Transport

R is 27 months old.

I compiled this program because R loves anything with wheels...cars, trains, trucks, bobcats, bikes... He will spend hours pushing his little cars around, pushing them along train tracks, and filling the trucks with pom poms, pebbles or anything else that fits.

Crafts

R made a cardboard roll airplane. I saw this idea on No Time For Flashcards. First, R painted a paper towel roll, wings and tail with brown paint. When they were dry, I glued the wings on the top and stuck the tail piece into a slit cut in the end of the roll. R zoomed it around for a while before pulling the wings off the top. :)

R made a train from different shapes. I cut all the pieces out, then R glued them together, following my instructions. This idea came from No Time For Flashcards.

Another similar craft which I saw on No Time For Flashcards was a shape boat. R finger painted on a sheet of paper with blue paint. When this dried, R stuck the shapes on to form a boat. I offered some verbal instruction.

R did a painting with a little trailer (his choice) from our farm set. He enjoyed it so much that he made 3 paintings!

Maths

When I was still working I made a transport sorting game from Kizclub. R had to put the mode of transport in the correct area. He needed some verbal help with this the first time he did it, but after that he did it on his own.

I made a simple sorting game from vehicle pictures. This was too simple for R. He completed it and packed it away quickly.

We looked at the wheels on R's vehicles. We counted the wheels and discussed the circle shape of them.

Colours and Shapes

I got out our pattern blocks to make a sail boat. This was really hard for R, the pattern blocks kept moving all over the laminated sheet, so he lost interest quite quickly, preferring to explore the pattern blocks instead.

I printed off some shape vehicles from 2 Teaching Mommies. I laminated all the pieces and we sat together to make some vehicles.

Fine Motor and Sensory

This sensory tub was unplanned and came together by accident. I was cutting out some items to laminate. I used the sensory tub to put the off cuts into. R started playing with the strips of paper. I cut some up into small squares and put some plastic transport toys in there. R had a great time with it. I ended up cutting all the paper that I was going to throw out into squares for this tub.

R loves water play, so we got the boats out of the bath and played with them in the sensory tub. I also put in a little bit of soap.

I put some little plastic transport manipulatives out to use with the playdough. Now this was pure gold, combining 2 things R loves. He spent ages with this, pressing the manipulatives into the dough, making tracks, and stacking the cars up. He returned to this activity so many times this week that I lost count!

For a bit of variety in the sandpit, I added in some vehicles. This was also very popular, although it was quite cold, so we didn't get outside as much as we both would have liked.

I set out some blocks and cars to see how R would use the two together.

I made some tiny transport cards with pictures from Google. I laminated them and hid them in a bowl of dried beans for R to find. When he finds the cards, he puts them in the little box. I made an activity sheet to go with this, listing the name of the vehicle and a picture for R to match the cards to when he found them, but he wasn't interested in that at all, so out came the box! The cards are approx. 2-3cm, but each is slightly different, due to the orientation of the vehicle pictures. We have done this a few times before, and I keep coming back to it, because R enjoys it and will repeat it many times.

Music and Movement/Gross Motor

We sung loads of songs this week, including "Up in the Air I Fly," "The Wheels on the Bus," and "Row Row Your Boat."

We pretended to be lots of different types of vehicles, making their noises and moving around our car mat.

R and I played a little game where he would push a truck around the room and I would say "stop." He would stop and wait for me to say "go again."

Snack

I made a couple of little sailboats for R for a snack. He loved this and kept saying "I eat boat, Mummy." This idea was inspired by Mama Jenn. I used pears for the base of the boats, cheese for the masts and fruit toast for the sails.

Language and Letters

You can see the books we read here.

Our alphabet craft this week was "C is for Car". I cut a 'C' from black paper and drew in road markings with a white crayon. R then stuck on some car stickers. For each car he stuck down, he kept saying "that daddy's car."

I made a set of Transport Spelling Cards from Dinosaurs and Trains. R used these on a cookie sheet with magnetic letters. He did so well at it, matching all the letters, only getting 1 'u' upside down. I was so proud of him, especially as this was the first time we have done letter matching in this form.

I printed out an Itsy Bitsy Book called Zoom from Kidzone. We have not done anything like this before, but R drew on it, then I cut it out and folded it up. R read it, and was so excited to show Daddy when he came home from work.

Science
We rolled vehicles off a ramp. This was the activity of the week. R kept saying "Fun, Mummy!" :)

Next Program: Polar Animals