Tot School- b is for bug (and birthday!)

Jonathan is 31 Months

This will be an short post this week because we've been busy this weekend celebrating a birthday:

Grace is 1!!!!

It's hard to believe a year has flown by already! She's cruising the furniture and trying to talk and she's such a little lady! We'll be down in central Illinois this week visiting family and checking out the state fair!

But if you want to see what we've been up to this week, check out these posts:

Sensory Bin: 


Our bug sensory bin was a huge hit this week:

We practiced spooning and pouring the grassy green rice. Jonathan had fun matching the bugs up to some insect flashcards I found in the Target $1 Spot. We also used some Montessori printables that Carisa designed.

Books 


We read several great books this week. Jonathan's favorite was The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. He loved this so much we checked out a few more of Carle's buggy books. They were a big hit!

Games 


We had gorgeous weather this week so we went on a "bug safari". I hid ten of his bugs in the grass outside and Jonathan and his friend T. hunted for them. We used our Sunny Patch magnifying glass to explore and attempt to identify the real bugs we found outside as well.


Bible 


We talked about Joseph this week. Look for a summary post soon!




Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out 1+1+1=1 for more Tot School ideas. 

b is for bug- books

Our theme this week has been bugs, and we've been reading several fun bug-related books. Here are some we've enjoyed so far:

Bugs! Bugs! Bugs! by Bob Barner

This is the book that sparked the idea for this unit. We'd been reading Bob Barner as part of our Reading Our Library project and Jonathan really liked this book. In this book we're introduced to eight different bugs and told a short fact about each one. The rhyming verse and colorful collage illustrations make this book quite fun. At the end, the reader is shown bugs drawn to scale as well as a chart comparing each bug. It's a super toddler-friendly introduction to bugs that older children should enjoy equally well.

The Icky Bug Alphabet Book by Jerry Pallotta

This was another fun read. Pallotta's book introduces different insects and other creatures from A-Z. As we progress from ant to zebra butterfly, we learn different characteristics and actions these creatures make. An interesting fact I learned is that although we call all of these creatures "bugs" apparently they are all "insects". I thought the terms were synonymous, but I was wrong. Anyhow, this book is full of interesting facts and held Jonathan's attention well. He had fun trying to identify the insects before I told him what they were.

The Best Bug Parade by Stuart J. Murphy

This is part of a series of books called MathStart. The books are designed to introduce math to preschoolers in a fun and engaging way. This particular book is about comparing sizes. It covers the concepts of "big/bigger/biggest" as well as "small", "long", and "short". There's a review page after each concept is introduced and the end of the book provides helpful extension activities. As far as plot, there isn't much of one besides a ladybug comparing herself to different bugs. In the end, all the bugs join the bug parade. It's worth checking out, if you're looking for a good math concept book. Jonathan engaged with the review pages and told me what he thought each bug was.

The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

This, along with The Very Hungry Caterpillar, was Jonathan's favorite book this week. It's about a spider who is busy building a web on a farm fence post. The various farm animals come up to her and ask her to join them in an activity, but the spider doesn't answer. She is very busy spinning her web. In the end the spider's diligence pays off and she is rewarded with some food. The book reinforces the different farm animal noises, which Jonathan loved since it tied in with our farm theme last week. But it is also a book to feel as well as read-- on each page the spider's web is raised so you can feel the web and watch as it grows. Jonathan really enjoyed this book quite a bit and asked for it several times during the week. You can never go wrong with an Eric Carle book. (We also have a couple other Carle  bug books that we haven't read yet, I'm sure they will be equally good!)

I'm linking up to Read-Aloud Thursday over at Hope is the Word. Head on over there to find more great read-aloud treasures!

b is for bug- sensory bin

This week we're reviewing the letter Bb while exploring bugs. I found some great resources to help me with a bug unit, so I'm excited for this week. Our farm sensory bin was such a hit last week, that I decided to make Jonathan another bin this week:

I made this sensory bin using green rice as "grass" and throwing in bugs from our Safari Insects Toob. To dye the rice, I followed a recipe I found at a great site called Teach Preschool: 


1 tbsp rubbing alcohol
green gel food coloring
3 cups white rice 


I combined the alcohol with the food coloring and mixed it in a baggie. Next, I threw in the rice and mixed it up until it was a nice grassy green color. I spread the rice out in the sensory tub overnight and set it by a dehumidifier to get rid of the alcohol smell. By the morning, it was ready to play with! Easy peasy! Deborah @ Teach Preschool also has a recipe for making colored rice using Kool-Aid. I think I may try that next time.

