My Favorite Tot School Resources! And a GIVEAWAY!

 It's hard to believe, but Zeke is my sixth toddler! I've tried many different resources for this age group over the years, and I've done my best to shrink down my "favorites" list into my top ten! I'm also going to be giving away a few toddler resources, so be sure to read all the way to bottom to see how to enter. 

1.) Dot Markers

Dot markers seem like such an obvious pick, but they are seriously so useful! We use them almost every day for something from dotting letters to counting to finishing pictures. I would say this is probably the most common tot school resource, and for good reason! I will also say that Do-A-Dot is the hands-down best brand for dot markers.

2.) Dot Stickers

I know, I know...it's almost the same thing as dot markers - but it's not! You can use them for the same things, but dot stickers give an extra boost of fine motor practice. Peeling stickers is great for strengthening those hand and finger muscles! I love the ones that come in all the colors. This is the pack that I always order. 

3.) Linking Cubes

Again, these are so great for so many different activities! Counting, color sorting, building, measuring...we've used these for lots of different things! They are useful for math lessons when your toddler gets a bit older, so it's definitely a resource that will grow with your child.

4.) Counting Bears

This has got to be a classic resource found in every home and preschool schoolroom across the country. We use them for color sorting when they're young, counting as they get bigger, graphing when they're learning early math concepts, and so much more. I like this set that comes in six colors. 

5.) Simple Puzzles

Zeke loves puzzles, and these are the next step-up from peg puzzles. The fact that there are only two pieces prevents frustration for Zeke, but he also feels like he is doing a "big boy puzzle" like his older brothers. We have several different sets of these, and I'd love to get a few more sets. I normally set the puzzles out for Zeke with the two pieces for each set, and he finishes each set!

6.) An assortment of plastic animals

We use plastic animals for so many things - sorting, counting, pretend play. I like to have fish, farm animals, wild animals, dinosaurs, and insects. You will be surprised how often you pull these out for different activities! We like Terra by Battat, but you get what you pay for when it comes to plastic animals. Learning Resources is also a great brand.

7.) Crayola Markers

This seems so simple, but I really like to use markers for beginning tracing. They're easy to hold because they're chunky, they write really smooth which makes it easy to trace, and they're bright colored which makes them fun! I stock up when our WalMart has back to school sales, but I really like this Big 40 pack!

8.) Colored Buttons in Different Shapes

We use buttons for tons of activities, too! They small, which makes it a great fine motor activity to pick them up and move them around. They're great for sorting colors or shapes or sizes. We've used buttons to make patterns before, too! Lots of my busy bags come with buttons as part of the activity. I have tons of fun ideas on my Instagram account for using buttons. 

9.) Pom Poms

How did this get all the way at the bottom of my list? It's for sure one of our top resources! We use them for sorting, counting, patterns, pushing, and so much more. I have some pom pom shape cards in my Toddler Resources tab for free if you'd like to download those and use them! I like to order this pack of pom poms because it includes all of the colors including black and brown, the size is perfect, and I love the texture of them. Hey, they're even half off right now!

10.) Stacking Pegs

These stacking pegs are so much fun! Zeke loves to stack them as high as he can, and he loves to push the pegs into the peg board. It's a great fine motor skill and it's a lot of fun! Lauri Toys are really great toys for toddlers and preschoolers.

I could add so many more resources, and maybe I'll a follow up to this called "My Next Favorite Tot School Resources"! Now for the giveaway....follow the directions below and the winner will get to choose which of the above resources they'd like to have! I'll ship them to you! Be sure to tell all of your friends.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Zeke's Tot School Curriculum for 2021-2022

 Zeke will be 3 in November, but he already loves tot school. He asks for it almost every day! I've been compiling a really fun, hands-on bundle of curriculum for him. He absolutely loves worksheets, and even though I think worksheets are unnecessary at his age, I try to find him plenty to keep him busy. I know as I'm trying to work with my older kids this fall, he is going to need engaging activities and worksheets to keep him focused. 

His main curriculum is going to be Heart of Dakota's Little Hands to Heaven. This is written for ages 2-5, and is mostly a Bible/letter of the week curriculum. There are very few worksheets, but lots of hands-on activities planned. We are going to use this as our starting off point each week. He will learn Bible stories and songs, letters, numbers, colors, and shapes. There are beginning math activities each week - super simple things like color sorting, counting, and patterns. I did make some worksheets for this curriculum, and they are listed under my Toddler Resources tab. Feel free to print them and use them. If you're interested in this curriculum, you can look at the first week for free! Each day has it's own page of plans. The plans are detailed which I really like.

I know this is not enough to keep Zeke busy. In fact, it will probably take us 15-30 minutes each day to complete the activities. I also purchased a huge bundle of Tubs and Trays activities from Teachers Pay Teachers. I printed quite a few worksheets that will go along with Zeke's letter, number, and color themes as well hands-on centers that I will use as tot trays or busy bags. I also printed some from different places that he will be able to use independently. 

