Tot School- Primary Colors

     I've started teaching Little Man his colors, so I made him these boxes.  I found the boxes at Michael's and painted them the Primary colors then I looked for things to put into each box that went with that color.  I still need to add some more things to each box.  I am thinking I would like to find some things that have some different texture to them, so I am waiting to raid my mother's fabric bins and other boxes she has at her house. 

October Sensory Tub

Yes, I realized that I did not post what was on our shelves for September or the Sensory Tub for September too.  Sorry!  Here is our Sensory Tub for October.

What is inside:

Black Beans

Black Cauldrons (from Target last year)

Skeleton Heads (from Michaels)

Colorful Insects (from Dollar Tree)

Eyeballs (from Michaels)

Skeleton Hand (from Michaels)

Pumpkin (from Michaels)

Shovel Spoon (from Montessori Services)

Plastic tub (from Walmart its Tupperware)

Little Man (18 months) loved the Sensory Tub.  He was trying very hard to scoop up the black beans and put them in the cauldrons.  I would not leave him alone with this work but Sugar Bear does great without me sitting right next to her.

It was so much easier for him to use his hands to scoop up the black beans.

I encouraged him to try the shovel spoon again.  Side note, he held onto the eyeball for a long time.

Tot School- yogurt and blocks

     Little Man (17 months) is really into putting things in containers or bottles so I made him this little work.  I took an empty yogurt container and cut some holes into the top.  The blocks I got at Target in the $1 section this month.  Once I introduced this work to Little Man, he didn't put it down for almost 45 minutes.  I have a feeling he would have kept working but it was time for bed. 

     I cut out holes the shape of the cubes.  The hole on the left will allow the cubes to go in any way but the one on the right only lets the cube go in one way.  Little Man does a great job with the one on the left but the one on the right took him some time to figure it out.

     Towards the end of working with this Little Man figured out how to take the lid off and get the cubes out.  Now, putting the lid back on is another story.   

Tot School- Stacking pegs

     Little Man (17 months) and Sugar Bear love these pegs.  At first Little Man struggled to put the pegs together but he now has the hang of it.  Both really like to stack the pegs on top of each other verses putting them in the board.  For now I have just been letting him learn to stack them together.  I plan on later doing more color sorting. 

Tot School/ Toy Tuesday- Nesting Sort and Stack Cubes

     Look what we got today in the mail!!!  How lucky because today is Toy Tuesday!!!  I plan to put this nice Nesting Sort and Stack Cubes on Little Man's shelf this week.  The nice UPS man delivered this little package about 30 minutes before we headed out to dance class.  So I don't have any action shots yet but both of them had a great time exploring them.  Here are some cool things you can do with them.

Stack inside by color.

Stack on top of each other by color.

Combine the different colors.

Here you can see that the cubes are different in height.

     I'm super excited to see Little Man work with it by himself.  Sugar Bear kept taking his pieces from him.  This toy will really help with his hand eye coordination.  The cubes won't go in if you don't line them up right.  I also saw this same toy but using cylinders.  That is next months buy:)  If you are wondering I got them from Amazon.com.  So far I love this toy.



Homeschooling Room

     I think I finally have Sugar Bear's classroom ready.  I plan on getting started next month.  She's been doing some work a couple days a week but it's just been an introduction to the materials.  The only thing missing is our calendar work but that is not ready yet.  Once I get the weather bear made and put up then I think the calendar board will be ready to be put up.  Here are some pictures of Sugar Bear's classroom.   

The gate is to keep Little Man out.  There are some really small pieces that he could get into.

From left to right:

     Practical Life shelf.  I got the shelf at Target, the trays came from Montessori N Such, the glassware/ spoons/ tweezers came from Montessori Services/ Thrift store/ Dollar section at Target, and the materials on the tray came from the Dollar Tree/ Target/ Michael's.  To see what is on the shelves check out my previous post here.  Located next to the PL shelf are the Dressing Frames.

     Sensorial Shelf:  On Top are my books we read before bed.  Then I have a Pink Tower and color matching puzzle.  Then the first sets of Knob and Knobless cylinders.  Followed by the last sets of Knob and Knobless cylinders.  Finally on the bottom shelf are the Brown Stair and another color/texture matching puzzle.  Located to the left of the Sensorial shelf are the Red Rods.

     Language Shelf (located in the closet cannot see it).  This is were we will really start working next month.  Right now she has some puzzles and the Alphabet Roll (section 1).

     Math Shelf:  On top: ocean magnet puzzle, Target $1 toy puzzle, and a Melissa and Doug ocean habitat.  In the middle row:  connecting people, nuts and screws, alphabet puzzle, and a number puzzle.  The bottom row has the number roll, 1-5 puzzle, number puzzle, table top red and blue number rods, and sandpaper numbers.

     Little Man's area:  I moved the art easel out so he can use it too.  I keep the chalk in Sugar Bear's area (I've learned not to let little kids lose in the house with chalk...my poor walls). 

     Little Man's shelf:  different locks puzzle, corks in a bottle work, Melissa and Doug rainbow work and an ocean knob puzzle.



Tot School- Little Pink Box

     Little Man (16 months old) loves to take the tissue out of the Kleenex box so I thought this would be a fun activity for him.  Well, lets be honesty I was tired of him wasting my tissues and finding them all over the house.  The Pink Box was pretty simple to make.  I took a small box and taped it completely shut.  I then drew a circle on one side and cut little teeth from the center of the circle.  I covered the box with construction paper and there you go.  In the inside of the box there is a 15 foot long fabric train (you can use ribbon) that my mom quilted together with left over fabric she had.  Both kids loved pulling the fabric train out. 

There was a fight over pulling out the fabric train.

Finally, had it all to himself.

     Not only does he like to take the fabric train out but he likes to put it back in.  He not only puts the fabric train in but other items such as: Sugar Bear's underwear (they were clean), mail, tissue, and little toys.  All in all the kids really liked working with the Pink Box. 

Corks in a bottle variation

     Little Man (he is almost 16 months)  has been enjoying his corks in a juice bottle work.  He spent about 25 minutes on it the first time I showed him this work.  The next day Little Man went into the living room and brought back the Melissa and Doug Pound a Peg toy.  

     I showed him how the pegs fit into the juice bottle and he spent the next 15 minutes putting the corks and the pegs into the juice bottle.  Today, we went over to my parents house and they have a huge class water bottle (this is where I got my corks from).

     The kids started putting the corks in the bottle.  Then they decided to put the bottle on its side and put the corks in that way.  With this type of bottle one cannot just drop the cork in but you have to push it in to get the cork to drop into the bottle.  This was an easy skill for Sugar Bear to get but Little Man took a few tries to get the corks to first fit into the opening and then to get them to drop.

Sugar Bear handing Little Man some corks.

Sugar Bear showing Little Man how to push the cork into the bottle.

Success!!!!!



Toddler "School"

Along with teaching Sugar Bear, Little Man needs some work too!!  I have been looking for activities for Little Man to do since he seems ready.  I found this activity online and thought, why not give it a try!!  This activity has been a great hit with both Sugar Bear and Little Man.  Little Man is 15 1/2 months old when I gave him this activity.  I like that I didn't have to spend any money on this.  I found the items around my house and my parents house.  

Empty juice bottle, wine corks, a basket, and a tray

Little Man loved the yellow wine corks

After watching me empty the bottle, Little Man figured it out and can now do it himself.