Letter Bb and Blue

R is 26 months.



This week we learned about the letter B and the colour blue.

Craft
We made handprint bees, as seen on childcareland.com.

I collected all the blue items I could find in our collage box, and R made a blue collage.

With some leftover blue paint from another project, R did a blue painting and sprinkled it with blue glitter.

I put out all our blue crayons, pencils, markers and oil pastels and R created a blue drawing. R is really into drawing at the moment, so much so that he did 2 pictures.

Maths

We played with our small bears and sorted them by colour, focusing on blue.  R began putting all the bears into the carriages of his train set and driving them around the living room floor. They added a new dimension to his play, which was just a joy to watch. I also hid the blue bears around the room for R to find. He is getting so much better at this activity.

I printed and laminated the Butterfly Size Sorting Activity from Confessions Of A Homeschooler. R completed this quickly.

We completed the ball sequencing cards from Tot School Printables. We discussed how we can blow air into a flat beach ball to blow it up to help R understand the sequence.

Fine Motor and Sensory

I made a "B" sensory box with beans, blue gardening tools, butterfly punchies, a blue container and a small box. After I took this photo, I put some bugs in there too. R loves the different sensory boxes that I have put together for him, and spends hours per week playing with them.

This week, we had blue playdough, which R used a lot, requesting it many times. I put out a bowl of cookie cutters, including the letter B, butterflies, birds, a boat, bears etc from our cookie cutter collection. I also used the Main Letter Sheet from the Tot School Printables at 1+1+1=1 as a playdough mat. Together we roll 'snakes' and lay them on the laminated sheet to form the letters. I also use this printable for tracing.

We also used the ball puzzle and lacing card from Tot School Printables. R needs some help with the lacing, but generally it is only verbal help.

R stuck butterfly stickers onto a printout of a butterfly from Childcareland. The printout can also be used with Do-A-Dot Markers or Magnetic Pom Poms.

Whilst enjoying the beautiful sunny weather outside, we put blue water in the water play trolley. I added in some boats and bubbles. I also blew bubbles and R tried to catch them.

I saved some blue cellophane from a present given to us after the birth of M. R looked through it and we discussed how everything looked blue. I had intended to make some cardboard glasses and stick the cellophane to them, but we never got to it.

Cooking

For a snack, I made R a Fruit Butterfly, inspired by Mama Jenn. I used fruit bread for the body and antennae. The wings are pear, and the decorations are sultanas.

Music and Movement/Gross Motor

I collected up all the balls in our house and put them in a basket. Together, we sorted all the blue balls as well as rolling, kicking and throwing them.

R practiced walking backwards and walking with a blue beanbag on his head. He pretended to be a bear, bee, butterfly and a bird.

Language and Letters

We made a bumblebee from a letter B, as seen at No Time For Flashcards.

We did some stamping with some "B" alphabet stamps and blue ink (my scrapbooking supplies are coming in very handy, even though I have not had time to scrapbook for over a year now!) on a ball from the Tot School Printables.

We used the Capital B and Lowercase b sorting game from Confessions Of A Homeschooler.

Colours and Shapes

We made a bluebird from shapes, inspired by Tired Need Sleep. Again, I used some scrapbooking tools to cut the shapes out. This was more about following directions than creativity. R also used a glue stick for the first time to stick the shapes down.

We sorted all the lego out, and put all the blue blocks into a bowl, which we played with a lot.

Next Program: Autumn...got to squeeze this one in before it is officially winter here!

Pom Pom Sensory Tub

R loves pom poms and regularly asks for them. I decided to put together a tub for him to explore and use for a week. He loved it and played with it so much.

The contents of the tub are:

• large pom poms
• a set of measuring cups
• some tweezers
• a spoon
• a set of small tongs
• a tall container with screw-on lid

R spent a long time filling up the tall container, screwing on the lid, opening it and shaking all the pom poms out. He used the measuring cups to scoop the pom poms. I gave him a bowl to put them into. He then scooped them into the bowl using the cups and then poured them back in the tub using the bowl.

