This week I used gardens (flowers and bugs mostly) as a very general theme this week.

Baby L is 15 months 

Tot Basket: Alex Little Hands Stack a Puzzle – Garden  

She really liked stacking these.  They are nice and fat and easy to hold and were fairly easy for her to get into place.  No, she didn’t stack them in the correct order.  She’s 15 months, not 30!  She then lined them up in a row unstacked and I called out a number as she put each one down.  Then she started touching them randomly out of order and I would call the number of the position it was in.  She caught on pretty quickly that I was responding to her action and got quite a kick out of making mommy say “one, one, one, one, one” over and over ;) 

Vocabulary: stack, top, rounded, smooth, numbers 1-6 

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Tot Basket: Magnetic Bug Catching Game (this is just like the fishing game, only its bugs.  The fishing game is a smarter buy.  The magnet hanging from a line attached to a wooden net handle makes far less sense than a magnet attached to a line attached to a fishing pole!). 

She played with it for a while, and while she couldn’t really control the magnet, she started using this trolling technique, dragging the magnet across the board until it caught something

Vocabulary: net, bug, specific bug names, magnet, catch, lift, metal

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Tot Basket: Tub Garden.  These are thick foam pieces that are meant to be used in the bath tub.  You get them wet and then they stick to the side of a shower door or whatever.  We just used them dry and played mix and match.  

After a bit of just playing together with them, I lined up some of the stems and piled up the blossoms to see if she was “getting” it and would put the flowers together.

Vocabulary: flower, bug, stem, leaf, blossom, grass 

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Collage.  I cut out some grassy knolls, stems, leaves, clouds and flower shapes for a contact paper collage (in a cardstock frame for support). I used the template from Wondertime’s Felt Garden for some of the pieces; others I just cut out free hand (from scrapbook papers).

At first I gave her the pieces in order, like the grassy bits first and then some stems, knowing that she would put them on closest to her first, then further away once the closest parts had something on it so the grass would be on the bottom, then the stems above that, etc).  But she kept grabbing the little plastic sleeve with all the cut outs in it, and got frustrated that she couldn’t figure out how to open it up to get at the shapes, so I just dumped them out and let her put things where she liked.

  

It didn’t come out looking badly at all – it’s Baby L’s abstract flower garden — yea, that’s it! 😉

Vocabulary: grass, stem, bloom, flower, leaf, cloud, center, stick, sticky

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Tot Basket:  Imaginary Play Garden. I used the bottom of an egg carton, turned it upside down and painted it brown and then cut an X in each of the cup bottoms so we could push seeds through (dirt mounds), a shaggy brown bathroom rug (dirt patch), large lima beans (seeds), empty watering can, artificial flowers 

We placed the beans on each little “dirt mound”, pressed them through, pretended to water them, and then stuck silk flowers in the hole as if they had grown.  She did terrific picking up individual beans and setting them on each little egg cup bottom and using one finger to press the “seed” through.  When the beans got pushed through, she KNEW they were there, and kept trying to get them back out by getting a finger in the hole, but of course couldn’t reach them.  I showed her that they were under the egg carton and how to lift and move it to get them out.  She particularly enjoyed when I’d put a bean on each mound, wedged into the X so she could go down the line poking them through.

 

She had quite a long attention span for this activity, mostly playing with the beans; she couldn’t get the stem of the silk flowers into the holes.  I think she’d have done better with artificial flowers that had a single bloom instead of the clusters at the top (like a carnation or something).  The bunches of flowers made it so she couldn’t see the stem when she was aiming for the holes.  We also flipped the carton over and put a bean in each cup. 

Eventually it “degenerated” to playing fill and spill with the beans (a large handful stored in a small gladware container).

On a side note, I think I’ll save these items, add a straw hat, maybe a piece of old garden hose, some seed packets, a neckerchief, some seed catalogs, index cards and popsicle sticks for making plant markers and set it aside for a gardening “Prop Box” for when she is a little older and interested in dress up.

Vocabulary: Dirt, seed, push, poke, plant, water, sprinkle, flower, grow

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Sensory Bin: Potting soil, large lima beans for pretend seeds, a couple of plastic pots (technically biodegradable bamboo pots ;)), trowel and small rake.  Later we added a watering can.

 Although she followed my lead and imitated me with digging, filling the pots, and pretending to plant seeds for a short time, it didn’t take long before all she was doing was throwing the dirt all over the place.  I tried to re-interest her in confining everything to the tub with a couple of watering cans for sprinkling our seeds and making some mud to squish around in (potting soil really doesn’t make satisfying muddy messes, at least ours didn’t.  Too much of non dirt stuff in it, I guess for lightening up the soil or whatever), but it didn’t really convince her to stop throwing dirt everywhere.  After a short time and a half empty bin, we moved to the water table to get rid of the worst dirt, then headed in for a bath 😉

 Vocabulary: dirt, soil, dig, trowel, shovel, rake, seeds, plant,

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Others: Fill and Spill Bugs, an old Mommy and Me Flower Puppet,  Art Cards – Garden

We played with them individually mostly, but I did try a new activity for us with the fill and spill bugs and the art cards and a few other 3D objects that I had around the house (which matched the cards). I lined up a few cards, piled a few of our items near by to see if she would be able to move the stuffed bug to the bug card, the plastic bird to the bird card, etc.

