Hi everyone! I am sorry that it took me a little bit longer to make my tot school post this week! We are in the middle of fixing up our house to sell and the last few weeks have been crazy! New paint, shutters, landscaping, mailbox, concrete.... you get the idea! I will make a post about the changes we have been working on before long!
This week we worked on three different tot trays, as usual. The first tray that we worked on had 3 or 4 different containers with lids. We worked on taking the lids off and putting them on. All but one were circular, to make it a bit easier to put them on. The Stink Bug definitely had the most difficult time with the rectangular lid. She just wasn't sure how to turn it!
The second activity that we worked on was putting q-tips into a cleaned out parmesan cheese container. This is a great activity for fine motor skills. Especially if you have your tot put the q-tips into the small holes. This activity was almost too easy for the Stink Bug. She was able to complete it quickly so, I gave her more q-tips and let her repeat it as many times as she liked. Which was many! Next week, I may re-create this activity with smaller holes.... Oh, just be careful to watch them with the q-tips! The Stink Bug knows that they are for your ears and would often stink them in hers....which worried me that she would go cramming them in her ear too far! Ouch.
The last activity was a bust. I knew that it probably would be but, I wanted to try it anyways. I knew that the Stink Bug would not understand 1 to 1 but, I thought that she might get me modeling it for her. Not so. In this activity I gave her an ice cube tray (for water bottle ice cubes) and enough crayons to have one for each spot. I showed her how to put one in each place, until each spot was filled. She put the crayons in, but did not care which spot she put them in.
Really, she got more enjoyment out of taking them out, after I put them in. That ended up being ok with me because, they weren't very easy to take out. She had to take them out at the pointy end of the crayon. Not what I planned but, still a good activity!
The Stink Bug did LOTS of gross motor play this week as well. She is able to climb, and slide, without my help now. Although, I wont let her slide without my arms right under her. This picture is as far as I will let her climb before I am right there, arms ready! Can't trust a toddler!
As usual, leaves and grass were involved!
I'll have to try an open & close tray for Grace- that's a great idea! I've thought about doing a "Fill & Spill" tray because she's all about putting things in containers and dumping everything out! I like your earlier idea of pompoms and pipe cleaners in a bottle too... there are lots of good early Montessori activities!
ReplyDeleteI think that I will try a pouring activity next week, just to see how it goes. She really doesn't seem to know to "dump" on purpose yet. She would rather take the objects out one by one. I will often find her emptying a snack cup of cereal onto the floor this way! Hah!
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