Tot School (LETTER I)

  Luv Bug is 33 months old

 

We had a very short week since Daddy needed to use some floating holidays (or lose them) by the end of the year. We decided to go on a little vacation and visit some family and friends.

Since it was such a short (busy) week, I only put together 3 trays:

These Farm Beads are hit or miss with Luv Bug. Sometimes she will sit and do these several times. This time she was just happy to line them up while we sang Old MacDonald.

While she was doing this, I had the idea to add these to her unit blocks, but we ran out of time.

Spooning marbles into an ice cube tray with a melon baller.

Sorry for the blurry picture, it looked normal on my camera. This is a favorite of Luv Bug. Whenever I put this out, it's usually the first tray she chooses.

Sorting Insect Erasers with plastic tweezers. She sorted about 9 of the erasers, then decided they needed to "live together" and proceeded to dump them all in the same compartment. Silly Girl!

 I did manage to get a picture of her sorting  them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our theme this week was letter I. We used a few printables from Confession of a Homeschooler's Letter of the Week alphabet activities. She has several for each letter but since Luv Bug is so young, I only print a few. 

 Inch worm size sorting. Luv Bug is getting the hang of this, but needed a little help. I set a few in place and had her fill in the rest. She had more fun making them talk with one another.

Matching numbers on inch worms to number of holes on leaves. Luv Bug did this easily by herself. I think she's going to be good at math like her daddy. She loves puzzles and counting games.  

 Dot painting letter I. She does really well with these, but recently, once she finishes stamping each circle, she goes back and makes sure there is no white in any of them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She asked to play with shaving cream. We did this a few weeks ago and it was a HUGE hit. This time we added some paints and she had the best time mixing them. I wanted to make prints, but completely forgot until it was all cleaned up.

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just some random things Luv Bug did this week:

This is a common sight in our home. Luv Bug LOVES books. (This is the smaller of her bookshelves). She will sit and "read" for quite awhile. She's now into either repeating what she's heard read to her or making up her own dialogue (sp?) I love to just sit and listen.

While I was organizing our supplies, Luv Bug found our seahells. When I finished, she proudly showed me what she had done. Such concentration!

Although it was a short week, we had alot of fun. Next week will also be short since we'll still be away the first half (this post is being scheduled). We'll probably continue with the same theme when we return.

Tot School

 Luv Bug is 33 months old

 

We had a fun week during Tot School. We had a review week, but Luv Bug has been teething so we pretty much just did trays and lots of play.
I had 6 trays set out this week:

I cut a slit in an empty baby food jar and gave Luv Bug some coins to drop in. She loves this and we do it often.

Hard to see. I traced some words on strips of paper and added some of her Melissa and Doug magnets . She's done this before and liked it. This time:

Not so much.

Button art.

Another favorite. She balances the marbles on the suction cups. She is so fast at this now but I put it out often because she enjoys it so much.

I made these fish about a year and a half ago. I was searching for fun activities to do with my daughter and stumbled across this blog.
They were so easy to make and Luv Bug loves them.

We love sensory bins here. I try to change them up weekly. She only played with this once but she stayed with it quite awhile.  I may leave this out another week. It was simple to put together. I had some rainbow rice from a different sensory bin and I added her magnet set and a box to put her 'treasures' in.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since Luv Bug wasn't herself, we didn't do much else during Tot School time, but we did play alot. About a month ago, it was raining and I wanted to come up with something fun for Luv Bug. A friend had given her some play jewelry. I set it out along with a little purse and some 'flat marbles' (what are those called anyway?) to use as money. It was a huge hit and she asks to play every now and again

She asked to play train. This is new, and I love that she came up with it herself while I had to take an important call.

She's been engaging in quite alot of imaginary play lately. I was searching for ideas to help encourage that and I found this. I plan on using quite a few of these ideas. I just have to figure out where to store everything:)

Here are just a some random pics of other things we did this week:

She just got this last week and it has been out almost every day.

 I bought this at Target on clearance last year. It was marked down from $19.99 to $4.99! I had been eyeing it for awhile since I LOVE penguins. I love watching her 'bowl'. She knows how to roll a ball, but with this she carries the ball over and knocks them down. She's too funny. I also found it here.

 Who needs a ball?

 We love this puzzle. She puts it together easily now but she loves playing with and finding other uses for it.

Hopefully next week, Luv Bug will be back to herself. For now, this Mama is enjoying the extra cuddles!

Amazon

I LOVE Amazon! I order from them several times per year. Mostly I order things for Luv Bug. One of the features I love most is their customer reviews. I always base my purchases on the average of the reviews.
I also love when I read blogs that recommend products they like, so I decided that I'll share some of my favorite purchases during my regular weekly posts. (I've decided to do those Saturday night)
Anyway, I received my most recent order today and I wanted to share one of the items for Luv Bug:


Luv Bug has always loved puzzles. We think she may have a photographic memory because it seems that after she's put one together once, she takes one look at the pieces and knows right where they go. She's mastered 9 and 12 piece puzzles, so we decided to buy her more challenging ones.
When I searched on Amazon, I couldn't beleive this deal.
I was a little leary though that they were double sided. I thought that would be confusing, but I ordered them anyway. Not the case.
The front of the 10 puzzles each depict a colorful scene while the back features more educational detailing on the back. Confused? I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves:

(front)

(back)

(front)

(back)

Luv Bug was super excited when these came. As I do with all new puzzles, I put them together, then remove several of the pieces. This way she can get an idea what the puzzle is supposed to look like. I've set one up for after her nap:

I think these will challenge her enough without frustrating her.
The only thing I noticed is that we didn't receive the 10 sealable bags listed in the contents (unless Luv Bug made off with them while I was looking through the puzzles). It's not a big deal since I can just use resealable sandwich baggies. So far, a GREAT purchase!