It has been awhile since I have done a Tot School post but we did do some work the last two weeks- bit of an ocean and sea animal theme. Noah turned 19 months old in the last week. The theme was great for his age I think- he was quite into certain thing but still no words for the animals we looked at but octopus and fish were his favourites. Apart from the rainy days we also spent an hour or more outside playing with water or in the garden- some days we had 2 or more hours outside and Noah had a great time. Unfortunately both boys get mosquito bites quite bad so we have to be a bit careful.
I will link up with 1+1+1=1 for the first time in ages. Go check out the other blogs linked up doing Tot School- great for tons of ideas!
Art & Craft
Noah did some dot marker play. We used the dot markers a few times over the last two weeks for different projects including a rainbow fish and a jelly fish.
We also did some colouring- I had some sea animal themed colouring sheets printed out. I definitely enjoy colouring more than Noah does it seems- he much prefers putting the crayons in and out of the box.
Oh and yes, that is a shark riding a bicycle on his t-shirt. I figured it fit the “theme”.
Noah also made a birthday card for a friend
Lastly, a roller sponge painting of a starfish. Noah enjoyed this activity too but he has reached the age where he is more aware of “mess” on is hands and wanted me to wipe the pain off him constantly although he still continued to touch the paint…over and over again. I think this was my favourite art activity with him for the last two weeks.
No pictures but we did some regular drawing and some finger painting as well.
Practical life (including fine motor skills work)
One of the practical life things I wanted to work from was drinking from a regular cup and figured we could do it while playing outside. Noah was uninterested. He is happy to drink from my water bottle but not interested at in holding a cup without a lid. I have tried a couple of times and will continue to try but no real luck yet. When he did hold it and drink from it though he did so well- no spilling or anything really except when he though it was a game and poured the entire cup over himself.
An oldie but a goodie…
Putting straws in a parmasen cheese container
He is getting very good at cleaning up his own toys as well and helping with hanging out the washing.
As for eating by himself we have no issues- he can eat with a fork or a spoon no real problems now. Next step will be training chopsticks!!!
Math & Sensorial (including matching, sorting and other activities that loosely fall under this category)
We made a sea urchin with toothpicks and playdough. I saw this somewhere online but can`t remember where…sorry for not linking back!
Some sea themed regular playdough play as well
Matching coloured fish to the laminated sheet with the fish- Noah did surpringly well with this considering in the past he couldn`t manage similar activities. I was really happy to see him coming along with it. He asked to do this a couple other times as well as he could see it up in the cupboard.
We also did a magnet fishing game which I picked up for a couple of hundred yen the day before we started this Tot School theme. He didn`t mind the game but much preferred it when I would “catch” the fish with the rod than doing it himself.
Noah`s Duplo, a relatively new purchase, has also been fantastic. He plays with it everyday without fail.
And will happily play with it alone too, as you can see. 
I put together and open and close basket for him as well and he enjoyed a lot of the things in it- it was not as frustrating for him this time as it was last time we did something similar. He could open and close almost everything himself and what he couldn`t he would hand to me and sign “open”.
Opening and closing and putting things inside other things are the skills Noah likes to practice most. Maybe that is why he prefers putting the crayons in and out of the box more than he actually seems to enjoy colouring.
His tupperware shape sorter also gets a lot of workout each day especially now that he can open it to release the shapes himself. He likes me to name the shapes as he puts them in or If I ask “Where is the star?” he can find it…along with circle, cross and triangle. No luck with the other shapes yet.
Language, books and music
We sang Baby Beluga a lot! Also 5 little fishies. One day I made a mini playlist on itunes and we had it playing in the background while we did Duplo- It had about 9-10 Ocean/swimming/beach themed songs including Octopus`s Garden- well the Raffi version anyway and Noah thought this song was great. We listened to the playlist a couple of times and it included other songs like Baby Beluga, Five little Fishies, Waterloo, Little White Duck, La Mur, Water Dance and Little Green Frog plus some others.
I was surprised we didn`t have more ocean themed books than those below- I searched through all our books but could only come up with these. We also looked at the ocean animals page in his 100 Animals book.
He liked the shiny parts in the Rainbow Fish story
He can point out starfish, fish and octopus`s when asked- I think he recognizes a couple of other things like jellyfish and sea turtle as well but I am not sure. His understanding in general is getting a lot better but his spoken words are still minimal, even now, at 19 months.
