I was just going through photos and realized I had never done a post on this sensory tub. But then, we were very busy at the time preparing for our trip back to the US. Anyway, this is the last tub we did while still in England.
St. Patrick’s Day Sensory Tub
This tub contained:
Different shades of green paper “grass”
Plastic leprechaun hats
Plastic St. Pat’s picks
Wooden treasure chest
Plastic gold coins
Golden-colored “nuggets”
Tiny green pitcher
Green dog, man, tree, and house counters
Sensory Tubs and Imaginative Play Sets
Sensory Tubs: I’m afraid these are on their way out, but we’ll see how things go. I love putting them together! Gabriela always loves sensory tubs for the first week, and then she’s tired of them. We had 2 tubs this month: Winter and Valentines. To read more about these 2 tubs, click the links.
Imaginative Play Sets. Read more about my play sets HERE, and click on THIS link to see where I got my inspiration! For now, I think these are going to replace sensory tubs…or I might consider about alternating between the two. If I ever get around to making a light box, I may have 3 things to consider.
Valentine’s Day activities (of which there weren’t many)
Transferring red jewels into heart trays. She had to transfer the larger jewels into the tray with the larger hearts and the smaller jewels into the smaller heart tray.
Heart bead counting. I had some bead garland with tiny red hearts, so I cut some of it into sections of 1-10 hearts per strand. I kept the beads in a heart box. Gabriela had to remove the bead strands from the box, count the hearts in each strand and match each one to the a numbered heart.
Co-op Activities
Art lesson with pattern blocks
Music lesson with rhythm instruments. We also made our own shakers (picture at right).
Field Trips
Quarry Bank Mill—This was a field trip for my older two, who have been studying the Industrial Revolution, with factories and mills. However, there were plenty of hands-on activities for Gabriela to do, and she enjoyed it. 
Dunham Massey—A National Trust property not far from Quarry Bank Mill (yes, we did both on the same day). We joined some friends for a nice outdoor walk.
I’m linking this post to “Tot School” at 1+1+1=1.
I’ve found something new to make…something I may end up focusing on instead of sensory tubs. I’ve just put together two sets, and Gabriela absolutely loves them (and so do her older siblings). I first saw imaginative play sets at Homemade Rainbows, a website company (consisting of two former kindergarten teachers who are currently stay-at-home moms) based in Australia. Their facebook page is HERE. The sets they come up with, using recycled items, second-hand treasures, and some homemade pieces, are amazing! I highly recommend checking out their website if you’re curious about imaginative play sets.
There is no way I could afford any of their sets, but since I have a habit of collecting a lot of interesting odds and ends, I decided to try my own hand at making some sets. I also have a shopping list of things to look for next time I go to charity shops! I used carpet squares for my first 2 sets, but I’m hoping to find some nice placemats to make some larger sets. I took pictures of these to keep record of how I set them up, because eventually I’ll want to return these items to their proper places around the house.
The first is a garden theme:
This set consists of a miniature bench with a tiny bird and a kneeling girl ornament, a basket cart with strawberry and wooden watermelon, a tiny vase and tiny mug with flowers in them, a miniature tea set on a table made of tree blocks, a tiny sign, 3 felt disks, two white things (nuts or something) from potpourri, a necklace, and a card with a girl and garden scene on it. 
The second set is sort of Ukrainian with old-fashioned house miniatures.
This set consists of the wooden round building-shaped trinket box you see at the back left (not sure what to call it), filled with wooden beads, 3 matryoshka dolls from Ukraine (they’re all from larger sets, but I chose the smaller dolls to put in this play set—each one does have smaller dolls inside), wooden people decoration also from Ukraine, a wooden table and chair, a miniature coffee grinder, 3 wooden containers, each holding a red nut thing from a potpourri set, a clock magnet, a miniature sugar bag, and several wooden miniatures (mug holder with mugs, old stove, cat, pie, and oil lamp).
Gabriela played with these nearly all day. While Gabriela took a nap, Moriah played with it during her recess breaks. It was so much fun listening to the imaginative stories they came up with while playing. Isaac likes setting them back up after the girls are finished playing. All said, these were definitely a hit with my kids, and I intend to keep making play sets!