Letter Bb Books

We've finished up learning about the letter b and have moved on to letter c. Before I start showing you what we've been doing, I thought I'd highlight a few books that we looked at throughout our Bb lessons:

My b Sound Box by Jane Monclure

This is a new edition of a series that has been around for a while. The series is just perfect for helping toddlers recognize starting sounds and build vocabulary. The story is very simple- a little girl (little b) finds items that begin with her sound and puts them in a box. There are pictures above the vocabulary words used in the story to help your child become familiar with the way the words look. At the end of the book, there's a list of the "b" words used in the story, as well as other "b" words you can talk about. Jonathan sat and paid attention to the story and wanted it read often enough that he began to make connections between the words and the sounds. We plan on looking at more books in this series!

The Berenstain's B Book by Stan & Jan Berenstain

This is a classic book that I remember from my childhood. It's not a book featuring the popular Berenstain Bears. It's a book that uses about thirty three different B words to tell a zany story. Each page adds to the story and it's just a fun read. Try reading the story fast- that will challenge you and bring giggles from your tot! Jonathan enjoyed this story as much as I remember enjoying it!

Bob Books- Alphabet (My First Bob Books)- AB Book

This set of books contains 12 small books featuring two or three short stories. Each story focuses on a particular letter of the alphabet and introduces some basic vocabulary. They are simply illustrated and use only a few words per page. For Bb some of the words we focused on included bear, beaver, bunny, bed, breakfast. Jonathan is drawn in to the stories and seems to really enjoy them a lot. I think we will really enjoy more of this series!

Baby Einstein Alphabooks

We received these from a friend at church and both Jonathan and Grace really enjoy them. There's a little board book for each letter of the alphabet with three pictures inside. The pictures are a combination of cartoons, paintings and pictures. Jonathan does very well at naming the different items and Grace just enjoys looking at the pictures. It makes this a nice supplement to the letter we're looking at.
Note: The biggest "issue" with the books is that the animal character on the cover of the book does not always match the letter. This could confuse some children, especially if they are not familiar with the Baby Einstein character names.

Library Links 


Alphabooks
My b Sound Box
My First Bob Books (Alphabet)
The Berenstain's B Book

Tot School- b is for ball and boat (26 months)

Jonathan is 26 Months

After having RSV last week, we slowly got back into gear this week. We finally finished up our letter b activities by having fun with balls and boats!

Bible 


We continued to review our memory verse from Songs for Saplings.


Books 


We read lots of books this week about balls and boats. Here were some of our favorites- click on the links to see our reviews!

Yellow Ball by Molly Bang
Boats by Byron Barton
Froggy Plays Soccer by Jonathan London
Busy Boats by Tony Mitton




Jonathan's B Book
And we also made our own "B" book. I downloaded the template from Alphabet Avenue, but then added some of our own pages to focus on "b" words that we learned about. I searched and found free clip art to use in our pictures. Jonathan really enjoyed looking through his very own "b" book and would tell me the items on each page. He also got very good at pointing out that each word began with b!

Our Bb book

b is for boat

Motor Skills 


We had a burst of Spring this week! Midweek we went to our local park and Jonathan had so much fun climbing and using the slide. He's so much more confident than he was last fall-- he did the climbing wall all by himself!

We also went to our local forest preserve and played at the toddler playground with a friend. Jonathan loved a feature called "the cave"-- they carved a small tunnel in the rock that toddlers could run through. I think it reminded him of the bear hunt- and he wasn't scared at all!

We also played with balls quite a bit this week-- Jonathan really enjoys his basketball hoop. We also made a little ball pit using his wading pool and all his different balls around the house:

Jonathan in the ball pit

Gracie playing with her ball

Math


We were lighter on math this week. I tried to work on patterns with Jonathan, using foam ball shapes I picked up on clearance at Michaels-- but he was more interested in playing than with patterns.

