Tot School: Superheroes

Month: January
Theme: Superheroes

I held off on the Superheroes theme until we got into school and now I'm not sure why that was a good idea. We are having so much fun with the superhero theme. Bobo constantly asks to do school or projects. We've been using preschool packs from Carisa and Michelle (no longer available).

The Lessons

From left to right, top to bottom:
Sorting Batman characters (cut from the back of a coloring book)
Sorting letter "S"
Building firetruck
Tag Ben 10
Lacing foam stars
Playdough letter "S" with stamper


Pre-writing exercise helping the good guys catch the bad guys.
Superman magnet page with homemade pom pom magnets
Stamping with letter "S" and star and smiley face
Counting to 5 with superheroes
Cutting help good guy get to supercar
Color by number Batman symbol

The Activities

Bobo received lots of building blocks and Legos for Christmas. I am very bad at following directions and putting things together. I can do it, but it takes FOREVER. Bobo said he was proud of me for helping him with this firetruck. After we put it together, we played for an hour or so with it and the superheroes.


Bobo loves magnets and rainbows, so these letter magnets I ordered from Oriental Trading are just perfect. We sorted upper and lowercase letters, matched colors and made a rainbow snake on the big magnet board.


More letter "S" fun with stamping. Play dough is one of Bobo's favorite activities. I can't imagine a week without it. He had fun making a mustache with the green dough.



As soon as he got the Batman coloring/activity book, Bobo has been begging to do the activity on the back. He had fun sorting and pretending with all the Batman characters.


You may notice some of our pictures taking place out of the school room. There is a simple reason. Bobo couldn't wait to get to these lessons, so as soon as I was putting something together, he would ask to do it. I said yes.


I did not plan this photo opp, but it did turn out cute! Superbobo magnet dotting superman.

The Projects

Bobo prefers the black suit of Ironman, but the costume he has did not come with gloves or boots. He asked if we could make some and I said yes. I'm still working out the logistics of the boots. I want to use spray paint and rain boots, but have not found any boots yet. We cut out white circles from felt and glued them on black gloves. As a side note, I'm going to have to sew the circles to get them to stay on because the gloves are very large on little hands.



Paint is still new and exciting. He just loves the powder tempera paint. I set out the dropper to put water on the tray. I'm going to have to set up an invitation just with the droppers and some water. He was more interested in that at first.


After mixing blue and yellow, he turned into the Hulk. I guess that shade of green just screamed, "Smash, smash, smash!" This was just the beginning of painting the body activities.


He also became Wolverine. I'm not sure why this was Wolverine, but I went with it. He played like this for about an hour and was so sad to wash it off. I was afraid the paint would irritate his skin. "Aww, mama."

Since Bobo enjoys painting himself so much, I looked up how to make homemade body paints. This led to the WORST PROJECT EVER!!! If a recipe calls for shortening, DON'T USE IT. It is not water soluble and impossible to get off dishes let alone a squirming child. Plus, something in the recipe burned Bobo's face. His cheeks were so red. I don't know whether to buy some paints or try a different recipe.

Sensory Bin

Superhero Sensory Bin: rainbow links, Legos, tiny superhero figures and tweezers

We've had hours of fun with this bin. The links have become ropes, bridges and ladders. The Legos have become houses, hide-outs and evil robots. This is my favorite sensory bin so far and it was the easiest to make. It's just so colorful and inviting.

Tot School: Christmas 2 and The Melting Snowman Experiment

Month: December
Theme: Christmas
Dates: 12/11 to 12/17

Bobo's been on a photography kick lately. He isn't convinced that his Fisher-Price camera takes REAL pictures, so I've been loaning him mine. His photos give insight into his life and what he finds important. He takes lots of photos of mama and daddy as well as his environment. My favorites are the extreme close-ups of body parts and clothing.

The Lessons

We took it pretty easy this week as we were trying to get all the Christmas preperations done. He did play his V-tech everyday. He likes it best when someone sits with him while he's playing to engage him even more. This post is coming a few weeks later than the dates, so I've noticed he likes to show off his newfound skills. He'll say, "Watch this!" He's needing less help with the games but still likes the encouragement and praise.

The Activities


We did one science experiment, the melting snowman. We filled three balloons with water the night before. Then, we put them together first thing in the morning because he was so excited. I used salt to get them to stick together. Daddy thought it would take 2 hours to melt, but I thought it would take much longer. We checked it every 1/2 hour and took a picture.





After two hours, he fell over so daddy was partially right. It took about 8 hours for the dish to fill up with water and make a huge mess. I emptied everything out after that. Note to self: Use a tub next time we do a melting experiment.


While we were waiting for ice to melt, we made red corn for a project. We played in the Sensory Bin using funnels this time. Bobo also traced letters, scooped and poured.


He pushed chenille sticks into the shaker. I found this reindeer mask at Joann's for $1. It's wood, so you can decorate it with basically anything. He chose to use his magic markers.


