Tot School - Letter "D"

Letter "D"

(26 Months Old)

This week we had a lot of errands so we didn't get much tot school in.  Here are some pictures of some of the letter "D" activities we did.

Math Activity

"D" is for Dora Counting Cards.  I made these Dora cards for Little Sweets.  She used foam numbers to match the numbers on the card.  I wanted her to count the characters on the card, but most of the time she just matched the number without counting.  She loves counting, but I think she got distracted by the foam numbers.   

Dramatic Play

"D" is for dollhouse.  Little Sweets loved playing with her Little People doll house.  She likes to mix all her little people together so if you are wondering that is baby Jesus sleeping in the crib. 

File Folder Game

"D" is for dog.  Little Sweets loves dogs.  I found a matching file folder game at the file folder fun website.  Little Sweets loved matching the pictures of the dogs. 

Art

Little Sweets enjoyed making dot pictures using her bingo dot markers.  She also put dots on a letter "D" stencil that I made. 

Language Arts

We read lots of books together this week.  I picked out some Dr. Seuss books and Little Sweets really enjoyed them.  I didn't have any pictures from last week, but here are some pictures of Little Sweets looking and books from a few weeks ago. 

Bible Activity

This week we didn't do an art activity with our Bible stories.  We did continue to read a Bible story before bed and listened to Bible songs. 

Other Activities

I took Little Sweets to the splash pad near our house.  She loves running through the water.  It was really nice because all of the school aged kids are in school now so I don't have to worry about her getting run over.

For more great tot posts go here.

Tot School Letter "C"

Letter "C"

26 months old

This week we worked on some letter "C" Activities.  We also continued with potty training and Little Sweets has done fantastic.   : )

Language Art Activities

 Letter of the Week Alphabet Cards

Each week we put up the letter of the week on the wall. Little Sweets reviews the letters that on are on the wall throughout the week. Here she is finding the letter "C."

Tracing the Letter "C"

I drew the letter "C" using a highlighter. I helped Little Sweets trace over the letter with a darker colored marker.

Read-alouds and Laptime Reading

We read lots and lots of books together.  Little Sweets loves to sit on mommy and daddy's laps and just listen to stories.  She also likes to get a big pile of books together and lay on the floor reading them.

Math and Fine Motor Skills

Caterpillar Fun

I made caterpillars on the computer and printed out the pictures. Then I glued them to note cards. Each caterpillar is made up of a different number of circles. I wrote the number of circles on the corner of each card. Little Sweets put circle stickers on the circles that made up the caterpillar. Then she counted the stickers afterwards and I showed her the number

The note cards I made.

Little Sweets putting the circle stickers on the caterpillars. (She is working on her fine motor skills.)

Little Sweets showing mommy her caterpillar.  She was very excited.

Little Sweets counting the number of  circles on her caterpillar.

The finished note cards.

More fun with Caterpillars

I pulled out the caterpillar pattern cards that we worked on during our bug unit.  You can print out a copy for yourself by going here.  You may need to enlarge the caterpillars  depending on the size of your pom poms.  Little Sweets matched the pom poms to the colored circles on the caterpillar.  This was a great activity to use to work on her fine motor skills as well as matching.  I also showed her the color patterns on the caterpillars. 

The caterpillar cards.

Little Sweets placing the pom poms on the cards.   

Art/Fine Motor Activity

Cookie Cutters and Playdough

Little Sweets had fun using cookie cutters to cut out playdough cookies.  She also enjoyed just playing with the playdough.  Playdough is great for building children's fine motor skills.

Coloring

Little Sweets loves coloring.  She is coloring a Dora picture in this picture.

Cotton Ball Sheep to go with our Bible Story

One of the stories we read from Little Sweets Children's Bible was The parable of the lost sheep. (Matthew 18: 10-14)  After we read and talked about the story Little Sweets covered a sheep that I had cut out with white cotton balls.  She enjoyed this activity, but wanted to wash her hands every few minutes because the cotton would stick to her fingers.  : )

Other Activities

Language Arts Matching Game

Little Sweets matched the letters from her alphabet puzzle to the letter cards on the wall.  She thought it was so much fun that she asked to get more cards out so she could do more matching.  She loves this game and plays it almost everyday. 

