Turtles

They boys have been interested in Turtles over the past few days, so I decided to make them a turtle sensory tub. This was similar to the dinosaur tub we did a  few weeks ago, because they enjoyed it so much.

The contents of the tub include:

• blue aquarium rocks
• glass pebbles
• green grass filler (the type you get to fill Easter baskets with)
• plastic rocks 
• small turtle figurines
• a few plastic trees

We also did some counting and fine motor work with some turtle number cards printed from Confessions of a Homeschooler. 

 R really liked this, but M struggled with the learning links. 

Octopus Maths

I made these octopus game boards years ago, and decided to get them out to work on numbers up to 8. I set out a bowl of Cheerios and a game board for each of the boys.

First, they placed the Cheerios on each leg. The numbers 1-8 are written on the end of each tentacle. Once we were finished, I got out the dice. R used a standard die, whilst M used a die with the numbers 1-3 on it. They had to roll the die and then place that number of Cheerios on the octopus. Once they were done, they ate their left-over Cheerios as a snack.

There are many other alternatives to using Cheerio's including:

• M&M's
• Flat glass pebbles
• Play dough balls
• Tiny marshmallows
• Small pom-poms
• Small magnets

Sight Word Graphing with M&M's

R has started to read, and I have been looking for fun ways to work with sight words. This is a sight word graphing sheet from 1+1+1=1. I wrote a few sight words on the graph and used some word cards that I had. To make it a bit more fun, I put an M&M picture in the last spot on the die. He rolled the die, read the word and then graphed it. When he finished, I let him roll one last time. He got to eat the M&M's that were above that word on the graph.

Now, without the M&M's, I would have had very little chance of getting R to complete this. :)

Maths and Fine Motor Fun

R and I have been playing quite a few board and dice games now that he has got the number concepts 1-30 down pat.

We each get an ice cube tray (these ones are from Ikea), a bowl of pom poms, tweezers for R and a dice. You roll the dice and add that number of pom poms to your tray. Winner is the first one to fill their tray. 

I am looking for some ice cube trays with more holes in them so we can add two dice and practice some addition and subtraction with this game. I am thinking about making some "+" and "-" inserts to use with our education cubes when playing this game. 

R loves this game and requests it quite often. It is a quick game that requires little set up. 

Hi-Ho Cherryo! Sorting

Hi-Ho Cherryo! is a favourite in our house, even M (at 18 months) joins in. I set up a simple sorting activity using the fruit and buckets. R had to sort the fruit by colour, using tongs to move them into the buckets.

He loved this, and repeated it several times. 

Number Block Towers

R is counting everything at the moment. Every opportunity he gets, he counts. He is getting to really know the numbers to 10 and exploring teen  numbers. I made him a simple block counting sheet. He had to identify the number and then build a tower with the right amount of blocks.

This was a simple way to incorporate some number skills into something that R loves. 

Thanks for reading.

Apples

We have just finished a mini unit on apples. R is 3½ and M is 18 months.

Firstly, I printed some 3 part cards from abcteach, but I do not think they are available anymore, as I was unable to locate them. We used these to complete the apple labelling sheet from 2 Teaching Mommies.

We also used the apple observation sheet from 2 Teaching Mommies. I had a selection of apples to choose from. R chose one apple and we completed the sheet. M just joined in with the eating of the apples. :)

R chose another apple to draw. He placed it on his table and used it for inspiration whilst drawing. The apple card was also on his table, and he decided to write the word 'apple' on his picture. This is the first time he has purposefully written a word. We have had lots of letters come out in his drawings, but they have all been random. So this was exciting for me. I have had it stuck to the fridge ever since and have been proudly showing all the visitors that come to our house!!

We made apple trees from paper plates, toilet rolls and stickers. This was something the M could join in with, and boy, does he love to paint.

Both of the boys are into signing and nursery rhymes at the moment, so we sung "5 Red Apples" several times. I don't know where this came from. I made it a few years ago, and was unable to find it.

I made a little 1-5 counting book for R. He glued apple seeds onto each page to match the numeral on each page. He quite enjoyed this activity, next time I will make the book to go to 10, as he knows the numbers 1-5 well.

I printed the Roll and Colour Apple Tree from Kindergarten Hoppenings. This is a fantastic blog with loads of functional activities...one of my favourites! R is really getting into colouring in these days. He quite often asks for a picture to colour.

R is just beginning to understand patterning so, I made a couple of activities for his to practice this. These are from Confessions of a Homeschooler and Engaging Toddler Activities.

Also from Confessions of a Homeschooler, R did the shape matching and they both did the magnet page with pom poms. R also did the 6 piece puzzle.

R did apple size sequencing from Childcareland. Riley really gets this now, and was able to do this experience independently.

From 1+1+1=1, R did the Aa letter find with dot markers, whilst M did a dot painting. M absolutely loves the dot markers, and uses them almost everyday. Lucky they last forever!!!

We have started doing a few activities from the Ready2Read bundle by The Moffatt Girls. I love this idea and we are slowly working through the first few units. Here R coloured the -at and -an word families on the apple tree. 

Lastly, I made the boys an apple book that they completed with the dot markers. M had only 3 colours, whilst R's book contained a few facts about apples to make it a bit longer. They both loved having their own little books. 

