Christmas themed tot school has been a lot of fun. With birthday parties and planning Christmas feast as well as some other things and still trying to spend a lot of time outside on nice days we haven`t done all that I planned but still got some things done! Lots of art & crafts which I loved as we often fall short in that area! Noah also loved it and we let Shion have a go at a couple things too!
Noah is 24 months, Shion is 11.5 months.
Art & Craft
Lots of Christmas stickers {like probably 6 times in the last 2.5 weeks!}
Decorating a Christmas tree with markers and stickers
Christmas cards for family {with more stickers, of course!}
The reason Noah is often in his brothers highchair when we do art/craft
Photo quality is not great here but Noah made a stocking collage
Lots of coloring & drawing
Noah loved this activity. A Christmas tree with shapes {that I had cut out previously} and some glue- he had to stick them in the right place which he did ALL of them correctly without any help {of course some faced different directions but he got the positioning correct!}
Decorating some paper to make wrapping paper for his Daddy`s Christmas present. He is so proud now when we pass the presents on the stairs to point out “his” paper.
Felt Christmas tree ornaments decorated with buttons. This was another hit. I had prepared three because I knew he wouldn`t want to stop at one. He cried though when it was done. I should of prepared more in advance!
Two of the finished trees
Drawing on his white board with red and green markers
A contact paper christmas collage. I found it really hard to find contact paper here in Japan so friend bought me some back from Australia recently {Thanks Nic!}- I originally though it would make a great first collage for Shion as I have seen it around on the web with kids as young as him trying it out but the problem is he still tries to eat EVERYTHING so instead I gave Noah some materials and he did it while Shion was napping one day.
Then he decided to throw the materials around the room but when prompted he also cleaned them up. So a practical life activity thrown in!
Painting with baubles
Practical Life
One of my favourite practical life activities is cooking/baking with Noah. I can not wait til we are in our new house and our kitchen will lend itself to more than one person standing at the bench. I wish I could have Noah help more often but it is currently not so safe especially with Shion also under foot. I am so excited to include him more once we move though! We did do some cookie baking though {today actually after I put it off for almost a week- I shouldn`t of!}. Due to lack of space we did it on our dining table! Once we move Shion will be at the age where he can start to help a bit more {mixing, rolling, washing!} so that will be fun as well.
Rolling
Pressing in the cutters
Decorating before they go into the oven
I have enough ingredients for another batch so we might even do some on the 24th or 25th. Maybe in red and green!!!
I think cutting using scissors is practical life isn`t it?
This is the first time I introduced scissors to Noah- I made some cutting strips by putting stickers and lines on some cardstock. He didn`t really enjoy this but I still have some left so we will try again soon. Perhaps giving him paper and scissors with nothing on the paper is the better way to go for this at first.
I made a peg activity by putting washi tape on some pegs {reds/greens or christmas patterns} and then putting some tape on a rolled piece of cardboard for Noah to match up. I thought he would like this more than he did but he did humour me for a little bit but preferred to give me the peg, show me where it went then get me to peg it for him.
Another practical life activity: Spooning! We used large red and green puff balls and a muffin tin- I put coloured stickers in the tin so he could do some colour matching as well {a favourite activity of his!} – I loved that he tried to use the spoon each time even though he also needed his hands to help guide the ball. We pulled this out a couple of times before his birthday party but then I needed the tin for muffins for the birthday party and he cried when he saw me pulling off the stickers. Poor Noah!
Oh we also did a ton of water pouring, mainly in the bath. Noah has a bottle and a bucket with small handle and he does a lot of pouring, filling up, then pouring some more. Bath times are great for him for practical life focus actually as he helps wash his face and hair {we shower before we have a bath as that is usually the way it is done in Japanese culture as often everyone will use the same bath water- at the moment on the weekdays, it is just the three of us that use the bathwater at the same time} and then pulls the plug and cleans up the toys when prompted. He hates to get out of the bath now though so sometimes he throws toys first but if I gently remind him that he has to hop out but can have another bath tomorrow then he will clean up.
Math & Sensory
Christmas coloured patterning strips for his counting bears. {I know one at a time is better but he insisted on putting out all three}
Playdough!
Narrow to wide puzzle
Here he is picking it up to take it back to the bottom step where I had put it out {while Shion napped}
I have to admit that with cleaning up his toys and other things he is very good at this. Often doing it unprompted for example if I say we are going out or having dinner he will pack up what he is doing and put it back where it belongs.
