Tot School- b is for balloon and bat

Jonathan is 26 Months

We got off to a great start this week, but got sidelined by RSV. Grace had RSV last week and Jonathan came down with it Tuesday night. So most of our week was spent on the couch watching lots of Leapfrog movies (Jonathan's current favorite). 

But, here's a summary of what we did at the start of the week: we talked about balloons and bats! 

Bible 

We continued to review the verse from Songs for Saplings. 

Books 

Here are a few of Jonathan's favorite reads from the last week (click on the link to read our review)

Too Many Balloons by Catherine Matthias

Hot Air: the (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot Air Balloon Ride by Marjorie Priceman

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

Bat Jamboree by Kathi Appelt

Motor Skills 

We played with balloons, pushing them in baskets:

and playing basketball:

Art 

We did lots of art this week. We painted with balloons:

and did some work with glue. We glued shapes on a picture of a balloon:

and made a bat:

Math 

Several of the books we read this week focused on counting 1-10. So as we read the books, we practiced counting. I also made a little game for him by printing out pictures balloons in different colors. The balloons corresponded with the book Too Many Balloons. I don't have any pictures, but he had fun laying out the balloons. 

One of the art projects we did involved shapes and Jonathan did a great job naming and matching the shapes! 

Jonathan enjoyed watching Leapfrog Ocean's Ahoy, Math to the Moon, and Math Circus while he's been sick. 

Practical Life 

We worked on dry pouring this week. We used black beans:

It quickly turned into a sensory exercise! 

Snack 

Jonathan's throat was sore at the end of the week due to our bought of RSV, so I made him Blueberry Banana Smoothies. I really enjoyed them-  but my picky eater wouldn't even try them. (sigh.) What kid doesn't like smoothies? 

So, Jonathan came down on Tuesday night with a severe case of croup that sent him & daddy to the ER. The diagnosis was RSV (Grace had RSV towards the end of last week). Thankfully, he started to gain his appetite back today, so hopefully we're on our way to recovery. So next week we'll hopefully finish our "b" activities with balls and boats! Then we'll finally be on to c! 

How our week finished up

Question for other Parents: what toddler-friendly movies would you recommend? Jonathan's been wanting to watch his Leapfrog movies over and over again. Are there other movies you would suggest? What about feature length movies? Are there some that would be appropriate for a two year old? I'd love to have some ideas to vary things up a bit next time. 

I'm linking up to:

Tot School @ 1+1+1=1
What My Child is Reading @ Mouse Learns, Mouse Grows

b is for bat

Bat Poster from First School

Books 

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

I'd heard of Stellaluna before, but never actually read the book. It's a cute story about a fruit bat who thinks she is a bird. I was a little worried that the story would be too long for Jonathan. He did wander off and play as I read the story, but I would notice him looking up and listening as he played.

We also listened/watched the story for free at Storyline Online while we did our bat craft. I think this helped him engage in the story even more. It will definitely be one we refer to again.

Bat Jamboree by Kathy Appelt

This is a book that focuses on counting, number patterns and addition.  Every year
55 bats put on a show. The book is fun, quick paced and gave us good practice for counting 1-10. Jonathan really focused in on this book, and we had fun counting the bats. There are two additional books in the series Bat Parade (multiplication) and Bats Around the Clock (time). This was a great toddler friendly book that will be useful for many years as we eventually move from counting to addition.

Art 


We made a bat using Jonathan's handprints (an idea inspired by No Time for Flashcards). I traced Jonathan's hands onto brown paper, cut them out and then let him glue the hand prints onto purple construction paper. I made a face and then had Jonathan put star stickers on the page to represent the night sky. He's really enjoying using glue and stickers lately, so this was a hit!

 I don't have a picture of the process, but here's the end result:

Library Links


Bat Jamboree
Stellalluna

Web Resources 


B is for Bat @ First School
B is for Bat @ Musings of Me
B is for Bat @ Almost Unschoolers
Bat Math Activities @ Mathwire
Bat Craft & Song @ No Time For Flashcards
Bat Game @ Almost Unschoolers
Stellaluna Resources @ Homeschoolshare