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.

Tot school: Halloween Day

It's Halloween! We had such a fun day. I planned a special tot school lesson for Emma to celebrate today. First, we sang a Halloween song found here. We only own one Halloween book (Where Is Baby's Pumpkin?), so we checked out a few from the library and read those. Usborne Books & More has a few cool options, too!

For our first activity, we made monsters (a ghost and a spider to be exact) out of PlayDoh. This was our first time using googly eyes, and Emma LOVED playing (and chewing) on them.

Afterwards, we played Pumpkin Says (aka Simon Says, Halloween style). I didn't get a good picture while we did it, but some of the commands used were:

•  Howl like a werewolf
• Grin like a jack-o-lantern
• Boo like a ghost
• Cackle like a witch
• Hobble like a zombie
• Show me your scariest face

Emma only did some of the moves, but it was something fun to try anyhow. To celebrate Halloween with Daddy, we went trick-or-treating at the mall in the evening (it was so-so), then in the neighborhood of Phil's co-worker (much better - they gave out full-sized candy bars)! After we got home, Phil made a cute (and delicious) jack-o-lantern pizza and we watched Hocus Pocus.

 Definitely stayed up past bedtime, but fun memories were made today!

Tot School: Body Parts, What's Inside

Awk, I'm still a blog post behind! On Friday, we had our last body parts lesson, which was on what is inside - bones, muscles, and organs. We started our lesson with Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes and read all of our body books.

None of the books really covered what's inside the body, so I brought out my laptop and pulled up (appropriate) pictures of what we look like on the inside and briefly explained to Emma the importance and functions of everything inside. She's now obsessed with skeletons because she thought the bones were so cool, haha.

For our first activity, we made a skeleton out of q-tips (though I made the skull way too small). I pointed to Emma's body and told her where all the bones can be found inside and how they hold us up, help us move around, and get things done.

After we were done talking about the skeleton, we moved on to our next activity, which was an organ dot marker printable. I love how this website made one for the brain, heart, lungs, stomach, and intestines. I showed Emma all of them and explained what they do, but we choose the stomach to work on.  She's getting better with dotting the circles!

This section was so much fun to talk about. It's definitely something we haven't brought up before! This afternoon we're going to have a special Halloween lesson, so I will try to post that in a timely manner, though we have a busy day ahead of us. On Wednesday, we're going to be talking about textures and on Friday we're going to discuss patterns.

Tot School: Body Parts, The Body

On Wednesday, we talked about all the body parts of a person. We started our lesson by singing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes again, then read all of our body books.  Head, Body, Legs: A Story From Liberia was especially good for today because it talked about how all the body parts work together as a team to get things done.

For our first activity, I brought our Mr. Potato Head. Emma has never played with this toy before, so I wasn't sure how she would react to it, but she loved it! This was a great way to review the parts on the face, as well as other body parts, such as the arms and legs. Emma did not want her picture taken today, so I took pictures of her creations instead. These were her favorites.

I had only borrowed Mr. Potato Head, but since Emma enjoyed it so much (and didn't want to stop) I think I'll get her own for Christmas. Our next activity was supposed to be all about dancing with our different body parts, but Emma didn't want to participate at all, so I just danced by myself, haha. While I didn't show her these videos, this is what I had in mind for our activity, which I think is a great way to teach your child about the various body parts we have.

Tot School: Body Parts, The Face

I am so excited for this week because I think it's going to be so much fun and Emma should learn a lot from it. We're talking about body parts all week, but I've broken it up into three sections: the face, the rest of the body, and the insides.

Usborne Books & More offers a lot of amazing books about the body. Here is just a few of the more popular options!

We started off the lesson by singing Head, Shoulder, Knees, and Toes (a toddler classic), followed by reading these wonderful library books. I loved reading these because they really encourage your child to move certain body parts to along with the story. Emma especially loved wiggling her toes.

I, personally, liked I Love You, Nose! I Love You, Toes! the most because it was the most comprehensive. It seriously covered ALL the body parts in such a cute way (even the private parts that you don't show your friends), which I thought was awesome.

After we read all the books, we went to the table for our activity. Day 1 is all about the face, so we made PlayDoh faces with this printable. Emma has known about eyes, ears, mouths, and noses for forever, so she knew exactly where to put them, which made me proud.

After that, we just sat down and reviewed what's on our face. I briefly explained what each part does (we'll do a more in-depth week on the five senses later), as well as covered new parts of the face, such as the forehead and cheeks. Then I asked her where certain parts were. As I said above, she's known about the face forever, so she nailed it.

 
We'll talk about the rest of the body parts on Wednesday! It should be a good lesson!

Tot School: Star Shape

Woohoo, today was the last day of our shape lessons. It has been super fun, and Emma has picked up on them so well, but I'm ready to move on! Our last lesson was on the star shape.

We started our lesson by singing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (an obvious, but classic choice), followed by reading our shapes books. Our Book of the Day was Touch the Brightest Star by Christie Matheson. It was a cute one!

After our books, we went to the table for our first activity. I printed out this star dot marker sheet (there are others on the website, as well) for Emma to complete, though I couldn't find the yellow dot marker! I'll have to clean out the pantry (it's probably time to do so anyway). But, I improvised and brought out the yellow PlayDoh that we hadn't opened yet. I tried to get Emma to rip it up into little pieces and put the in the circles. Eh, she wasn't feeling it and only put in a 50/50 effort. She just wanted to rip up the PlayDoh.

After we completed the sheet, I brought out big shapes I had cut out earlier and put them on the kitchen floor. I would call out a shape, and Emma would run and grab it. Easy peasy, she knew every shape! So proud. Then I took the shapes from her, laid them out again, and then said to jump on certain shapes. She really enjoyed that! She wouldn't STOP jumping on them, ha!

I'm confident that Emma knows her shapes pretty well at this point, though she hasn't really said any of the words (except oval - random). We'll have to keep working on that. For next week, we'll be talking about body parts! It's going to be divided into three sections: the face, the body, and the innards.We'll see how well this goes.