It seems sort of crazy, doesn't it? To do "school" with a 16-month-old? What do I expect her to learn? Am I trying to raise a genius?
I hope to answer these questions and more in this post.
First of all, let me give you my definition of what Tot School is because the word school may be deceiving.
Tot School is a dedicated time each day (maybe even a few times scattered throughout the day) where you lead your toddler in guided activities. These activities may enhance her fine motor skills or increase her vocabulary or meet her sensory needs. These activities are short, focused, and - most importantly - play-based and fun!
What are my goals for tot school?
My goals are pretty simple for tot school:
- exposure to new concepts and ideas (like colors and shapes)
- experience with new materials (like paint sticks and stickers)
- engagement with activities (to increase attention span and curiosity)
I'll explain those below briefly.
Exposure
Exposing Zoey to new ideas is a great way to kickstart her learning. She sees colors all around, but now she knows they have names. Will she remember the names? Probably not for a while - but the exposure will stick with her, and when she's ready to learn the color names, it won't be a foreign concept to her.
Exposure takes place organically, but it's also something that I intentionally do. Here are a few examples:
- When we're learning about the color red, I fill a small basket with familiar red items - a tractor, a magnetic tile, a wooden block, a counting bear, a bean bag.
- When we're learning about farm animals, I bring her barn out and name each animal as she grabs it. I may also make the animal noises for her to imitate.
- When I teach her a rhyme, like the Itsy-Bitsy Spider, I'm exposing her to words, motions, and rhyme.
Looking at books is a great way to expose your toddler to new concepts.
Experience
Experience is probably the way that little ones learn the best. Most kids learn the most by doing, right? I know I do! When I give her the chance to experiment with new materials, like the paint sticks or stickers or a paintbrush and a bowl of water, she teaches herself how to use these new supplies - and how not to use them!
When she dumps the water out, she realizes that the painting is over. When she draws on her head with the paint sticks, she understands that Mom takes them away!
All of these incidents are learning experiences, and the more that she has, the more that she learns! Here are a few of the materials that Zoey is getting to work with:
- Kwik Stix (paint sticks)
- stickers of all kinds, but especially these (the size is perfect)
- crayons and markers
- pencils
- glue sticks
- different types of paper (tissue paper, construction paper, card stock)
- sensory bins - water, oats, cereal
Painting with water is a mess-free activity for young toddlers!
Engagement
Every toddler has their own attention span, but they're all pretty short! Zoey has a very small attention span. She tires of an activity, a toy, a book, a puzzle very quickly. When I find something that really engages her, I try to remember to offer it again!
Being engaged in an activity is building her ability to focus. That's one reason that doing these activities with your toddler is really important. Have you ever noticed that if you're sitting on the floor, building a tower with your toddler, they'll usually sit and play as long as you are with them? But the second you stand up to stretch or answer the door, they're done playing? When we're with our toddler, we are (knowingly or unknowingly) motivating them to play, giving them ideas, and strengthening their attention spans!
She played with the counting bears much longer when I sat and sorted them with her.
Do I use a curriculum?
Yes and no! I haven't always used a curriculum (with Zeke, I wrote my own curriculum and have sold over 250 in my Etsy shop). With Zoey, and at this busy time in my life right now, I need the structure of a curriculum. I'm using ABC Jesus Loves Me, Year One (the free curriculum), and it's working pretty well. I like having everything listed for me to, and all I do is plug it into my lesson plan template! I normally add a few activities for her to do, but that's just because I enjoy it.
You certainly don't have to use a curriculum. Do a quick search on Pinterest or on my blog under the Toddler School heading - there are tons of ideas with things you probably have in your house right now!
How long does it take?
Zoey's attention span is around 2-4 minutes right now, so we do two or three activities spread throughout the day. Sometimes she will stay engaged in an activity for longer, and sometimes she won't even give it a second glance. If you're just starting out, I'd aim for two, five-minute segments a day!
Cereal is a wonderful sensory base for toddlers who put everything in their mouth!
What do I expect her to get out of it?
I don't want to raise a baby genius, and I don't expect her to memorize any information right now. She's just learning to talk! I do tot school for this main reason: I want Zoey to have uninterrupted, focused, one on one time with me every day. I want her to have the exposure, experience, and engagement that I discussed above.
And I also expect to get something out of it - time to sit and enjoy these toddler years, time to forget about the dishes or laundry and just focus on reading a book, or rolling play dough snakes, or watching Zoey push pom-poms into an empty bottle.
She loves to use glue sticks, and the tissue paper was a new material she got to experiment with.
What if my toddler doesn't like Tot School?
Tot School should be simple and fun and enjoyed by both you and your toddler. If one of you isn't enjoying it, then you need to change it up! Maybe you're expecting too much. If so, drop all of your expectations - after all, toddlers are the most unpredictable things ever. Maybe you're planning too many activities. If so, decrease to one a day for a while. Maybe you're doing activities that are above your toddler's skill level. If so, set up a few things that are mistake-proof and easy, like dropping craft sticks into a water bottle.
Is it worth the time and effort?
I absolutely think Tot School is worth the time and effort it takes! The investment is minimal, but the payout is abundant! Taking ten minutes on the weekend to plan out five days' worth of activities isn't a sacrifice at all! Spending ten or twenty minutes a day on focused play with your toddler will benefit you both greatly!
If you need ideas for Tot School, follow my blog. I have posted many different things I've done with both Zeke and Zoey (search under "tot school" or "toddler school" to the right).
Have you started Tot School with your little one?
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