I Know the Muffin Man

I can't believe this month is coming to a close!  I feel like we didn't do much of what I had planned, but we did have fun.

We started out by reading Snow White in our Grimm's Fair Tale book and after reading I couldn't come up with a way to make Snow White not so dumb.  The seconds were ticking and all I could think about was how stupid Snow White was and how irritated I was that it took a prince to save her.  I remedied the situation by breaking out in song. 

Muffin tin matching

Play dough muffins anyone?

We acted out being the muffin man while singing the song. 

We finished our muffin man day by eating a muffin tin lunch.

Once Upon a Time - Little Pig, Little Pig

I love the Three Little Pigs because there are so many literacy extensions for the story.  We devoted a whole day to this story (I am sure we could have done a week) making art projects, pretending to be pigs, and learning -ig word family.

I started our day by telling them the story of the Three Little Pigs.  I didn't use any props and asked them to use their imaginations as I told the story.  They were captivated and their faces were full of emotion while I told the story.  It was fun to hear them reenact the story with each other later in the day using the same inflections.

We followed up the story by making our own pig noses and wolves.

I traced a wolf face onto a piece of paper for coloring and gluing on a paper bag.

All three children painted an egg carton pink to help be our own three little pigs.

For our -ig family Mister and Ladybug generated a list of -ig words and I wrote them on a word family house for our word family neighborhood.  

They each took turns (many turns) picking a word and we acted it out.

Driving a rig.

Dancing a jig.

We had two activities that I modified from here.

Little pig's -ig bricks.  

-ig family book.  On one side of the circle is the word and the matching picture is on the other side.  

Pouring - Two Ways

The Wee One loves and I mean loves to pour.  I often find her in the kitchen with all the glasses in circle pouring from one glass to another.  So, when I had a day full of Mister and Ladybug activities I wanted to set her up with something I knew she would love.  I started with something that would be easy for her to pick up if she spilled.

The pitchers are from IKEA and hearts are from last year's sensory bin.

The second time she did the activity she picked a third container for pouring.  This one was smaller, so she had to be careful not so spill.

After she has mastered the hearts, she still wanted to pour and pointed to the oatmeal in the sensory bin.

Happy pouring!

It's a Happy Birthday!

Two things are going at our house and both are typical.  First, the Wee One is obsessed with happy birthdays (i.e. cupcakes).  Second, she has decided she no longer eats vegetables.  Wait, what no vegetables?  I get loving cupcakes, I love cupcakes, but we eat a lot of vegetables.  In order to show her that vegetables are good, we had happy birthday with carrots and zucchini.  I found this recipe and I am so glad I did because they are fantastic! 

I realized that I haven't done much cooking with the Wee One and by this age Mister and Ladybug were well versed in baking.  Of course the Wee One has to fight for space on the Learning Tower, so she usually misses most of the cooking and baking.

Her initial reaction to the carrots and zucchini was tears, but she tasted the batter (it's a losing battle) and found it was pretty good!

While the happy birthdays were baking, we made hats for CoCo's birthday. 

When the happy birthdays were ready we had our party.  The Wee One sang Happy Birthday to Coco and blew out the candle.

The Wee One gave CoCo a bite, but gave me a firm head shake no when I asked.

We often overlook toddlers in the kitchen because it can be a lot of work to manage them and the cooking. The potential for a huge mess feels frightenting, but the kitchen is such a wonderful learning place for toddlers.

It's Raining Hearts

A new Goodwill opened by my house and it was stocked with new and gently used books.  They had a so many Valentine's Day books to chose from and when I paid the cashier asked me if my kids liked to do anything other than read.

I picked up The Day It Rained Hearts and all of us enjoy this simple story.  On the last page there are hearts hanging on trees and when I saw a heart tree I knew we could make the story come alive and they could be Cornelia Augusta.

The Wee One even put on a few hearts.


The tree should still be at Target's Dollar Spot and the hanging hearts were purchased last year.  It has been a fun literacy extension.



