WEEK OF AUGUST 9 - BEADS AND BUTTONS

~Punkin is 24 months old~

We had a great week this week. Punkin seemed to like the activities I planned, and there were many times where spontaneous learning activities seemed to pop up that made it fun. Other times I kinda let her lead in terms of what she was interested in doing and I didn't push what I had planned. I hadn't necessarily started out the week intending it to be a Beads and Buttons theme week, but as we got into it, I realized that we were using them for a lot of things, so I tweaked a few activities to include them, and suddenly we had a fun theme going!

TOT TRAYS

Poking golf tees into styrofoam, then balancing little yellow marbles on top. I was impressed with how she figured out to keep one hand on the styrofoam circle to keep it steady while she worked. Once again, she pretended it was her birthday cake and would sing "Happy Birthday to You" every time she did it and pretended to blow out the "candles."

"Graphing" her oversized sparkly buttons. She wasn't all that excited about this one.

I got this idea from ABC and 123. She was supposed to take the little beads and line them up / balance them on the matching colored craft stick. Well, even after I did one and showed her how, she wasn't interested in doing it that way. She had more fun stirring the beads in the cup with the sticks and moving them around on the table using the sticks.

Then, on her own, she began to line up her sticks in a row. She was so meticulous that they were touching each other and straight. She spent quite awhile working on this.

Putting pipe cleaners through the holes of this sugar shaker, then putting beads onto the pipe cleaners.

The idea was to match the beads to the correct color of pipe cleaner (which she can actually do with ease), but she wasn't interested in being that picky, I guess! :)

I had two other trays out for her that she didn't do. (A lacing activity and sorting playing cards by the number on them.) In her totroom area where we do our tot trays, I have some baskets of abc books, family pictures, flashcards, and little games that I always keep out for her to choose to do instead if she wants. She played with lots of those this week.

And her "computer" is always sitting out, too, for her to play with. She chose to play with it one day instead of choosing a new tray.

Her play farm was also a choice of hers this week during tot tray time.

SHAPES

She had so much fun with this activity. I put some of her big buttons in her kleenex box that we use alot for pulling stuff out. She would reach in and pull out a big button.

Then, she always decided she needed to actually set her button on a shape that matched. (I never told her to do that.)

Then, we'd take off the button, and I had her use her Do-a-Dot markers to make a dot on that matching shape. I got this general idea from Life with My Giggly Girls.

MATH

I gave Punkin a bag of big and little buttons. I pointed to each container and showed her the example button I had taped to each one and said, "This is where you are going to put the BIG buttons, and this is where you are going to put the LITTLE buttons." She loved this activity because she got to pop up the little lids on the wipes containers each time she pulled out a new button.

When we were done, we took each set out of the container, and I had Punkin line them up (which is one of her favorite things to do .... lining things up). Once they were lined up we counted the line. She is doing a lot better lately of counting one to one objects if she uses her finger to keep track.

LITERACY / ABC'S

Gluing buttons on her letter b. This was a spontaneous project that happened one day when Punkin asked for "goo."

She insisted it go on our refrigerator so she sould "show Daddy."

Playing with her magnetic lowercase abc picture book.

ART

I got out our shaving cream again and added a bit of a twist from an idea I got from Tots and Me. I put some drops of yellow food coloring in the shaving cream and had Punkin use her hands to mix it all up. I ended up having to help a bit, but Punkin thought it was funny.

Then, I asked her what other color she wanted to mix in, intending it to be a color mixing activity. But after she chose green, and I put in the drop of food coloring, I realized that green is not a primary color and wouldn't mix with the yellow to make a new color. It just turned a pretty light lime green. Oh well. It was still cool for Punkin to see the yellow change to green.

Then, she asked for blue, so we did blue. It turned a pretty blue-green color.

For each color we did, we smoothed out the shaving cream, and then took a piece of paper and laid it gently on top and pressed down lightly. When I pulled it off, I scraped off any excess shaving cream with a piece of cardboard before letting it dry.

