Tot School: Winter Sensory Bin

G is 22 Months

We took a break from tot school this week. Intentionally. I needed to gather my thoughts and wrap my head around somethings. I'll probably share more about where I think we're headed with tot school later this week. But having a 'free' week was super nice, and I think I'll be extending it into this week. Last week was to gather my thoughts, this week is to start acting on them. We'll see where it goes from there.

For our post this week I'm just going to share our winter sensory bin, which we've had out all month. I just haven't gotten around to adding it to any posts. Considering we'll be switching it in February...I figured this was as good a time as any to share.

Showing me an 'ice block'.

Our bin was pretty sparse. I was lucky enough to hit Hobby Lobby *right* after the holidays and grabbed some holiday craft supplies, on major clearance, that would work with a winter theme. But that is where my luck ended. Considering we're in the south, within days of 2012 beginning all I could find was Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras and Easter (yes, Easter!).

But that just means that the sensory bin for those themes will be awesome, cause I've had lots of time to prepare & stock up.

Despite how few things were in this bin, G had lots of fun with it.

Especially sorting out all the pieces.

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Tot School: C

This Weeks Letter: C
Focus Words: Cat, Car & Cookie
G is 21 Months Old

C Week was a pretty fun, easy week.
Though I think I put too much pressure on myself trying to plan awesome activities every week. I still struggle having to shift from mommy mode to work at home mode. Adding tot school on top of it, can sometimes be too much.
Though I never put pressure on G, so I am thankful for the weeks that she doesn't seem to be that into the activities either. I'm sure she wouldn't notice if we stopped doing so much. Though the days she's not challenged, you can tell when evening rolls around. She's wired, antsy & whine-y.
Over the next few weeks I might be re-evaluating how we 'do school' again. Bear with me. That's what's great about this though, is I can do that.
She's not even 2, I think I need to go easy on myself here. Knowing come spring time I may have to return to full-time, go to the office, work has me really pressuring myself to cram in as much as I can. Though in turn that makes me tired, grouchy and doubt what I do. But this really has nothing to do with C week, I just took the opportunity of having every one's attention to vent & process some thoughts. ;)

Here's our week!!!!

Coloring the Cat in her Letter C Printables

From 1+1+1=1

Decorating the C, for our C is for Cat art project

The Finished Product

Driving Cars through some bubbles

We were going to use shaving cream, but I didn't realize that Daddy bought the gel stuff.

She's been obsessed with "bubbles, bubbles" in her bath. I figured it would work.

Oddly enough she spent more time fretting over the bubbles being on her hands & on the cars, than actually driving the cars through the bubbles.

Play dough time with Daddy is a FAVORITE right now.

And of course, to finish off the week, we made COOKIES!

Letter C cookies, to be exact

To make these, I just used my donut cutter to make o's and cut one of the ends off.

Mommy's Favorite Shot of the Week

This girl loves her some Giants football!!!

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Tot School: B

Letter B Week!
Focus Words: Butterfly, Ball & Banana
G is 21 Months
The good news, we touched on all of our focus words and completed all the activities I'd hoped to! The bad news, Tot School was nothing like it normally was because G's Grandma was visiting this week. (So a good reason to slack a little bit.) With the new attention around, G didn't really focus on her printable book much. But, with having another person here to talk to her vocabulary JUMPED this past week. She now gives a go at sentences. (Usually starting with "more" and ending with "please". Love it!!!)

When I sat down to do this post I found out I didn't get many shots this week. In fact I have none from the last day when our focus word was Banana. Which is just as well, because she really wasn't feeling any type of structure that day. (So maybe, on an unconscious level, I didn't want proof of our half hearted attempt.)

Working on her tot book,

 Letter B Printables from 1+1+1=1

Our letter B craft was an ink blot butterfly.

In hindsight I really should have not used white "B"s on an off white paper. I ended up going back over the "B"s with a black marker after the paint dried. I, however, did not get a picture of the finished product.

I came across the idea for "Ball Painting" here.

This was our rendition:

Please, please, I beg you...Don't judge me by my ensemble

I really think she cared more for just dunking the balls in all the different color paint.

It was messy fun.

My Favorite Shot This Week

The camera really wasn't out much. I LOVED having my mommie visit, but it completely threw me off of the norm. Most of the pictures I took, were before she arrived. That just happens to be when I captured this little gem:

Using her truck to haul raisins. Duh. Isn't that how everyone transports their dried fruit?

