Tot School

Caeden is currently 23 months old.

We had a busy week last week, and even a few cloudy and rainy days so we were not able to get outside as much.  We also had a little visitor for two days (I watched our neighbor's little girl), so we didn't get to Tot School for those two days due to me having an extra toddler around. :)

This week we were on the letter "J".  I don't know if I posted the link to the printables I use for the letters, but you can go here to get those.  I printed off Jelly Bean clipart and then had C glue them on.  I used a glue stick to cover the letters so the chances of him actually getting one onto the letter were pretty good.  I did have to finish it for him since he got distracted with how sticky his fingers were. :)

To go along with our "J" theme this week, "we" (I mean me, with a little help from C) made strawberry Jell-O.  It was quite the sight to see him trying to figure out what we were doing.  I could see that look in his eyes when he saw the pretty glass baking dish...

anyway, I pulled a chair up to the counter and made sure I had everything ready to go.  I opened the little pouch of Jell-O poweder and attempted to model for C to dump it into the dish.  He watched me carefully, and then I had him take the pouch and as he turned it upside down to dump it in there, I realized that he was still a little too far away from him.  The result:  half of it ended up on the floor. :) 

 

 I could have stop there, but figured oh well, it's the "teaching" that is important.  He then watched as I poured the cold water in there, and then I had him help me stir.  Eventually he picked up a spoon and started to stir as well.  He did much better than I expected, and we for sure will stick to easy, simple, cooking projects in the future!

 

<------ The finished product, and apparently one proud little boy!

Here are a few pictures of the sensory activities I did with C this week.

 Rice and pasta mixture:

We did this water activity on one of our rainy days, and it so happend to be on Earth Day.  I didn't plan on using this much water on the day where I'm supposed to watch how much water I use!  Oops!  I filled up both sides of the sink and added food coloring.  So C got to play in blue and purple water!  It was a good way for his to say his colors, and play with his bath toys.  He started off with his shirt on...but then I realized that he's not perfect at dumping the water back into the sink, so off went the shirt, and on went towels around his feet, floor, and chairs!  I had a lot of "duh" moments this week. :)

We also did a few art activities this week...I don't have any of these activities linked to anywhere because I had remembered doing these when I used to work in daycare with my toddlers.  (So if you read this and have it linked, then feel free to leave your site in my comments for others! )

We made Butterflies using a coffee filter, watercolors, and a clothespin.  C was NOT interested in this activity at all, he wanted to play in the watercolor paint.  So needless to say, I finished that as well, meaning I added a few more streaks on his!  I then took a Sharpie to make eyes...I didn't have googly eyes on hand, so I had to improvise.

We also did a similar version to what is called "marble painting".  Since I didn't have any marbles, I used a bead from his stringing beads box.  I cut a piece of construction paper and placed it in one of those disposable baking pans.  I then showed C how to move the pan back and forth to get the bead rolling throughout the paint.  This activity ended up being a bit too difficult for him and he wanted to play with the bead that was covered in paint.  He may have moved the pan back and forth...once.  We'll put this activity back into the idea box until he's ready. :)

I also found a sheet of stickers that we got in the mail from Highlights...so I let C pick the stickers and put them on a piece of paper.  He then took the stickers off and put them on his arm...then back on the paper...then back on him. :)

Here are a few pictures of other activities we did this week.

Playdough

Penguin bowling...

Star stacker...and making music...                                     

Looked at his new lift-the-flap First Numbers book...

And throwing balls into an empty laundry basket...and then dumping them out!

Just for fun...

We had a lot going on as you can see, and sorry for the weirdness in the placement of my pictures....I am still new to blogging and trying to add pictures and position them just right.  If anyone has any tips on placing pictures side by side so it's not such a long post, please let me know!  :) 

~Jamie