The next day, Punkin asked to use her "Do Dots" so I had this idea to get the dried shaving cream pictures off the refrigerator and had her use the yellow and green markers to dot on her pages to jazz them up a bit. She loved it!

MISC. ACTIVITIES

One night I was making spaghetti (or busgetti according to Punkin), and I accidentally dumped quite a bit of the dry noodles on the floor. Punkin immediately came over while I was picking them up and said, "I hep!" So, I got this idea to grab one of our empty parmesan containers that I keep in her drawer for tot school and let her put the noodles in the holes. It kept her occupied while I was able to finish dinner. (She also had fun breaking the noodles into tiny pieces.)

We did lots of playdough, this time adding some beads and buttons for an extra fun flair!

And she had so much fun doing puzzles one day. She did her shape puzzle probably 10 times in a row. She didn't want to stop when it was time for lunch.

I got this idea from Children's Learning Activities. I was finishing up laundry one day and left Daddy's and Punkin's socks in the basket. (I didn't include mine because I don't really wear many socks in the summer, and plus I thought two kinds to sort was enough.) I sat with the basket in the hallway between her room and ours, and had her pick a sock from the basket.

Then, I had her decide whose sock it was and run to the right room and put it in the drawer. (She loves opening and closing drawers right now, but I don't usually let her do it.....or else everything in the drawers would be strewn all over our house....so this was a treat for her!) At first she didn't get into as I thought she would until I told her to "run" and I chased her. I loved this activity because it reinforced the concept of big and little that we worked on with our buttons, visual discrimination, ownership / possession (I'd have her tell me each time if the sock was Punkin's sock or Daddy's sock), and the concept of open and closed as she opened and closed the drawers each time on her own.

She loves playing with her aquadoodle, and I usually only bring it out for our structured play time (while I make lunch) every so often to keep it "special." This day she asked to "tace foot" and "tace fingers." This is something Daddy does with her on her magnadoodle, and she wanted to borrow my hands and feet to do it on her aquadoodle as well.

Then, she practiced with her own hands and feet.

This was a GREAT idea from Life with My Giggle Girls as well. Punkin loves playing in bubbles and water, but when she does it in our sink, I am always hovering to make sure she doesn't dump water all over the floor or fall off the chair she is standing on to reach. This was nice because I could sit and read a book on the deck and get soem sun while she played. Plus, I had her old baby tub just sitting in the store room collecting dust, so why not? It has been hot here, but I just couldn't get myself to set up the pool again, so this was a great substitution instead. I gave her sponges, cups, spoons, and bowls. Her favorite was squeezing the water out of the sponges onto the deck.

Then, she must have gotten too hot, so she decided to get in.

Then, while we were outside, we opened up our new bubble fun kit.

Another one of our spontaneous activities initiated by Punkin was jumping along her ice cream number line. Actually, I had forgotten that I still had these ice cream numbers in her basket on her little table. When she found them the other night, she immediately began to try and line them up herself on the floor. (That's what we did with them during our ice cream unit.) Then, she came to me and said, "Mommy, hep dump!" (Mommy, help me jump.) So, I helped her line them up in number order on our tiles and we jumped to each one as we said the numbers. She has always loved this. Then, while I cooked dinner, she attempted to do it herself over and over again. She is getting much better at "jumping," though it still is a bit awkward.....but so cute to watch!

Another new favorite activity is coming with me outside to get the mail. We walk together to the end of the driveway, she stands at the end of the sidewalk while I get the mail from the mailbox, I give her one piece of the mail (usually junk mail), and she waltzes back inside carrying her treasure. Then, she goes and sits on her little white chair and proceeds to try to open her mail. (That's why I give her junk mail.) It is funny to watch her try so hard to get that envelope open.

