Tot School: Patterns

Yesterday we had a tot school lesson on patterns. For our song, I showed Emma this YouTube video that talks about different kinds of patterns we see everywhere.  It was very informative, but kind of annoying, haha. Emma wasn't into it either. Oh well.

After the song, I read her three books on patterns we checked out from the library. I completely spaced taking a picture of them before returning them, whoops, but the titles were: Spotty, Stripy, Swirly: What Are Patterns? by Jane Brocket, I See A Pattern Here by Bruce Goldstone, and Look! Look! Look! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. While Usborne Books & More doesn't necessarily have books specifically about patterns, there are a variety of adult coloring books that showcase them!

For our first activity, we just went around the house and talked about the different patterns we could find. Again, Emma was just not into it, so I didn't bother taking pictures and moved on to the next activity quickly.

I got out some skittles, lined them up into patterns (AB, ABC, AAB, etc.) and had Emma try to figure out what came next in the pattern. Unfortunately, I think this was too complicated for her as it went right over her head. I think we'll try to review this when she's a bit older.

Not my favorite week of tot school, but I believe textures and patterns are important to go over. I'm more excited about next week - we're going to be talking about animals! So many possibilities for this one!

Tot School: Textures

Today, we had a lesson on textures! We started our lesson with this cute When I Touch song (and there are other song options on that website too), followed by our books. I didn't have to go to the library for this because we have TONS of touch-and-feel type books (from Usborne Books & More and other places). I didn't read all of the texture books we have, but here is what we did read.

Emma was not in the mood for tot school today, and she kept running off while I tried to read and have her touch all of the different textures. Which was weird because these are her favorite kind of books. But, I read aloud anyway and after I was finished, we went to the table to our first activity, which was making imprints of various objects in PlayDoh, which Emma loved!

I found the idea from this website. Items we used included a canning lid, a pipe cleaner, a fork, a rock, and a building block. We would press the object into the PlayDoh, then feel the imprint it made. It kept Emma's attention until Daddy came home.

I quickly got her dressed for the day (it was a lazy one), then the three of us went on a nature walk around the apartment complex to find different types of textures, such as rough, smooth, moist, dry, delicate, and rubbery. Emma always enjoys getting out of the house, so she kept getting distracted by one thing or another, so it was a bit difficult for her to stop and touch something.

Since there's only so much you can talk about with textures, I just limited it to one lesson rather than cover it over the week. On Friday, we plan to talk about patterns.