Tot Tray Wednesday #7 | Pets

Hooray for another great signing class! I'm really enjoying creating more extension activities this time around--it's not what we accomplish during our one hour of class together, but what you, the parent, are inspired to do the other 98 hours of awake time!

Week 7

Signing class theme: Pets

Signing Time video: Baby Signing Time, Volume 1
Main book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear

(affiliate links used for your convenience)

Toys with unlimited access:
* Green bristle blocks
* Color tub: GREEN (several fun "open-ended" toys in here!)
* Mirror blocks (Sparkbox)--after being away in storage for two weeks, these are VERY popular!
* Pet-themed books, family books and nursery rhymes
* Lacing buttons (GREEN) and shoelace
* Ice cream set from IKEA and pom poms
* Magnetic characters from the book and oil pan
* Dog and cat animal counters + muffin tin and tongs

Kindergarten activities:
Our older daughter wrapped up her Kindergarten year on Friday, but we're still keeping up with the learning during the summer! I thought it would be fun to show you some of the activities I've come up with for her to work on this week.
* Brown Bear animal counting game with unifix cubes (FREE on Teachers Pay Teachers)
* Handwriting pages and ASL color words

Other awesome Brown Bear printables: Literacy Unit from Jackie Higgins ($)

Tot Trays:
1. Heart-counting with Brown Bear picture cards (available in a HUGE packet on Teachers Pay Teachers)
2. Pets "Place & Trace" puzzle--we'll use to stamp playdough and make patterns
3. Heads & tails puzzles (found here on 1plus1plus1equals1.com)
4. Brown Bear velcro matching book

What are your kiddos playing with?

Related:

Toy Rotation

Tot Tray Week 1

Tot Tray Week 2
Tot Tray Week 3
Tot Tray Week 4
Tot Tray Week 5
Tot Tray Week 6 (not published yet)

Recap: Introduction to Tot School Workshop

Saturday morning, we had our very first Introduction to Tot School workshop. Seven lovely mamas joined us for a two-hour conversation and yummy cinnamon pastries—we talked about everything from toy rotation to our favorite websites for toddler activities, and everything in between!

Over the next few months, I really want to focus on equipping other parents to be their child’s best teacher. There will be more live workshops, pre-planned digital activity packs for busy parents, and hopefully even an e-course for those of you not in San Antonio!

We will also be starting a local Tot School Moms group for the sharing of ideas, encouragement, and possibly even educational toys. (“You’re doing an OCEAN theme, and I have a fish puzzle we’re not using this week.”) It will be a lot more fun if we’re doing this together!

Coming up next: another Introduction to Tot School Workshop! (end of May)

In June, we’ll have a follow-up workshop on Age-Appropriate Learning. Young children are often on a continuum with a wide range of “normal,” so we’ll talk about discovering learning styles, assessing milestones, and setting short-term & long-term educational goals.

Contact me if you’re interested in joining us! We'd love to have you!

Tot Tray Wednesday #5 | Eat & Drink

We had a great round of signing classes this week, and I'm excited to have a new theme of activities for my own girls!

Week 5

Signing class theme: Eat & Drink

Main book: Mouse Mess

(affiliate links used for your convenience)

Toys with unlimited access:
* Orange & red Duplos, tiger, zookeeper, car
* Color tub: ORANGE (tons of fun "open-ended" toys in here!)
* Color stacker (Sparkbox)--my girls STILL love this!
* Color-themed books, food books and nursery rhymes
* Foam number puzzles (similar)
* Magnetic letters and oil pan
* Pop beads (or as Kate calls them, "My caterpillar!")

Tot Trays:
1. Food-shape puzzles: I pulled out the puzzles featuring our food words (cracker, egg, peas, cheese, banana)
2. Melissa & Doug nuts and bolts: food board & caterpillar board
3. Lacing buttons with shoelace & stacking cups (for sorting)
4. Three-part number puzzles (1-10)

I think we'll also set up a pretend grocery store on Friday or Monday with our play food, shopping cart, cash register, and play money.

What are your kiddos playing with?

Related:

Toy Rotation

Tot Tray Week 1

Tot Tray Week 2
Tot Tray Week 3
Tot Tray Week 4

Homeschooling: Our Favorite Math Toys

We were so excited to have an early morning delivery from Amazon today! I ordered something for Addie's birthday and added in a few school supplies off my wish list to get free shipping.

The girls were SO excited when I opened up the lacing buttons--they both got to work stringing necklaces, and I know we'll get lots of use out of them in the years to come.

Here are some of our other favorite math toys! (Affiliate links used for your convenience. All of these items have been purchased by us--not a sponsored post!)

Measure Up Stacking Cups (Discovery Toys)
We've had these since Addie was an infant, and we have gotten SO much use out of them! Besides stacking and nesting, you can also use them for stamping play-doh (each cup has an animal on the bottom), and the cups are mathematically correct (so if you put beans in the 2 cup and 3 cup, then pour them into the five cup, it will be exact). We love them!

(Kate already figured out that she can sort the lacing buttons into the stacking cups!)

Unifix Cubes
These are perfect for counting, making patterns, and strengthening fine motor skills! We bought the pack of 100 last summer, but I wish we had more. :)

Pattern Blocks
Our girls use these nearly everyday. The set came with wooden pattern boards, but they also like to "freestyle" and create their own designs. The best part is that (most) sets are interchangeable, so you can find lots of additional patterns online!

Can you think of any other "can't-miss" math toys?

Tot Tray Wednesday #4 | Colors

Hurray for another Wednesday! I love having a routine in place that allows us to reset in the middle of the week--it helps us get refocused on our schoolwork, and the new toys spark creative play for everyone.

This week is our our first Play & Sign class of the Summer Session, so I spent a little more time yesterday planning and getting organized. We have a great mix of graduates, returning students we haven't seen in a while, and new students! I'm really excited about some of the activities that Kate and Addie get to explore throughout the week.

Week 4

Signing class theme: Colors of the Rainbow

Main book: Dog's Colorful Day by Emma Dodd

(affiliate links used for your convenience)

Toys with unlimited access:
* Trains (IKEA)
* Color stacker (Sparkbox)
* Color tub: RED (tons of fun "open-ended" toys in here!)
* Color-themed books (ours and from the library)

Tot Trays:
1. Rainbow straws (from the grocery store) cut into assorted lengths. Drop into empty cheese container or string on shoelace. (fine motor, color recognition, patterning)
2. Two-piece color puzzles (out of print)
3. Color sort with magnetic letterss--the chip & dip tray is from Dollar Tree (as are the little green boxes) and I have laminated color words attached to each section. I typically put out pom poms for this activity, but I needed an ABC tray. I love this idea even more! (Extension idea: for your older preschoolers/kinders, you can have them use the letters to spell out color words.)

The kids have been busy playing all morning! I may open up the closet and pull out another activity, but I think this is a great start for the week. 

What are your kiddos playing with?

Related:

Toy Rotation

Tot Tray Week 1

Tot Tray Week 2
Tot Tray Week 3

Introduction to Tot School Workshop | San Antonio, Texas

I am so passionate about equipping parents to be their child's BEST teacher--join us on May 17th for this great time of community!

Registration for this class is now closed. Another session will be coming soon!

Tot Tray Wednesday #1 | Lone Star Signers

This post has moved! Join the conversation here: http://lonestarsigners.com/2014/04/16/tot-tray-wednesday-1-lone-star-signers/