And since she loves mail so much, this activity kinda sprung up one evening as Daddy and I were working in the basement on a project. I had been going through my tubs of stuff from when I taught first grade and I found this cute little mailbox that my students used to leave me notes. (It was a motivator to get them to use their writing skills.) Anyway, I knew she'd love it, so when we went downstairs to work, I put this in the almost finished empty bedroom (where she has to stay when we are down there because it is the only "finished" space with carpet at the moment). I then just grabbed some picture / beginning sound cards for her to use as her "mail." This kept her occupied for quite some time. When I was done with what I needed to do, I went in to play with her, and I'd ask her, "Can you find the _________ and put it in the mailbox for me?" She learned a few new vocabulary words like "vest" and "crab" and "snail."

MOM'S FAVORITE PIC OF THE WEEK

What a goofy girl!

Anyway, that was our week! To see what other tots did this past week, check out 1+1+1=1.

WEEK OF AUGUST 2 - RANDOMNESS

~Punkin is 24 months old.~

Okay, I really slacked this week. For some reason I really had a hard time getting back into the routine after vacation. I was so tired and exhausted, too, for some reason in the afternoons that I just didn't feel like doing much. Punkin also had a doctor appointment and labwork done on two separate days as we try to figure out if she is still allergic to milk or not. We went one day to my parents' church for their "Summer's Last Ride" outreach event that included inflatables, a fire truck, lots of food, face painting, etc. Add to that a day at Grandma's and spending another night one night at Grandma's while my husband and I went out with my brother and sister in law for the evening.... Well, we just didn't get a lot of Tot School done. Oh well. There's always next week, right?

Making a necklace with her lacing beads.

Reading lots of books with her Tag Junior.

Sorting beads into her heart tray. She attempted to use the tweezers, though she still doesn't really get it yet.

She had fun dumping out her foam letters and lining them up in front of her.

She also has been having fun using her pocket chart to put her letters in.

This was one of the only 2 actual Tot School lessons we did. I wrote lowercase letters on her dry erase easel and had her pick magnetic capital letters out of her box to match.

She had just as much fun erasing the letters for me.

Then I just let her draw for awhile what she wanted.

The other lesson we did was making her name. I wrote it for her at the top, and she spelled it underneath for me using glue and paper as well as stickers.

We got out her bean sensory tub.

And then since she made more of a mess than usual, I showed her how to use the little dust pan and broom. She loved this.

One day when it was finally not scorching hot outside and nice enough to be out, we took out her paintbrush and a bowl of water for her to paint the driveway with.

She practiced her lines.

And she had fun painting the rocks as well.

One day after I unloaded the dishwasher, I turned around and found her loading it back up with all her spoons and forks.

Then, she unloaded them again and put them all away.

I have begun working out now while she plays in the living room. (I just cannot get up early in the morning to do it. ) She has been trying to do what I do, including wanting to use my weights.

She played a lot with her marble set this week, too.

She loves to try to brush her teeth by herself now. (I still help a lot, though.) One day she set Baby in her potty and thought she needed her teeth brushed, too.

We also played a lot in the sink with water and bubbles again. One of her favorite activities.

And just one of my favorite pictures from this week. This is her new favorite spot to play.

For more Tot School ideas, visit 1+1+1=1.

WEEK OF JULY 26 - VACATION

~Punkin is 24 months old!~

We were on vacation this week in Orlando...but we didn't do Disney. :( I was disappointed that we drove 20 hours with a 2 year old......and DIDN'T DO DISNEY! But I also understand my husband's point about the ENORMOUS cost of going there when Punkin won't really remember anything from it anyway. We went down there with my in-laws....someone from their church gave them a free week at their timeshare down there. So, we had fun.....just not at Disney. :( Anyway, I decided to share my activity bags that I took in the car on our 20 hour drive to keep Punkin busy. Let me tell you that driving that far with a tot is NOT a vacation for the Mommy....But Punkin did VERY well considering she was in her car seat for 2 days there and 2 days back. It was Mommy who was ready to come unglued. :) (We decided NOT to drive straight through in the middle of the night like some people do......though I would do it that way if I had to do it over again.)