And For the Boys

We try not to stick to typical gender stereotype toys here.  Mister might be found in a tutu playing cars or Ladybug wearing Batman undies. BUT Mister is definitely gravitates toward cars, trucks, bugs, and rough and tumble play.   I wanted to give Mister his own Valentine's Day cards and my goal was to make it more boy.  When I asked my husband if they were boyish he laughed and said, "Nothing screams boy like pink and hearts....very boy." I stammered back, "But, but there are insects...see!" 

What can I say I like hearts and pink and here are Love Bug Valentine's.

Do you have a pocketful of kisses?

I have always loved A Pocketful of Kisses and when I was trying to think of Valentine's Day card for Ladybug to give out at preschool I came across a heart purse tutorial I knew I what I wanted to do - A Pocketful of Kisses Valentine! My mini purses are bigger so they can hold a few kisses.

The pocket closes with velcro so it's easy for little hands. 

Up next are Valentine's cards geared towards the boys.

Word Family Book

One of the things we keep on our shelves are books we have made.  One of the books if our "-ap  family" book.

Using $1 stamps from Michael's Mister and Ladybug stamped the word to match the picture.

Then they cut out along the lines.

After helping them punch holes they threaded yarn through the holes and I tied the ends together.

Now they have their own book.  Ladybug put her book on her dad's night stand so he could read it before bed.

Once Upon a Time - Part 1

Here's our work for the first part of the month.  It is mostly Valentine's Day theme right now, but will change as we move farther into the month.  Enjoy!

Math

This game idea came from My Montessori Journey.   Ladybug was over the moon with all the purple.

Practical Life

This is tray is on the Wee One's shelf because she loves transferring activities.  However, Mister and Ladybug have taken turns doing it too.  The hearts are from last year's sensory bin and I saw them in Target's $2.50 section this year.

Valentine's bracelets - Pink, purple, or red pipe cleaners would have looked better, but this is what I had on hand.



Flower arranging - This is one of my favorites because I love to see the concentration on their faces as they get it just so.


Sensorial





The yellow and green stamps are letters that spell "LOVE" and "XO"  This has been the Wee One's favorite activity.

Literacy - Story retelling with Goldie Locks and the Three Bears

Books I can read - I found all these books at the Goodwill.  I am not a huge fan of any of them, but it gives Mister and Ladybug confidence to be able to read something.



-ap, -at, and --an sight word review

Art

Color the heart and cut it out.  We used their hearts to decorated the windows for Valentine's Day.

"You put this out for me because you know I LOVE to sticker!"  Yes, Ladybug I put this out for you.



It Feels Like

The Wee One is really into shapes and she has mastered her Melissa & Doug Shape Puzzle.

To go with her shape puzzle I made her a sand paper shape book. 

I had her feel each shape and we would name them. 

As an extension to the shape book I put out her Melissa & Doug shapes to match to the book. 

February Sensory Bin - Nursery Rhymes and Fairy Tales

• Dry Oatmeal (Porridge)
• Humpty Dumpty - White cracked wooden egg
• There Was an Old Woman Who Lived In a Shoe - Rain boot and Playmobil kids
• Jack and Jill - Oatmeal hill, miniature pail, Playmobil girl and boy
• Three Little Pigs - Wooden house from train set, pig, wolf
• Mary Had a Little Lamb - Lamb from animals
• Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - Wooden stars
• Hey Diddle Diddle - Spoon, dish, cow, little dog, cat
• Goldilocks and the Three Bears - Three small plush bears

Mister and Ladybug would like me to add Three Blind Mice, so I need to either find an old clock or three mice.

Let's Build It

In my last post about our shelves I forgot to include marshmallow building.  This was the activity that the Wee One couldn't stop looking at and reaching for.

I am not sure why, but Ladybug really struggles with shapes.  Building the shapes really helped her understand and feel each shape.

Taste and Play

I have two activities that fall into this category and both went over well with the Wee One.

We have been short on snow this winter (my husband has been thrilled, but not so good for sledding), so I thought I should scoop some up before it's gone.  She scooped a little, chose a different spoon, scooped a little, and ate some.  Definitely look for clean snow for this!  Live in a place without snow...maybe a snow cone maker?

The Wee One felt left out (puppy dog eyes) when her siblings were making marshmallow shapes, so I gave her a marshmallow skewer activity.