Tot School- April 2016 (2 Year, 5 Months Old)

We enjoyed this month's tot school activities! I've added, notes, photos, and videos! =]

I am so excited that Spring is here!  I'm sure we will be spending more and more time outside, but we will still try to get to all of our tot school activities when we can!  As always, some of the printouts/activities are my own, and some are from the web.  I have linked all printouts and borrowed materials for easy access!

April 2016 Schedule

Here is this month's calendar.  Print it out and follow along!

Supplies needed:
Dot markers
Crayons
Paint
Markers
Construction paper
Velcro
Popsicle sticks
Dixie cups
Pom poms
Q-Tips
Empty 20 oz plastic bottle
Sponge
Coffee filters
Food coloring
Dropper
Felt
Sugar
Fake flowers
Brown playdoh
Water beads

Verse: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation! The old has gone; the new has come!” -2 Corinthians 5:17

Color: Purple
Color: Purpura

Letter: V, W, X
Letra: V, W, X

Number: 8
Numero: 8

Shape: Diamond
Forma: Diamante

Theme: Flowers, kites

Library Book List:
Baby Loves Spring
Mouses First Spring
Spring Joy
Spring is Here
Welcome Spring
Crunching Munching Caterpillars
Curious George and the Kite
Curious George Flies a Kite
My, Oh My, A Butterfly
Harold and the Purple Crayon

Music (circle time)

  • Humpty Dumpty

  • Little Bunny Foo Foo

  • Bunnies, Bunnies (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)

    • Bunnies, bunnies, hop, hop, hop.
      Bunnies, bunnies, hop, hop, stop.
      Twitch your ears and twitch your nose.
      Twitch your tail and twitch your toes.
      Bunnies, bunnies, hop, hop, hop.
      Bunnies, bunnies, hop, hop, stop.


Fine Motor/Worksheets

  • V Dot Art

  • W Dot Art

  • X Dot Art

  • 8 Dot Art

  • V letter recognition

    • Use dot marker to identify the letter V 

  • W Letter Recognition

  • X Letter Recognition

  • Diamond coloring sheet

    • Decorate with torn up purple paper 

  • Purple coloring sheet

  • Kite coloring

Aly has gotten a lot better at coloring this month! She really enjoys it and is a lot more controlled and intentional about it. 

 

Math

  • Color Sorting Mat    

    • Place the corresponding small colored flowers on the large flowers 

  • Shape Sorting Mat

    • Place the corresponding small shapes on the large shapes 

  • Number Sorting Mat

    • Place the corresponding number of dots under the correct numbers. 

  • VWX Sorting Mat

    • Place the corresponding small letters on the large letters.  

  • Diamond Popsicle Stick Building

    • Use the jumbo/wide Popsicle sticks and Velcro dots to make a diamond. Build other designs with the Popsicle sticks too! Source

  • Kite Diamond Puzzle

    • Print file. Use page one as a kite template. Cut apart the colorful triangles on the other pages as puzzle pieces. Present the puzzle pieces to your toddler and invite them to decorate their kite! They can make a kite all one color or various colors! This seems simple, but it is difficult for them to be able to place the correct sized triangle in the corresponding place. This will help with problem solving skills. You can even have fun challenges in order to promote color recognition. "Can you make a purple kite? How about a purple and yellow kite?" Have fun decorating your kite over and over in different ways!  

  • Flower Pot One to One Correspondence

    • Use dixie cups and tongs to sort one pom pom into each cup

  • Kite Matching

    • Match kite halves using this printable 

Aly wasn't too into the kite matching and the kite puzzle was a bit too advanced for her.  She did really love the popsicle stick building activity! She used the popsicle sticks to also make a lot of other letters and shapes we know.  While we played with the popsicle sticks this month, we talked a lot about the difference between a diamond, square, and a rhombus.  She really latched onto to the concept.  The other day, while we were waiting for the elevator she looked at the diamond shaped window in the elevator door and said, "diamond!" and then tilted her head sideways and said, "rhombus!"  

Aly has learned the difference between a diamond, square, and rhombus this month!

 

Art

  • V is for Vase

    • Cut a “V” out of paper or foam. Decorate by cutting out and gluing flowers to go inside the vase. Source

  • W is for Watermelon

    • Cut a “W” out of paper or foam. Decorate by coloring the “W” to look like a watermelon.  Can also glue seeds on it.

  • X is for X-Ray

    • Cut a “X” out of paper or foam. Decorate by gluing Q-tips onto the “X.”

  • Diamond Flower Creation

    • Cut out various colored diamonds of of construction paper for leaves, petals, and center. Invite your child to create fun flowers out of them and glue down the pieces. As you work together, describe the parts of a flower (stem, leaves, petals, roots, etc). This is a fun and simple activity that reinforces the shape of the month and also introduces vocabulary for our flower theme. Source

  • Purple Flower Painting

    • Mix red and blue paint together to make purple paint.  Use the purple paint to paint flowers.Use the bottom of a small 20oz drink bottle as a stamp! It makes adorable little flowers! Source

  • Diamond Sponge Stamping

    • Cut a plain sponge into the shape of a diamond. Use the sponge as a fun stamp! Make the diamonds purple since it's the color of the month. This is simple and easy for young toddlers to do! Encourage them to count the sides and corners of the diamonds.  Source

  • Hand print/footprint Flowers

    • Make colorful flowers out of hand prints and footprints! Source

  • Coffee Filter Flowers

    • Cut out flower shapes on coffee filters.  To decorate, use food coloring and water and a dropper. Source

Science/sensory

  • Spring Felt Play

    • Create a Spring scene (sky, grass, flowers, kites, sun, clouds, trees, etc)

  • Garden Sensory Bin

    • Fill with black beans, fake flowers, plants, butterflies, shovel, rake, etc.

  • Flower Playdoh Digging

    • Pretend to plant flowers in some play dough! Use small Dixie cups as pots, brown play dough as dirt, and some fake flowers to plant. You can even use small play shovels and empty watering cans to really encourage creative play. We discussed that plants need dirt, water, and sunshine to grow. Source

  • Pond Life Water Bead Play

    • Fill a tub with water beads and things found in a pond! Source

  • Fly a Kite

    • Go outside and fly a kite! Talk about the shape of the kite, what makes the kite stay in the air, etc.

Oh man did Aly love the water bead activity! She played with that for a solid hour each day I had it out. She also enjoyed our other activities too!  We didn't go fly our kite yet, but I know she's excited for it.

And finally, here is Aly's completed work from this month!






 

Tot SchoolBrooke ArevaloTot SchoolComment