2.04.2013

tot school - 19 months

This past week was white week in tot school, and it was a great week. My enthusiasm probably comes from the fact that our respective bouts with strep both began to lighten up early in the week but, regardless, it was a great week!

THIS WEEK IN TOT SCHOOL:

From Top To Bottom:
1. Wool On The Sheep - I printed a picture of a sheep and was supposed to add pre-printed circles to it but it slipped my mind. Instead, I drew them on. I'm not an artist -- to put it mildly. Regardless, the point of this activity was for Ethan to place cotton balls inside the circles drawn on the sheep, Ethan was quickly obsessed with the word "wool." He'd repeat "wool" each time he placed a cottonball inside the circle. He enjoyed this activity way more than I thought he would, and it was typically the first tot tray he'd gravitate towards when we walked into the room. Towards the end of the week, he decided he much more enjoyed dumping the entire bowl of cottonballs onto the sheep and giving it lots of wool.
2. White Sensory Bin - The white sensory bin wasn't one of Ethan's favorites this week which was surprising because the sensory bins typically are up there. I think he just really liked some of the other tot trays and didn't have too much time to devote to this one. It was filled with random white odds and ends I was able to find around the house, including some doorknob covers, a paper airplane, a measuring cup, cottonballs, feathers, a stand mixer attachment and other silly things.
3. Snow Blowing & Sweeping - I had attached some pretty white snowflakes onto this tray and covered them with some mashed potato flakes. (They weren't as white as I'd have liked, but I guess they did the trick.) I included a straw for Ethan to blow the "snow" away to uncover the snowflakes and a little broom for him to sweep the "snow" away to find the snowflakes underneath. He loved this (incredibly messy) tot tray!
4. White Magnet Board - The magnet board was another usually top favorite that wasn't at the top this week. He enjoyed pointing out the animals more than anything.
5. Object To Photo Matching - We did this last week for the first time and Ethan loved it! He still very much enjoyed it, but there were other trays that captured his attention more.
6. Baked Cotton Ball Smashing - I decided against making these colored on the outside in fear it'd take away from the focus being on the white center, but Ethan was still confused if they were yellow or brown so I probably should have definitively colored them. Regardless, he adored his activity this week! (This is the recipe I used for the baked cotton balls!) I couldn't find anything more suitable than the meat mallet (is that the correct term? Probably not!) in the kitchen cabinet, so we went with that. Ethan had a blast smashing them open and finding the white fluffy center. He was pretty focused on smashing them with the mallet for the first few days but then he started getting creative, by seeing if he could stand on them to crack them, toss them to crack them or trying to smash them under other toys. This was a fun one!

ARTS & CRAFTS

Ethan really enjoyed playing with ice last week so I did the same this week. We made white "snow" by adding heaping spoonfuls of salt to a small amount of water in an ice cube tray. They were perfectly chilly but didn't melt and Ethan was able to build little "igloos" with the blocks as well.

We also made a few paintings with Moon Paint (half shaving cream, half glue mixed with some white glitter) and had Ethan had a blast feeling how velvety they were once they dried!

Another hit was adding white feathers to a bird!

READING LOG: We've still barely made a dent in our huge bag of books from the library. All week, Ethan has solely wanted to read his Llama Llama books, along with the Curious George books we brought home from the library last time.

LINKING UP WITH:

Tot School Montessori MondayI Can Teach My Child

No Time For Flash CardsFor the Kids Friday



5 comments:

  1. I've been wanting to try moon paint and cotton ball smashing. It looks like so much fun!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. They were so neat! I think they'd be really cool if you dye the outside, too!

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  3. You inspire me Lindsay so so much! As always thanks so much for sharing your tot school posts!

    ReplyDelete

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