Tot Tuesday

I recently read the kids a book called Grandfather Tang's Story by Ann Tompert. I just had to bring out the tangrams for fun. We read through the entire book and made each animal from our tangrams. Riley didn't want to be left out, as usual.

I started by giving him a regular set of tangrams. He put the shapes together but he had difficulty putting together the animals. Then I remembered that I had just the right thing for him - Tangoes Jr.

I found Tangoes Jr. at Target on sale. I am always on the look-out for games and activities that challenge the mind. These Tangoes were magnetic and had two different levels of difficulty. He was thrilled to have his own set and they didn't move around like the others.

He used the cards that had each shape marked and was able to create the pictures we were creating with our own tangrams. I love when things work out:) It was a good math day!

Riley's Rhymes - 5 Little Pumpkins

I wanted to have a mini fall unit for Riley and I choose to work with pumpkins. These are a few of the activities that I did with Riley. If you would like the printable pumpkin mini pack, please see my post HERE.

I made a simple sensory bin with black beans and pumpkin erasers. I had Riley find the pumpkins with the tweezers. This fine motor activity is somewhat difficult for him but I have him keep trying.

I made a simple gate and aded velcro to the pumpkin stickers that I found. We added the pumpkins to the gate while reading the 5 little pumpkins rhyme.

We practiced shapes with this cute little pumpkin shape activity. Riley matched each pumpkin to the correct shape outline.

We played with orange play dough and made simple pumpkins adding green pipe cleaner stems.

I made simple shape puzzles that I attached to Mega Blocks. Riley matched the two pieces of the shapes.

Riley separated the color cubes into the correct pumpkin color cups. I had him use a spoon for more fine motor activity.

We practiced number recognition with the pumpkin number cards that are included in my mini pack. Riley added the pumpkin erasers to each number while we counted.

He played with an orange balloon, trying to keep it off the floor. He had fun with the balloon.

He made a pumpkin stamp picture. He stamped orange paint into each circle.

You can tell how much he loves to paint! Love that smile.

Lastly, he made a paper plate pumpkin cutting orange paper and gluing it onto the plate. It was a good unit for October. I hope you enjoy. Stay tuned for our next rhyme unit.

Riley's Rhymes - 5 Little Pumpkins

My newest installment for Riley's Rhymes is Five Little Pumpkins. I wanted to do a fall theme but I didn't want to include scary items so I found a non-scary version of the rhyme. I hope you enjoy my newest rhyme mini pack.

As always, I included a visual schedule. I am a visual learner and I like being able to look at the idea that I want to recreate. I found some mini pumpkin erasers at Target and I knew pumpkins just needed to be my next theme. (I hadn't planned on this, so it is a bonus unit!)

If you have been following Riley's Rhymes, we will know that we are focusing on shapes, colors, and nursery rhymes. I made some simple pumpkin shape puzzles that I would laminate and add magnets to for a cookie sheet activity. I also made a version of these puzzles for mega blocks, which is the activity I used.

I made color sorting pumpkins. These colorful pumpkins you can add to a 6 cup muffin tin and have your child use tweezers or tongs to separate colored pom poms. I also included a a pumpkin sewing card and Pumpkin numbers. Use the number pumpkins to add either pom poms or the little pumpkin erasers to practice counting and number recognition. I included a black and white version that you could print on orange paper to save ink. Enjoy our pumpkin unit. Riley in action will be posted later.

Download Five Little Pumpkins mini unit HERE.

Links

Owl Preschool - has a free mini book for the Five Little Pumpkins - the non scary version. This is the book that will be the base of our unit.

Riley's Rhymes - Itsy Bitsy Spider

A new unit is ready for Riley's Rhymes - Itsy Bitsy Spider. It is the month of October and it seemed like a good time to pull out our spider rhyme. If you haven't heard of Riley's Rhymes - it is a gentle tot school with a focus on nursery rhymes and songs while learning about shapes and colors. I want you to know that I am not pushing "school" on my tot. He asked me to do school and this is what I came up with ;)

Today, I am offering the spider min unit download.

Here is my visual schedule for Itsy Bitsy Spider. I an a visual learner and I love the picture schedule. If you notice, there is only one activity planned for each day. I didn't want to overwhelm Riley so I only planned for one a day. Riley usually wants to do more so I have other activities in his basket. I place each activity into a ziplock bag with all of the items needed to complete it. So it is just grab and go. After we read the book based on the rhyme, Riley will choose a bag and we will work the activity.

In my unit, I have included 2 part spider puzzles to reinforce color recognition. I laminated these and placed magnets on the back.