Magic Painting book (with water):
She loves doing mazes:
She got a new Lauri puzzle (horses) for Christmas:
She also got Lauri Fit-a-Space:
Gingerbread activities left from Christmas: (see my December Tot School POST for explanation)
Stamping the letter I on paper (left) and using a Disney Princess “wand” (it makes a cool sound when you push the button) to find colors or patterns I called out (right):
Week in the Lake District: We were blessed to have the use of a house in the Lakes for a week (for free—hurray for blessings!). Because we still needed to do school, we worked out a system. Greg helped me with school during the mornings and late afternoons. In between those times (after lunch), we would go out and explore our favorite Lake District spots for a few hours. The kids (and us parents) had a blast! Here’s some photos of what Gabriela saw and did:
Deer right outside the house we stayed at:
Exploring the Langdale Pikes area (and Blea Tarn):
Near Kirkstone Pass—We saw Highland cattle and went hiking (Gabriela is better at climbing and hiking than her mommy—what a trooper!):
Sheep grazed outside our windows several times a day:
Back home again…
Playing with our tree blocks and the Toob cats she got for Christmas:
Cats and Mini-Tumbler blocks:
We began a small homeschool co-op with some friends of ours here in England. They also have 3 children, around the same ages as ours. We meet once a week at each other’s homes, and each parent teaches a class every other week. We alternate art and music one week with Russian and P.E. the next week. I teach the music, and Greg teaches P.E. The other couple does the art and Russian. The kids are divided by age into 2 groups, and they switch classes (while one group does art, the other does music, and then we switch). We all are really loving this set-up! I’ll put up more photos in the next post, but pictured below is one of the weeks we did Russian and P.E. On the left, Gabriela was coloring a picture of a banana, after learning the Russian word for it. So far, she knows and even uses the Russian words for apple, banana, milk, and water. In the photo on the right, the younger group was doing various movement and balance games using a tape “ladder.”
Alphabet Work
“G” is for “Gabriela”! This was a chant she spontaneously came up with all by herself and repeated over and over and over…(she was very excited about it)
An idea I found on Pinterest: Painting chalk letters with water (from Kingdom First Homeschool). We also did her name, since we were on the letter G anyway.
Other Activities
Magnet Discovery Basket:
Marble Run:
Maze book (using page extenders):
Christmas Activities
Christmas Sensory Tub: (Read more HERE)
Reindeer pegs on box:
Weaving Christmas ribbon on cooling rack (another Pinterest idea…from My Montessori Journey and also from Totally Tots): 
And on a laundry basket (idea from Adventures at Home via Pinterest):
Foam stickers:
Gingerbread Men Activities
Most of these printables (the first 4 pictured below) are from Homeschool Creations—click on the Gingerbread Baby Preschool Printables. We also did gingerbread baby sequencing cards and a color sheet from the same pack, but I didn’t take pictures of those. Of course we also read the book Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett! To be honest, our gingerbread man activities carried over into January (when a few of these pics were taken).
Gingerbread rhyme printables from A Teacher’s Touch: We did the “Oh Where Oh Where is my Gingerbread Man?” rhyme (pictured below) with our stuffed gingerbread man. We took turns hiding it, and then we’d sing the song while searching for the gingerbread man. We did another rhyme (“5 Little Gingerbread Men Lying on the Tray”) with gingerbread men I printed and laminated (see picture above right). Another rhyme included is “One Little Two Little Three Little Gingerkids” which we also used to practice counting the aforementioned gingerbread men on the tray. Then we sang “Oh do you Know the Gingerbread Man?” and Gabriela would run around the room as I sang the lines about running (you’ll have to click the link to A Teacher’s Touch if you want to read all the rhymes I’m talking about—they’re great!).
Bingo dabber gingerbread house (printable also from Homeschool Creations):
Star Sorting and Spooning:
Counting Activity: I found a pack of 10 felt Christmas trees at Hobbycraft, so I numbered them at the bases 1-10 and supplied Gabriela with colorful beads for ornaments. Gabriela practiced counting the right number of beads and placing them on each numbered tree.
Field Trip to Little Moreton Hall
Field Trip to Techniquest
