Tot School - Week 6

Sprout is 20 months old

This week our theme is Passover.  This holiday has become my favorite and I was looking forward to sharing it with Sprout.  What I forgot was all the preparation that goes into getting ready for the holiday, even when you don't have it at home.  We had all of our last minute errands to run to pick up the things we need for our trip to the beach.  Not to mention the search for Kosher for Passover snacks.


Enough excuses... what did we do this week?


Tot Trays
This week's Tot Trays were

• Color Pom Pom Sort
• Playdough
• Seder Plate Matching and Passover Symbols Matching
• Melissa & Doug Primary Lacing Beads
• Watercolor Painting

Here is Sprout sorting the pom poms by color. I used clothespins with poms glued on to help her sort.  I spent a lot of time helping to guide her with this activity, and it will take some guidance as we continue to master this skill.

I thought that this would be a good week to teach Sprout how to use watercolor paints this week.  I found a variety of printables for Sprout to use and thought that it would be a good time to try something other than dot markers and crayons.


I apologize I don't have any pictures of Sprout doing the Passover matching games, but if you go to my Tot Packs page you can find the activities we did.  I will say that I need to make a harder shadow matching.  As soon as Sprout saw this, she took all the pieces off and then put them all right back in their correct places.  She has spent the rest of the week trying/pretending to eat the Z'roah (shank bone), which resemble a chicken leg.


We started with traditional watercolor paints.

Sprout enjoyed this, but it did seem a little tough for her to understand that she had to get the brush wet and then put it in the paint and then paint.  It's a lot of steps at this point, and she enjoyed painting the paint cups more than the paper.  This led me to get out the dried markers and I showed her how to use those to watercolor with markers.  This was great for her.

Projects

Our main project this week was to make a "Kos Eliahu" (cup for Elijah) to give to Sprout's Aunt and Uncle who host our Seder.  I always send flowers to thank them, but wanted to do something from us.  This was quite the process for me, as I tried to figure out how best to make this cup.  I knew what I wanted, but wasn't sure how to get there.

My first problem to solve was what to use for the base of our cup.  My first thought was to take one of Sprout's old containers from her drinkable yogurt and a plastic cup to make the cup.  

Then while looking for things to keep Sprout occupied during our family seder, we found an acrylic wine goblet that was really quite affordable.  After finding that, there was no way I could pass it up to use my makeshift cup as the base for this gift.  

To start our project, we ripped tissue paper into small pieces to glue onto our cup to get the stained glass effect.

We then used watered down glue to add the paper to the cup.  Sprout enjoyed for this a little while, but after a bit she got sticky and didn't really want anymore to do with our project.  I let the project dry to that point.  And then let Sprout add some more paper with a glue stick.  Honestly, Sprout still wasn't all that excited about it, but I got her to add a few more pieces.  And to be honest, I added a couple of my own.

I also took a glue gun and glued some ribbon around the base of the cup.

Our stART project his week went with Naomi Howland's The Matzah Man: A Passover Story.  We made matzah.  Although, it didn't come out, as I would have hoped it was a great experience for both of us, and I'm looking forward to trying it again.

Tot Pack

We didn't use a full Tot Pack this week.  I made a couple pieces of one to use with Sprout.  These would be the matching games we did for our Tot Trays.  Go to my Tot Packs page to find more.

Practical Play

This week we decided to turn Sprout's car seat around.  We kept her rear facing because I know that it is safer for her to be rear facing for as long as possible.  Click this link to read the American Academy of Pediatrics thoughts on this.  Also, Sprout was not heavy enough for us to change the seat around until a couple months ago.  We weren't planning to turn her  seat around, but she has been showing a lot of interest in being forward facing, so we thought it was time.  She seems pretty happy about it.

Sprout thought she would help us put our pots and pans away.  Actually, we were quite impressed when she pulled out a couple pots and lids and matched the successfully.  

Sprout also thought she would try to work on her ability to fit into small spaces.  She climbed into a plastic container.  (We were right there the whole time.)

Then thought she would go for a ride in her stroller.  (Sorry that the second picture is a little blurry. The camera focused on her knee instead of her face, and this was all I was able to get before she climbed out.)

My little monkey is also starting to climb up the stairs on her feet instead of her knees.  I don't have any pictures because she will only do this if she is holding someone's hand.  This makes it a bit tough to take a picture.  But I do have a picture of Sprout monkeying around at My Gym.

What we used this week

One of our favorite books this week was Dinosaur on Passover by Diane Levin Rauchwerger.  This is a great book about a dinosaur who comes to visit for Passover and how an overzealous house guest can send things awry, but everyone still had a great time!

Next Week

Next week is Passover and we will be spending the week visiting with family, having seders and avoiding bread products and enjoying the pool and beach.  I will be sure to share the pictures when we get back.

To learn more about Passover go to Chabad.org.  To see what other Tots were up to this week go to 1+1+1=1.

Tot School - Week 4

Sprout is 20 Months

This week we focused on colors and shapes. We spent most of our time focusing on colors, but we played games that were both colors and shapes.

We had a pretty laid back week around here. As Sprout and I caught the cold that JGD brought home from Alaska. So most of our time was spent taking it easy.

Tot Trays

Our Tot Trays this week include 

• Shape "Pattern Blocks" activity
• Cutting, Gluing and Stickers
• Playdough - with circles and heart shaped cookie cutters
• Lacing beads
• Bingo Markers
• A Transferring Activity from Tot Trays

Sprout enjoyed using her lacing beads this week.  She understands the whole idea of putting the string in the bead, but from there we need more guidance.  We will continue working with this one next week.