I'm also creating lots of busy bags and busy boxes for him to use when I need some time with the older kids. I purchased another bundle of Center Mats which is a collection of pattern block cards, craft stick cards, pom pom cards, playdough cards, linking cube cards, and geoboard cards. These will be used as independent busy bags/boxes/trays.

I also purchased the Learning the Alphabet bundle from This Reading Mama.  She offers each letter for free, but I bought the expanded and update bundle and I'm so glad I did! There are quite a few worksheets and activities we will be using each week from that.

I organize Zeke's lessons weekly. I bought a banker's box and some hanging files. I labeled each file with the week and letter so I can easily see which folder to grab. All of the worksheets I've printed out, I have placed in the correct weekly file. I'm also going to be putting extra craft templates, fingerplays and songs, and other flat activities, including our Morning Board posters, that go along with each week's theme. This keeps things all in one place, easy to find, and difficult to forget. I'm planning ahead about five weeks at a time since the curriculum does 4 letters a week with a 5th week review week.

I also have a smaller file box that I'm keeping some of his hands-on activities organized in - letter and number wheels, playdough mats, and pattern block cards. This way I won't be always looking for the resource I need.

I also have a cube shelf with four large cubes that contain Zeke's other resources like pattern blocks, linking cubes, counters, puzzles, and other things like that. I actually need to go through it and purge a few things as well as organize a few things a bit better. My laminator stays on top because I use it all the time.

If you need some busy bag ideas, I have lots of busy bags in my Etsy shop! I'm also creating busy box digital files that you can use to make your own busy boxes. Zeke loves short and independent activities and I know I'll be depending on these quite a bit this school year - which is coming up so soon!

How do you organize your tot school resources?

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. 

Tot School Thursday: Ice Cream Scoop Pom Pom Matching FREE Printable

Welcome back to Tot School Thursday! It's been a while since I've been on here, but I plan to start blogging again regularly. Tot School Thursday is simply fun ideas for tot school, what Zeke's been up to in his tot school adventures, and often free printable resources!

I would love to make this a link-up party. If you're interested, let me know! If I have enough interest, I'll gladly start it.

I created these Ice Cream Scoop Pom Pom Matching cards as a Busy Bag activity. There are 16 cards, each with three differently colored ice cream scoops. You laminate the cards, cut them apart, and place them inside a zippered pouch along with colored pom poms. This makes a really fun and simple busy bag! I also sell this bag in my Etsy shop (link in sidebar) individually or as part of a bundle!

Zeke was asking for a tot school activity tonight, and I pulled out these cards that I had printed. I had yet to laminate them. I decided to slip them into sheet protectors! This was a super simple way to use this activity. I gave Zeke a small bowl with pom poms and he had a blast matching them to the ice cream scoops!

I'm offering these cards as a free printable resource under my Toddler Resources tab! If you use these, leave me a comment and let me know if you laminated them and used them as cards, or if you slipped them into sheet protectors like I did!

FREE Summer Reading Printable for Older Children

 I was so disappointed to find out that our local library was forgoing a summer reading program this summer that I decided to make our own! I made these BINGO cards for older kids (I also have a version for younger kids). There are different genres and requirements for each book square. As your child finishes a book, he can color in the square and record the title on the back of the page. When your child BINGOs, you can take them out for a fabulous prize!

If you follow me on Instagram, I am offering a prize of a new book for any child that BINGOs by the end of July! You just have to post a picture of the completed BINGO card and tag me (@toddler_school). I'll repost your photo and mail your child a book. 

To print the BINGO card, simply click the photo below! If you want to play with us on Instagram, print the card, follow me, and tag me in any photos! 

FREE Summer Reading Bingo Printable for Younger Children

 I was so disappointed that our local library wasn't doing a summer reading program this year that I decided to make one for my own children. The first one I made is a Summer Reading BINGO game for younger children - toddlers through around kindergarten. I created it so you pick a book on one of the topics provided, read it to or with your child, and then color the square (or the picture in some of them). The topics are pretty varied - zoo to pizza to weather! 

If you follow me on Instagram (@toddler_school) I will be giving prizes away. Each child that completes a "black-out" BINGO card will receive a book in the mail from me! I'll also be choosing one winner at the end of the month to receive a special prize bag. You have the entire month of July to complete the card. It would mean reading roughly 24 books (you have one free space). You will have to post a picture of the completed BINGO card, tagging me so I'll see it, to receive the book.

To use the free printable, simply click the picture below. To follow along with us on Instagram, print the picture, follow me and I'll have a sign-up post for anyone who wants to join! 

Free Father's Day Dot Marker Worksheets

 Are you looking for something cute and simple for your child to do for their daddy for Father's Day? Look no further! I have created six different Father's Day dot marker templates with the most adorable watercolor clip art and funny sayings! You can download your free Father's Day Dot Marker Worksheets by clicking HERE or visiting the Toddler Resources page (top of this page). Which one is your favorite? Let me know if you download these super fun worksheets!