ACTIVTY BAGS

• Most of these activties were things I had saved so they were new and fun for Punkin.
• Also, I took along a small (lap sized) cookie tray that I had found at Dollar Tree. It fit in her lap perfectly so she had a place to "work." I loved that it had sides on it to keep her stuff from falling all over the place, and I also loved that magnets stuck to it, so she could keep things in one place. It was the best little purchase I made for the trip.
• Of course we also had lots of books, snacks, and DVD's to help pass the time. (She only slept about an hour each day...sigh.)

Note: I did NOT like the dry erase crayons. They were very messy.....like oil pastels. Yes, they are washable, but...... I wasn't impressed. Punkin LOVED them, though.

This is a mini ABC/123 foam puzzle I found at Walmart. Punkin loved this bag!


Punkin is really into magnadoodles and drawing, so I took along this little one I had gotten at a garage sale. I added a baggie of her shapes that came with her big one that she loves.

She had fun sorting these buttons by color into her tiny muffin tray. I got a couple of these at a garage sale this year. Isn't it just the cutest little tray? Perfect fit for this trip.

We threw in her new Leapfrog Jr. from her birthday. She didn't use it that much, though.

Good old coloring book and crayons.

Lacing cards and beads. She wasn't interested much in this bag.

I found this dry erase board and neon dry erase marker set at the dollar spot at Target right before we left, and I thought she'd love it, which she did. BUT, it was very cheapo, and the markers didn't wipe off. It was basically a one time use activity. Bummer.

This was her FAVORITE bag. She asked for it CONSTANTLY! I was getting so tired of it after 20 hours! I switched out different tracing pages in the page protector for her to trace with her dry erase markers. Of course half the fun was the erasing part, too! (Note: These dry erase markers were so much less messy than the crayons, believe it or not, and they erased better, too. They just aren't washable, so I had to really watch that she didn't get careless and get it on her car seat or clothes.)

Punkin had gotten this book of reusable stickers for Christmas, but we haven't used it much, so I threw it in. She loved this activity, too. I had her put the stickers on another page protector so they would come off easily and she could move them around. After she put a lot of stickers on the page we'd play an I Spy game to find certain ones.

Simple paper and colored pencils.

I just threw in a pad of paper and foam stickers for her to make pictures. She had fun sticking the foam pieces on other things she could reach as well.....like all over me and the seat. :)

Gotta love Color Wonder markers! So NOT messy, and yet SO fun! She asked for this bag a lot, too.

This one took some prep beforehand, but worth it. I have bags and bags of already cut paper pattern block pieces from when I was teaching. So, I went to http://www.prekinders.com/ and printed out lots of pattern block pictures and then put the pieces she'd need for each picture in an envlope for her. She did very well putting the pieces in the right spot, and she had a blast. I also had along just bags of extra shapes for her to make her own pictures / collages if she wanted, but she preferred making the pictures I printed out.

Another fun bag was the counting bears bag. I hot glued magnets to the bottom of some of our counting bears and she had fun lining them up on her tray (and turning it upside down to see how well they'd stick) or making the pattern parades I had created. Her favorite, though, was matching the bears to their correct houses.

TOT ACTIVITIES

I did take along a tub of Punkin's favorite toys (and some fun, new toys, too) for her to play with at our condo. Here are a few I caught on camera.

Aquadoodle with Grandma Faith.

Her Melissa and Doug latch puzzle. She played with this a LOT!

Her new Melissa and Doug magnetic fishing puzzle that she got for her birthday.

A FEW NEW EXPERIENCES

We drove to Cocoa Beach one day. She loved it!

She sat and played in the sand for most of the time we were there.

We went to Green Meadows Petting Farm. It was so neat! She got to ride a pony! Boy was she excited!

Well, that was our week in Florida. To see what other tots were up to last week, check out 1+1+1=1.