Tot School: Weeks 24-25 Easter!

I know I’m very late with this post, but I have to take a break sometimes from trying to keep up with my blog.  We had Easter break following this week of school, and we spent that painting and visiting friends.  I didn’t get to do everything I planned because my tot stuff is very unorganized at the minute, and I’ve lost some things!  I’m sure they’ll turn up, and I can use them next year.  Technically, week 25 was after Easter since we had a break, but I just let her play that week.

Easter Sensory Tub—She still likes this one.  Mostly she likes opening the eggs in hopes of chocolate, but she also likes to play with the rabbits.  Read more about this tub HERE.  Opening the eggs was good practice for her, as she improved over time.  She lined the rabbits up on her own, so it was nice to watch her explore the tub!  

Tweezering (is that a word?) and transferring fuzzy chicks and mini egg ornaments—She wasn’t really into this one, but she tried it a few times.    

It worked better when I found some tweezers that were easier for her to manage!

Sewing Easter puppets—I found these at Pound Stretcher (like a dollar store) here in England.  As a result of buying them (I got 2 puppets for 1 pound), I now have plastic sewing needles for future sewing activities!  She enjoyed this, although each puppet took 2 days to sew.  She grew tired of it easily, and I had to keep a constant check that she didn’t tangle the yarn.  The kit included foam stickers to decorate the puppets with. 

Tomy Hide N Squeak Eggs—This is a matching game.

Eggs and Holders—There was no real point to this activity.  I just wanted to give her the eggs, egg cups, and egg cartons to play with however she wanted!

Transferring Chocolate Eggs—I love my rabbit dish!  I can’t remember exactly where I got it, but I did bring it back from America.  Gabriela used a baby spoon to transfer eggs from one side to the other.  Because I let her eat a few of the eggs after completing the transfer, she was willing to try it and did quite well.  

Tissue Paper Rabbit and Egg Shapes—I wasn’t really sure what to do with these.  Finally I just had her match each rabbit to an egg, and we talked about colors.

Coloring a Foam Egg—I let her use markers for this one.  Not only did she have to color on a different surface (foam, egg-shaped solid instead of flat paper), but she had good practice taking marker lids on and off. 

Sound Matching Eggs—I made these last year, and I don’t remember what I put in them.  I think coins and rice were two things I used.  The idea is to use things that will make a sound when the egg is shaken, and have them match the eggs that make the same sound.  Last year, I had more than just 2 sounds to match, but I must have taken those apart.  I did this activity on the spur of the moment and never did put more together.  I have a whole set of 12 sound eggs I made back in the US (when Isaac was this age), but they’re in storage there.

Sewing Puppet #2—This one is the ducky…or is it a chick?  I’m not sure.  Anyway, she did much better this time…I think she’s getting the hang of it now.

One-to-one matching—I have a bunch of small foam eggs and a lot of tiny plastic rabbits and ducks that I wasn’t sure what to do with, so I simply had her put a duck or rabbit on each egg.  I got her to do it by telling her the eggs were like boats, and she had to put one animal on each boat.  She's really into transportation, so that worked.  I guess it’s also fine motor skills, because she had to pick up these tiny animals and try to stand them up on the eggs.  I found the rabbit tin at a yard sale last year. 

Stamping with Paint—I found these Easter stampers at the Pound Stretcher store (the same store I got the puppet kits at).  The set included a rabbit, a chick, a lamb, and an egg.  I don’t let her paint as often as I should, and she really loves working with paint.  

Easter Holiday trip—We visited some friends in Suffolk and got to go to Bury St. Edmunds, which has a cathedral, abbey ruins, an aviary, and gardens.  We also went to Ely and went through the beautiful cathedral there.  Later that evening, we walked to a local park where they had ducks, geese, and swans.

Easter Egg Hunt—To keep things fair for my little tot, we let her hunt eggs first.  Isaac and Moriah enjoyed hiding the eggs for her (I supervised so they wouldn’t make it too easy or too hard).

I’m linking this to “Tot School” at 1+1+1=1.