Tot School- Shapes

Thanks to Carrisa at 1+1+1=1  hosting tot school.  This week our tot school theme was shapes.  Little Sweets loves anything with hearts or stars on them, so I thought I would introduce her to some other shapes.

Shape Matching Game

This was an easy fun game to make.  I took some envelopes and pasted one shape on each envelope. I gave Little Sweets some shapes.  Then she had to put the shape in the correct envelope.  I got the idea to use envelopes for sorting and matching from Sarah at  It's Quiet Now.  What Do You Say?

Little Sweets had so much fun playing this game.  She would go back to it and play it over and over again.  I did limit the number of shapes in each envelope because of Little Sweets short attention span and the fact that once she got tired of the game she would leave the shapes all over the floor. 

Shape Puzzle

Little Sweets spent time working on her shape puzzle.  She absolutely loves puzzles so it wasn't that difficult to get her interested in this activity.  We also spent some time identifying the shapes as she placed them in her puzzle. 

Elmo Shape Game

Little Sweets got this game from a dear friend of mine last year.  Unfortunately, she hasn't been able to play it much because my husband can't stand Elmo's voice.  It ended up in the toy bin in the garage months ago.  I thought it would be fun to pull it out.  Little Sweets had a great time playing the game.  The object of the game is to identify the shape and put the in the correct place.  ( I took out the batteries, so it can stay in the house for now.)

Shape Drawings

The weather is beautiful here so we have been spending a lot of time outdoors.  I thought it would be fun to draw some shapes with chalk.  Little Sweets pointed to the shapes as I said their name.  So far she knows; heart, star, circle, triangle, and square. 

Dora Shape Cards

I picked these cards up in the dollar bin at a craft store a few months back.  Little Sweets loves Dora, I mean really loves Dora.  She loved identifying the shapes on the cards as well as the charecters from the show.  The cards also have other games with it like patterning and a similiar/different game.  We will play those games when she is bigger. 

Shape Box

Little Sweets also played with her shape box.  She loves puting the different shapes inside the box.  Most of the time I sit with her and show her which side of the box the shape fits in.  Lately, she has been figuring this out on her own. 

Shape Counting and Matching Cards

I made these cards to help reinforce counting.  I also gave Little Sweets matching shapes that she could place on top of the cards.  She enjoyed placing matching the shapes, but got frustrated if she couldn't fit the shape perfecltly on top of the matching shape.

Sorting by Size

We talked about the difference between "big" and "small."  Then Little Sweets sorted the big and small circles.

 

StArt- What Shapes Do You See?

We read the book What Shapes Do you See? for our StArt activity and made a shape collage. To read more about this activity please go here.

Getting in His Word Wednesday- Father Abraham

We read the story Father Abraham and made a star mobile to go with it . To read more about this activity please go here.

Field Trip- USC Baseball Game

We had an awesome time at the USC baseball game.  We are Ohio State fans, but my husband got free tickets from work so we decided to go to the game.  We had a great time!! Little Sweets really enjoyed the game and also liked meeting Dora at the game.  : )

For more great Tot School posts or to link up to the hop please go here. 

Review of Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge

I received the book Captivating revised and expanded by John and Stasi Eldredge courtesy of BookSneeze.com last week. I was very excited to have the opportunity to review this book. I read the book Wild at Heart when I was in college and loved it. It was all the rave with the men in our church so of course I had to see what they were so excited about. After reading the book I thought that someone should write a book like this for women so I was really excited to have the opportunity to read and review Captivating. I think my expectations were too high because I was very disappointed with the book.



The book proposes that the heart of a woman desires three things: to be romanced, to play an irreplaceable role in a great adventure, and to have beauty to unveil. After proposing that these three things are the desires a woman’s heart the authors go on to describe reasons why women abandon these desires as they grow up. The authors encourage women to rekindle the heart desires they had as a little girl and to allow God to be the hero of their story and to rescue their heart.


Overall, I was not satisfied with this book. The authors used a lot of personal narrative and experiences to support their theory. They also used a lot of extreme circumstances as supporting examples which would not apply to many women reading the book. I was also disappointed with the fact that they did not use a lot of scripture as support. While I like some of the ideas found in the book I think that there are better books out there that describe the heart of a woman that have much better Biblical support.


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.

StARt- Do you see shapes?- Shape Collage

 This week our theme is shapes.  I thought it would be nice to do a story and art activity to go with this theme.  I went to the library and picked out some shape books for Little Sweets.  One of the books we read is called Do you see shapes? Each page shows a different shape.  Your child is suppose to clap for each shape on the page.  Little Sweets did some clapping, but wanted to count with me instead.  After we read the book I got some contact paper out and had Little Sweets place some precut shapes onto the contact paper.  She really enjoyed this.  I had to help her a few times when her hand got stuck to the paper.  After she was finished putting her shapes on the contact paper I put white computer paper ontop of her creation.  I thought it turned out cute.  We also use her artwork as a teaching tool.  She points to the different shapes as I say them.  I also will have her count the shapes on her picture too. 

