Tot School-week 2

What a fun week we had!  Ella did some fun learning activities this week, including:

Alphabet Fun: 

Ella got this fridge magnet set for Christmas and LOVES it.  Without really focusing on specific letters, Ella has already learned and can identify several letters.  She’ll bring me a letter and ask what it is, or she can push a button and this toy will tell her what letter it is.  It also sings the alphabet song.  Lately, she’s been pushing the button to play the alphabet song over, and over, and over again—and she dances and twirls and has a grand old time. 

Montessori-style tot school:

We went to a friend’s house who follows a lot of Montessori inspired philosophies.  Ella jumped right in, and I was impressed that I didn’t really need to show her what to do.  For example, this color sorting/counting game came with multi-colored beads and rods.  She saw the beads, matched the colors to the rods, and voila!  When she was done, I helped her to count the beads on each rod and identify the colors. 

Another Montessori toy (called “work”) is the pink tower.  Traditionally, the pink tower includes 10 blocks—however for the younger group, the hostess selected 5 blocks to complete the tower.  Ella stacked this tower several times before moving on to something else:

She also really liked to “play” the piano while we were there!  She looked at the book while playing—which I thought was interesting because I don’t think she’s ever seen anyone read music before.  But, she kept turning the pages and continuing with her playing.  Coincidence?  Probably—but I was still surprised by it (this was her “mom!  I don’t want you to take my picture right now!” face). 

A fun sensory/fine motor activity available there was scooping wet sand from one bowl to another!  For this activity, I did have to show her what to do (she just wanted to scoop it out of the bowl into the tub—which is fine also.  But once I showed her that she could put it in the other bowl, she tried that too). 

We had a great time there!  Thank you, Barefoot in Suburbia for having us over! 

Other things we did this week at home included drawing with slick stix.  These are possibly the best coloring invention ever!  They are crayons—except that they draw so smoothly and easily!  Ella got a pack of 5 for Christmas, but I found a 12-pack at JoAnn’s recently and used a coupon to get a great deal.  I highly recommend these!  But, a word of caution: they are not washable.  Some colors may stain (although I have not found this to be a problem yet). 

Not pictured:  Ella is getting really good at doing puzzles and spent a bit of time doing those this week.  My favorite is her love for her baby dolls.  Just today, before naptime, we had to find a blanket and pillow so that her baby could take a nap too.  <3 

I’m hoping to start a letter of the week section with Tot School.  We also have fun plans for this upcoming week, so stay tuned!