Tot School

Esther is 31 Months Old

Well, it seems two weeks have passed since I last posted about Tot School. We have had two very full weeks of tot school, so I will attempt to keep it brief, but I must share pictures so my family can see what we've been up to.

The first week, we went back to some old tools that haven't been used in a while.

Hammering Letters
Bottle Top Names
Practicing our handwriting with dry erase markers on workbook pages in page protectors.
I also made this new tool so that Esther can practice putting together snaps on clothing.

Little brother looking on

It is simply an old piece of baby clothing stapled to a cheap picture frame.
Later in the week Esther completely surprised me when she decided she wanted to use the nature notebook I made for her 3 MONTHS AGO!! At the time I showed her how she can draw pictures of flowers she likes, but she showed absolutely no interest. I laid it on her school shelves, where it sat collecting dust until on Friday she picked it up with a pencil as we were going outside. Here is her picture:

This is what she was drawing (my beautiful rose)

I had to guide her a little bit, since she seemed overwhelmed over the idea of drawing a flower from the garden. I asked her what colors she saw in the flower, then to find that color in the box of pastels. She took it from there. Can you tell I'm a proud Mommy!!

We also did marshmallow and toothpick sculptures
I have seen this used on many blogs, but there is one in particular I wanted to share. The Moveable Alphabet is a blog produced by a montessori teacher. She used this as a project with her students and was able to bring out some interesting insights about children and how they learn and create. If you have a moment, you may enjoy it.

And finally I found a wooden puzzle of the United States at the Good Will. The plan was to put in storage for the future, but Esther found it. She put it together with my brother and his wife Tara who were visiting.

Surprisingly, she actually retained some of the names of the states. She loves yelling out CALIFORNIA!! We have no idea why she likes saying this name or why she must yell it, but she does.

That's it for us. We're off to Connecticut for a week. We'll see you in another two weeks, but until then check out this website for more tot school ideas.

Blessings!

Update

Oh My!! Has it really been two weeks since I have posted anything. Summer is going way too fast for me, but we are enjoying ourselves.

We have made a few projects that I have had on my list for a while. We made a windsock I saw on Frugal Family Fun Blog

I made this dress out of a pillowcase that I saw on Chasing Cheerios. It turned out a little too big for her. Maybe in another year or two, I can try this again. Right now when she wears it she looks like she belongs in biblical times!!

Esther started Swimming Lessons. She is so fearless that she just jumps in the pool, which is the reason for the lessons.

We celebrated an anniversary with my husbands parents by taking them out to dinner.

My brother has been in town the past week with his wife Tara. It has been a great week with them. My brother bought an old version of Mouse trap which we played one night.

One day we went to a rock and fossil store where we were able to mine for our own rocks and minerals. It was a blast.

I plan on using the rocks we found to do most of the activities on a blog called Teaching My Little Bookworm. Here is the link for day 1. The rest of the links are here, here, here, and here.

The rest of our time has been enjoying the library and our front yard.

I hope not to have such long breaks between posts, but I think most of you understand that summer can become very busy. We leave on Sunday for a 12 hour trip to my family in CT. I have been busy preparing for the car ride and have several new tools and kits I'm making. I hope to post about them before I leave, but it may have to wait until we return.

Tot School

Esther is 31 Months Old

Here are a few of the planned activities from our past week.

Esther made a collage of scrap paper and pictures cut from a magazine. I just gave her the paper, glue and scraps and let her create. She had a blast and amazingly enough didn't make too much of a mess.

I finally got all the materials I needed to do a sewing activity I saw at the another blog called Delightful Learning. I taught Esther how to thread a needle and then sew the button. (sorry, picture is blurry)

I made this file folder game from the book called Usborne Leaning Games. This book has some great reading and counting activities.

It is a great way to practice letters or sounds. Esther is struggling with the letter H and G, so I made a very simple Hippo and Grasshopper as the game pieces. (I made them so that they can lie flat for storage)

I also made up a set of number cards with the same number of dots on them. I then gave Esther several small animal erasers and she had to place the correct number of erasers on the cards using the dots as a guide. I've seen this idea on many blogs, so it is defiantly not of my own creation.

And finally, what do you get when you combine one paper plate, a stick, a piece of string and a balloon?

A really fun activity for gross Motor Skills.

Esther played with this for quite a while. First hitting it with the "bat", then running and hitting it with her head. Then she tried to kick it.

To see what others have done for Tot School, Click the button below.