Another activity in my download are spider number cards. I am only focusing on counting, not so much as number recognition. But, if I know Riley, he will want to match the colors of the pompoms to the colors of the spiders. We will be using our pom pom magnets with these cards. These are just a few activities included in the download. There are also shape two part puzzles and a shape game as well as the coloring page for the bag book. Enjoy.

Download Itsy Bitsy Spider Mini Pack HERE.

Riley's Rhymes - Wheels on the Bus

In case you missed the explanation - Riley's Rhymes is a tot school based on rhymes and songs with a focus on colors and shapes. My tot is just about three years old and he asked to do "school" just like his brother and sister. It is a gentle "school" and we do what Riley wants. I do not force him to do it - if he asks, then we will.

Our first unit was Wheels on the Bus - fitting for the first month of school. We took a month to complete it because of hurricane Irma and no electricity for 14 days. But that's okay - we were flexible:) Here are some of the activities that Riley did for our unit.

The Wheels on the Bus unit was based on the song. The focus color was yellow and the focus shape was a circle.

At the beginning of each session, I sang the song while looking at our books. I took this time to point out circles and the color yellow. After a day or two, I noticed him singing the song on his own (loved it:).

My plan was to begin the unit with a new sensory bin. The sensory bin that I had planned was a wagon wheel pasta bin. But I was unable to find the pasta so I made the color yellow sensory bin. I included everything I could find that was yellow - counting bears, blocks, linking blocks, circles etc...

I made some simple 2 part puzzles of circles (included in my download). I laminated them and added magnets to make them easier to assemble. He also had a 3 part bus puzzle that he did. I kept the activities simple as to not overwhelm him and to make it fun.

He was really interested in the lacing bus card (in download). I showed him once how to do it and then let him "sew" away.

He worked on a q-tip painting picture of a circle. He used the bingo markers in the color yellow. He went around and dotted each circle which surprised me. I thought he would get tired of it - nope:)

 He worked on a torn paper bus which will go into his paper bag book pocket. I thought this activity would have been easy but he had some difficulty tearing construction paper. Maybe next time I will have him tear printer paper. He glued not he pieces himself with a large glue stick.

He stacked yellow blocks into a tall tower.

He matched the tire colors using pom pom magnets, a cookie sheet, and my printable.

He painted a bus using the tires of a bus. He wasn't sure about this - he kept asking me to clean off the tires of his bus. He didn't want it dirty.

Here is the beginning of our paper bag book - as you can see where I got the large paper bags (thanks Publix!). All of his crafts will be placed in the pocket of the bag book. They all fit except for the big bus which I will have to fold. You will also notice that I have included extra activities that aren't on my visual schedule. The reason for this is that Riley wanted more than just one activity. So, I had to get creative and add a few items.

Riley's Rhymes - Wheels on the Bus with free printable

I am super excited about a new idea that I have developed for my tot - Riley. He has been feeling left out while I work with J and Kaleb during school. He asked me to do "school" with him. I truly feel like he is too young to start learning the alphabet and I didn't want to push "school" too soon. But I did want to work with him in an intentional way. So, I began Riley's Rhymes - it is a year long program that is based on nursery rhymes and songs.

Each unit for Riley's Rhymes is based on one rhyme or song with a shape and color focus. I have included several activities to enforce the learning and, in the end, they will be combined to create one big paper bag book. Each unit is two to three weeks long (or longer, if you would like) and I only do "school" when Riley asks. I keep all activities in a plastic bin and ready to go, all items included so I am not searching for things when I am working with him.

With each unit, there will be a unit download. It will include some of the games and printables that we used to make it easier for you to plan your own rhyme unit. Our first unit for Riley's Rhymes was The Wheels on the Bus - it seemed appropriate for the start of school. I tried to find age appropriate activities which will vary depending on the child. So when you work your own unit, pick and choose what you think you can use.

Now, before I get angry emails or comments, I do NOT believe that my three year old NEEDS school. I am doing this because of my child interest in wanting to have his own "school" like his brother and sister. My focus is learning fun based on rhymes/songs with practice in colors and shapes.  I am NOT teaching the alphabet or forcing my child to do anything he does not want to do. I am allowing him to take the lead and, if ever, he wants to stop - I will stop.

So, without further ado....my Wheels on the Bus mini unit for Riley's Rhymes.

Each unit is based on two weeks (or more if needed) and has a visual schedule. I planned one activity per day as well as some notebook pages. I am a visual learner so I like the visual schedule. I place each activity into a gallon ziplock bag along with all of the items needed so Riley can pick and go.

