Week 7 - Fun Fun Fun

~Bug is 16.5 months old~

Letter:      Ff

Theme:      Squares

We introduced a few new things this week in Tot School. The first was a sensory bin with his square shapes. Bug was more interested in throwing around and eating the rice then actually discovering what was inside the bin. We learned that this is a good tool to use outside.

Many thanks to our Tot School friend, Red, who showed us how to make a sun catcher. We used squares and rectangles to continue with our shapes of the week.  Bug really enjoyed the stickiness of the contact paper and how it would stay on his hand if he pressed hard.

Bug worked hard at pushing the straws through the wiffle ball and looked so cute concentrating. This was a rough day as he has some teeth coming in and he didn’t really want to do  much.

Bug had fun this week with a trip to the fair. It really was a nice coincidence that the fair was here during the letter ‘F’ week. Bug played and won his first fair game so we’ve added to our ball collection. He also tasted his first funnel cake and had his first Fun Foto.

Until next week… love and hugs!

Check out what other tots are doing with their moms here

Week 6 - Fun with F

~Bug is 16.5 months old~

Fun… Fun… Fun… that’s what we’ve been having this week. With the introduction of the letter F we have had lots of fun with our feet and introduced the sign for flower.  

We started a morning devotional time where in addition to reviewing our weekly verse (Proverbs 4:14-15) we also read a page from Good Morning Dear God. It feels so good to watch him fold his little hands to pray.

Bugs attention span was a little short this week. He played with his shape/color sorter and his foam shapes. We are working on pulling out all the squares in preparation for next week’s shape.

   

He still loves his egg sorter and has begun to figure out how some of them fit in the holder. He will twist and turn them until the fit correctly. 

Bug also attended a sweet sixteen birthday party for his babysitter this week. He enjoyed showing everyone that he is “1” or as he says “uno.” Yes, we are still working on the Spanish and it’s a learning process for us all.



Bug with his daddy

Until next week… love and hugs!

Check out what other tots are doing with their moms here

Week 5 - Taking it slow

~Bug is 16 months old~

 

Since I had eye surgery this week, Tot School was a little on the slow side. Bug watched a few Leapfrog videos that focused on shapes and colors. He can now even say Blue although it sounds a little more like boo. Daddy took care of reading time and I was able to “read” a few books that I already memorized.

We tried a new skill of pushing the pasta through the pepsi box. At first he was concentrating really hard to get them inside the hole but iIt worked out very well and Bug had a ton of fun pushing them through and dumping them out. 

My surgery was down in Orlando so while we were there we took Bug to Downtown Disney. We let him play at Lego Land and now I think that he is ready for some building blocks. When we passed by this bench with Pooh he couldn’t wait to sit down next to him. Pooh is one of his favorite books.

Not to many pictures this week but as my eyes continue to heal we will get back into full swing.

Until then… love and hugs!

Check out what other tots are doing with their moms here

Tot School - M is for Mickey Mouse - Week 4

~Bug is 16 months old~

  

This week we continued with the letter M. We officially have Tot School three days a week so I feel that we can take two weeks on each letter and verse so that Bug gets the most out of each lesson. Mickey Mouse is his new favorite character and has learned that he can watch it on the IPhone. TV time is limited but we also use the IPhone with some learning apps which are helping with shapes and colors. Bug is still doing really well with the color blue but it’s touch and go with the others.

Neither of us speaks Spanish but feel it is important for Bug to learn so we are implementing every tool we have. Bugs laptop teaches the numbers and a few words so we use it several times during the week. It’s fun to hear him say “uno.”

Reading time happens every day whether we are having Tot School or not. Here we are reading from Bugs color book. The book asks what color things are and then has a page that has things that color. Bug has gotten good at identifying some of the items on the page when asked.

Bug loves outdoor time and the weather is getting very nice so we went to the park. He was able to make a new little friend and they ran around together. His favorite thing is the swing so we talked about up, down, go and stop. He quickly learned up was where he wanted to go.

Next week brings a new letter and new Tot School Tools. Can’t wait to see what happens. Until then… love and hugs!