He then started using them with his small plastic cars.

All in all, a very popular activity, which I will be repeating.

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Mystery Collage

Since we have started crafting, I have found that we have left-over bits from activities and collages set up for R. I collected these items in a bowl, and when we had enough 'stuff' in there, we made them into a mystery collage.

This is some of the stuff that we have had left over after various craft experiences. I was quite surprised that R did not use the dinosaurs.

R squeezed the glue onto the paper, then spread it with a glue spreader.

Selecting items and sticking them on the glue.

The final product.

Easter

R is 25 months old

This is our Easter program, which we did the week leading up to Easter. I'm posting it a bit late, but we did have some fun!

Craft
R decorated an Easter egg using wrappers from Easter eggs and glitter. I cut an oval from paper and R spread glue over the egg. He then collaged on the Easter egg wrappers and sprinkled glitter over it. R spent a long time at this activity.

I purchased a bunny mask kit made from foam and we put it together. R enjoyed greeting daddy with the mask on as he came home from work! :)

Using a paper plate and some cotton ball we made a paper plate bunny, seen at Tired Need Sleep.

Fine Motor and Sensory

R transferred the pom-poms to the egg carton using tweezers.

I created a sensory box filled with Easter items. R really enjoyed this and it was used so much over the week of this program. We used the items in the box to discuss hard and soft. I also hid items from the sensory box inside the hollow eggs for R to find. Our sensory box contained green and white cellophane 'grass', hollow eggs, solid chocolate Easter eggs (it took R a few days to realise that they were chocolates), some chicks - both soft and hard, cotton balls and 2 small rabbits.

With our homemade playdough, R used an oval cutter to make eggs and decorated them with purchased playdough. I wish I had gotten a photo of this because the looked really good.

I made a simpler bunny puzzle inspired by the Build A Bunny Game from Homeschool Creations. I printed 2 copies of a bunny picture I had on my computer, cut one up and kept the other whole. R matched the pieces to make a bunny.

I also purchased some Easter themed stamps and R used these to create cards, with the addition of some Easter stickers.

I can not remember where I saw this, but we put together our marble run and used solid chocolate eggs in the marble run. If you have this idea on your blog, please let me know and I will add in a link. R really enjoyed this. He loves the marble run and especially enjoyed eating a "treatie" when we were done.

Maths

I made some Easter Egg Size Sorting Eggs. R needs a lot of help with this, and it created an opportunity to discuss big and small. We also used these in a mock Easter Egg Hunt. I hid them in our garden and R had to find them and place them in his hunting basket. I did this in preparation for our first annual Easter Egg Hunt on Easter Sunday Morning.

Music and Movement/Gross Motor
I changed the words of "Little Peter Rabbit" to "Little Easter Rabbit" and we sung this with the aid of a home made rabbit finger puppet. R also hopped like a bunny.

Using the hollow eggs, we had an egg and spoon race. I used a large kitchen spoon for R, so it was a bit easier for him to balance the egg.

Cooking
Together we made a batch of Hot Cross Buns in the breadmaker. It took up a whole morning by the time we mixed the dough, waited for them to rise, piped on the crosses and then baked them.

We also made a batch of chocolate playdough. I used my regular playdough recipe and added in cocoa powder with the flour. It smelt delicious and I had to really watch R in the first few days because he wanted to eat it!

Science
We melting chocolate and spooned it into Easter Egg moulds. It got quite messy, but was a good opportunity to learn about solid to liquid to solid again.

Language
We read the story of Easter and also some books about the Easter Bunny.

Colours and Shapes

I made some Coloured Eggs in Microsoft Publisher and turned them into a matching game. To make it a bit harder for R is used 2 different shades of the same colour (light green and dark green).

I made some cracked eggs for R to match up. I made the in Publisher using the oval tool and then made the 'crack' using the line tool. I cut them up and laminated them to make mini-puzzles.

