Totally Tots: November 2011

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Little Hands-on ABCs and 123s - Fly Swatter ABCs

When Bear was little, we used to practice the letter sounds by having our puppet, Dudley the dragon, eat the sounds I called out. I had gotten this idea from Carissa (1+1+1=1) who had Krash and PacMan play a similar game with their alphabet bean bags.

I forgot about Dudley with J-jo until recently when I was looking back on my blog for ideas. However, I came up with another fun way for him to practice identifying the letter sounds. Being a little boy, he likes to be rough and thus the idea of having slap his letters with a fly swatter was born.

I call out a letter sound and he swats it. Simple, yet effective.

Monday, November 28, 2011

What’s in the Tub ~ Christmas

Next month our theme at Totally Tots is Christmas. Here are some ideas for you to use in a sensory tub with your little one to explore the theme up close and personal.

What’s in the Tub?: Everything except the dried split peas and plastic container came from Michaels

split peas
small tree
Christmas bulb buttons
small paper mache star box
poinsettia buttons
cinnamon scented pinecones
The Symbols of Christmas from Christian Preschool Printables
small plastic Christmas balls
star buttons
gold star tree topper
small nativity set
Christmas buttons
wooden ornaments
small wreaths

So, what fun things did we do with the tub?

The first thing Aiden did when I set the tub out was to decorate the little tree

we played I Spy ~ looking for different colors, shapes and objects

we read about The Symbols of Christmas

we counted the buttons and made patterns

we talked about baby Jesus being one of the greatest gifts God gave us, then Aiden and I took turns hiding baby Jesus and searching for him

Aiden loved playing with the nativity pieces

What’s in the Tub? is a feature that focuses on fun sensory tub ideas to go along with the monthly theme at Totally Tots. Click here to see past sensory tub ideas.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Treats 4 Your Tot

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Here are some more cool giveaways for tots/moms of tots, check them out below and let us know if you win something we told you about!!!!

Homeschool Giveaways {HUGE…go look}…ends 11/28/11
Montessori At Home eBook and Montessori At Home Bundle…ends 12/3/11
Pick and Draw…ends 12/2/11
Lakeshore $25 Gift Certificate…ends 11/30/11
Leapfrog Peek a Shoe Octopus…ends 12/10/11

Bolded are items we personally own and love! If you are hosting a TOT friendly giveaway you are free to leave a link in the comments section!

Friday, November 25, 2011

Once Upon A Book: Circus

Circus by Lois Ehlert

Summary: Simple text and brilliantly colored cut-paper illustrations take children into a big top of circus excitement starring leaping lizards, marching snakes, whistling parrots, and the tumbling Zucchini Brothers.

Circus Puppet Show: Jonah used our Portable Puppet Theater and finger puppets to perform his own circus show. I pulled some appropriate animals and people puppets from my favorite finger puppet sets (purchased at Ikea, but I found them on Amazon)

We had a Dancing Bear, Trapeze girl, Ringmaster/Lion Tamer, Lion, Juggling Monkey, Dumbo the Elephant, and a Clown dressed up like a Fireman (remember the scene from the Disney movie, Dumbo?)

Clown Craft: We made a clown using a paper plate and construction paper. I traced Jonah's hands for the clown hair. I cut simple shapes for the clown features. Jonah decorated the clown hat. If you have a red balloon, you could blow it up slightly, cut a slit in the plate, and place the balloon through the hole. We didn't have any balloons and we used what we had on hand instead.

Clown Noses: While we were making our craft, I cut a nose for Jonah to wear out of our paper scraps. He loved it and wore it the rest of the morning! It really is the simple things that give them the most joy!

Other Activities: We used the Circus Early Learning Pack from Homeschool Creations for the bulk of our learning activities. (We've had a new baby join our family recently and the printable resources were mommy's sanity saver!)

Snack: Popcorn & a Movie! I remembered that I had a popcorn holder that looked like the ones at the circus and Jonah thought it was extra special. We watched Dumbo while we enjoyed our popcorn.

While I always have the grandest of plans for themes, our simple Circus activities reminded me that it isn't always the grand plans that are the most fun. Jonah loved the silly noses (Mommy wore one, too!) and snuggling on the couch while watching a movie the most. Here's to hoping you find some snuggle time and laughter with your little ones, too!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Letter Xx is for X-ray

Dem Bones by Bob Barner

Summary: Following the old spiritual song, this book brings the words to life. Kids enjoy the torn collage illustrations while learning the different bones in the body.

Letter Ideas:
We did many of our normal letter activities for letter x:
- rolled playdough snakes, crossed them to make the letter
- traced the letter X in our salt box
- did our letter handwriting/poem page

Letter X handwriting and poem page

Theme Ideas:

Learning about x-rays and our bones fit in perfectly with all the anatomy lessons I was doing with my older children. I came across this cute idea of making your own x-ray with handprints from The Homeschool Den. My girls had so much fun painting their hands and making handprints. We actually did prints on various colors of paper because they just couldn’t stop. :) After the handprint dries, outline with chalk.

I found this print-out of a toddler skeleton. It is the size of an average toddler so I thought it would be fun to put together. I helped the girls and while we were guessing where the pieces went, we talked about the different bones. We had fun seeing if it was taller or shorter than each of the girls.

Jolanthe came up with the cutest x-ray craft. She showcased several different ways to make this letter x project.
Other ABC Resources
ABC Printables from Homeschool Creations
Letter of the Week Curriculum from COAH
ABC Flashcards and More from 1+1+1=1
ABC Letter Crafts
Songs for Saplings ABC Verses

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Little Books for Little Cooks~Edible Crayons

Edible Crayons

Who needs to color with crayons when you can eat them!

The Book Before You Cook…

The Crayon Box that Talked

by Shane DeRolf

Summary: The Crayon Box that Talked is a fun, rhyming book how the crayons learn to live together. The book lends itself to further discussions about topics such as diversity, cooperation, manners, complaining, and working together.

When It’s Time to Cook…

You’ll need:

pretzel rods
vanilla icing
food coloring
colored printer paper

To Make:

Break the pretzel rods in half and put the icing in a bowl (one bowl per color).
Mix the food coloring into each of the bowls of icing.
Dip the tips of each pretzel in the icing and allow it to harden. (Click here for a photo)
Print the crayon labels from either Gourmet Mom on the Go or Cookin Up Crafty Fun onto colored printer paper.
After the icing has hardened, tape the labels around the pretzels and viola, the cutest crayons you would ever want to eat!!!!

OPTIONAL: Rather than icing, you could make these using melted white chocolate or candy melts.

Little Books for Little Cooks is a monthly feature that focuses on creating some edible fun with your little one. We will share a fun book to read with your little one along with a cooking activity to do that ties in with the featured book. Sometimes there may be actual cooking involved…and sometimes just fun!