We also played with our Melissa & Doug beginner pattern blocks. There is one pattern that makes a boat, so we worked on that one this week. 


Art


We played with paint, using a bouncy ball in a box.

Our ball painting-- nothing fancy!

We put ball stickers on a letter b, which was good fine motor practice!

We played with blue playdough using a Bb Playdough mat from Homeschool Creations. Jonathan still doesn't really get the concept that he can make the playdough into something. But he likes mashing the playdough around. :)

And we made a boat craft by folding shapes in half. He wasn't too interested in this one though. Folding doesn't catch his interest as much as stickers and glue!



Music


We sang several classic songs this week such as: Take Me Out to the Ball Game, & Row Row Row Your Boat.


Practical Life 


Our biggest change is that Jonathan gave up his pacifiers this week! He's only used them at nap time or night for over 6 months now, but I've really been chicken to take them away for good. However, his pacis were so well loved that in the past month, he had chewed little holes in some of them. I'd heard that this takes all the enjoyment out of them.

I'd been telling him for about a month that we were going to say bye bye to the pacis soon. Since he was getting so frustrated with them, I thought he could say bye bye to the broken ones. I got a little box and had him put 2 pacis in the box. We gave the box a little kiss and said bye bye to them. When I got downstairs, he was still crying and I had second thoughts. I was going to just leave the box on his dresser so he could see the pacis, but he decided that he wanted to put them all  in the box. And then he went right to sleep with his teddy bear!

When he woke up, he found several little matchbox cars in his box. He was so proud! He lined them up and started playing with them on his rug.

The first night, he still was a little sad, but understood he said bye bye to the pacis. He's never even asked for the pacis again! Here I was so worried that it would be a big deal, and he practically did it himself. He's played with his cars constantly the past few days-- I think he's really going to like the c is for car activities I have lined up for next week!


Mom's Favorite: 

I love that they are actually smiling at each other! 

I'm linking up to:

Link & Learn @ No Time for Flashcards

Tot School @ 1+1+1=1

What My Child is Reading @ Mouse Learns, Mouse Grows

b is for boat

Image source

Sign Language


We reviewed the sign for boat.


Books 

Boats by Byron Barton

We've really enjoyed Byron Barton books. Barton's simple text and bold, cartoon-like illustrations are appealing to Jonathan. They really are the perfect books for a vehicle loving toddler! This particular book introduces several different types of boats- rowboats, speed boats, tug boats, ferries, etc. Jonathan really enjoyed it and asked to read it several times this week.

Busy Boats by Tony Mitton

This was probably my favorite read this week. Mitton's book is similar to Barton's in that it also introduces different kinds of boats. However, it also gives lots of good information about what boats do. Mitton's text uses fun rhymes. Jonathan enjoyed finding his boats and matching them up to the ones in the story.

Sail Away by Donald Crews

We've enjoyed other Donald Crews books so this one was a natural one to check out. It follows the story of a boat's journey. A family takes out the boat one morning and spends the day sailing. The boat travels by lighthouses and through a storm. It's a simple story that is told through beautiful pictures and font. There are a lot of opportunities to explore vocabulary as well as different sounds.

My Blue Boat by Chris Demarest

This was the last book we read. It's a story about a little girl playing with her boat in the bathtub and imagining going on a journey in her blue boat. She dances with whales and dolphins and looks up at the stars. It's a very imaginative story that is told with vivid illustrations.








Poetry- 

We read My Bed is a Boat by Robert Louis Stevenson.


Bible 


We read the story of Noah's Ark and pulled out our Little People Noah's Ark set to renact the story. (There are lots of great printables you can use with this story at 1+1+1=1) There are lots of other stories that feature boats in the Bible-- you could also do Jesus Calming the Storm.


Pretend Play 


I picked up a few plastic boats from Michaels' & Target's $1 areas and let Jonathan play with them in the tub. We dyed the water blue using some of his Crayola Color Bath Dropz and then turned the jets on in the tub.We pretended there was a storm, like in some of the stories we read. He had a lot of fun with his boats! (Sorry- no bathtub pictures!)



