Tot School

Finally, a tot-school post!  I was very busy this month gathering ideas, cutting, laminating… and I was lazy and never wrote about any of it.  I put together this really fun math kit that includes counting, color matching, shape sorting, patterns, size sorting, and more! 

Some of the activities are still a little beyond what Ella is interested in right now, but I know that she’ll get there eventually.  I obviously don’t want to push her to do anything she doesn’t want to do—after all, the point of all of this is to be FUN! 

One of the activities that she likes to do is this counting game.  She puts the little gems into each box, and together, we count them!  I found this on Confessions of a Homeschooler’s blog.  She has printable sheets for numbers 1-10, but we only did 1-5. 

Ella used her crayon rocks several times over the past couple of weeks!  They’re so fun and come in a fun little pouch, which makes cleaning-up easy to do! 

We also did art with tape—I just ripped off several strips of each color and let her put them on the paper however she wanted.  The sticky feel makes it a fun challenge! 

She also painted a “pumpkin” this week!  (Did you notice the change in season?!  Or change in wardrobe?  It was 90 degrees last week, and today it was 50.  Gotta love crazy Ohio weather!)

And finally, today I put together this fun Fall-Themed sensory tub!  Ella was SO excited to play in it—she spent at least 30 minutes quietly playing, exploring, pouring, and dumping!  Included in this tub:

• black-eyed peas
• green split peas
• black beans
• silk leaves
• mini gourds and pumpkins
• an ice cream scoop
• measuring cups

I clearly need to do more sensory-type activities, as she LOVED doing this one!  I expect to get this tub out often! 

Photos from the past month

This month has seemed to fly by!  I feel like I say that a lot, and it’s true!  I can’t even tell you what has been filling our days and time lately.  A few “big” things (like a last-minute trip to Tennessee over labor day weekend!), but as far as the day-to-day happenings go, I find myself wondering what we’ve actually done this month (you know, beyond the normal—raising a toddler, cooking, cleaning, growing a baby… that kind of stuff). 

Instead of a “tot school” entry today, I mostly just have photos.  I think I’ve said before that we’re kind of “on again, off again” with tot-school.  Some weeks (or months!) are better than others.  Anyway, onto photos! 

This one is just cute.  Ella, 26 months old:

We went to the zoo last month for Wes’ annual family picnic.  It was fun, although rainy toward the end.  We didn’t end up walking around the zoo much, since we have passes.  Plus, it started at 1pm, which is usually Ella’s naptime, so she skipped a nap that day and was asleep in the car within about 3 minutes of leaving.  :) 

It was raining lightly that day, so naturally, she found the puddles she could stomp in…

 

   …and riding the carousel is always a favorite! 

She painted this cute little birdhouse that she picked out at JoAnn’s (on clearance for $1). 

Her new favorite thing to do when Wes gets home (or sometime before bed), is to dance with Daddy!  He seems to like it too.  :) 

He made her these silly glasses out of pipe cleaners.  She thought it was hilarious.  :) 

We took a last-minute trip to Tennessee to visit Wes’ parents over labor-day weekend.  While we were there, we went on a pontoon boat!  Ella’s first boat ride! 

She even got to “drive” with daddy!  

Football season started!  …but she was more interested in Blue’s Clues stickers than watching the game.  :) 

…and then something smudged on my camera, and my pictures are blurry after this!  I need to find something that is safe to use to clean the lens! 

(And then I need to commit to taking photos more often!)