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Tot School: A

This Week's Theme: A

Focus Words: Ant & Apple

 G is 21 Months 

                                                                                                                                           


Oh it's so hard to come back from vacation, but I was super excited to start in on the Alphabet with G. The goal here is to do Tot School 3 days a week, and get out of the house 2 days a week.  Each tot school day we'll focus on one of the focus words. (Go figure!) Will it always happen, no way! But goals are good.

I probably did not do A any justice this week. We only had school 2 days this week, and I was also trying to figure out the best approach. Luckily, A is a letter she already says and can identify 75% of the time. So no harm done.

The best advice I gave myself before officially deciding to start the alphabet, is though G may be tall for her age & certainly act 2 sometimes, she is still just shy of 2. My main goal here is exposure. Seeing the letters, hearing the sounds they make, etc. Every week I don't expect her to identify & say each word. As she gets older, we'll get into much more hard hitting alphabet work. ;)

Here's our short week!

1+1+1=1 is such a valuable resource to me. I borrowed her idea of the work book and put the Letter Printables in page protectors & then placed them all in her "school binder". We're also using 1+1+1=1's Tot School's Printables.  This way G can get more than one use out of each page.
(Not to mention the organization factor that this Mommy LOVES.)

Here she's trying to color in the A.

Using pipe cleaners to make a Letter A.

Enjoying one of her Christmas presents, Melissa & Doug Wooden Animal Nesting Blocks.

Our art project this week was "A is for Ant"........

I did not have any black paint, and G was anxious to get her craft on, so I didn't have time to make black paint. We made red ants.

Snack Time!

G spreading peanut butter on her apples.

Our invention to stick with the "A" theme...Ants on a Hill

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Tot School: J is for Jesus

G is 21 Months
This Weeks Theme: J is for Jesus

I really had not planned on doing much this past week. I printed out 1+1+1=1's Nativity Pack on a whim. G has been obsessed with babies, and every Christmas book we read she'd search and search for baby Jesus. At the very least I thought she'd enjoy seeing all the "babies" within the Nativity Pack, but she really got a lot out of it. I was pleasantly surprised at how many of the activities she sat down & completed. I only managed to grab a couple pictures though.

Coloring her J's....and baby Jesus....

Sorting Animals & People

One morning I was running around trying to get ready so we could get out of the house, and I discovered this in my bed.

And of course we made cookies

A short & sweet post this week. I wanted to get something up, because I was very impressed with G this week. She's just growing too fast. (And skipping! It's so cute!) I'm busy returning the house to it's normal state, preparing to go out of town for the New Year and organizing so we can be ready to jump right into the Alphabet when we return home next week.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I wish you a safe & happy New Year!

p.s. I apologize to family who are looking for Christmas pics. I haven't even uploaded them onto my computer yet. Soon, soon!!

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Tot School: More Christmas

G is 20 Months
This Weeks Theme: Christmas, Christmas and MORE Christmas

I was sick this week. Which resulted in not a lot of creativity nor energy on my part and some horrible toddler cabin fever. However, we did have some fun and I was able to catch some photos of things we've been using all month but haven't made their appearance here.

I made my first "sensory bin".

(My mom mocks me every time I call it that, so hence the parenthesis)

This appeared the first weekend of the month and G has really loved it. This particular time she was very interested in the plastic light bulbs. However, this was a learning experience for me and now I know that using tinsel as a base for the bin, was not a good idea. It gets every where, and also G will end up walking around with a strand stuck to the bottom of her foot like toilet paper. ;)

I made a felt Christmas tree & ornaments for G to play with and maybe, just maybe, leave our tree alone. There are tons of ideas like this floating around Pinterest; this was my rendition.

Like most things right now, I have to be heavily involved with G in order for her to take interest in it. So all I was able to manage was a picture of the tree after we hung the ornaments on it.

Amazon was having a 50% off sale on Melissa & Dough items. I've been wanting to get this playdough mold & tool set for awhile. I was done Christmas shopping and had a week left of my Amazon Prime membership, I splurged.

This was the first time we busted it out of the box.

We painted some pine cones green, red & white.

After all the pine cones were painted, we painted G's hands & feet.