Little Sweets matching a letter to the cards on the wall. 

Other Cards and letters that she matched.

For more tot school posts go here. 

Tot School Letter "B" Activities

Letter "B" Activities

(26 months)

Last week we were potty training, but we did manage to do some tot school activities.  Our letter of the week was the letter "B."  Here are some of the activities we did for the letter "B."

Math Activities

Sorting Balls by Color

I know these are actually pom poms but they are shaped like balls and my daughter calls them balls so I decided to use them for our letter "B" activities.  Little Sweets sorted the balls by color.  I also tried to help her identify the colors as she sorted.  She still thinks everything is green, but we will continue to work on colors.

Sorting Balls by Size

This bag of balls had three different shapes.  Little Sweets had no trouble sorting the small balls, but she mixed the medium and large balls together.  They were similar in size which made the task more difficult.  She had fun with this activity, she really enjoys sorting.

Fine Motor Activities 

Placing Balls Inside a Plastic Bottle

Little Sweets loved this activity.  She placed all of her pom pom balls inside the plastic bottle. She had me empty the bottle several times so she could repeat this activity.  (FYI if you do this activity it is difficult to get the balls out and may take some time, especially if you use the larger pom pom balls.)

Building with Blocks

Little Sweets really enjoyed making towers with her blocks and then knocking them over.

Math/Fine Motor Activity

Counting/ Matching Game

I made these sport ball matching cards on my copy machine. Little Sweets matched the sports ball erasers to the number cards.  We also counted the balls on the card.

Dramatic Play with Bugs

Playing with Bugs

Little Sweets enjoyed playing with her bugs.  She did use some baskets and try to sort them, but she also played with them in the kitchen area and cooked them up for dinner.  (I wish I had a picture.)

Language Arts Activities

We put up the letter "B" on our letter wall and added the magnetic letter "B" to our alphabet tree.  Little Sweets found the letter "B" in words as we read.  We also spent time reading alphabet books and other fun books that Little Sweets loves.  I believe reading to your child is one of the best things you can do to prepare your child to learn to read. 

Other Fun Activities

Painting with Water Colors

Playing with Shaving Cream

Trying to Look Like Daddy

For more great tot school posts go here. 

Review for 100 Prayers God Loves to Hear, 100 Praise Songs

I recently received the book  100 Prayers God Loves to Hear, 100 Praise Songs in the mail courtesy of BookSneeze.com.  The book is written by Stephen Elkins and illustrated by Tim O'Conner.  Two CD's with 100 praise songs are also included with the book. 

I was very excited to have the opportunity to review this book.  We own the book 100 Bible Stories and 100 Bible songs which is written by the same author and my daughter loves this book.  When I recieved the book 100 Prayers God Loves to Hear, 100 Praise Songs in the mail I shared it with my daughter.  She immediatly recognized the illustration style and got excited about the book.  She is 2 years old and this book has become one of her favorite books.  She enjoys when I read the prayers with her and especially enjoys looking at the vibrant illustrations.  My daughter also really enjoys listening to the CD's that came with the book.

The book includes mini lessons about prayer, prayers, some quotes from the Bible, and quotes from famous individuals.  I liked most of the prayers and quotes.  There were just a few prayers and quotes I did not like. The songs that go with the book are fun especially for younger children.  I would recommend this book to families with preschoolers and early elementary children.  The book could be used as part of a devotion time with young children. 
                                
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. For more information about this program please go here.

Tax Free Weekend!!!

August 6-8 is tax free weekend in South Carolina.  This is a great time to save money on items needed for school.  I would suggest trying to shop at stores that offer additional discounts on top of not having to pay tax.  The tax free weekend in South Carolina applies to the following items:  clothing, accsessories, footwear, school supplies,  computers , and computer equipment.   To find out if your state offers tax free weekend click here.