Letter Cc - What's on the Tray?

Super Tot is 32 months old.

We are having so much fun with our Letter of the Week activities!  Here are some Tot Trays I have planned this week for the letter Cc.

Car Sorting

Sort cars by either Mustang or Corvette.

One of Super Tot's FAVORITE things in the world is cars.  His favorites are Mustangs and Corvettes, and he points them out everywhere we go.  It is unbelievable how quickly he spots them, and how precise he is in always knowing the make and model of dozens of different cars.  I thought he would enjoy this activity for "Cc" week!  I went online and printed off various photos of Corvettes and Mustangs.  I laminated them and created a mat for him to sort the cars by model.  When compiling the photos, I included one of each color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple & pink) for each model.  I plan on later printing the same colors of several other models to use for various Tot School activities from color sorting, matching, counting, etc.  He spotted me getting this one together and has already expressed his sheer delight in the photos!

~Sorting~  

Counting Caterpillar "Munches"

Count the number of holes in each leaf and match with the correctly numbered rock.

For this activity, I cut leaves out of construction paper and punched holes (1-8) using a basic hole punch.  I glued them to construction paper rectangles and attached a caterpillar to each.  I laminated them for durability, as I plan to use them again for additional counting and math activities.

~counting, number recognition~

Foam Crayon Color Sorting

Place foam crayons (from a $1 puzzle at CVS) into the egg cup with the corresponding color.

~color recognition & matching~

 Mommy/Baby Cow Sorting

Sort cow counters by Mommy or Baby.

~social skills, sorting, size comparison~

 Days of Creation Poster

Paste each item in the bowl under the correct day of creation.

This activity is from Bible Kids Fun Zone.
~Bible lesson, pasting, fine motor~

Cat Lacing Card

Remove cat "puzzle" piece from card and lace around the border.

~fine motor~

Letter Matching

Place each letter from the bowl onto the correct letter mat.

~letter recognition & matching~

I SPY the Letter "Cc"

Circle all Uppercase and Lowercase Cc's.
I apologize for this picture being slightly out of focus.  I didn't realize it until I uploaded and printed it.  I will be recreating it and replacing this photo with a clearer one in a few days.

~letter recognition, fine motor, pre-writing~

Super Tot will also be doing the following 2 letter crafts.

C is for Clown and c is for clock.

These are part of a letter book I put together for him.  You can read about it and see all of our letter crafts here.

Letter Cc Bible Verses for the week:

"Come, follow Me." ~Matthew 4:19

"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right." ~Ephesians 6:1

Linking to:

1+1+1=1

Montessori Monday

Sun Scholars

No Time for Flashcards

Preschool Corner

Mom to 2 Posh Little Divas

Our Country Road

ABC & 123

Fine Motor w/ Clothes Pins

Clothes pins are a staple in our Tot School, as they are a wonderful tool for developing and strengthening fine motor skills.  Fine motor skills involve the coordination of the small hand and finger muscles, usually in combination with one's eyes.  Fine motor skills are a necessity for everyday life skills such as eating, writing, manipulating buttons & zippers, etc. These fine motor skills require lots of practice, and we have found clothes pins to be one of many tools that we love and use each week to give Super Tot that practice.   

I often receive comments and e-mails asking how well Super Tot is able to manipulate them. I try to answer all of your inquiries, but because I get this question so often, I thought I would address it directly on my blog.  

I will start by saying that he certainly does not have them mastered.  He is currently 32 months old and can do them on his own, but still struggles and gets very frustrated sometimes.  He is getting better at manipulating them all the time.  I try to give him many opportunities through a variety of Tot School activities, as you can see from my various Tot School posts.  


If the basic manipulation of the clothes pins is still a struggle for your child, you might want to hold off on adding additional skills to clothes pin activities (shape matching, etc.).  While I do use clothes pins for matching, counting, etc., I still like to give Super Tot ample opportunity to just "play" with the clothes pins.  This is a fun and non-threatening way for your little one to begin mastering this skill.  


I had this tray out this morning for Super Tot to match wooden shapes using clothes pins.  He has done it before, but quickly became frustrated today attempting to manipulate the clothes pins.  I never force an activity, so I thought I'd give him some practice with the clothes pins alone, giving him an opportunity to turn that frustration into a feeling of accomplishment.

I removed the popsicle stick shapes and replaced them with a piece of cardboard (you could use a cup, box, bowl, etc.).  I asked him if he wanted to practice clipping the clothes pins on the cardboard.  He was thrilled to do that, without the added pressure of matching the shapes and having to be so precise in where to clip.  

He had a wonderful time, and even surprised me when he took it up a notch and built this "tower."  After building his confidence with the cardboard, he felt comfortable on his own clipping them precisely onto the much smaller space.  This was the exact skill that had frustrated him so much just a few minutes before!  

TIPS:

Different brands of clothes pins can be looser or tighter, thus making them easier or more difficult to manipulate.

If you open and close each one about 20 times before giving them to your child for the first time, it will assist in loosening them up a bit.

There are also clothes pins available in a slightly smaller size that are generally easier for little hands to manipulate (see photo below).

1+1+1=1

Montessori Monday

Sun Scholars

No Time for Flashcards

Preschool Corner

Mom to 2 Posh Little Divas

Our Country Road

ABC & 123

Fruity Cheerios Sorting

Last summer I saw a cute blog post with a printable mat for sorting Fruit Loops.  I purchased a box of Fruity Cheerios on sale at the grocery store this week and was reminded of that printable.  While I seldom purchase sugary cereals, I think these two can provide a fun and different way of practicing colors.  That being said, Fruity Cheerios have different colors than Fruit Loops, so I decided I would make my own printable for the Cheerios.  

