Tot School

 

We missed doing a formal tot-school entry last week, but we’ve been keeping busy!  My grandma was in the hospital and we went out of town to visit her for a few days, so we’ve been pretty low-key lately (I think we’ll always be pretty low-key!). 

A few things we’ve been doing…

1) Eye-dropper Activities.  Ella continues to enjoy using the eye dropper!  My favorite thing about it is that it’s fast and easy to set-up.  It’s been perfect for her to do in the kitchen at the table while I cook dinner, or we just need something to do while we wait for something else (like waiting for her dad to finish getting ready so we can go out to do something fun as a family!). 

2)  Using a magnifying glass!  Ella has LOVED this activity!  Basically, it’s a matching game.  You have to use the magnifying glass to match the teeny tiny pictures with the larger sized photos.  You can download the cards with more detailed instructions here. 

3)  Cooking!  Ella helped me to make a rice-crispy type dessert.  She didn’t help a lot and got bored pretty fast, but she liked touching/playing with the marshmallows!  Good thing I had her wash her hands first…! 

 

4)  I forget what this toy is called, but she played with it at the table for a long time the other day!  She had fun moving the little beads around and problem-solving (she had to figure out how to move the toy or move her hands so that she could reach the different beads). 

5) Stringing Beads.  This is a set from Plan Toys.  It takes a lot of hand-eye coordination and is a perfect beginner bead set.  They’re nice and big, so great for little hands! 

6)  Matching Cards.  She loves to use these cards to match!  When we first started (a month or 2 ago), I laid the cards face-up, and asked her to match them.  Now, they are face down and she has to remember where the matches are. 

She’ll say, “Is this a match?  Nooooo……!”