After a few demonstrations where I would name the cards on the ground, then pick up a 3D object and name that and lay it on the card, she did manage to get a few to the right place, but it was hit or miss, and I don’t think she was really getting it.  I’ll try something like this again in a few months.

On topic books we read this week: Sparkly Garden, In the Garden with Van Gogh, Jack’s Garden, Scratch and Sniff Garden, Inch by Inch, The Carrot Seed

On topic snacks this week:  Flower Quiche, flowers cut from fruit and ham and cheese (so many flower cutters b/c of the bento lunches), “butterflies” out of graham crackers, peanut butter and mini pretzels

New sign: Flower.  Make a “squashed O” with your hand, and touch it to your cheek on one side of your nose and then the other. 

Find more terrific tot school posts over at 1+ 1 + 1 = 1

Posted by Kristen in totschool

This week we turned to farm and farm animals for inspiration.

Baby L is 15 months

I still haven’t found any nice trays, so I continue to use some inexpensive plastic baskets that I found at Targets Dollar Spot as my “tot trays”.

Tot Basket:  Farm Animals & Barn.  I dug out a bunch of farm animals from our animal bin and added those to the basket along with an old fisher price little people barn (it still moos! =))

I followed her lead in playing for a bit, narrating what we were doing and what animals we were using.  I showed her how to sort our animals into families (since we have several cows, pigs, etc) and encouraged her to find specific animals from the basket to join the family we were building.  She consistantly got the cow, but none of the other animals.

Vocabulary: animal names, family, animal sounds, barn, sort

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Tot Basket: Mix and Stack Farm

This was a good activity for Baby L this week.  She didn’t quite get that first you put on the legs and then the body of the animals with 2 parts, but getting them threaded on was challenging, but doable.  We have the plan toys geometric sorter stacker thingie and the multiple posts per shape is too hard for her at 14 months.

Vocabulary: barn, cow, pig, cat, chicken, duck, stack, hole, peg

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Zoo Trip.  We went to the zoo with all the cousins on Friday last week, and just did a quick run through the farm area.  We went back this week, just me and the kids so I could get Baby L out of the stroller and into the petting pen.  She got to run around a bit in the goat pen and stroke thier fur then she pet a chicken and bunny.  No pics of that because I didn’t have enough arms to help her pet them appropriately while holding her and work the camera as well. ;)  I remember the first time we took Kidlet there when he was about the same age; we didn’t even take him out of the stroller, just rolled into the goat pen and when one came up, he was terrified!  Not Baby L — she was laughing and happy and kept asking for more (asl) when I would make naaah naaah noises.  We were at the zoo about 90 minutes and spend about half that in the farm section.

Cousin P, Cousin M, Cousin F, Baby L and Kidlet on the tractor at the farm in the zoo.

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Tot Basket: Counting and Sorting Farm

3 fabric animal “pens” have a velcro closure to open and sort the soft stuffed animals inside.  “1” is a little nest for the chicken. 

Baby L enjoyed this toy a lot.  She didn’t really sort well, but she enjoyed the stacking and the make believe barnyard play with animal noises courtesy of mama.  I suspect that we will be seeing this toy several times in the future; besides being cute, its definitely useable in a number of ways and will “grow” with her skills for a while.

Vocabulary: stack, open, animal names and sounds, numbers 1-4

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Crafts: Animal Stickers with Barn Printable (I used just the first page and trimmed off the side);  Dot Stickers with Cow Template

Baby L really likes lift the flap type books, but is still too rough on them so I don’t have them out yet, aside from a few we had left from when kidlet was little that are already in not so great shape.  So I thought we’d make our own lift the flap picture.  I took green mulberry paper and glued it on cardstock to make a field, and then printed out a barn.  I cut it out, leaving a little on the sides to make the tab to glue it down, and then cut it down the middle so it could be opened up.  I helped her get stickers off the sheet and encouraged her to stick them to the paper (tapping it with my finger and verbally) and she did all the sticking herself.  She enjoyed the stickers a lot, and kept asking for more.

The finished picture.  She has played with it since, opening and closing the flaps as well as pulling off and trying to re-sticker with the stickers.

I had planned to add spots to the cow with a dot-a-dot marker, but after trying out the Crayola Tadoodles first markers which are very dot-a-dot like, only shorter, rounder and made even more for toddler hands, and having her eat them, smear them everywhere (looked like she had a black eye!), and mostly making lines rather than dots, I switched to circle stickers from my desk drawer.