The original idea (and her Fruit Loop printable) is available here.

You can click on my printable below and print it landscaped onto standard size paper.  I laminated mine, but you could also use contact paper or leave it plain.  Super Tot had a wonderful snack activity today for Tot School, which he enjoyed very much.

I have a printable Fruit Loop Graph & Chart available here.

Linking to:

1+1+1=1

Montessori Monday

Sun Scholars

No Time for Flashcards

Preschool Corner

Mom to 2 Posh Little Divas

Our Country Road

ABC & 123

Math Monday (a day late)!

While planning for this school year, I decided I wanted to do Real Life Math with Princess every Friday.  I created my lessons for the year and am excited to share them with you!  

Each week, I will be doing a Math Monday post where I share our lesson from the week before.  The posts will include lesson explanations & instructions, pictures, and any printables I have made to go along with the lessons.  

We had our first Real Life Math lesson last week, and it was a lot of fun!

Real Life Math - Lesson 1

Dinner Budget

Objective:  To plan and shop for 3 family meals on a budget of $12, $10 and $8, respectively.  All three meals must be complete and healthy, feeding our family of 4.

Princess had a wonderful time with this lesson.  She started by brainstorming and filling out the Planning Worksheet with various meal ideas she thought would fit into those price categories. The Planning Worksheet I created is below.

While we were at the grocery store, she said that she finally understood why I sometimes ask her to distract Super Tot so that I can work on sticking to our grocery budget.  She didn't realize how much work it is to really stick to a budget, and how important it is to compare prices.  She was excited to check the sales and use coupons to get the most for her dollar.  She was surprised to find that several of her meal choices were way over budget, as well.

We used the "Results Worksheet" below to document the final meal choices, broken down by cost. 

I am pleased to share that after some work, Princess came in under budget with all 3 of her meals!  She was pretty excited about that, too!  

Princess had so much fun doing this project, and she has a new appreciation for the value (or lack there of, sometimes) of a dollar.  Although this particular lesson has been completed, I think I will challenge her each week to come up with at least one of our meals.  I do have several other lessons planned that will involve budgeting, as well as shopping strategies.  

I am excited to know that I am equipping Princess to leave home one day armed with the real life math skills necessary to live a life of Godly finances.

Linking to:

ABC & 123
Hip Homeschool Hop

Letter Bb - What's on the Tray?

We had so much fun with our letter Aa activities last week!  Super Tot even memorized his first 2 Bible verses!  This is HUGE, as he has only really been combining syllables/words for about 2-3 months.  The verses he memorized were:

"All have sinned." ~ Romans 3:23

and

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." ~Joshua 24:15

I didn't approach the verses with any thought of memorization at all.  I was just reading them to him to go along with our letter Aa activities.  We talked about them and he repeated them each a few times on Monday and Tuesday.  On Wednesday, he said them to me on his own.  I couldn't believe it!  I am so excited to add scripture memory to our Tot School.  He was so proud of himself, and I am delighted that he is hiding God's word in his heart at such a tender young age!  Thank you for allowing me to Mommy-brag for a moment.  

Here are the activities we have planned to go along with the letter Bb.

Uppercase & Lowercase Basketball Sorting

Place each basketball into the appropriate goal based on the letter written on the ball.  

I simply cut circles out of orange construction paper and drew the seams on.  The basketball goal printable is available below the photograph (print landscaped).  I added the letters to the printable after I wrote them onto mine.

~letter recognition, sorting~

Transferring Blue Bears

Transfer the blue bears from one bowl to another using tongs.

~fine motor~

Uppercase & Lowercase Bb Color Match

Place each dot sticker onto a matching letter, within a circle of the same color.

~letter recognition & matching, color matching, fine motor~

Color Rings Sorting Board

Place each wooden ring onto the correctly colored peg.  
This item is available at here at Lakeshore Learning.

~color recognition & matching, fine motor~

Building Blocks

Free / Creative block play.

~creativity, fine motor, gross motor, etc.~

Letter Bb Dot Match

Place a blue dot sticker onto each circle on the Bb sheet.  
The printable is available here from Confessions of a Homeschooler.
~one to one correspondence, fine motor, letter recognition~

Cutting & Pasting

Paste the various items onto the sheets (berries, buttons, balloons, etc.)  
The book I got these from is available here.  I will cut the actual items out, but I will allow Super Tot to assist, as well as to cut on the extra paper.
~fine motor, basic cutting & pasting skills~

Big / Little Bear Sort

Sort the bears by size.  
I cut these bear photographs from a decoupage book my husband's great grandmother gave us.  You could easily print photos from online.

~size differentiation, sorting~

 I SPY the Letter "Bb"

Circle all Uppercase and Lowercase Bb's.  

Super Tot LOVED this activity last week.  I printed the sheet onto 8 1/2 x 11 paper and placed it in a page protector.  I gave him a dry erase marker & eraser, and he did this over and over all week.  You can click on the photo and print it landscaped to use on your own, as well.  I will be doing this with every letter.

~Letter Recognition, Fine Motor, Pre-Writing~

Super Tot will also be doing the following 2 letter crafts.

B is for Beaver and b is for balloon. 

These are part of a letter book I put together for him, which you can read about and see all of our letter crafts here.

The Bible verses we will be working this week are:

"Be kind and compassionate to one another." ~Ephesians 4:32

"Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." ~Acts 16:31

Linking to:

1+1+1=1

Montessori Monday

Sun Scholars

No Time for Flashcards

Preschool Corner

Mom to 2 Posh Little Divas

Our Country Road

ABC & 123