Sunday, October 4, 2009

Tot School – Oct. 4, 2009

Tot-School[1] M is 37 months old
We had a very laid back week.  I am working on getting some tot trays / workbox-type things set up that M can work on independently throughout the week, but they are a work in process and nothing is where I want it to be yet. 
M surprised me by finding things to do on his own this week anyway – most of which were never captured on camera.  He strung beads and pasta, played with his Lite Brite, laced up some lacing cards, and played with some of his favorite flannel board sets.  My husband had Monday off, and they played Bingo, tried playing checkers, and read a lot of books together.  They also got out their binoculars and did a little out-the-window bird watching.  Here they are mommy-watching :) binoculars with daddy
Tuesday was an absolutely glorious fall day and we ventured outside (with the binoculars of course).  M grabbed his “nature basket” and trotted off:nature basket
You can see our yard is still mostly green.  There is one tiny patch of leaves turning colors in an oak tree:fall leaves I’ve been hoping to gather up some beautiful leaves for an autumn leaf identification project, but Mother Nature is not cooperating with me.  Actually I should be happy that the leaves aren’t turning yet, it means winter is still a little ways off.  M grabbed a branch blown down by the wind gusts we’ve been having and tried his best to knock some leaves down for me.outside 2
No luck, so he started building with some logs - log play1 log play2
Another look around with the binoculars(by the way, I got these at Target for $1.00 – awesome deal!) :binoculars
We did do some fun school stuff inside too, continuing with the autumn theme…
We learned a new poem and a new song.  I found both at preschooleducation.com.  The song (to the tune of “The Farmer in the Dell”):
The leaves are falling down,
The leaves are falling down,
Red, yellow, orange and brown,
The leaves are falling down.
And the poem, which M absolutely LOVED and did over and over again…
5 little leaves so bright and gay
Were dancing about on a tree one day.
The wind came blowing through the town,
And one little leaf came tumbling down.
(Continue with the remaining 4 leaves)
We did this with 5 silk craft leaves (Dollar Tree!).  I held them up, made them dance around, then M was the wind and blew and I would let one fall.  This was a huge hit!  He then held the leaves and I blew them, then he asked for all the craft leaves, and his silly mama gave them to him and eventually this happened:
throwing craft leavesLook closely and you can see a couple of them still in mid-air. :)
We also tried  doing these harvest pattern strips from filefolderfun.com:harvest patterns
He is just not *getting* patterns at all.  So I gave up and made it into a quick file folder matching game to put on a tot tray for him.  There are several more pattern strips, these two are just the ones we tried doing.
We did a fun autumn matching game – played concentration style.  He did great with this.  I can tell he is really starting to get better at the memory games.  The cards were printed from DLTK.autumn matching game
We also did a flannel board story about the Little Red Hen (I associate it with harvest time).  This set was found here:blog pics 054
And we made a cute autumn wreath:image
That’s it for us for this week!  I so enjoyed taking it easy and not trying to fit too much in.  We both had more fun just being together. :) 
Check out what other moms are doing with their tots here!
Have a beautiful day! :)

11 comments:

  1. I am TOTALLY loving those binoculars!!! Did you get them from Target recently????

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  2. What a lovely week! Don't you just love autumn?! The wreath you made is adorable. :)

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  3. I love the binoculars and the outdoor fun! I also love how he made his own leaves fall, too cute!

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  4. Thanks so much for the link to the little red hen. We have a felt board but I need to use it way more b/c my guy loves it.

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  5. Your backyard is beautiful. It reminds me of my parent's house in the mid-west. We do not get to visit often but the boys love all of the space to run and run.

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  6. I'm going to try the pattern activity. I like the way you changed it into a matching activity to meet your child's needs.

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  7. Looks like a fun week! I love those binoculars!! My little man would love playing with them, too!

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  8. What a delightful week. The binoculars looks like such fun and I love the wreath you made.

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  9. you guys look like you were really busy!! i love that file folder pattern game.. it looks interesting and fun

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  10. The building with logs cracked me up - M is such a BOY! At least you had some falling leaves inside while the weather is not cooperating outside. Enjoy your great weather while it lasts :)

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