Miscellaneous
The boys are watching a Wiggles dvd called “The Big Red Boat”- figured it was kind of “oceany”.
As I said earlier we also spent a lot of time outside.
Playing with bubbles too but I have no pictures.
I am disorganized so far for this upcoming week- no plans as of yet but the theme will be The Zoo/Zoo animals/Jungle animals since this past ocean animal theme was fun. Not sure if I will get to take Noah to the zoo since it is really hot right now but will try once it is a bit cooler.
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I am just a twenty something Aussie girl living in Chiba, Japan with my Japanese husband trying to make sense of the crazy Japanese world we live in! We welcomed our first son in December 2009 (Noah) and a second son in January 2011, 2 months premature (Shion). I am working hard at raising them to be confident, bilingual, happy kids!
Your ocean theme looks like it turned out well!
I am wondering where you found hte dot markers. While I haven’t looked intently for them here I also haven’t come across them yet. Are they perhaps from a stationary store?
Hi, I ordered them, some other paints, some beads and other things from America amazon and shipped it to expat express who shipped it to me here in Japan- I waited til I had a few things I wanted to get like that as well as some Melissa and Doug products because I couldn`t find anywhere that had the things I was looking for here.
Bingo markers are apparently very similar- not sure if bingo is popular here though or not?
My daughter loves the Rainbow Fish book!
Yes, well Noah wasn`t so interested in having me read it to him. It was a bit long- so I summarized and mainly we looked at the pictures!
Wow! I am blown away impressed by what you’ve done and the effort you’ve put in. I went back to work full-time when my toddler was 1 so (lazily?) left most of those activities to them. I really want to do more but need some great ideas (like yours), enough props, brain space to plan it all and mostly time and space to do it all, since our apartment is so tiny.
Oh I used to be a preschool teacher so I enjoy organizing things like this although to be honest Noah is probably still a bit too young to get much out of it. It is more for me I think! He definitely loves the one on one time though and has been getting more into art projects lately. The books he always loves!!!
I do it on the floor in our living room- there is a cupboard downstairs- I store the weekly stuff in there but the rest of it is upstairs in the cupboard in his room since his clothes are in a duchess there is heaps of space in his cupboard luckily!
I am sure they do a ton with them at daycare though! Best to have outside and reading time if they get all the art/activity based stuff at school!
That’s so wonderful! I’m so stealing some ideas for Jude even though he is older!
xxx
I have heaps more for kids Jude`s age- I used to teach 2.5-5 year olds! I have lots of links etc if you are interested.
Very inspirational as always!
Did you like the Commotion in the Ocean book? J loves sharks and M loves rhymes so it looks like it would be a good one for me to order.
I would get it for the pictures etc alone! Noah wasn`t so interested in listening to the entire story but he LOVED the pictures and pointing out fish and starfish. We have Rumble in the Jungle as well but haven`t read it yet- this week! My preschool kids used to love both!
Over in the Meadow was another great one and I think they have an ocean version of that too now?
Noah loves the Dr Seuss board book rhyme books like Mr Brown Can Moo, Hand Hand Fingers Thumb etc so M would love them too I bet!
Oh yes, those Dr. Seuss books are all the rage right now in our house! Will look up Over in The Meadow as well. Thanks so much for the recommendation!
Looks like Noah is having a great time, well done you!!
My kids loved the Commotion in the Ocean and his other books in the series. Now by a huge coincidence I am planning a Rainbow Fish/Summer themed 90 minute event at my school on Aug 10th. I looked at the site you linked to but couldn’t find those prints you show in the fotos, where are they from, or did you draw them yourself?
I’d appreciate any more links you have to pre school theme based activities.
Miss B, I sent you a message on facebook about the Rainbow Fish! I hand drew the fish that Noah decorated with dot markers though.
As for preschool themed based activities- I usually google a lot of things but for songs/craft ideas/book ideas to begin with I usually look at everythingpreschool.com first and go from there. For craft ideas I google and look at images like rainbow fish craft then at the images for inspiration and ideas!
You’re a rockstar Lulu. I am inspired to do more with my kids. I tend to leave a lot of it up to the kinder. The mornings and evenings are chaos but perhaps they would listen a bit better if mum was actually doing things with them instead of just trying to herd them to the table, to the bath, to brush their teeth, to get into their PJs, and to ‘go the fuck to sleep’.