We used our hollow eggs and pom poms as a colour matching game. R had to match the coloured pom pom to the egg. As the eggs were new, they were quite hard for R to open so it also became a good activity for developing his fine motor strength.

Next Program: Letter B and Blue.

Letter Aa and Red

R is 25 months old

This was the first program the I compiled for R. I wanted to test it out before I created the whole alphabet and he really enjoyed it. So far, it has worked out well, especially after our new arrival, giving us some special 1:1 time together.

Craft
I squirted red paint onto a small paper plate and R spread it around the platewith his fingers. When he was finished, I stapled the leaf and stick on the top to make an apple. This idea came from Making Learning Fun.

I went through our collage box and gathered all the red items in there and R made a collage of red items.

I put out all our red crayons, markers, pencils and oil pastels for R to create a red drawing.

This is a bad photo, but I cut a cloud shape out of green card, and R stamped on it with circles (they were actually the paint stoppers for our paint pots) in red paint to make apples in the tree. Once dry, I stuck it onto a large piece of paper and drew on the trunk with brown crayon.

I also had apple printing planned, but we never got to it.



Fine Motor and Sensory

R loves pom poms and any related activities. R sorted all the red pom poms from our container of large pom poms. I printed and laminated the apples printable from Engaging Toddler Activities. R used tweezers to pick up small pom poms and put them onto the circles on the printout. He needed a bit of practice, but he got the hang of the tweezers.

I made some red ice blocks and put them in the water play trolley. This was a big hit and R was sad when the ice blocks melted. As it is still quite hot here, it was a great way to cool down.

We had red playdough this week. This was played with so much this week. I showed R how to roll balls to make apples. R still needs some practice with this. We pushed in some stems from real apples into the top. There was also some apple cookie cutters and an "A" cookie cutter. After laminating some stuff from Tot School Printables, we rolled 'snakes' and lay them on the Aa's on the"Main Letter Sheet". I encouraged R to trace the playdough with his finger to get the shape of the Aa.

We also used the lacing card and Aa apple puzzle.

I collected some of our red blocks from our wooden block set and put them in a bowl on the shelf for the week.

I set out some red apples on the mat for R to explore. I used 5 apples, all different varieties. We talked about the different reds in all the apples and counted them. We tried to stack them, but were not very successful.

Maths

We used the apple sequencing cards from Tot School Printables.

Shapes and Colours
A while ago, I made the Colour Sorting Station from Home Grown Hearts but R can sort the colours easily now, so I have been coming up with new ideas to use them. I hid all the red items around the house and gave R a red plate to go and find them all. As this was the first time we have done this, I 'hid' them quite obviously, and R got the hang of the game quickly. Next time I will be a bit more creative with my hiding places.

Cooking
We cooked apple muffins and ate lots of apples.

Music and Movement/Gross Motor
I blew up some red balloons and we played a variety of games with them. By the end of the day, all the balloons had been popped as R tried to sit on them!

I taped a piece of red card to the wall and had R throw the red beanbag and ball at the red card. I thought he would really enjoy this, but he wasn't fussed.

Science
Together we made some red jelly, discussing the concept of liquid to solid as the jelly set...we had to check on it several times! Once the jelly was set, I put it on the table for sensory exploration. R ate most of it and asked for more.

Language and Letters
Another craft we completed was A is for Apple Tree, seen at Katie's Nesting Spot. I cut an A out of a cereal box and R painted it with brown paint and a small paint brush. R then used a green Do-A-Dot marker to paint the top of the tree. I used a circle punch to cut out 5 red circles from card. R did not have the muscle strength to use the punch himself. He glued the circles on the apple tree.

R used alphabet stamps on the apple printout from Tot School Printables.

R did the Upper and lower case Aa Alphabet Matching from Confessions Of A Homeschooler. This is such a wonderful blog, full of great printables and ideas. If you haven't already, you should check it out!

Next Program: Easter