then trace it with my finger while saying a little rhyme. I then have Esther repeat it her self. Then we go over the previous numbers.

I then have her go retrieve the current number of things from the house. This past week was the number 4.

Then we use this book.

I found it at walmart and I love it. So does Esther. It uses stickers to reinforce the numbers.

Esther also did her very first dot-to-dot. I started out by placing it in a page protector sheet and letting her use a dry erase marker until she got the idea of how to do it. Then I took it out and let her do it with a pencil. She then colored it it.

This was a caterpillar using the numbers 1-5. I found it here at abcteach.

We have been reading Going West which is a part of the My First Little House series. In the book, there was a picture of a lantern with holes poked in it making a beautiful pattern. Esther was drawn to it so we made our own. I used a paper bag with a piece of styrofoam inside. I drew a pattern on the front and Esther used a push pin to make holes where the dots were.

After we finished, I put sand in the bottom and added a lit candle. Overall the project went ok. We had fun, but Esther didn't have the patience to follow the patter exactly, so she made holes wherever she wanted, and once lit, the holes really weren't big enough to really let much light through.

And finally, what is a fun week without a little dress up!

We hope you had a fun week as well. To see what others did this past week click here!