Toddler Toys (Vito is 8 Months)

 

Sharing with you toys that Vito has been using for the past months for sensorial play and fine motor skills.

[1] Classic Pop Up Toy.  Mavi enjoys this toy as much as Vito.  For now I am teaching him how to push those faces to introduce cause and effect.

[2] Manhattan Skwish.  He loves to use this as a lollipop.  But eventually discovered that he can create sounds by shaking it.  I love this toy for he’s able to practice his grasp and how he can easily transfer the object from one hand to another. 

[3]  Jumbo Puzzle from Melissa and Doug.  Vito used this occasionally. He can already lift up puzzles using his left and right hands and would shake it in the air. 

[4] Homemade shakers/rattles.  These are old plastic toobs (travel kits).  I added mung beans, beads and pasta inside.  Another version of these shakers I saw on Pinterest are the sensory bottles.  Similar to these shakers but with water or any liquid inside.  I might try that one of these days.

[5]  Sensory balls.  Oh he loves these! He loves to roll them around, mouth them, emptying the basket (he doesn’t fill them yet) and make sounds by rattling them.  I have yet to find cheaper textured balls in Amazon.  I guess that would be a lovely addition to our sensory ball family :)

[6] Mini Piano.  We have this since he was 3 months old but he only showed interest on them now.

[7] Stacking Rings.  Ok so this one, he only gets to play with the rings.  I don’t give the entire toy. 

[8] Wooden Blocks. These are Mavi’s old toys.

[9] Kitchen utensils.  Surprisingly these are his favourites! He loves the whisk and look at his face below.  It’s his first time to encounter a brush.  He was so terrified when I brushed it his hands and feet :)

   

Oh and another thing that he loves the most are his big brother’s toys.  I didn’t include those on the list as they are not suitable for babies but I guess can be safe to play with with adult supervision.  Take for example this plastic crane.  I considered this one as safe for it doesn’t come with small parts and doesn’t have sharp edges.

    

I wonder what toys does your little ones have.

 

How to Teach Addition to Preschoolers Using Number Bonds

We’ve been practicing and learning addition using "Number Bonds" for the past days.  We are taking a break from our Golden Beads Addition and exploring another approach to spice up our math lessons.  It’s a surprise that after these activities, Mavi was able to memorize most of the "number combinations", the concept introduced through "Number Bonds", thus the ease of performing addition for him.  We’ve done a couple of math activities before and I was surprised that these activities accelerated his math skills.

Animals in the Freshwater Ecosystem

A few weeks ago, I would take the boys in the park for nature walks.  And we would always stop by in this huge pond were we get to see different animals and insects like swans, flies and ducks.  It’s a good thing that we previously had our Insect Unit as Mavi was always on the lookout for insects and was identifying them.

So I was thinking then that since we have the Marine Animals, why not talk about the animals in ponds, lakes, streams etc.  And that’s what we exactly did yesterday.  I made picture cards similar to our Marine Animals Cards and talked about each of the animals in the pictures and identified in which freshwater ecosystem they belong.

If you would like to have a copy, simply click on the image below to go to our subscriber page for the download link to the free printable.

Animal Exploration: A Study Guide

One of my objective this year is for Mavi to have a bigger understanding of the animal kingdom.  During his preschool and totschool days, I introduced animals via themed activities which he truly enjoyed.  But there was a point that he would asks more complicated questions and I just knew that I have to put “depth” into our lessons.

So let me share with you our outline of study which I considered as a guideline whenever we have a study about animals.  Now, this outline is for elementary level and I would not recommend this to preschoolers.  Familiarization is the first key for preschoolers to understand about the animals and the themed activities are best for this.

ANIMAL KINGDOM (Blog Post, Animal Kingdom Chart and Cards)

• VERTEBRATE SORTING (Blog Post, Vertebrate Sorting Cards)

 

• Study of Birds (Bird Unit I, Bird Unit II, Bird Activities, Bird Printable Pack)

 

• Study of Fish
• Study of Reptiles
• Study of Amphibians/Frogs
• Study of Mammals
• Animal Lifecycles (Blog Post, FREE Animal Lifecycle Cards )

 

• MOLLUSCS:  The Study of Snails  (Part One, Part Two, Snail Nomenclature Card and Definition Booklet)

• ARTHROPODS (FREE Arthropod Chart)
  • ARTHROPODS: The Study of Insects (Part One, Part Two)

• Butterfly Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet (FREE)
• Insect Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet
• Grasshopper Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet
• Ant Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet
• Caterpillar Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet
• ARTHROPODS: The Study of Crustaceans
  • Crab Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet
• ARTHROPODS: The Study of Arachnids
  • Spider Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet
• ARTHROPODS: The Study of Chilopods
  • Centipede Nomenclature Cards  and Definition Booklet

We also looked into the habitats of these animals:

ANIMALS AND THEIR HABITATS (Part One, Part Two, Animal Habitat Learning Materials )

 

For animals in freshwater and marine animals:

ANIMALS IN MARINE ECOSYSTEM (Blog Post, FREE Animals in Marine Ecosystem Cards )

ANIMALS IN FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEM (Materials Used, Blog Post)

There are fields that we haven’t touched yet, and I am hoping that we could explore them before the year ends.

Hope that you find this post helpful.

Linking to:

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Teach Beside Me
Preschool Corner
Teaching Mama
I Can Teach My Child
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