Tot School - Sept 26 - Nursery Rhymes

We talked about nursery rhymes today in tot school.  I would love for the kids to start learning them, so I sing them over and over whenever I can.  Today, one of my kiddos told me, "Miss Amanda, you already sang that one." in a very exasperated voice.  Hahaha!  It was quite funny to me.  We started the day with a little crayon drawing and water color resist painting.  Eeks - which reminds me that their art is still hanging on the fence to dry.  I best scamper back there and gather their books before they get ruined.

 We also played with bubbles and the knock over the cans game from back to school night.  We went inside for a little bit today and mostly played with the musical instruments (as loudly as possible it seemed), Duplos, and wooden Pattern Blocks.  Then we headed back outside to enjoy the sunshine. 

Tot School - Sept 19 - Animals

I loved learning about the letter A and talking about animals at Tot School when we met on Sept 19th.  We started with playing outside as we have been doing for many weeks past.  We played with animal hand puppets and animal finger puppets.  After we washed our hands and had our snack we played downstairs for the rest of our time together.

 We're transitioning to spending part of our time inside and part of our time outside so when the weather is crummy the kids aren't surprised by a different play location.  We did animal puzzles, practiced the letter A book and colored it, and played with all sorts of toys!

Tot School Sept 12 - Dentist

Tot School was so much fun today.  We learned the letter T and talked all about the dentist.  We talked about our body parts and that we have teeth in our mouths.  We decided that teeth are white and had a fun craft activity where we painted egg carton teeth white.

 We are also still working on counting to 5 and played our first "Hop Along the Path" game with the big number mats.

Another fun activity we did was playing with colored masking tape and trying to put in on our papers.  

Tot School Feelings

Yesterday I gained possession of a toddler lawn mower that blows bubbles.  After tot school today I joked with a mom that maybe next week I'll have 7 of them - one per kiddo.  They loved that thing, and would you believe that I REALLY want to take it apart and see how its designed?  For real.  All bubble blowers die really fast at my house, they get left out in the rain and are used so excessively that they are sticky and ruin the motor because they are unclean-able.  This lawn mower comes with instructions to clean it out with the hose, so I have high hopes that it will live forever.  I'd bet the kids have the same high hopes. I was a broken record today in regards to sharing the the bubble blowing lawn mower.  "It's so-and-so's turn right now.  I see that you'd like another turn.  Wait just a minute and you can play again.  That's how we share." ...and repeat. 

 We also painted, practiced knocking down the monster cans, and practiced pouring our own water at snack time after all washing up in the sink first.  Everyone washing their hands is a parade of sorts.  They get so excited about it.  If you have a young child I highly suggest the hands-free foam soap dispensers.  They are a life saver and the kids love to use them.  After snack we played in the basement for about 30 minutes before heading outside again.  Since it was so wet from the rain outside there were certain toys and books I wanted to share with the group but not leave on the wet grass all morning.  We played puppets, read stories, explored the numbers 1-5, reviewed the letter M, and found extra toys to play with.

The mini Hungry Hungry Hippos game (bottom left picture) is my favorite picture from today.  Those two were having a blast playing the game together.  We're all in the stage of learning to share and take turns.  That picture is proof that we're headed in a good direction! Have a great week!  I look forward to talking about the Dentist next week!