Vocabulary: animal names, animal sounds, open, closed, lift, circle, spot

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Felt Board: Little Red Hen

Kidlet read this book to us earlier in the day, then Baby L and I played with the felt board (I had purchased this felt story several years ago) and I re-told the story in very abbreviated form.  She’d giggle every time I said “NOT I!” in silly voices for each character.  We talked about what was in each picture, and mama made animal sounds. 

Vocabulary: Hen, Cat, Pig, Goose, Chicks, Wheat, Bread, Grind, Eat, Bake

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Animal Matching Game from Creative Learning Fun’s  Etsy Store.  The pack is definitely geared more for preschool, but I thought the little countrified animals were so cute when I saw them on her blog that I thought I would run them through the xyron and make stickers; I would always have the .pdf for a farm unit later on when the actual activities were more age appropriate.   While I *could* have made the activity pages, found free clip art, etc, the time I would have spent is well worth the measely 5$ that I paid for it.  Plus this way the clip art is all the same style, and just plain cute! =)

I ended up printing out the animal matching game — well, PART of it.  I picked the cow, chicken and pig.  That would be plenty for her age and they were very different in colors (I figured she would easily confuse the sheep and cow for instance).  I used clear contact paper to make them a little more sturdy, then cut them so they would line up cleanly without contact paper hanging over the matching up edges.

Let me say that I had no expectation that Baby L would be able to make them line up.  I put the three faces in a row and then mixed up the bodies and legs.  She DID pick up the bodies  and legs and get them put on the right pile though (most of the tiem).  Also exciting — I would tap the pig or chicken and ask her what it was, and she didn’t have anything to say.  I would tap the cow though and ask and she did say “kuh kuh kuh”.    I tried this out on some of our plastic animals later and she was definitely trying to verbally identify the cow!  (Of course  someone might point out that “Kuh kuh kuh” is also how she says “car” and “cat” and “kiwi” — I say, Don’t Rain on my Parade! ;))

I’d also agree that we need a little tot sized table; working at high chair isn’t much fun.  Maybe next payday. 

Vocabulary: cow, chicken, pig, match, head, body, legs

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Pot Band.  The plan was to give her a selection of kitchen pots and pans and large spoons and let her go to town.  I had planned to sing “Old MacDonald” and “Fiddle-i-fi” while I showed her how to bang in rhythym to the music.

This did not happen.  I had a headache on the day I’d scheduled this, and just couldn’t face it.  Instead we used her shakers that we made a couple weeks ago.  We danced, shook the shakers, and sang those songs.  Kidlet heard us and had to come join in.  I guess technically with Kidlet there it wasn’t 1 on 1 and thus not “tot school”; but it was fun! =)

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Others: See and Say Farm (inherited from my SiL), Baby MacDonald Video (another legacy item from 5+ years ago when Kidlet was an infant/toddler) which we watched together and talked about what we were seeing, Farm Sound Puzzle (far too difficult, and mostly mama helped her get them in the holes so she could hear the animal noises), V-Tech Sit to Stand Walker Farm Version (the electronic part comes off from the walker) and Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Learning Farm  (the last 2 items are out in the living room normally, so not really a special totschool activity), Fridge Farm;  I had no idea we had so much farm stuff!

Nursery Rhymes:  Looked through mother goose for animals rhymes, such as:  “Higglety Pigglety, My Black Hen”, “Baa Baa Black Sheep”, “Little Boy Blue”, “To Market, To Market”, etc

On topic snacks this week: Used mini cookie cutter animals to make ham and cheese stackers in the shape of cows, pigs and sheep; tinted cream cheese green, spread on 1/4 graham cracker and then stuck animal cracker on the “grass”; Pig Sammies, (nitrate free) pigs in a blanket; Homemade trail mix {“pig slop”} in a paper “trough”; Pear Mice

New sign: Cow.  Form your right hand into the letter “y.”  Place your thumb against your temple. Twist your hand until your little finger points upward. 

On topic books we read this week: Little Lamb,  First Farm, Little Red Hen, Touch and Feel Farm, Tickle the Pig, Big Red Barn, Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?, Good Morning, Good Night, Quack, Quack, and The Petting Farm Poster Book which we picked up at the Zoo, Click, Clack, Moo

I couldn’t find a link for First Farm; I’m sure its no longer published.  We bought that and “First Words” in 2004/5 when Kidlet wasn’t much older than Baby L is now.  They are board books with simple photographs of objects and animals, many in vibrant colors.  They remind me of DK publishing books (although these were done by Paradise Press).  Anyway, she really likes these two books and will bring them to us over and over.  She has recently gotten into the habit of touching each item on a page (multiple times even) so we can tell her what each object is.  Sometimes I will switch it up and ask her “where is the [whatever]?” and she is able to pick out more and more things.  It’s really amazing to see how much she is learning and changing.

Find more terrific tot school posts over at 1+ 1 + 1 = 1

Posted by Kristen in totschool