I found this activity on pinterest but couldn't find a printable for it, so I made one myself. Using our pom pom magnets, Riley matched the wheels on the bus.

I made a simple game. Riley would roll the die and cover the shape that it landed on. This was a great opportunity to reinforce colors and shapes. We used the pom pom magnets from the previous game.

I made a simple rhyme sheet for the paper bag book. Also, included in this download is a cover for your child to color. I am using the large paper bags that you can get at the grocery store. These are a few of the activities that I have included in my mini unit. Please see Riley's Rhymes Wheels on the Bus in Action to see all of the activities that we did.

Download Wheels on the Bus Mini Unit HERE.

We're Taking a....

You have heard of taking a sick day, a mental health day, but today, we are taking a Lego day. Recently, we had a friend bring us an extreme amount of legos that her son decided to give up. When I say extreme, this kid was a lego enthusiast. We received a plastic bin, a box, a bag of legos and even a homemade Lego table. Wow. The kids went ballistic...so many legos in one place and we weren't even at the Lego store:)

The next day, we woke up to a rainy, yucky day. It was dreary and dark. We had school to do but we decided to take a Lego day. One day where the kids could just explore and play with their new treasures. A day to be free but I am sure I snuck in some chapter book reading while they were playing:) Every now and then, you need to take a day....a day not related to school to just be free. We are enjoying our day, playing Legos. Hope you enjoy your day:) See you soon.

Kaleb found some treasures in the Lego box....Star Wars.

J working intently on her creations.

She made a house complete with furniture and art work.

Riley was not to be outdone. He had to play too. He experimented with the Lego table. Thanks Liz and Matthew! They will definitely be played with (and stepped on).

Book Unit - Mouse Shapes

We finally had time to work on our second Mousey book - Mouse Shapes by Ellen Stoll Walsh. Kaleb has been busy "working" with his Dad so "school" has been waiting for him. We always start the day by reading the book. This gives him the exposure to the book every day. The sensory bin for the week was a simple one - black beans and lots of different shapes.

We used the sensory bin to determine how many different shapes we had. He used a spoon to pull out the shapes and then he "graphed" them to see how many we had. Using this graph, he was able to determine which one has the most and which shape had the least.

He practiced making shapes using popsicle sticks.

I found these mini shape links at Target last year. We discussed each shape represented and then he linked all of the same ones together. I love the look of concentration.

My smarty realized that two semi circles make a circle! :)

Using shape magnets, Kaleb made some of the pictures from the book - a house and a wagon.

We played a bean bag toss game. He tossed the bean bag and told me what shape and number it fell onto.

We played shape bingo by tossing the shape cube and putting a marker on the shape.

We played a Roll a Mouse Game - I made the pieces from foam. He rolled the die and added the piece of the mouse.

He sorted buttons according to its shape. We discovered that we had way more circles than any other shape.

I  made a simple name puzzle using foam egg shapes. We have been working on his name all year.

I made some simple shapes and 2 letters (M and K) on the floor using painter's tape. First, he traced the shapes with his trucks.

Then, he looked for the different shapes through out the house. He found Mouseys for the M's and keys for the K.

We made shapes with marshmallows and toothpicks. He enjoyed the mini snack - once I brought out the marshmallows, he was more interested in eating them!

He made a shape mouse as well as some Swiss Cheese, just like the book.

I left the shapes on the floor and later, I found him tracing them with his Mega Blocks.

Here is a picture of his mouse and cheese. They turned out super cute. We have one more Mouse book - Mouse Paint but it will have to wait a week or two. We are heading out of town for Spring Break to spend some time with the Grandparents! Yay! So, if possible, I will get to Mouse Paint at the Grandparent's house - we will see if that works out. Hope you are having a great week :)

Links

Or So She Says - has the idea for the popsicle shapes plus a free printable.

Mess for Less - has a shape contact paper art project that looks like fun.

Mama's Learning Corner - has a free printable shape sort game. You can use it as a cut and paste activity or as a simple game to reuse.

First Grade A la Carte - has the free printable Mouse Shape game.

Play dough to Plato - has a simple play dough shape activity using paper towel tubes.

The Pleasantest Thing - has the idea for the shape mice.

Growing Book By Book - has the shape name idea. I just used the egg shapes but it would be beneficial to use all of the shapes.

Imprints from Tricia - has the shape graphing idea.

Powerful Mothering - has a free printable - blocks with different shapes on them.

Living Worlds Apart Pinterest Board for Mouse Count, Shapes, and Paint