Tot/Preschool week 2: Feelings

Luv Bug is 42 months old

We finished up another fun week!  Though it was cut a bit short due to a pool play day and a graduation party, we did quite a lot.

Luv Bug had 5 trays this week:

Tot Time Notebook created by Carisa at 1+1+1=1.

Melissa and Doug magnetic doll.

Animal Planet matching game from Dollar Tree.

I set out her links to see how she'd play with them. She wanted to make necklaces. We also sorted by color and made patterns. The ones we have are not exactly the ones linked. I couldn't find the exact ones.

I set out mirrors and feeling cards on her science tray. This was surprisingly her favorite tray. She played with it daily. She loved trying to make the faces in her mirror. It was too cute. The cards were free from Herding Kats in Kindergarten's TPT store.

We used her Incy Bincies to play a feelings game. I'd make one 'say' something like, "I learned a new trick today. I'm feeling proud." Then we'd put the figurine on the proud card. Luv Bug loved this and asked to play several times. She even came up with some 'scenarios' on her own.

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I didn't take a lot of pictures this week, but we did do quite a lot. We read several 'feelings' books then discussed how we'd feel.

I made Luv Bug this happy/sad puppet. We talked about things that make us happy or sad. I'd give Luv Bug a scenario and she'd use the puppet to tell me how it would make her feel.

We had fun with this Tot Pack, another creation by Carisa at 1+1+1=1.

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We're still working on letter a this week. I loved this lowercase a craft from Totally Tots. Instead of foam though, I gave Luv Bug some red craft paper and had her tear it into small pieces. I had a lowercase a for her to glu them on. Then we covered it with Mod Podge until it dried. I gave her the rest of the pieces (cut ahead of time) and she glued everything onto paper.

I've been wanting to try this since I saw it on another blog:  adding water beads to shaving cream. Luv Bug has played with each separately before, I thought she'd really like this. I added a bit of paint to the shaving cream and let Luv Bug at it.

First she mixed everyhting together, then spread the shaving cream on her arms,

then in her hair.....

finally....... I laugh every time I look at this picture. Silly girl. She had played over 30 minutes happily until the mess began getting out of hand. I asked if she'd like to do it again some time. She told me next time NO water beads. She didn't like the feel of the two together, but still a succesful sensory experience.

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A few books about feelings we enjoyed:



Linking up this week to he following:

Tot/Preschool week 1: All About Me

Luv Bug is 41 months old

I posted last week that Luv Bug would be beginning a combination tot/preschool. We just finished up our first week and had SO much fun. Our theme was All About Me. There are many, many cute ideas I found, it was hard to choose just a few.

As before, I set out several trays for Luv Bug, but I've changed things a bit. I've dedicated one tray as her science tray, one for math and manipulatives and one for ABC's and language arts. The others will be fun crafts, toys or games. When appropriate, I'll add a book to each tray.

Luv Bug had 6 trays this week:

 I've seen this on so many blogs. Daddy needed to make a run to the hardware store. We went along and finally bought several nuts and bolts. I forgot to take a picture in action. She loved this tray!

 This is a partial tray. I changed it daily. One day I added a piece of paper with her name printed on it. We poured salt over it and practiced tracing her name. I also made her a name puzzle and a photo puzzle. The salt was a BIG hit!

 This was the science tray. I found the printable at Making Learning Fun.

 Luv Bug liked making fingerprints, but really didn't have any interest in studying them.

 Tangoes Jr. Another favorite.

I traced her bath letters on index cards then laminated them. I was going to have her match them alphabetically, then out of order (like the book), but we didn't get to it.

 She had fun matching and stacking them though.

 I actually found this at the hardware store. They had several styles. I chose one that resembled Luv Bug.

 I knew she'd need some help, but I was amazed at how much she was able to do on her own.

 She had her own idea about sewing the dress on. We ran out of yarn and had to glues on the shoes. I thought it turned out cute.

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 I dyed alphabet pasta for her sensory bin, then added alphabet foam pieces and beads.

 I had several carboard tubes that I wasn't sure what use for. I glued 2 together, then covered them in brown felt. I cut out leaves from posterboard. This was a last minute project, so I only had time to cut out capital and lowercase a (our letter of the week). Of course, we had to read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

 We traced Luv Bug, cut out the tracing, then used different things to measure her. These link manipulatives arrived the day before...perfect for this activity.

 She wanted to measure using her Littlest Pet Shop animals. She probably has enough to measure our family:)

 I bought Luv Bug a folder and placed a few printables in it for her to do if she chooses. She enjoys them. This was one I found at 1+1+1=1's RRSP letter A page.

 When I told Luv Bug we would be doing preschool, she was very excited. She calls me 'Teacher' and every day sets out a few dolls and animals as classmates:) I gave her a pad of post its for nametags.

 I'm still finding them on things:)

 We work on each letter for 2 weeks. While i still want most of her artwork to be open ended, I do want to do a capital and lowercase craft for each letter of the alphabet. I still let her do it her own way and only give her a little direction (this is an arm, this is a helmet....) We saw this adorable Astronaut craft at Homeschool Creations. We glued it onto black paper and I gave her some foam stars and a moon to decorate the paper. She had her own idea. I love it.

 We bought Luv Bug an Innotab and downloaded a few learning games onto it.

Luv Bug loves to paint. I gave her red, yellow and blue. She was happy to discover that when all mixed, she made brown.

I have been wanting to buy one of these marble trees for awhile. We finally broke down and bought one. On sale at Discount School Supply.

This picture made me laugh. She dumped a bunch of marbles into her backpack, then had to dive in to get them out.

We also did a few pages each day of an all about me book I had from when I worked with preschool and pre-k. I can't believe I forgot to take any pictures of it.

We really enjoyed our week. I can tell it'll be a fun year.

We are linking up to the following:

Luv Bug's Tot/Preschool

I can't believe how fast this summer is going. We've been taking several small day or weekend trips since it's hard for Daddy to take off in the summer. We're going away for a long weekend at the end of August and he always takes a week off in September for our anniversary.
Anyway, we've been so busy, I decided to take a blogging break in July.
Today Luv Bug and I began preschool. She was so excited, daddy and I decided to make a BIG deal of it and gave her a 'party' last night. We made a cake and had some fun family time. Since we're starting off with an All About Me theme, we looked through our family photo albums. We put together a puzzle I bought of Luv Bug and her daddy and just played and had fun.

I wasn't sure I was going to do preschool yet because I just don't want her learning to be too structured yet. She is, however, quite advanced in some things and was more than ready to add SOME structure. It's still mostly child led, but I've changed a few things. I still struggle with giving her 'worksheets' since she's only 3, but SHE loves them. I decided to put a few in a folder each week that she can choose to do if she wants. I'm going to try to get her to sit for about 10 minutes each day for 'circle time' and just be a little more choosy (is that a word?) with the things I set out.

I've decided to give the trays a 'theme'. The green one will remain her science tray, the red will be her alphabet/ language arts tray and the yellow will be for math manipulatives. The others will have learning toys. crafts and games.

I have a list of themes, but I want to follow her interests, so I'm planning week to week.
If it seems too much for her, I have no problems doing tot school another year. For now, this is our plan. Again it may change. She's the boss!