Sunday, August 9, 2009

Tot School

Tot School

M is 35 months old

I am finding myself wondering a lot lately if M knows I started a blog. He is constantly asking to do “school”! So much so that I’m having a hard time keeping up with him and finding new and interesting things for him to do. Thank goodness for all the other great blogs that link up to Tot School and their great ideas!

Here’s what we did this week:

We made a Cheerio bird feeder by stringing Cheerios onto a pipe cleaner and then forming it into a circle.

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Then we hung it up in the tree outside M’s bedroom window:

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It only took a couple of hours and there was a blue jay pecking away at it. It was completely stripped of Cheerios within a few days and we found the bare pipe cleaner on the ground. I’d call it a success, and we’ll definitely make one again.

I made a pattern with his blocks and he tried to copy it. He did pretty good, with just a slight mistake (can you see it?):

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I created some cutting strips for him using stickers to help guide him. I got this great idea here. He knew exactly what to do and followed the lines almost perfectly. I knew he could cut well, but I didn’t expect him to do so well with this. He can cut a straight line no problem, apparently. I’m working on some new ones with wavy lines to give him a new challenge.

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He also surprised me with this matching game:

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You match up an enlarged detail of the birds to the full version (hope that makes sense). It is more challenging than a simple picture-to-picture match. But he caught on right away and did a great job!

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We reviewed things that start with B from our ABC book:

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And did a little Baseball Size Sorting from our ABC book too:

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He is still loving the flannel board activities so we did one with numbers. It’s great for number recognition. I got the patterns and the idea from here.

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Then we did Old MacDonald Had a Farm (patterns from here):

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I left all the flannel board sets out and found him later playing with it this way:

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It made me very happy to see this because I’ve been making felt sets for him since he was tiny (that’s how he learned his shapes, in fact), and it’s gratifying to see him finally enjoying them!

Hope you all had a great week of Tot School too!

For more ideas, see the 1+1+1=1 blog!

Have a beautiful day!

18 comments:

  1. The cheerio birdfeeder idea is awesome!! Both of my kids love feeding the birds - we'll be making some of these soon!!

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  2. As always, another great post full of fun ideas and activities! I love the Cheerio bird feeders; we MUST try this! And, I really like the patterning you have been doing too. Maddie and I have talked about patterns (as in, pointing them out when we see them or chanting them together) but have yet to use manipulatives to make them. I definitely will have to try some out to see how she does.

    Thanks for the ideas!

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  3. Love the cheerio bird feeder. i think I need to get me some flannel board :)

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  4. Thanks for the pattern idea, I need to get going on that with Annika.

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  5. Great bird feeder idea!! I also love the farm felt board pieces!!! I am going to save this idea for when we do our farm unit!

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  6. I have to tell you that I am really enjoying your tot school posts. You come up with such creative and fun ideas. No wonder your little boy asks to do Tot School so often. That is wonderful.

    My favorite idea from this week was the cheerio bird feeder. Great way to sneak in some fine motor work and nature study.

    Take care,
    Cathy aka The Attached Mama

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  7. My daughter also has been really into her felt board also. I'm thinking of making that farm one for her!

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  8. Oh! And, I left you a little award over on my blog because I think your blog is absolutely lovely! :)

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  9. I honestly love all that you did this week. So many good ideas! Your matching game, baseball size sorting, Old MacDonald, the cheerios for the birds--it's all so fun and so creative.

    You are awesome and your little one is so blessed!

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  10. I love all the fun ideas! We will definitely be trying the cheerios bird feeders (although it's likely to be squirrel feeders at our house)! I love the matching the details to the full picture game as well. Thank you!

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  11. looks like you guys had a full week with all these cute activities :)

    whats the difference with a flannel board vs a felt board?

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  12. Myztic - I think they are basically the same thing. Our flannelboard is covered with flannel, but we use felt pieces to place on it. The felt sticks to the flannel. We also use the "hook" part of velcro, or sandpaper on the back of some of our pieces to stick to the board. If you have a board covered with felt, I'm sure it would be the same.

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  13. I, also loved the cheerio bird feeder. Lil'man loves to look at birds and we have quite a few around our house, so this activity will be a must!

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  14. Thanks for linking to me. You had a great week I love all the flannel board activities I think Emily would love them!

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  15. You had a great week - so full of vary different activities. No wonder Matthew loves it. Sometimes I feel that we are stuck in a rut and do the same things - something that involves gluing and pasting, then books, then playing and maybe, if Anna feels like it, some worksheets. Great job on sorting by size - Anna is still very shaky, but we usually try different objects, not the same object. Maybe I should try a simpler approach with this.

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  16. Love, Love, Love the idea of making the matching game a bit more challenging. I've seen those cards somewhere too but I can't remember exactly where.

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  17. I love the Cheerio bird feeder idea! I will have to try that with Mikey Bear.

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  18. ooohhhhh, thank you for reminding me about my flannel board. I made one and put it away...and forgot about it! I will definitely be taking that out this week and making some stuff to use on it!!!

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