Sprout really enjoys using these dot markers in a 6 pack at Michael's. Maybe the whole "scented" idea wasn't the greatest idea, but we love them anyway! We found the printables for Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? and some other great Brown Bear activities at Making Learning Fun.

Sprout was able to match up the bigger pieces of this "puzzle." She really enjoyed walking around with the shapes though, which gave of us several opportunities to talk about the shapes she was holding.

Sprout hasn't used scissors before so this was completely new for her. We have these scissors so all she has to do is squeeze to cut. This is still tough for her but she really enjoyed trying. We will probably try these out too.

Now for the stickers, Sprout loved playing with her Mickey and friends stickers. She chose to put Donald on the paper, and then take him off!

Projects

This week our only real project was our stART project for this week. This project was based on My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss. See my post for more about this project.

Tot Books

We use the Brown Bear, Brown Bear Tot Pack from 1+1+1=1 a lot this week. Sprout didn't necessarily understand all of the components, but she had fun checking everything out. Her favorite activity from this pack was the Shadow Match from Making Learning Fun. I was really impressed with how well she did this, since she shows absolutely no interest in the traditionally matching activities we try. In the beginning, she needed a hint here or there to find the right shadow, but by the end of the week, she didn't need any help at all. I also think she loved playing with velcro that attached the pieces to their shadows.

Sprout also played with her Little Einsteins Tot Book a lot this week. For the most part she was just pulling out the matching cards and walking around with them, or pulling out the accordion activity, but I'm glad that she is getting more familiar with this type of activity.

Practical Play

Because we weren't feeling all that great this week, our practical play this week was mostly trying to get better (we're getting there slowly).  This meant we spent a lot of time trying to get liquids into Sprout.  She really enjoyed JGM's "Lemon Tea."  

Towards the end of the week Sprout decided she needed some exercise and started running laps around the island in our kitchen.  

She also decided that she needed to practice her stunt falls.  

We thought that some fresh air might do us some good so we went to the Florida Renaissance Festival.

Next Week

Next week's theme is All About Me.  I plan on focusing on body parts, clothes, home and family.  We are getting ready to get together with JGD's family for Passover, and they would be thrilled if Sprout could say their names.  Though I don't really think this is going to happen, we'll give it a try.  I made a book with all of Sprout's family members in it, and I'm looking forward to going through it with her.  She loves looking at pictures of people so this should be a lot of fun for us.

To see what other tots were doing this week go to Tot School.

Tot School - Week 3

Sprout is 20 Months

This week our theme was Dr. Seuss in honor of his "birthday" this week. What a great theme! There is always another project that we can do or book to read. We were quite busy this week!

This week we had some more defined activities, though mostly Sprout had a choice of what she wanted to do, and she made most of the activities into a game of her own creation. 

Tot Trays

I did set up Tot Trays this week to develop some activities that are more focused for Sprout. I found the idea for Tot Trays at 1+1+1=1. Carissa has so many great ideas, her site has really helped me to focus our play more.

Our Tot Trays this week include 

• Baby's Boo (from Growing Up Learning) --  This is to help Sprout with her compassion for others, while she takes care of Mickey when he gets hurt.
• Knock It Down (also from Growing Up Learning) -- Sprout really like this activity, as she go to throw a ball at cups that I arranged for her on the floor
• Playdough
• A bag of red treasures to look at and sort
• A Small Spaces activity from Tot Trays
• A Transferring Activity from Tot Trays

Projects

We started the week painting the Cat in the Hat's hat. This was Sprout's first time using an easel. I was very happy with how well she did. Though she does seem to be in a "minimalist" phase.

As an added bit. Curiosity may not have killed the dog, but he did have something to show for it. Now this wasn't Sprout's fault. Simon just got too curious and got in the way. (Though I've cleaned his head, there is still a pink tint to his fur in this spot.)

We also did a Green Eggs and Ham coloring page. I gave Sprout the green dot paint and a green crayon.

Our final project for the week was our stART project that went along with One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish.  Please check out my post on this project.  I would love to get more opinions on this kind of art project.

Tot Books
This was the first time we have used a Tot Book or a Tot Pack. Though in some form, I probably did have high hopes, I wasn't expecting all that much from these this week. Sprout has never seen them before and is very active. She is not a big fan of activities where she needs to sit and play with someone, using "directions."
I started using the Dr. Seuss Tot Pack I made. Sprout was interested in taking the matching cards out of their envelope and putting them back in, but that was about it. She found the Little Einsteins Tot Book I made, and wanted to play with that. She was a little more into this because she knows those characters far better than Dr. Seuss'. Most of his books are a little long for Sprout to sit through.

Practical Play

Sprout also had some "real world" learning opportunities this week.  She found a Mickey and friends magnet of the fridge this week, and of course was drawn to play with it.  She learned that magnets don't stick to cabinets (sorry about the camera strap in the picture, I was using JGD's camera, and I'm not used to the position of the lens).

We also "washed the dishes" this week. I had planned to make Oobleck, but never made it to the store to buy more cornstarch, so I decided to give it a go with what I had. It didn't work, and I was looking for another sensory opportunity for Sprout. So we washed dishes. I got this idea from Montessori for the Earth. Sprout had a lot of fun with this activity, and the mess didn't get too bad.

What did we read this week?
Well, we read several of Dr. Seuss' books. And we were able to finish most of the ones we read. Sprout even decided to read them on her own.

Next Week
I got jumbo lacing beads for Sprout to start using next week when our theme is colors and shapes. She found them, and wanted to play with them. I was quite impressed when she was able to lace one after I very briefly showed her how to use them. Then she dumped them all over the floor and we had a talk about treating our toys and properly and what happens when we don't.

To see what other people did this week go to Tot School.