Tot School Week in Review: August 2-6

 This was our last week of relaxed tot school before we start formal homeschool next week! All of my kids will begin on Monday - an 8th, 6th, and 4th grader along with my preschooler, Zeke! We did some fun toddler school activities, but we mainly played and enjoyed some outside time. Here are the tot trays Zeke did this week:

Craft Stick Sorting

I gave Zeke some craft sticks in six colors and a popsicle mold, and he sorted them all by color. Sorting by color is definitely something he is comfortable with since he's been doing it well over a year now. These "easy" tot trays build his confidence and help foster independent play. 

Mini Sensory Bin

I also tested out a mini sensory bin with Zeke this week because I'm planning to have one new one each week for him. This one contained two bags of colored fish tank pebbles from the Dollar Tree, a wooden scoop, and two small plastic containers. He had so much fun with this and it kept him entertained for about half an hour.

Clothespin Color Clip

I made these colored pencil cards, laminated and cut them apart and gave Zeke some colored clothespins. He had to clip the matching clothespins on the pencils. He did such a good job with this! He finally got the hang of using the clothespins, which is great because I have plenty of ideas for this!

Silly Straw Threading

This is an activity Zeke and I tried months ago, and he didn't have the fine motor skills to thread the felt squares on the silly straws. This time, he did! He did an excellent job and repeated the activity several times. Definitely one I'm keeping for him.

Tracing Shapes

Zeke used a dry-erase marker to trace the shapes on his shape flashcards (available in my Etsy shop). He loves doing this, and his tracing skills are impressive!

Other Activities

He also pressed golf tees into a styrofoam block, picked peas with the big kids, played with his busy binder (available in my Etsy shop), and worked in an activity kit we won in an Instagram giveaway!

Next week, we will begin homeschool! In celebration of that, I have created a "Back to Tot School" pack for all of my blog subscribers! 

Tot School Week in Review: Ice Cream!

This week was a pretty relaxed week with tot school. I've been super busy trying to get all of our homeschool curriculum bought, organized, and ready to go in a few weeks. How is it almost August already? This summer just flew by!

On Instagram this week, we had an "ice cream" play prompt, so our activities centered around ice cream! Some of these resources I offer for free in my Toddler Resources tab, so be sure to check that out. 

This ice cream scoop color matching worksheet is great and can be used in a variety of way - dot markers, dot stickers, pom poms, or other counters are just a few things you can do with it. Zeke used dot markers and dot stickers. I made the scoops big on purpose - it's easier for little fingers to get the dot stickers or markers inside a circle that is a little larger than the sticker or marker dot. This is a great activity for fine motor control and color matching!

Here is a tip I have for stickers and toddlers - fold back the sticker sheet so the stickers are poking up about halfway. It's much easier to peel those stickers this way!

We also used these pattern block mats from Tara West on Teachers Pay Teachers. Zeke did such a great job with these cards! I can't wait to print out more for him to use this year.

We also used these ice cream scoop counting cards from Tara West. I only printed and laminated the 1-4 cards because those are the numbers we are working on. I gave Zeke playdough and a biscuit cutter to make the scoops. We keep our playdough on a piece of parchment paper for easy clean up!

I also whipped up this worksheet the other morning. Zeke had to look at the number and count that many dot marker "ice cream scoops" on each cone. He did a pretty good job, but he can't recognize his numbers yet. I would name the number and he would repeat, and then we counted together as he dotted each scoop.

These ice cream scoop pom pom matching cards are in my Etsy shop for $2.00, but I offer them here for free under my Toddler Resources tab. You can laminate them and cut them out to make cards, or slip the entire sheet into page protectors like I did here. Zeke matched the pom poms to the scoops, and although this seems simple, he had a blast and did it several times!

I printed an extra one of the color matching worksheets to use a sticker chart for brushing Zeke's teeth. He has been refusing to have me brush them or brush them himself lately, so I thought an incentive would be nice. It's worked pretty good so far, but he still isn't doing a great job at brushing his teeth. At least he is trying!

He also played with several busy bags this week, including this Transportation Shapes bag. He loves driving the cars around the shapes and placing them on the roads. This is available in my Etsy shop - link in sidebar! It's been a great before-bed activity to settle him down a bit.

He also reads books to himself all the time. He'll grab a big stack of picture books and go to the couch in the living room or the couch in the den and read, read, read! I love it. He talks about the pictures and recites the storylines that he remembers. It's so sweet.

He loves this peg stacking toy! He was putting the pegs around the outside of the base, making a big square. He did this quite a bit this week. It's funny how he gravitates to certain toys more than others some weeks.

We had a simple week themed around ice-cream with lots of hands-on play. Some weeks we do more worksheets and some weeks we do more play-based learning. Which does your toddler prefer? Leave me a comment and let me know! Zeke loves both, but he especially loves worksheets and is always asking for another worksheet. 

How to Teach Toddlers (Especially When You Have Older Children)

Head on over to the Old School House Homeschool Review Crew blog and read my guest post on teaching toddlers especially while homeschooling older children! I breakdown how I incorporate Tot School with Zeke by using Tot Trays and offer tips for a smooth and fun Tot Time with your toddler!