Thanks for sharing everything you did with Noah this week. It really looks amazing and like he is enjoying all of it. Love the sea urchin and the straws in the parmesan cheese jar. I’ll have to keep our next one. I’m pretty sure Ryu would still love doing that.
Know what you mean about loving to color in. When marina asks me to color with her and then wants to flip to a new page after ten seconds I’m like, no no at least let me finish coloring in her pink hair.
xxx
If Noah was in kinder I probably wouldn`t borrow so much- as he gets a bit older if he is Japanese kindy I would just do English based stuff at home. Letters/vocab etc I guess. Oh and I organize some of this stuff to keep myself sane since laying out a mat and giving Noah an activity is better than the whining or him pulling out EVERY toy he owns.
The other day he pointed at his mat and wanted his duplo to do on top of it- he sat for 30 minutes playing with it and I totally think it was because he was on the mat that he did not get distracted by other stuff.
The straws in parmasen jar is great. Cotton buds in a pet bottle also good. Noah loves BOTH!
Turns out MIss Behaving was after the Fish Colour Match game- for others that are interested I got it from here – http://creativelearningfun.blogspot.com/p/free-printables.html and it is called “Fish Colour Match” – this mama looks to have quite a few lovely free printables.
Another example of how you are a wonderful mother. You don’t need to do this every day: but you care enough to want to, and make the huge effort and actually achieve it some days.
bravo.
it rocks.
Thank you! We took a couple months off with moving etc but I am enjoying been back into it and Noah has enjoyed the more constant access to craft activities. He will colour or draw most days but usually just with crayons and usually for only 5-10 minutes before he gets bored but he likes it when we get out the dot markers or paint as well.
We don`t do it everyday though- usually a couple days a week when we are around home and I am motivated we will pull out a couple of activities while Shion is sleeping or happy in his jolly jumper/play mat.
Hi Lulu, I have read your blog for a while, but never commented. I just want to say, while I don’t have any kids myself, a lot of my friends do and I have NEVER seen anyone put as much effort into their children and their children’s education as you do. I think Noah seems actually quite advanced for a 19 month old!!! I have seen a few posts on your blog lately that you feel like you aren’t the mother you want to be, but can I just say, I think you are the most amazing, amazing mum and your kids are so lucky, and I hope that when I have kids one day, I will be as amazing with mine as you are with yours!
Thank you. I am not sure if tot school is a good representation of me as a mama overall! But I certainly feel good when we do it and most of the time Noah likes having some one on one time with me. Othertimes though he is a typical toddler pulling stuff out left right and center and doing the exact opposite from what I want.
Noah is on par with his peers I think. Perhaps behind in speech.
Lulu,
Wow! Kaion would be lucky if I planned half of what you do with these amazing activities! Such great ideas & I agree with what another poster said – Noah seems quite advanced at 19 mths to be achieving some of the things you have him doing here. Well done Mama! xo
Thanks Olivia. I help him with everything here- I give him a demonstration for some activities first and then he follows……well most of the time!
The craft activities he still needs a lot of help. It is definitely more ME doing them- but I hang them on the wall for a week and he oftens points them out and can point to certain ones when asked. Ie, where is the starfish etc!
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I got your website through the postcard swap, and am enjoying getting to know you. I’ve done some of the Tot School stuff this summer with my 2 children. I’m a preschool director so we are home all summer. I’ve never linked up and am thinking maybe I should so I’ll stay accountable. My daughter didn’t talk until after 18 months either (not even momma or dada), but once she started we can’t get her to stop. Just curious, do you use signs with Noah? Thanks for blogging, I truly enjoy it.
Hi April, I got your mail as well. I am sorry I have not replied yet. Linking up is fun for ideas- I like to see what other mama`s are doing. I am not so consistant with time etc- we do it some days, others we don`t. Sometimes in the mornings, sometimes at night after dinner and bath {Unless it is rainy out we don`t do it in the afternoons after nap- he is never in a good mood and it is best to head outside for a play}
I do use signs with Noah- only about 15 or so consistantly but he can do all the signs that I use. His most commonly used ones are eat, drink, train, car, bird, finished, yummy, ball and more. I am glad to hear that Noah is not the only one slow to start talking! He has some words but very few words he uses consistantly except for go and down.