Math 


We did a boat pattern from our Melissa & Doug beginner pattern blocks.

Music 


Row, Row, Row Your Boat. is a classic song! There are some other great songs listed here.


Art 


We did this craft from DLTK.It went okay, Jonathan was excited about using the glue stick again, but wasn't interested in folding. I think might have been more interesting if he was older. However, I think I'll look for more interesting crafts if we talk about boats again. I'd love any ideas!





Library Links 


Boats
Busy Boats
My Blue Boat
Sail Away



Web Resources 
B is for Boat @ First School
Boats @ No Time For Flashcards
Boats & More @ Train Thy Children
B is for Boat @ Walking by the Way
My Blue Boat @ Delightful Learning
Deviled Egg Sailboats @ Totally Tots
Boats @ Preschool Express
Boat Theme @ Step by Step

b is for ball

Sign Language 


We reviewed the sign for ball as well as signs for different sports (baseball, football, basketball, soccer). We watched the Signing Time DVD "My Favorite Sport" which covered each of those signs.


Books 

Balls by Melanie Davis Jones

I chose this book for Jonathan because it was Rookie reader, without a lot of text. I liked that it talks about what different balls can do. The illustrations, as one Amazon reviewer noted, are kind of a strange claymation. (Think Bert & Ernie's Great Adventures). But Jonathan still enjoyed this book and picked it up to read it again. He also had fun matching his balls to the balls pictured in the book.

Yellow Ball by Molly Bang

This was by far our favorite book. It's a really sweet story about a yellow ball that is left at the beach and swept out to sea. The story recounts the adventures of the ball until it eventually safely washes to another shore and finds a home. The story is told in very few words but dramatic pictures. Jonathan loved the story and wanted it read several times in a row. He was engaged and would even shout "Watch out ball!" during one particular scene. This book was so much fun to read together! It is part of the Before Five in a Row homeschool curriculum and there are several online resources for the book. It's too bad it's out of print- but fortunately our library system had several copies!

Froggy Plays Soccer by Jonathan London

I found this book at our library booksale and snatched it up based on our enjoyment of a previous Froggy story. I wasn't disappointed- we  enjoyed this one equally as well. In this story, Froggy is playing in a soccer tournament-- his dad coaches him to use everything but his hands-- will Froggy remember? Jonathan has really enjoyed this silly frog and loves any story involving sports!

Motor Skills


It's still been fairly cold outside and since we are still recuperating from RSV, so we haven't played outside much.

We played with a lot of balls, of course! Daddy is particularly helpful with this-- Jonathan loves wrestling and playing with daddy. His basketball hoop is a constant source of fun. He's getting pretty good at catching and making baskets.

I also brought his wading pool inside and filled it with all sorts of different balls: our 100 color balls, kick balls, sensory balls, small sports balls... you get the idea! He's had a lot of fun swimming through the balls. We've also played a game where daddy or I hide a couple small toys in the bottom of the ball pit and he tries to find them. It's another good way to exert some energy!

Jonathan in the ball pit

Gracie got into the ball playing too!

Music 


We sang Take Me Out to the Ball Game. We also enjoyed a song "the Basketball Dance" from the Kimbo CD Circle Time Activities.

Math 

I found some foam ball shapes on clearance at JoAnn fabrics. There were a dozen different sports ball shapes (baseball, football, basketball, soccer). I attempted to have him try to do a pattern with the shapes- but he was much more interested in just trying to throw the balls around. Massive fail-- but he had fun.

Art 


Ball Painting

We did some ball painting inspired by an idea I found on No Time for Flashcards. It was a super easy craft. I put paper in a shoebox along with yellow paint and a bouncy ball. I had Jonathan tip the box to roll the ball through the paint. It turned out ok, but Jonathan was more interested in playing with the ball than painting!

Stickers

I also found some assorted ball stickers at Michaels in the dollar section this week. Given Jonathan's enjoyment of  stickers and glue, I let him place the stickers on a lowercase b. He enjoyed this craft a little more than the painting.