This unit took almost 2 weeks to complete. We did a few other things too, but these were all the photos that I took. You can see my previous apples post here. 

I have just seen a wonderful apple pack from Musings Of Me. Here is the link to purchase the unit. I wish that I had seen this prior to our apple unit, I might just have to extend it another week to squeeze in some of these activities. There is a free apple book which we will do this afternoon. It uses dot markers...so I am sure it will be a hit in this house!!!  You can check out some of Michelle's other cute creations here, you will not be disappointed.

Thanks for reading

Roll and Dot

I am on study break at the moment, so I have had a bit of time to search around the internet for some new ideas. One of the things I saw on Tons of Fun was a dice game using Do-a-Dot markers. It did not take long for me to set this one up.

We used a number die and a colour die. R rolled the dice and selected the correct dot marker, making the corresponding number of dots on his paper. For example, in the following photo, R rolled yellow on the colour die and 5 on the number die, so he would make 5 dots with the yellow marker.

R really liked this game. We played it again, with each of us taking turns to roll and dot. This activity took very little time to set up and was a good way to reinforce numbers 1-6. 

Thanks for reading. 

Number Match

I have noticed that I set up a lot of language and alphabet activities for R, and not as many maths activities, so I have been trying to set up more maths and number based activities. This activity is similar to the Alphabet Stick and Match activity that R and I completed a while back.

I wrote the numbers 1-9 on a small whiteboard. Next to the whiteboard, I placed a bowl with magnetic numbers 1-9 in it. 

R matched the magnetic numbers to the numbers on the whiteboard. I named the numbers as R matched them. After he was done, he took the numbers off the board and put them back in the bowl. I got him to trace over the numbers on the whiteboard. This removed the numbers. R was delighted with this and continued until all the numbers were 'wiped' off.

This was a simple activity to set up and R enjoyed it.

Colour Shades

R knows his colours, and most colour activity no longer appeal to him these days, so I was excited to find some more advanced colour activities for R. I found this activity at Love My Life x4.

At first R was reluctant to do this activity, but the second time I put it out he went for it and loved it.

Fruit Salad

I recently picked up this set of fruit counters cheaply, because it was not a full set. I got them out with our colour sorting bowls for R to sort with.

R was not really interested in sorting by colour, so I came up with a little game to keep R's interest. I said some fruits and R collected them in a bow, making fruit salad for me. This is blueberry, grape and apple salad.

And strawberry, banana and grape salad.

Lastly, we had banana and strawberry salad.

R was really interested in this, and we spent ages making different combinations. including everything!

As we start working more on numbers, I had an idea to ask for fruit salad with two grapes, three bananas and one blueberry. I was even thinking of making some little cards for R to work independently. 

Letter Gg and Grey

R is 35 months old.

We had a really fun week this week.

Craft
R made a giraffe from his footprint. He finger painted the dots onto the pieces when I cut them out. This idea came from Busy Bee Kids Crafts. This turned out unbelievably cute! R also snipped at the green paper on the bottom.

R did an easel painting with grey paint. To make grey paint we mixed a drop of black paint into the white paint.

R also did some drawing with all our grey pencils, markers and crayons.

R collaged a goldfish with gold circles. I used a circle punch to make the circles and R simply stick them on the fish along with a googly eye. Sorry, but the picture is not very clear.

R worked on a water colour picture of a goat from a purchased book. He really enjoyed this!


Letters and Language
I cut out a letter G and R added some glue and glitter. Another bad picture, sorry.

R sorted out the capital G’s and the lowercase g’s on the sorting mat from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

He also loves the Gg tracing. Anything that involves markers is much loved!

At his request, R also traced on the main letter page from Tot School Printables. He did really well at this activity.

R stamped with Gg stamps on a goat, from Tot School Printables.


Colours and Shapes
I sent R on a grey colour hut. This is what he found:

R sorted out pom poms, placing all the grey pom poms into a bowl.

I cut some shapes from alfoil for R to explore. He was not really interested in this activity.

Fine Motor and Sensory Skills
R explored some golf balls, rolling then and feeling the dimples in them.

R did a few of the Tot School Printables. He did the lacing card.

R played for quite a while, making sausages to cover the letter Gg and using the G cookie cutter.

R easily did the 3 piece puzzle.

R put some M&M’s on the Gg magnet page from Confessions of a Homeschooler. The M&M’s were a real motivator for this activity.

I made a simple sensory tub with green split peas, some measuring cups, spoons and a plastic muffin tray. R played with this for a long time.


Maths
More Tot School Printables. R did the goat ordering.

R sorted some cutlery that I set out for him. He also explored some coins, before posting them into a money box.

Science
I put some shaving cream and a blob of black paint into a zip-loc bag. R manipulated the bag until the shaving cream hat turned grey.

He then did finger painting with the grey shaving cream. We have done this many times and R never gets tired of it!!


Gross Motor Skills
We did the Gorilla Dance from an old CD from when I was working.

R got out his mini golf set and we hit the ball around the backyard.

I showed R how to gallop and we pretended to be galloping horses.

Cooking
We made our own garlic bread with home made garlic butter and a French Stick. It was yummy!

Next Program: Hh and Heart.
Thanks for reading!