I put together a Christmas themed sensory bin. He liked this okay but it was not as popular as I had hoped- good thing I just used things I had laying around mainly except for the “snow” although I bought that mainly for another craft that we didn`t end up getting too.
Matching coloured sticks to coloured christmas lights. Noah loves these sticks so anything that uses them he is into.
Also lots of Christmas themed window gels. Noah adores these things! He played with them 4-5 times in the last 2 weeks.
No pictures but he is very into counting right now. He also knows when something is missing- ie, his new wooden ramp for cars has 5 little cars that came with it. If one is missing when he plays with it he walks around holding one finger in the air to indicate that one is missing and he is looking for it. His favourite books at the moment feature numbers too- ie “Spot can Count” and “5 useful engines”
Language & Music
Lots and lots and lots of reading {Christmas themed stories and others!}- Usually we read 3 books before nap and 5 books before bed at night except Noah almost always cons me into reading double that each time. Also different times of the day he will bring a book or two to read or to flick through by himself. Sometimes when Shion naps in the morning we snuggle up on the beanbag and read a couple of books as well as Noah likes to have me to himself {and not to have Shion`s hands/mouth in the way I guess!}
We did C is for Christmas- I put together a C sound box and we practiced both phonetic sounds for C and Noah could make both.
Here he is pointing to OUR Christmas tree when I asked him.
Plus a C is for Christmas worksheet from Confessions of a Homeschooler.
We also had Noah`s rhythmic class Christmas party- lots of bell ringing, meeting santa and dancing about. Noah had fun! {He is in the green}
Noah got some lovely birthday gifts including these animal puzzle cards with shapes. He enjoyed playing with them {and Shion enjoyed trying to eat them- are you seeing a recurring theme?}
He also got some ABC touch and feel cards- for now I just let him have about half of them to explore. I will think up some other ways to use them for another time. Great for getting him to try and sound out letters though!
Other activities
We spend time outside every fine day- sometimes 2 hours plus despite the cooler weather. Noah enjoyed leaf crunching a lot the last couple of weeks. He also has a “park” friend, Mao-chan {He says Mao ta} and loves to run around with her, hold hands with her and generally muck about. It is great for him to have a friend a bit older who is Japanese as most of the younger kids he spends time with on a semi-regular basis are other children with one foreign parent except for the students in his rhythmic class. Great for me too as I have made friends with Mao-chan`s mum and it is nice to have someone I can see day to day.
Noah got a tricycle for his birthday from his Japanese grandparents. He likes it okay except can`t seem to pedel by himself yet and actually enjoys pushing Shion around on it more than actually riding it himself. I hope he will get used to it!
I made a felt Christmas tree and stuck it to our living room wall so that Noah could “decorate” the tree himself. He does this most days- Shion also likes to pull what he can reach and try and eat them. Or put them under the sofa.
I made the boys an advent calendar- I bought a ready made one from Ikea that was santa shaped and come with 24 empty boxes which I filled with a small card with either “book” written on it or an activity with a small cookie or chocolate for Noah. I wrapped up 12 Christmas themed books and each day Noah has been really quick to request to open his advent box. It did not take him long!!! This is not so much related to “Tot School” but I hadn`t blogged about it yet. Some of the activities were craft projects, listening to carols, watching a Christmas dvd of their choice, baking cookies, stickers etc.
These photos were taken on my phone on the 1st day.
Baby School {with Shion, 11.5 months}
I found it very difficult to do certain activities while Shion is awake because of our space issues in our current place and the fact that Shion is still heavily into mouthing everything. I let him pretty much roam free but if he is awake when Noah is doing something then I have to hold him or put Noah up high which is no fun for Shion.
I did try him with his first craft project.
He has a lot of fun with his brother though and they create their own games.
He has his pincer grip down as well- this will come in handy for some activities soon! At the moment he mainly uses it if their is food involved.
Also some fun with the puff balls while Noah did some art! He got the idea to put them in the bowl soon after I gave them to him after I demonstrated dropping them in once.
Exploring with a mirror.
I also made him a Christmassy sensory bottle- red water with green sparkles and clear beads. He enjoyed rolling and chasing it as well but mainly just chewing on it.
Shion also met santa {at Noah`s rhythmic class Christmas party}
He of course put it in his mouth!
No Tot School plans for the coming weeks! We will just wing it and hopefully learn through playing!
Linking up at 1+1+1=1, Living Life Intentionally and Living Montessori Now.
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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!
