Toddler Beginnings 03

Toddler activities for 2015! We’re starting the year with blue colour (although for 2015 the colour is green?)!.  For our reading, we have two books this week that we kept on reading every day (when big brother is not home so as NOT to be distracted).  Vito is starting to have longer attention span on books so we can read multiple books in one sitting these days.  What’s funny though is that I end up singing the Brown Bear book instead of reading it.

We’ve got loads of this! We started with scribbling.  While on vacation, I observed that Vito is becoming fond of scribbling.  So I took our all different kinds of writing materials in our doodle drawer for him to explore. You can see below, we have the Crayola Pip Squeaks, Do-a-Dot (with supervision as this is NOT water washable), Crayola Egg Crayon and this writing magnet which we got as a freebie at Emirates (he loves this!).

Observing the little one on how to use some of these materials, he always started writing using his left. I am not sure yet if this is a sign of being left handed, but I still encourage him to use his right.  See the upper-left picture? He also uses both hands!  It’s amazing that at his age he seems to know how to properly grip the pen LOL. And of course, we still use the buttons… and he uses both hands alternatively.

                          

And we started using the barrels.  I planned this for stacking activity but he likes using it for open and close activity.   His first attempt was the red barrel which is the smallest one.    

Then he started to open the yellow which is a little bit bigger than the red.

When he got tired of opening and closing the barrels, I tried showing him how to stack the barrels and I caught him doing it as well :)  Nice try!  

For our artsy this week, we used his favourite toy as a medium for painting.

Creating car prints was fun! But he loved touching the paints using his finger much more.

Much of our our music adventures are not seen here, because we listen to music and doing lots of action songs as well.  Occasionally, we use random materials to create music.  Seen below is a cookie tin can lid (drum) and sharpies which we use as a drum set.

 It is winter as of the moment, and the weather is negative outdoors so for the meantime, we are stuck at home and doing sensorial activities instead using natural materials LOL.  He was eating this banana for breakfast, but when he had enough, he started playing with them.  He squashed them!  Oh those fingers are so strong!  This is such a wonderful activity for those little fingers eh?

                      

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Toddler Beginnings 02

We’re reading Christmas stories with these books (Mavi and Vito).  I didn’t have time to visit the local library so these books from last year’s purchases were of great help!

For this week, we did the transferring activities.  Objects used were fruits and ribbons.  I like it when he listens and observe properly whenever I demonstrate what to do.  After which Vito would successfully emulate my actions.  It’s funny how he would drop the fruits whenever he transfers them from one bowl to another.  My guess is that he thinks these were balls.  We have this ball which is as small as these fruits and he loves making that bounce. 

Finally! He realized that these objects were different and started to put them nice instead of dropping.

 

And of course, we worked  with these ribbons as well. He can transfer them easily, though at times his fingers would get stuck in between the twirls. 

 

The week before, we had red… now we have yellow!  Objects in the basket are: book, Duplo giraffe, yellow colour card, Playskool barrel, ring stacker, squeezable cube, yellow shirt and rattle.

I would just place this basket in the sitting room where he can see it all the time and explore it.  Oh by the way, I realised it would be BEST to put on a yellow shirt as well!! And he picks the book first.  And later on spilled his brother’s LEGOs, so I asked him to pick some up and put it in the box.  He obliged!  Early training for cleaning up LOL!                  

                           

No cutting and gluing here, simply finger painting.  I used two colours this time (Red and Yellow) to show the difference. 

This was supposedly a transfer activity of utensils but he ended up using them as drums and cymbals. So yes! Making music using plates and kitchen utensils, why not?

                       

Lots of out door activity this week because we were blessed with a good weather!  Time to practice those motor skills!

Beginning Homeschooling for Toddlers 01

Vito is 12.5months old.
This is Vito’s first adventure in Tot School.  This is my way of journalising his wonder years, capturing his “firsts” and discoveries in the same way that I have documented Mavi’s preschool  years.

These are the books we’re reading so far for the month of November. 

• Toddle Waddle
• Mr. Brown Can Moo Can You?
• That's not my panda...

We started our pincer grasp activities a few weeks ago and you can read about it here or by clicking the picture below. In the picture, Vito is inserting Galt Toys Inc. Fun Buttons through a slot that I've cut from an old plastic container.

As you can see, we’re using as much ‘red’ in our activities.  This is because were are exploring the colour RED as of the moment. I gathered toys like red LEGO Duplo blocks, shakers, red wooden stacking ring, blocks, pompoms and red bug counters and placed them in a basket.  The card you are seeing is a homemade colour card. 



Best way to explore the RED colour is by finger painting.  In this case, we used the Giotto Bebe finger-paint, the line of paints for kids that I truly adore.  They are 100% odourless, nontoxic, washable and has this creamy texture (not watery!).  If this brand is not available you can also get Crayola Washable Finger Paints from Amazon US.

Vito loves holding paintbrushes, so instead of giving him crayons to scribble I gave him paints for him to try with his paintbrush.   Vito loves the creamy texture and the vivid colour is so good in the eye!


I previously made these homemade shakers.  They’re plastic travel bottles, with beads and pastas in them. We shake them to produce sounds, and at times I would sing children’s songs with the shakers.
                        

The weather has been so glorious lately.  So I took a few leaves and brought them home so Vito can play with them.  He loves holding the petiole and waving the leaf  like a flag.

Here’s Vito exploring Mavi’s school grounds. He loves it there! 
Well, that’s it for now! Hope you enjoy the post.  Till the next one!

Linking to:
Montessori Monday
TGIF Linky Party
Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
Home + School = Afterschool!
The Natural Homeschool
Tot School 1Plus1Plus1Equals1