Then, he played with the train puzzle some more.

Field Trip

We attended the Main Library's PJ Story Time. The theme this year was cocoa, so there were lots of stories about cookies and chocolate, yum. We missed Miss Karyn, who was out sick. Bobo was so disappointed, but cheered up when he had the opportunity to have a heart to heart with Santa. He also made an adorable cupcake ornament out of foam. You can never have too many homemade ornaments.

Tot School: Christmas

Month: December
Theme: Christmas
Dates: 12/4 to 12/10

Oriental Trading finally had a free shipping bonus, so we bought some new school supplies! I've had the penguin nesting dolls in my cart for ages, but didn't want to pay the shipping, which would cost as much as the item. I scored by waiting and got some other fun supplies in the process.

The Lessons

Bobo stamped the letter "S" sounds, like snake and shark. We practiced numbers by rolling our new foam dice and counting the dots to make a chain out of links. After it snowed, we went outside and sprayed red, yellow and blue on the snow in the backyard. He really wanted to eat the snow, but I couldn't do it. We have all kinds of animals running around back there. Maybe when the snow is thicker and we go in the front. Better yet, we'll make snow cones inside with ice from the fridge!

The Activities

The penguin nesting doll is Bobo's favorite activity for the month. He loves to pretend with them. We played hide-and-seek several times. One of us would close or eyes and the other would hide the baby inside one of the four left. This worked on color recognition and size.

We both made gingerbread men using the scented Play Dough we made a couple of weeks ago. We used beads to make eyes, mouth, nose and buttons. He enjoyed this activity and made lots of men.


I tried to introduce the concept of weaving by setting out Christmas ribbon and a cooling wrack. He did it perfectly but wasn't interested in continuing the activity. We haven't used it since the first day.

When I think of Christmas, I think of trains. With that in mind, Bobo assembled and played with his train puzzle. We bought this at Kohl's when he was obsessed with trains last year.


Crafts

I keep adding more craft supplies as I find good deals. Our craft area has grown and now has taken over a whole wall. Bobo explored his new craft area and said, "I need my scissors." He found lots of new things to cut, like yarn. He has mastered holding scissors correctly.

As you may already know, Bobo loves sidewalk chalk. We played with it everyday in the summer, most of the fall. Instead of putting it away for the winter, I set it out with the craft supplies. He asked if he could use it outside. I suggested using it on paper. He had no idea you could use chalk on paper! He's also been fascinated with drawing on black paper, so we explored what colors would work.


Sensory Bin

I made the winter sensory bin with Epsom Salt as the base. I added snowman cups (yes, they are ceramic and fragile, and YES, he did fine with them), a stretchy reindeer, santa ornament, santa smurfette, plush snowman and scoops. Bobo buried, scooped and poured with glee.


He had to get into the box, of course. No matter what is in the box, Bobo ends up in there as well eventually. He's making his "Don't take a picture," face, which consists of sticking out his tonge. The jokes on him, because I'm still going to use them. Ha-ha!


Field Trip

The boys and Grandma went to Indianapolis for the day. I stayed home and decorated the tree. I know they went to a mall and played in a children's area for a long time. Bobo made several friends and played with lots of children. What happened when he came home and saw the beautiful tree? Was he enchanted and amazed? "You hung up ALL the green ornaments?" said with a protruding bottom lip. Luckily, I had run out of hooks and still had some ornaments left to hang. We decorated the tree even more and hung up our special ornaments for the year. Bobo and Daddy put up the star as is tradition.

We also visited the Santa Train downtown and the Early Learning Center this week as I had a few days off work.

V-Tech

I don't remember what spurred it, but we got the V-tech V-Smile back out. Bobo received this system as a gift last year, but didn't have the skills to use it properly. He ended up throwing it, and we thought it was broken. Fortunately, it just needed new batteries and a new introduction. Now, Bobo is playing with it on a daily basis. He knows how to turn it on, off and reset as well as how to change games. He plays Kung-Fu Panda and Thomas the Train most often. It teaches letters, colors and logical thinking. We love it!

Tot School: Fall 4 and Gourd Cyclops

Month: November
Theme: Fall
Dates: 11/27 to 12/2

The Lessons


I've been scouring the Internet looking for free educational games Bobo can play on the computer. We love using the Early Literacy computers in the Children's Department at the Main Library. I wanted something similar to play at home. I don't know why I didn't think about borrowing a CD-ROM before, except I thought it would be tricky to get onto my computer. I overcame my fear and borrowed A to Zoo a Sesame Street game. It was so easy to get on my computer. Bobo worked on letters, colors and rhyming. He played it everyday.

The Activities

Bobo still loves stamping, so I found an activity to enable him to paint his body and stamp. Perfect activity! He made a Fall tree, so we used orange, yellow and red stamp pads. We had to mix paint to make a brownish color for the trunk, since I didn't have brown paint. I helped him paint his arm and hand to form the trunk. Then, he stamped leaves on the paper.