Library Links- 


Balls
Froggy Plays Soccer
Yellow Ball
Kimbo Music- Circle Time Activities CD
Signing Time- My Favorite Sport DVD


Web Resources 


B is for Ball @ First School
B is for Ball @ Toddler Approved!
Yellow Ball Lesson @ Delightful Learning
Yellow Ball Resources @ Homeschool Share

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

b is for balloon

picture source

Sign Language- 


We reviewed the sign for balloon.


Books

Too  many Balloons by Catherine Matthias

We have really enjoyed this book-- it's a simple story meant for early readers. In the book, a little girl buys one red balloon and shows the balloon to the lion, who likes the balloon. Then the little girl buys two yellow balloons and shows them to the giraffes. The story progresses up through the number 10 when the girl now has too many balloons! I like that this is a great book for practicing counting, labeling zoo animals and colors.We had some party balloons of some of the colors mentioned in the book and Jonathan had fun picking up the proper color whenever it was mentioned in the story. It was a very fun read that we both enjoyed!

Where Do Balloons Go? An Uplifting Mystery by Jamie Lee Curtis


This is such a fun story about what happens to wayward balloons. The story is told in imaginative rhyme that reminded me a bit of Dr. Seuss. Do balloons get cold? Do they tango with airplanes? Do they fly into outer space? The concept, however, was a little beyond Jonathan, who has never had a balloon float away. The pictures are very detailed and full of humor that adults and older children would grasp well. This is a cute read, but probably better for preschoolers than toddlers.

Pop! Went Another Balloon: a magical counting storybook by Keith Faulkner

This is another counting/balloon story, but instead of counting up, it counts down from 10 to 1. The story is about a turtle trying to bring 10 balloons to a friend for her birthday. However, a flock of birds is very interested in the balloons and keeps popping them. Jonathan enjoyed this book because of the holes in the page (so the balloons show through), but he didn't get the concept of subtraction. It may be a good book to turn to in another year or two.

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

One last book we looked at was a Caldecott Honor book by Marjorie Priceman. I wasn't planning on this one, but chose it based on its Caldecott nomination and the previous book we enjoyed by the author (How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World). It is based on the first hot air balloon ride in 1783. During this ride, a sheep, a duck, and a rooster were sent up in a balloon. Priceman imagines what went on while the animals were up in the air. There's some detailed text at the beginning and end of the book, but most of the story is told in pictures. I wasn't sure what Jonathan would think, but he really enjoyed this book and asked to read it again! I learned a bit too about the history of the first hot air balloon ride. There are some homeschool web resources for this book as well, such as lapbooks (see below)


Motor Skills 


We played with balloons, of course-- the possibilities are endless! We put them in a laundry basket and pushed them around:

We played basketball with the balloons-- this was Jonathan's favorite!

And we also just bopped them around and practiced hitting and catching. These were all very fun activities since we're likely to be stuck indoors most of the week!

Art 


We did balloon painting, from an idea I got from Homemade Mamas. I pulled out some blue and brown paint and put it on a paper plate:

Blew up two small balloons and let Jonathan put the balloons in the paint and roll them, bounce them, etc. on fingerpaint paper.

This only held his attention for about 10 minutes or so, but he seemed to enjoy it!

Jonathan's masterpiece

We also did more work with glue sticks-- I used this template from First School to have Jonathan practice gluing shapes onto a hot air balloon. He was so excited to use a glue stick again!

I was very impressed that he figured out how to turn the shapes over to apply the glue- he didn't grasp that concept last week!

And he had a lot of fun gluing the shapes into place-- he did a fairly accurate job putting the shapes on the paper and correctly identified all the shapes and colors.

I know I'm a proud mama-- but I was impressed!

Another masterpiece

Library Links 


Hot Air: The (Mostly) True Story of the First Hot-Air Balloon Ride
Pop! Went Another Balloon
Too Many Balloons
Where Do Balloons Go? An Uplifting Mystery




Web Resources 


B is for Balloon @ First School
Balloons Preschool Theme @ Everything Preschool
B is for Balloon @ Delightful Learning
Book resources for Hot Air @ Homeschool Share