If you would like to link up to this blog hop or are interested in reading about more activities, please go here. 

Getting in His Word Wednesday- Father Abraham

Getting in His Word Wednesday is a place where you can share your Bible Activity Ideas with others. The blog hop is open Wednesday through Tuesday. Please feel free to link up your Bible Activity Post.

This week we read the story Father Abraham from the book 100 Bible Stories and 100 Bible Songs. We talked about how God made a promise to Abraham that he would have as many offspring as the number of stars he can count in the sky. Abraham believed God and Sarah, his wife,  had a baby at a very old age just as God had promised. We made a star mobile to remind us that God is faithful to His promises. I cut out stars and Little Sweets painted the stars and put glitter on them. Then I put them on the mobile that I had made from straws and paper clips.

We also danced to the song Father Abraham which is the song that goes with this story. I love that each story in Little Sweets Bible book has a song to go with it.

Later in the evening I took Little Sweets outside and showed her the stars in the sky and we talked about the story again. 

I got the idea to make a star mobile from this website.  I found directions on how to make a straw and paper clip mobile from here.

 

Tot School - Flowers

Flowers

Little Sweets has had a growing interest in flowers.  She loves looking at them outside.  She also loves anything with flowers on it, hair clips, shirts, etc.  I thought with her growing interest in flowers it would only be appropriate to do a flower theme.

Using our Senses to Study Flowers

Little Sweets loves smelling the flowers.

We took a walk  through our neighborhood and talked about the different colored flowers.

Little Sweets found some flowers on the ground and decided she wanted to keep them.  We talked about their color and counted their petals.

StArt- Counting in the Garden and Coffee Filter Flowers

We read the book Counting in the Garden and made coffee filter flowers.  To read more about this activity please go here. 

Flower Math

I copied pictures of our magnetic numbers on our copy machine.  Then I cut out the numbers and drew flower petal around the number.  The number of petals matches the magnetic number in the middle.  Little Sweets matched the magnetic number with the picture of the number in the middle of the flower.  We also counted the number of petals on the flower and talked about the corresponding number. 

I got the magnetic number matching idea from Lana at hart 2 hart and decided to expand upon the idea by adding a counting activity to it.   

Colored Flower Activity

I colored clothespins and had Little Sweets match the colored clothespin with the correct flower.  She is getting better at putting the clothespin on the flowers. 

Watering the Flowers

I told Little Sweets that flowers get thirsty just like she does.  I explained that they need water to drink.  Then she watered the flowers in our garden. 

Other Activities

Frankie's Fun Park

I was hoping we could go in the indoor playground at Frankie's Fun Park.  Luckily it was closed.  It would have cost me $8.00 and Little Sweets was entertained with sitting in the car and pretending to drive it.  I didn't have to spend any money at all.  : ) 

Getting in His Word Wednesday Blog Hop

Joshua and the Battle of Jericho

This week our Bible Story was Joshua and the Battle of Jericho.  To learn more about this activity please go here. 

To read other tot school posts or to link up to the blog hop please go here.

Fun Frugal Friday- Homemade Counting Tool

This week I wanted to share a counting tool that I made for Little Sweets.  I took a large piece of wood and had it cut into 5 pieces around the same size.  Then I wrote a number from one to five on the top of each piece of wood.  I used a drill to drill the number of holes needed for each block of wood.  Little Sweets will be putting golf tees inside each of the holes.  I intend on using this tool to teach counting, number recognition, and fine motor skills.

* Please note I will supervise Little Sweets as she plays with this new toy.  The tees are small and a bit sharp and I wouldn't want her to get hurt.  Please use parental supervision if you make this activity. 

StARt- Counting in the Garden and Coffee Filter Flowers

This week we read the book Counting in the Garden by Kim Parker and made coffee filter flowers. 

It is a very cute book and a great counting book. Little Sweets counts with me and then tries to count herself. It usually sounds something like this "2,2,2,9."   : )  I am sure she will eventually start counting. 

We made coffee filter flowers to go with the book. We colored the filters two different ways.

We used food coloring and water to make the first set of flowers. Little Sweets and I put drops of food coloring in water. Then Little Sweets filled a medicine dropper with the colored water and put drops on the filter. We let them dry and then I made them look more like flowers.  I thought this would be a great activity since I had done it with my preschoolers who were 3, 4, and 5 years old.  I forgot Little Sweets is not even 2 yet.  She thought it was more fun to pour the cups of water onto the ground instead of coloring the filters.  That's when I remembered reading on the DLKT website about using markers to color the filters.  So we decided to use markers to color the rest of the flowers.

We colored the other coffee filters with washable markers and sprayed them with water to make the colors smear. I liked coloring the filters this way better because it made less of a mess and was much more age appropriate.

 For more story and art activities go here.