Tot School: Unscheduled, Unplanned, Unorganized, but FUN!

If you read the title of this post, you probably can already guess that my Tot School planning has gone out the window the past few weeks.  Okay, who am I kidding...I haven't planned and stuck to a plan for Tot School in the past month and a half, maybe two.  I think it has been the sunshine and playdates and zoo trips that have made this Tot School thing take a back seat to summertime.  

Honestly, I'm okay with it.  Luke is still learning, growing, and developing everyday, despite my lack of written out plans and Pinterest-worthy activities.  We are having a great summer together...making memories and having lots and lots of fun.  

Here are some activities we have squeezed in the past few weeks between park visits, zoo trips, and playdates.  Hope some of them work for your little one.

Piggybank

Rating: 5/5

Skills:
Fine motor development
Counting 

Activity:
My mom and I picked up this piggybank from a second hand store and Luke is a fan.  It has five plastic coins Luke can put in the piggybank and pull out of the side.  It does have batteries and will sing and count the coins as they fall into the slot, but when I'm working with him we try and count together.  Luke tries to count, he makes a noise for each coin, but it is not recognizable as a number name.  We will keep working on that.

Watercolor Painting

Rating: 4/5

Skills:
Fine motor development
Colors 
Art

Activity:
Luke enjoys painting for short periods of time.  We talk about each color and the marks he is making on the paper.  This is a good 3 minute activity.

Using a wallet

Rating: 5/5

Skills:
Fine motor development
Practical life skill
Counting

Activity:
I have an old wallet that I put some of my old credit cards/reward cards in.  I gave it to Luke and he had to unbuckle the wallet to get the cards out.  We counted the cards as he pulled them out, while I put them in.  He loves playing with my wallet while we grocery shop, so this was a big winner.

Markers and Tape

Rating: 5/5

Skills:
Fine motor development
Colors
Sensory development
Art
Writing

Activity:
My friend, Paige, was here last week and she brought some fun, new markers for Luke.  He absolutely loved making marks on his page and worked on his picture for much longer than he ever has before.  Paige also gave him some small pieces of tape and stickers to put on his page and he loved doing that.  He is a BIG fan of tape.  What a great, easy sensory and fine motor activity.  Thanks for the idea, Paige! (Did I mention she is a preschool teacher and is chock-full of great ideas??!!)

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