How She's Growing

Time for some honesty, the past couple weeks have been tough. She's trying so hard with her words, but she gets so frustrated that she can't communicate what she wants, even snack time becomes a meltdown. She'll rattle off a sentence of babble and then look at me with hopeful eyes. All she gets back is a blank expression and me saying "I'm not sure what you said, can you show me?"

And as I mentioned above, she really does not play much on her own. Maybe 5 minutes here or there, but she used to play endlessly by herself. Don't get me wrong, I love spending the time with her and watching her little brain develop...but sometimes we all just need the 5-10 minutes.

My 'Mom Guilt' totally blames it on the move and her not being socialized enough since. That I don't create enough of a challenge for her at home. I know she's bored.

Hopefully some of her Christmas gifts will help alleviate the boredom at home. As well as a fresh start with how I approach Tot School in the new year and our playgroup starting up again after the holidays.

Mommy's Favorite Shots of the Week 

Busy, busy, busy. This kid is busy. It's tricky to get a good photo of her face. And for a photographer who loves portraits, it can get frustrating!! She'll say "Cheese" if I ask her too, but will never look up from what she's doing or where she's going.

Unless of course there's food involved.....

The short sleeve shirt, freezy pop & snowflakes decorations on the door make me giggle.

This is definitely not a New York Christmas.

Still happy as a clam at the park.

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Tot School: Snow & Christmas

G is 20 Months Old
This Week's Theme; Snow & Christmas

The new relaxed approach to Tot School went really well, again, this week. We accomplished a lot and there was no pressure! At the beginning of every week I make a list of activities I think would be fun to do (and that we have all the supplies for), and as I find we have some free time I consult my list. G seems to be enjoying it too, there was not one activity this week that she didn't want to be involved in. And when all else failed, we pulled out some coloring sheets & crayons!

Coloring a sheet from 2 Teaching Mommies Printables.

It's hard to tell in this shot, but for those who aren't familiar with these printables there are letters in the wreath. G wanted me to sit down & color with her. She would point to a circle, I'd name the letter then color in the circle.

(This is a great intro to letters, as we'll be starting themes around letters in the new year.)

Playing with Snow Dough. (Homemade play dough with glitter in it!)

Finger painting with puffy paint.

We made paper snowflakes. You can read more about that in it's own post.

To keep going with the snowflakes. We made tortilla snowflakes for lunch!

We took bites out of our tortilla, instead of using scissors.

They ended up looking more like ink blots, but shhh...just use your imagination. ;)

My eager & willing helper, patiently waiting for the cheese.

Sprinkling on the cheese, like snow sprinkles from the sky.

That's when G snapped me into reality & reminded me....

We're from Lake Effect Snow country...snow doesn't sprinkle from the sky, you get dumped on!

Silly Mommy.

Once we spread the cheese out a little more evenly, I just tossed them in the oven for a few minutes to toast the tortillas & melt the cheese.

Christmas Time!

Tyson has reminded me this is almost like another 1st Christmas for G, as this year she actually understands some of what's going on. G loves the decorations, always asks for the tree lights to be turned on and can identify everyone's stocking hanging from the wall.

G says "Ho Ho" when she see's Santa.

Fascinated by the bells on my stocking. Maybe we'll have to ask her GG to add some to G's as well.

She will "sing along" to Christmas music. No matter where we are. It's especially nice when wandering around Hobby Lobby looking for felt & trying to choose some fabric.

We took out several Christmas books from the library.

Her current favorite being "What Is Christmas".

I've caught her just staring at the pictures of the manger scene several times. It brings a warm fuzzy to my heart to see that.

(And I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that she's becoming obsessed with 'baby'!)

Something that I need a constant reminder of is how AWARE of things G is. Even though she doesn't quite have the vocabulary to share all her wonderful thoughts with us. She can still express that she knows what's going on. For instance, as the Christmas season started up, she began wearing her blanket around like this....

I see a Christmas play in our future.

How She's Growing

Perhaps it's a sign of her growing up, or maybe just a sign that I go to Target too much. Just this past weekend we pulled into the Target parking lot and we began to hear cheering & clapping from the backseat.

At the very least she's definitely proving she's totally aware of her surroundings!

Mommy's Favorite Shot

She doesn't discriminate when dressing up. Her choice this week was Daddy's combat boots & cover.

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