Check out what other tots are doing with their moms here

Tot School - Brought to you by the Letter M - Week 3

~Bug is 15.5 months old~

Brought to you by the letter M is how we began week 3 of Tot School. M has not been quite as much fun for Bug as the letter B since there are no balls to throw. We did some coloring and he is still way more interested in putting the crayons in and out of the holder than actually coloring with them.

The letter M did bring us to the sweet sound of Momma. Now Bug has been saying momma for several months but as we practiced the sound of M he always followed it with momma. We also had music time this week using all his toys that music. He has drums, a piano, guitar and a tambourine which all made for a fun afternoon.

This week our verse is actually my life verse so it felt especially good to share it with Bug throughout the week.

Bug discovered that not only can he put his weather pieces on the chart… he can also take them off. So our weather chart is rarely correct as he continues to take them on and off the chart.

We graduated from straws to small shapes to put in his creamer container which he seemed to enjoy much more than the straws. I still need to get him some normal straws to use so he can continue to build his skills.

The pom pom sorting tray has become his favorite Tot School item. Every time we go into his classroom that is the first thing he pulls off the shelf. Using the spoon has really helped with him using a fork at dinner time.

Bug had a great opportunity to play with some other kids this week at the mall playground. I won’t share pics of other kids faces but these girls were trying to play a matching game and Bug kept running over and flipping the pieces. They were very nice and let him play along.

We used our Feelings Tot Book this week which is still a little advanced for him but he is beginning to understand that the different faces mean different things. He laughed when I told him mommy was tired and needed some zzzs.

We had a very busy week in Tot School as well as in the mission field as we launched our non-profit for Mason’s Monarchs which you can read about here. Can’t wait to see what next week brings. So until then… love and hugs!

Check out what other tots are doing with their moms here

Tot School "B continued" - Week 2

~Bug is 15.5 months old~

In week 2 of Tot School we continued to work with the letter B. Bug loves to point out his “B is for ball” knowledge. He particularly liked that his coloring sheet had a picture of a ball. Bug hasn’t quite grasped the concept of coloring but he does like to pull the crayon out of the holder and then try to get it back inside.

This week we added some transferring skills with trying to place pom poms into a small ice tray. Bug did pretty well with this considering it was really small ice tray (but it was cute and bright green.) He has been working on the straws for a few weeks now, even before we officially began Tot School, so we may use a smaller container next week.

We got a really neat butterfly puzzle that has different shapes and colors and Bug loves to play with it. However at this particular time he felt that the pieces would be better inside a box that I was planning to use for some storage.

When that didn't suit his needs he decided that the box would be better used as a car. This is where I wish I had a video camera ready as he got into the box and started scooting along making car noises. Not really part of Tot School curriculumn but it was so precious.

During one of our shopping trips we came across this bean bag chair that has balls on it and Bug took the time to point that out to me. Luckily it was on sale and so I got it for him and he now uses it during reading time.

We continue to learn from each other and adapt according to Bug's desire to learn and what he considers fun.  So until next week love and hugs!

Check out what other tots are doing with their moms here

Tot School - Week One

~Bug is 15 months old~

Week one of Tot School was a lot of fun. In anticipation Bug has been watching me set up our office/classroom for about a month now. Finally he was able to get inside and actually play with all the cool things he has seen.

Here he is trying to decide which one he should play with first… the stacking bowls won. He prefers to make them into balls instead of actually stacking them. Bug figured out which ones would link together but didn’t quite understand why the big bowls wouldn’t fit inside the smaller ones.

Now this I thought was just a fluke… here he is with a stacking and counting toy that also uses colors. He picked that blue one up and put it right on the blue peg. Later in the week I asked him if he could bring me his blue ball and sure enough… he went and got every blue ball in the basket.

              

Our letter this week was the letter B. We went through the house talking about all the blue things and Bug placed his B into the leapfrog toy so that he could play it over and over again.  No pic for this :(

Ok I admit I colored the butterfly... I couldn't help it!

Even though Bug is still a little young to understand the concept of what the weather is outside, we still discussed it each morning. He particularly likes opening the blinds and placing the cards on the sign no matter what the weather is like.

Well until next week… love and hugs!