Tot School {17 months}

Happy Saturday, all!  I combined the last two weeks of Tot School together for this post, as it seems like we have been gone a lot lately and not gotten to all the activities I've had planned.  Here is what we were up to the last two weeks on the Trail...

Magnetic Letters

Rating: 5/5

Skills:
Fine motor development
Letter recognition
Name recognition

Activity:
This is pretty straightforward.  I get out the magnetic letters and Luke sorts them, while I talk about each letter and then proceed to make words on a cookie sheet.  With an older tot, you could sort letters by color, holes/no holes, straight lines/curvy lines, uppercase/lowercase.  Sorting is a great way to get your tot to think about how letters are similar and different.

Markers

Rating: 3/5

Skills:
Fine motor development
Pre-writing
Art

Activity:
We have done this many times and Luke enjoys it almost every time.  I had an extra cut-out heart from Valentine's Day, so we used that along with some markers to make a picture.  Why do I prefer markers over crayons?  Mainly because they're easier for Luke to maneuver, but also because they make brighter, darker marks than crayons and Luke likes that.

Ping Pong Balls

Rating: 5/5

Skills:
Fine motor development
Gross motor development
Counting 1-5

Activity:
I put five ping pong balls in a cup.  Luke likes to throw them and then chase them.  I count them as he picks them up and throws them.  I use five balls because the number five is a landmark number (a simple number to work with; i.e. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, etc.).  

Easter Eggs

Rating 5/5

Skills:
Fine motor development
Sensory development
Colors
Counting

Activity:
I don't have my Easter sensory basket put together, yet, but I chose to get some plastic Easter eggs out for Luke to explore.  He liked feeling the shape and moving them around on the floor.  We talked about the color of each egg.

Easter Egg Color Matching

Rating: 5/5

Skills:
Fine motor development
Colors
Counting

Activity:
I gathered blue and green plastic eggs along with a blue felt mat and a green felt mat.  Luke and I sorted the eggs onto each mat.  We talked about the colors and also counted the eggs on each mat and in his cup.  I'm not sure he really understood the color matching, but he did like when I counted the eggs on each mat and in his cup.  

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