Tot School- food…

We had an extremely laid back tot school the last two weeks- some days we did lots, other days we did nothing for a couple of days except normal play. I had a lot of other stuff planned but we only did about half of it- some of the art ideas I will save for a rainy day!

I also plan to take a break now until September- we will start back with Tot School then and I will start doing some phonics and ABC work with Noah as recently he is very interested in getting me to write his name for him and he points to the letters as I say them- he loves to draw and colour as well {He asks for his crayons 5 or more times a day} so I will give him some ABC sheets with pictures as well- more for a vocab builder reason than a “Learn the alphabet” reason. I am working on our next theme and getting everything ready and trying to be more organized- hence the weeks break. I also have to get some stuff ready for my kids English lessons as they are working on sight words now which is a lot of printing and laminating on my part . The two themes a month {instead of 4!} is working well for me and for Noah too. I don`t push the issue- we just play mainly and I guess he learns through that. It is incredibly important for kids to learn through play and up until now if he hasn`t been into something I have organized or he gets over it in 1 minute then I put it away to try again another time. Some things will keep his attention for 30 minutes or more and then he cries when I have to put them away {Some activities require supervision and if Shion wakes up or needs to be fed or if I have to start getting dinner or lunch ready then usually I have to pack up the activities- luckily distraction usually works- ie, I say “Okay, lets colour” or “Are you hungry” and then usually he will help pack up himself}

Luckily the computer is playing nice today and not deleting everything I write every 20 seconds. At least not so far! {Spoke to soon! curser is now moving itself around willy nilly and deleting what I write!!!!!!!!!}

I will link up at 1+1+1=1 when I am done- head over there to check out what some {much more highly motivated than me!} other mama`s do!

Theme: Food
Noah is 20 months {as of late last week}

Art & Craft

We painted with ice cubes- I put food dye and little bento forks in them to
make it easier for Noah to hold.

Also did some colouring, drawing and using dot markers! The apple dot marker sheet comes from here.

In the above photo you can see him putting the lids back on the markers- he matches up all the colours when he does this and puts them in the ziplock bag when he is done!

And Noah made a birthday card for his friend Missha with stickers and markers.

I had planned to do some painting with veggies but I didn`t get organized enough to cut them up {should of done it one night while doing dinner!} but we will try this another time!

Practical Life & Fine Motor skills work

Been food week we did some baking- this is my first attempt baking with Noah. He did very well and enjoyed it a lot- of course there was more mess than usual and when we bake together it is not food I could share with others since he likes to eat directly from the bowl but he certainly had fun!

Greasing the pan

After he poured the dry ingredients in for me he played with the stuff that didn`t make the bowl!

Helping to add water

And doing the mixing…..and taste testing

Noah also helped water Baba & Jiji`s garden

Although it was mainly the same place over and over again that got drenched.

He helps me do some cleaning: Here he is using the sticky roll to wipe the mat.

We did a pouring exercise. This is a very montessori style activity using beans- the beakers I used are plastic {They would usually be glass} as I bought them at the 100yen shop and couldn`t find glass ones that were a good size for him. Noah loved this activity and repeated the action over and over again after I demonstrated it for him- at first his grasp and angle was a bit off and he spilt some beans but by the third time he had it down pat pouring them back and forth. The first couple of times that he spilled he would stop and put all the beans back in a jar.

Doing this type of exercise also made me realize how much we need a table for him to work at- it would be great for his art and drawing projects too as at the moment he just “colours” on the floor {but so far has only once actually coloured the floor and one other time coloured the mat….yay for washable crayons and markers!}. I am looking to purchase a wooden table and chairs but haven`t really started looking for a proper one yet.

Also Noah has started wanting to wash his own face in the shower and then he washed my face for me too {and sometimes Shion`s!} and is getting better at drinking from a regular cup when he needs to {He drinks so much water though, almost 2L most days, that I usually leave his water in a straw cup on his highchair so he knows where it is}. I think it is time I put together a “care for self” basket out with an extra toothbrush, comb and towel for washing his face. It is such a shame our bathroom is not more child friendly as he can`t reach the tap alone or turn them on as they are too stiff/old. In the new house he will be able to do this himself! I have a stool for him but it is still not quite high enough- he needs to grow another 5cm!!!

We also played with his mamagoto- these are new {mamagoto = mother`s things} and it is actually for pretending to up the veggies as they came with a board and wooden knife but Noah is more interested in pulling them apart and matching them back together properly than trying to cut them. He does enjoy pretending to eat them or getting me to pretend to eat them though!!

Noah is pretty great at cleaning up his own toys when asked especially if I say it is bed time, lunch time or “Let`s go out”. He is very good at putting things back on his shelves and making sure the wooden blocks are in the right box and legos are in the right box etc- he mainly only struggles getting his books back onto the book shelf but i have told him to just place them on top of the others.

Math & Sensory

Quite a few of the pratical life activities also crossed over into the math and sensory category but we did a couple other activities as well.

Rolling tomato tins

This was an activity Noah created himself while I was unpacking groceries. He sat on the floor looking at the veggies while handing them to me to put in the fridge but once he found these tins he was off stacking them and then rolling them!

I gave him some marbles, a bowl and and icecube tray as well as the blue tray to present the items but he enjoyed rolling them around the tray a lot more. He also loved it when I counted them out for him while he put them in a parmasan cheese container.

Of course this was something I had to watch VERY carefully- also because Shion was nearby! Noah is pretty good about not putting things in his mouth much anymore but he loves to try and “share” things with Shion as well which of course would be a big no no with marbles!!

We took out the playdough on three different occasions- only took photos one of the times though.

He found a new favourite playdough toy- he loved getting me to squeeze it out so it looked like hair/spaghetti then shaking it around until they all fell off! He asked me to repeat it about 40 times!!!!

Also did some half and whole fruit matching. I had about 12 cards for this {from Montessori Print Shop – I got them as a free download ages ago- not sure if it is still free} but only presented three to Noah. I went with fruit he usually enjoys and recognizes!

Water play was definitely a sensory experience for him too!

Music & Language

We did a lot of Pat-a-Cake and singing Apples & Bananas {and listening to the Raffi version as well as Raffi`s biscuits in the oven and some other songs!}

I forgot to take a photo of the books for the theme but they included
-Pancakes Pancakes by Eric Carle
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
-Yummy Yucky by Leslie Patricilli
-Eating the alphabet by Lois Elhert
-Good Enough to Eat by Lizzie Rockwell{Just looked at pictures}
- The best mouse cookie by Laura Numeroff
-I`m Hungry by Rod Campbell
-First book of Sushi by Amy Wilson Sanger

I also printed and laminated these apple cards {and I am sorry I can`t remember where I got them from now} and layed out three and asked Noah “Where is the green apple?” and did it with each colour after laying them out again in different orders. He did really well!

I think that is everything- since computer is playing up it took me an hour to write and post this! Desperately need a new computer!!!! Both boys were napping but Shion has just woken up now and I am sure Noah won`t be far behind!

Hope othes had fun with their toddlers this week!

Popularity: 5% [?]