The Fall Sensory Box still isn't as big of a hit as the Halloween box, but Bobo did have fun with it. He counted, worked on fine motor skills by using the tongs and identified letters to put on the board.


One of Bobo's favorite activities is still playing with Pay-Doh, yes, the store-bought kind. He received a huge package of it last year for Christmas. We have all wood flooring, so I don't sweat using it all over the house. Since we have so much of it, I'm not worried about losing some or it drying out. However, I've been wanting to experiment with the scented dough. The blogs I follow have said the texture is different when you make it yourself. So, we made Pumpkin Play Dough.


This is also a great alternative to making cookies, which works on the same skills (measuring, counting and stirring). After we were done smooshing and mashing, we used it to identify the numbers 1 to 5. Then, we put them in order. We put the correct number of "candies" on each "cookie". Bobo used his play dough scissors to cut the dough. This is the first time I've seen him hold his scissors correctly without prompting. YAY!


I used some Fall printables to work on matching and sorting. Again, there is so much lag between printing, doing and posting that I don't remember where the materials came from but check out the blogs I follow to find similar items, if not the same materials. Bobo used the Fall shadow matching prints, Fall word match and Apples/Leaves sorting.


Field Trip
Ok, so we just went to the library. We attended the weekly Play Date and had lots of fun learning and playing with other children. We played with the Dinosaur Sensory Bin. I used "floam" for the water and earth part of the box. Then placed small dinosaurs and trees. Some of the other children came over to see what we were doing. We all worked on counting, colors and vocabulary.



Bobo dressed up like a cowboy using a hat from the dress-up play box. He fingerpainted the Christmas countdown sheet. With all the activities set up, can you guess what the children decided to do?



Chase the baby! Bobo had a wonderful time chasing the baby around the toy squares. I will count this as a Large Motor activity.



The boys also turned the puppet theater into an ice cream shop. They pretended the pieces from the sensory puzzle were cups of ice cream.



We've been doing a lot with beads lately. I discovered he liked to lace beads onto a shoe string to make a rope. I've been having him bead chenille sticks to make candy canes and he's getting pretty good at it.



The Books
Over the River and Through the Wood by L. Maria Child
Thanksgiving: Stories and Poems Edited by Caroline Bauer

Tot School: Fall 3 and an AWESOME Turkey Craft

Month: November
Theme: Fall
Dates: 11/20 to 11/26

The Lessons

We finished up a few Fall activities from last week. We only had a few trays left and were planning on being away for the holidays, so I didn't make any new ones. I did "make" a new weekly board. I had a photo board I don't use and put it on our desk in our room. I can easily switch letters, numbers and words. This week Bobo learned the Letter "T", Number "5" and some Thanksgiving words. I also made a travel pack to take with us for the long car ride. We visited the IUK Center for Early Childhood Education. I think we were there for about four hours. I packed some worksheets to work on there as well. I don't think I'll do that again, though because there is so much to do there already.

The Activities

Bobo worked on sorting Food and people. When he understands an activity and wants to make it more interesting, he'll take on the role of "teacher." This was such an activity. "Mama, the people goes here. Listen to your teacher."

One of the activites I brought to IUK was the Do-a-Dot worksheet for the letter T. We do not yet own any dotters, so we used the ones at the center.


I used a Color By Word sheet into a Color By Letter worksheet for Bobo. He liked this activity and was able to identify all the letters and the number 5. It seems like he only gets confused when 5 and 2 are both options.


In the car, Bobo worked on drawing lines. He did great, especially with the turbulence. We tried a same and different worksheet, but he just didn't get it. I think we'll revisit that in a few months. In our Early Literacy Kit this month, we have a magnetic fishing game. I believe it is a Melissa & Doug product. It has about 20 sea creatures with a sturdy, small fishing pole perfect for little hands. Bobo worked on his fine motor skills by catching the fish and vocabulary by naming the catches. He worked on a dolphin puzzle. It is the type where all the pieces come out, so it was a first for him. He put it together with greater dexterity and reasoning each time. Finally, he matched flannel pumpkins with lots of enthusiasm and skill.


The Art

I read Setting the Turkeys Free by W. Nikola-Lisa to my storytime class this week. I loved the illustrations and let the children make their own turkey handprints with glitter, sequins and feathers for embellishment. I didn't want Bobo to miss out on the fun, so we made some at home, too. He is getting more comfortable with paint and likes to paint his body. He had no problem painting his hand for the print.


He added glitter.


After he was done making the turkey, Bobo made lots of handprints on a scrap piece of paper. Then, he painted circles.


Finally, he asked to paint the gourds and pumpkins we received at the Punkin' Chunkin' at Ivy Tech. They were giving them out at the hay maze. This was the first step of a long process that ended with some crazy looking Fall foliage.


And a final look at the turkeys. Please check out the book from the library for more inspiration.