Homeschool/Toddler Activities List 1

I REALLY need to be more diligent about this. I'm going to start listing the neat activities I find each week.

Create an Animal Safari

Active Child Activity: What Comes Next?

Active Child Activity: Rolling and Reading


Yes, I know...there are only 3 links. Next week I hope to have more, but I wanted to get those last two out for a special friend to use with her daughter! :-)

Tot School B + C

This week Tot School was a little more lazy.

We did a couple of worksheets each day. Franklin wasn't in the mood to do many. I wasn't going to force him. The point of Tot School is to go at HIS pace. Basically, any knowledge on these subjects is huge for a 2 year old. And I want him to view learning as FUN.

Here's a photo of our worksheets this week.

We did "B" through Wednesday and progressed to "C" after that. He can identify ABC now! We're going to review "C" on Monday (because we only did a couple of days of it).

When we did "Car" he pointed at the "C" when I asked and then pointed and told me "A" without being asked.


Stefan got promoted on Friday. That was interesting. Franklin was not in the mood and kept saying, "Go." Thankfully his grandpa was there to help out.

We also did the zoo yesterday! I don't have many pics of that because I forgot to charge my camera before we went. His grandparents came with us and it was super fun. Franklin is old enough to actually care that there are animals at the zoo. He likes to learn their names and point them out.

We bought a printer today so hopefully I'll be able to print out some worksheets. However, Stefan said he thought it was neat that I did my own. "It almost seems more personal." So, I'll keep making them (it IS fun) and print off things I don't draw very well.

Did you enter the giveaway? Free bookmark! It's going to run the month of May.

Tot School - The Letter "A"

This week I was prepared and we learned the letter "A."

I don't have a printer so I'm having to make all of these worksheets myself. It's not so bad. Each day I drew something that started with "A" (Airplane, ant, arrow, apple, angel) and did a few sheets with the letter on them in different ways. I did a big "A" to color and then others with it written in different sizes or written inside shapes. Mostly, I just wanted the letter in his face all week long.

(We even put cutout letters on the fridge)

By WEDNESDAY he could identify "A" and say several words that we covered this week!

Here are some photos of our week:

The "A" on the right? I didn't direct him to put the stickers that specifically...he decided all on his own!

We put cheerios on an "A" using honey. I put the paper in a plastic bag.

Leave it to a boy to use a random stick as a weapon! :)

Next we're going to cover the letter "B". He's teething so we'll see how that goes.

Is It Still Tot School?

Is it still Tot School if we didn't really do many official activities? I think for a 22 month old it's okay...

I did a few things that didn't get photos so we'll start with those (because I know  you all want to see the cute kid!)

- We drew circles. I got the screw part of the mason jar (the "ring") and used it as a template for circles. I got some big crayons and we did that for about 20 seconds! Then Franklin just wanted to scribble. He did, however, use his made up sign for "orange" (the one he uses for the fruit) and point at the orange crayon. Then I pulled out a blue one and, without being prompted, he said, "Dew!"

- He has a blanket with dolphins and moons on it. So he thought it was fun to stomp the circles on it. Of course that led to just running around...

- I have an app on my phone that has photos of animals, the name, and the "animal sound" it makes. He REALLY enjoys going through it with me. He can now tell me what a lion says ("rawr" with a claw motion...yes I'm working on video taping this. And he can tell me that a snake says "ssssss")

Photos from this week:

I changed out a few things in the sensory bin.

 

Playing with the dump truck.

He liked the addition of more pipe cleaners.

And then he chose to roll a noodle across the floor.

A friend of ours brought her dog over last night. He was super excited (the child loves dogs)

Doggie Kiss!

See? Excited

He wanted to pull the crate across the floor.

He let the dog out and climbed inside...

..and shut the door.

I still don't quite have a perfect handle on two kids...I keep trying to figure out activities. We'll probably draw some more this week and learn more colors.

Lazy Dazy Tot School

We had another brief cold snap this week. The cold weather makes me lazy (I swear I'm part reptile in that regard) Here are some photos of our week.

There was one day that was really pretty (Sunday) so we all went outside. The Totally Tots theme for the month is Transportation so I pulled his truck outside.

Trying to throw dirt at Mommy.

Daddy got dirt thrown at him too.

We tried playing in the garage one of the days it was really windy. Franklin likes that he can make lots of noise.

We got outside briefly again.

We've also been learning to wash hands. Franklin LOVES this activity. He asks to wash every time he sees a sink. (He doesn't get to that often! It would be bad for his skin)

We did a lot of indoor activities. He played with the sensory bin a couple of times (It needs new stuff...he's bored with it) and fingerpainted a few time (the "Valentines" will just be art cards now as they aren't finished and V-Day is tomorrow!)

Hanging out with his brother (he was trying to feed him orange slices a few mins prior to this photo)

He claps when he finishes his puzzle. He's so proud! (And so are we!!)

One of the few times they slept at the same time...it lasted all of 10mins before Jonathan woke up.

It's supposed to be gorgeous all week (think close to 80F) I'm not sure what we'll work on this week. I'm thinking just lots of time outside! I'll probably pull out some different containers for pouring activities with the dirt.

Tot School: It's COLD

This week we were NOT blessed with warm weather. It has been too cold to go outside...and cold in the house. Add in that Franklin is still cutting teeth...it's been a rough week.

We did get ONE nice day to play outside. So, that was the busy day for Tot School.

I made a sensory bin! My first one!

Contains: split peas (that we'd never eat), some brown rice (that we didn't like), cheap rigatoni dyed red, cookie cutters, ribbon, and a squishy pig. (The pig is way more fun to throw and never made it back)

I gave him a spoon and bowl and let him scoop.

He's good at it when he focuses.

We tried on the floor but that didn't work as well.

He liked fitting the cookie cutters into a bowl. (The fist is him telling me he needs to go potty)

It was also fun to line all of the cookie cutters on the edge of the table.

We also played with the Geo Sorter toy this week.

In one week he went from only being able to do one color to being able to do 4 with little difficulty...

We went outside ONE DAY.

But he wasn't tired or anything.

Mommy discovered an ant home at his feet *sigh*

Okay, I must give some information before sharing the next photos...

I hate bugs. HATE HATE HATE them. This applies to most of the bug community. Yes, I understand that many are harmless and even helpful. BUT THEY'RE GROSS!! I have a phobia when it comes to most bugs. (Like, freak out and run screaming kind of thing)

However, I'm also dedicated to my son learning. So, when there was a cricket in the yard and I saw that he was interested in it I went inside and got a yogurt container AND I CAUGHT THE THING.

That's right. There's a cricket in there.

Now, Franklin didn't care so much about observing it...he liked to dump it back and forth and hear it scrape on the foil as it tried to stand upright.

I let it go after a bit. 1) I don't want bugs in my house. 2) It seemed kind of mean to let my son beat it to death...

He may have tried to squish it with a rock...

I also have him making Valentines. No photos of that (it would ruin the surprise) He's fingerpainting and I'm going to cut out squares to send off as Valentines. Those photos will go up after V-day is over!

Oh, we got Franklin a doll (yes, a DOLL) because he's been so interested in the baby (and babies all over). We wanted him to have is own baby to take care of (and be able to carry)

He was super excited:

How does Jonathan spend Tot School?

My favorite photo of the week:

Franklin fell, Mommy couldn't get to him, so Daddy put Jonathan down quickly...and he never woke up.


Linking up: