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.

Strawberries - Yummy treats

We went Strawberry picking this past weekend. It was a blast. It is amazing how different fresh picked strawberries taste from store bought strawberries. Here are a few pictures from our adventure.

Now for the treats. Here is what I did with our strawberries.

I dehydrated some to be used in our granola. Yummy!

I made strawberry rhubarb pie for my father for fathers day. Double Yummy!!

And finally, I made sugar free Jam. Yep, you read right, I said sugar free. Last year I made strawberry jam and was shocked at the amount of sugar that went into it. I went in search of a way to do it with less sugar and found one. Its called low methoxyl pectin. Here is the website where I purchased mine. Instead of sugar, you use honey, juice concentrate or a sugar substitute. I chose to use 1/2 cup of honey for mine.

The verdict: Wow!! It tasted like I had fresh strawberries mashed onto my toast. It was SO good. We will never go back to regular jam again. (unless of course we eat all of the jam I make, which might happen very quickly) Also, the company I purchased it was great. The have a "jam line" that you can call with your questions. I received a call back very promptly and the woman on the phone was a delight to talk with.

Now, as for the price, at first I thought it was more expensive to use this new pectin, but then I realized that one box was enough to make 20 half pints of strawberry jam. I would need four boxes of the regular stuff, plus think of all the sugar you would need to get.

Overall, if you are experienced at making jam, I would give this a try and if you've never done it before, you should look into it. Its really not that hard, teh istructions are included with the pectin and you just need the righ tequipment and you are set to go.

Baking

I have recently done a lot of baking. I have been taking advantage of the cool rainy days to have my oven going. I decided to share two of the recipes since they were very good.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is the easiest cookie recipe and it comes out so delicious. Personally I prefer big, soft cookies. If you do too, you should make these.

1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375
Using a hand beater or stand mixer cream together first 7 ingredients. Then add in flour and chocolate. Drop by tablespoon onto greased baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes

I use butter straight from the refrigerator, which means that it is cold. I don't know if room temperature butter will make a difference. Also, I like big cookies, but if you want smaller ones, then use a teaspoon to put them on the cookie sheet.

I also have been making A LOT of granola. My husband loves it, but it is so expensive to buy. I found a recipe that I really like. It is a little on the sweet side, but we like it that way. This recipe came out of an Amish cookbook.

Peanut Butter Granola

10 c Oatmeal
2 c wheat germ
1 1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c oil
1/2 c honey
2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. salt
1/2 c peanut butter
nuts and raisins

Heat oil, honey and peanut butter until melted. Meanwhile mix all other ingredients (except raisins, add these at the very end) Mix all ingredients together until well coated. Pour into cookie sheets and toast in 300 degree oven until golden brown. Be sure to stir often so id doesn't burn. Let cool. Add raisins if wanted.

As much as we LOVE this recipe, I know eventually we may get tired of it. If you have a recipe of your own that you like I would love for you to share.

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!

The Dot - A book review

This weeks book of the week is The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds.

In the book, a little girl is frustrated because she can't draw. She doesn't think she is a very good artist. The teacher tells her "Just make a mark and see where it takes you." She jabs her pencil on the paper making a small dot. Soon this small dot grows into quite the artistic adventure.

This book is perfect for my little one. I can already tell that Esther is very analytical and a perfectionist. The few times I have seen her try to draw she gives up in frustration because what comes out on paper is not exactly what she sees in her mind. I am hoping this adorable book will help her to see that even the smallest dot can become a masterpiece.

I am planning this weekend to clear off the table and cover it with different types of art utensils and just let her go. Hopefully the result is a lot of fun and some beautiful new pieces to hang on my fridge.

Overall I find the book very sweet and inspiring, in an artistic way. It would be a great starting point for an art filled afternoon or morning. You can visit Peters website for even further ideas to go with the book. (click here to go) There are two more books in the series, ish, and a third which is to be published soon, plus a few more that we will probably be looking in to.

Even if art isn't your "thing", this great story is sure to bring a smile to your face.