Life on Pioneer Trail: Tot School: Week 1 at 14 months

Last week was our first week of Tot School. It was interesting, to say the least.

I think I learned more this week than Luke. I learned that a 14 month old's attention span is that of 8 seconds, literally 8 seconds. (I know you are all shocked.) I learned that Luke doesn't really like to do art, yet. I learned that I am going to have to really, really go with the flow if I want this to be successful and fun. My Type A personality is going to have to take a back seat.

Here is my first week of activities with Luke:

Balls on Bubble Wrap

Skills:
Gross motor development
Sensory development

Activity:
We moved around balls on bubble wrap to hear how it sounded. We also felt the bubble wrap and popped a few. Luke's favorite thing: throw the ball and play fetch with himself.

Winter Sensory Basket

Skills:
Sensory development

Activity:
I placed some winter gear in a basket for Luke to explore (hats, scarves, gloves). I made sure to use items with different textures. I didn't get many good pictures because Luke was just throwing the hats and scarves around as you can see. He enjoyed this activity for about 4.5 seconds and then wanted to do something else.

Magnets on the Whiteboard

Skills:
Fine motor development
Numbers 1-5

Activity:
Luke has a new whiteboard in his playroom that we utilized for this activity. I placed foam numbers 1-5 on the whiteboard as well as some bigger magnets. He practiced taking them on and off as we practiced the vocabulary of 'on' and 'off'. I also talked about the numbers, although that is getting a bit ahead of myself. He loved doing this, although he had a little trouble putting the numbers on so the magnet side was to the whiteboard. He would hold the wrong side on the whiteboard, pushing with all his might, and then let go. He got a bit upset they didn't stick. We will have to work on that. He was engaged with this activity for an incredible 5 minutes, the longest he lasted all week!

Winter Scene Painting

Skills:
Art
Sensory development
Fine motor development

Activity:
I taped a black sheet of heavy construction paper on his highchair and scooped some homemade paint onto it. When I put Luke in his chair, he wanted nothing to do with it. Absolutely nothing. I let him get out to see if he wanted to paint on the floor, but all he wanted to do was climb in the chair. We will keep trying the paint thing.

Exploring Lids

Skills:
Sensory development
Shapes: circle

Activity:
This activity happened by accident. After the the terrific (haha) painting session, I went to get a jar and lid to put the paint away. Luke was very interested in the lids, so I got some out and let him go to town. He threw them around the room and we listened to the sounds they made as well as talked about how they were circles. It's all about flexibility, which is something I desperately need to work on.

Straws in and out
***Luke's favorite of the week!

Skills:
Fine motor

Activity:
I took an empty Parmesan cheese container, washed it out, and used it for this activity. All I added were some straws and Luke was busy with this for about 5-10 minutes. He couldn't quite figure out how to get them in the container, but he loved pulling them out. He would kind of throw the straws at the container hoping they would go in. We talked about putting them in and pulling them out. This was, by far, his favorite activity this week.