Tot Summer Camp - Gardens

This morning, as we were getting ready for Tot Summer Camp the boys and I put some googly eyes on socks to make sock puppets.  I didn't want to add any other details to these because I wasn't sure if they would just be taken apart and such when our toddler friends came over.

 The boys really loved them and just had to play with them while we finished getting ready.  I used hot glue to put the eyes on and that seemed to work really well.  They haven't been pulled off yet.

 When our friends arrived it was time to get busy cooking and sorting all of the fruits and vegetables.

 And of course wearing a pan as a hat.

 Part of the tot school pack for gardens includes a sock puppet book of The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  we had fun playing with the story and then the kids tried doing it too.

 Then the sock puppets starting eating the play food that we were playing with.

 Using sticky back, foam shapes, we made many different types of pictures.  I love this activity for tot school because it meets the kids where they are developmentally.  There are kids that can learn to peel the backing off and stick them in a design, kids who need the backing started for them in order to peel it off, and kids who are learning to put the sticky side down on the paper.  Just mastering the concept of dealing with an object that is sticky on one side and not the other was a lot of fun to watch.

 It was also fun to then pull the stickers off of the paper after they were put on, which is just fine too!

 This is what happens when an air force helicopter, you know: the kind that has two copter blades, flies overhead and you are outside with toddlers.  Run for Miss Amanda!

 Lil'GalV discovered that putting stickers in your hair is not very much fun :(

 What fun are sock puppets unless you use them as feet puppets?  They are socks after all.  Lil'GalV started the trend by taking off her shoes and requesting a foot puppet.  The other two followed right along :)

 And then the sock puppets went into the sandbox.

 We practiced "planting" our flowers from the tot pack in the sandbox.

 How cute!

 Another art project we worked on today was glitter glue.  It was fun to rub around and smear and taste (yuck!).

 Anyone know how well hot glue and googly eyes do in the washing machine?

 Another developmentally appropriate task for toddlers is to put items in and out of a container.  Lil'GalS found an empty bubble container and some wands today and played for about 10 minutes putting them in, dumping them out, and repeating.

 I think the kids just know when it is about time to be picked up.  Pick up time is 11:30 and at 11:20 suddenly everyone is interested in riding the bikes along the path.  This happens almost every week! :)

We've had a lot of fun doing tot school with our toddler friends this summer and are excited to continue doing it through the school year.  Look for two different tot classes (Tuesday and Thursday) and follow along with our curriculum at home!  Our calendar of themes can be downloaded here and I'll be posting the weekly curriculum 2 weeks in advance all year longs (I'll also be doing that for Preschool A and Preschool B).  Enjoy!  We have one more Tot Summer Camp next week and then it's time to prep for the school year.