Tot School: 12.5 mo

~12.5 months~

The Stink Bug has had a great first week of tot school! I am so impressed with how well she has done. I was a little bit worried about how a couple of the activities would hold her attention but, she surprised me and concentrated on each activity for a good 5 minutes straight! I am sure every week wont be like this but, it was a great "first week" of school!

Since the weather has been so nice here this week, the Stink Bug and I spent lots of time outside. We played with her water table (sorry no pictures of this one yet) and had fun chasing bubbles around the yard. When it came time for our tot school, I decided to take school outside, (I just love the flexibility of being at home!!)and I brought out the tot trays, with each activity on it!

The first activity that I had for the Stink Bug was a washed out oatmeal container with the label pealed off and a hole cut in the lid. I made the hole just barely larger than some of her favorite balls.



I poured the balls out onto the tray and modeled how to put each of the balls into the container. The Stink Bug caught on quickly and put the rest in herself with to trouble!



This turned out to be a great gross motor activity as she squatted and stood to put each ball into the container.



For the next activity, I found two old Easter eggs (great for LOTS of other activities) that were identical, and filled each one with a different sounding object. In one, I put a handful of rice. It made a nice light "swooshing" sound. In the other one, I put a handful of large glass bead. This egg made a louder "cer-chunking" sound. The second egg was also much heavier. The point to me was just to have each one sound, and feel different. I did not glue or tape the eggs shut so, I had to be super careful to watch that she did not open then eggs and put the contents in her mouth. If you are concerned about potential choking hazards, just be sure to tape yours closed! (The Stink Bug is slowing learning what not to put in her mouth but, you can see she is putting some grass in her mouth in this shot!)

The objective of this activity was for the Stink Bug to explore each of the sounds and weights. I did not expect her to be able to compare or contrast the sounds (great for an older tot though). I just wanted to her be able to explore them for what they were!





She loved shaking each of the eggs! At one point she picked them both up, shaking all the while, and carried them across the yard! Silly girl!



The third activity that I had planned for the Stink Bug was a beginning transferring/pouring activity. I used an old laundry detergent scoop as the container, and painted the bottom of the inside with red paint. (I made one of each rainbow color when I made this one. That way they can be used for future color sorting activities.) I found four red pom-poms to match (I also have rainbow colored pom-poms to match the cups. Look for theses in future posts!)




I showed the Stink Bug how to pick up each of the pom-poms and put them into the cup. She did not have any trouble putting them in the cup but, she did have trouble keeping them in. She wanted to hold the cup while she put the pom-poms in but, would often spill what she had already put in the cup. What started out as an activity based on putting the pom-poms in and out of the cup soon turned into a lesson on how to hold a cup to keep it from tipping. She will need much more practice in this area!



We had a great first week of school, now to come up with some activities for next week!