Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

I hope you are having a wonderful day!  The Easter Bunny visited our house last night, and left Little Guy a basket.
His basket had:

• a Viewfinder with pictures of animals (I remember having one of these as a kid!)
• a Play-Doh fun factory
• Pip-Squeaks markers
• a sidewalk chalk holder
• the book "Put Me in the Zoo"

He knew exactly how to use the viewfinder!

The Play-Doh fun factory was also a big hit!  New playdough is always fun, and this gave him so many ways to play!  We played for about half an hour before we had to get ready for church.

 Sidewalk chalk, markers, and the new book will be enjoyed later!

 The bunny also left him some eggs, but we haven't had a chance to find them yet.  Instead of candy, they are filled with bouncy balls, bubbles, little porcupine ball animals, and plastic frogs.

In the days leading up to Easter, Little Guy was able to participate in a couple of Easter Egg "Hunts."

He doesn't look as excited as he really was about those eggs!

He was so excited to see the Easter Bunny!

 He was so cute picking up eggs!  He would look at one, pick it up, then run to another one, running past 5 eggs on the way!  We was just excited to be getting eggs, he didn't care how many he got!

After collecting his eggs, he had to go back for a hug!

 Love my boys!

 I hope you enjoyed your day!

Tot School- B is for Bunny

It seems like there are busy times and quiet times in life.  I must be in a busy time right now, as it seems like I never have enough time to do everything that I want or need to do.  Ah well!  Today's post is a few days late, but I hope you enjoy the activities we did for B is for Bunny!  Little Guy is 33 months old.

The first tray was sorting bunnies by size from the Easter Pack at Gift of Curiosity.  Little Guy seemed to enjoy this one, and completed it several times.  He would even get silly, put a bunny under the wrong label, look at me and say "Does this one go here?" to try to get a reaction. 

I used several printables.  He seems to be enjoying them again, which I like:)  One is from this pin on Pinterest and the other two are from the Tot Easter Pack at 3 Dinosaurs.  He enjoyed using all the colors of the dot markers, even getting some blue on his cheek!

This next activity was the favorite.  I had bought these foam bunny shapes from the Dollar Spot at Target a few weeks ago.  We covered the bunny with glue, then he went to town adding cotton balls.  On the first bunny, I let him put the glue on it, but he was not using very much, so then I generously squeezed the glue to cover the bunnies.  Daddy suggested we add the googley eyes, which seemed to add to the cuteness factor!  Little Guy made 3 bunnies during the week.  (I limited him to one per day to extend the activity.)

 The lacing activity I did not snap a picture of.  Little Guy only did this once during the week.  I used one of the foam bunnies and punched holes all the way around it for one and the red bunny came from a lacing set we own.

 The last activity was scooping "bunny tails" (white pom-poms) from the muffin tin to the basket.  Little Guy had the choice of using an ice cream scoop or tweezers.  He did use the tweezers one day, but really preferred the ice cream scoop.  After he would scoop them all, he would put the pom-poms back in the muffin tin and pretend to bake cupcakes.  I  love seeing him use his imagination!

 What fun spring-y activities are you working on?

 We linked up to the Tot School Gathering Place at 1+1+1=1!

Tot School- A is for Animals

Spring is in the air, and we are loving the warmer weather!  Time outside is more frequent and this mama loves the sunshine!  Even though it was a nice week, we still found time to work inside on A is for Animals.  I should probably share that the letter A is one of the first letters Little Guy learned, as both Daddy and I wear a lot of UofA apparel!  Little Guy is 33 months old.

We had a fun week with just six activities.  Two of them were puzzles.  The first was a wooden puzzle that had several animals in the picture.  This was the first activity completed, and he did it every day, often two or three times in a row.  I had recently picked up this and a few more puzzles from a consignment sale, so I got a good deal on them.  The second puzzle was a a long alphabet train.  To do this puzzle, we would first sort the train cars by color, then Little Guy would either look on the box or I would tell him which animal came next and what color train car it was in.  This puzzle certainly took longer to complete, but it was a great way to go over all the letter.   Unfortunately, I forgot to take any pictures!

We also used a variety of printables.  We used some from 1+1+1=1, H is for Homeschooling, and Tot School. Little Guy seemed to enjoy them this week!

The next activity was counting and fine motor practice.  I had put the numbers 1, 2, and 3 in a muffin tin.  In the cup right beneath them, I put the corresponding number of mini animal erasers.  Little Guy had to use the tweezers to move the animals to the numbers and then back.  I would sit with him and count the erasers as he moved them.  We are also starting to work on basic number recognition.

He also built the letter A out of Duplos.  I gave him two pictures to copy, one from Wildflower Ramblings and the other from One Beautiful Home.  The main different is size.  The letters from Wildflower Ramblings come four letters to a sheet, while the letters from One Beautiful Home are one per sheet.  Little Guy chose to use the smaller card.  He also had to choose his own Duplos, finding the right sizes in his Duplo bin.  This was definitely an interactive activity, as Little Guy can't quite put the letters together on his own.

The last activity was spooning.  He had to use the spoon to get the beans from the bowl to the ice cube tray.  He started out by putting some in each little compartment, then when they all had some beans, he was done!  He didn't really want to work until all the beans were gone, but he did eventually.  I think there might have been some turn-taking in there!

Overall, it was a fun week.  Six activities seemed like a good amount, with enough variety but not so many that we don't have time to finish.  What tweaks have you made in your Tot School?

We linked up to the Tot School Gathering Place at 1+1+1=1!

Tot School- T is for Train

Last week was a great week in Tot School!  Little Guy recently received some new trains, so last week we did T is for Trains!  We had a great time with lots of train-themed activities, and actually completed all of them!  Little Guy is 33 months old.

We read some great books this week.  These were all books that we already had, but enjoyed reading them to start off our work time.  

The first activity was number matching from 1+1+1=1.  Little Guy had to match the number card with the card showing that many, as well as put that many trains with it.  I had put glue in the outline of the numbers, making them raised and, therefore, tactile.  This was a fun activity that he did several times.  He really liked feeling the numbers.  We have not worked on number recognition very much, so this was a good way to start simply.

 The next activity was gluing a train track in the shape of a T.  This idea came from the blog Counting Coconuts.  I glued down the long sides, so Little Guy just had to glue on the cross pieces.  After it had dried, he enjoyed pushing his train on the track!

 I included another puzzle this week, which was the first thing he went for, and the activity he completed the most.  It is from the transportation set from Melissa and Doug.

 The next activity was building a train out of pattern blocks, following a pattern.  Little Guy only did this once, and only did the small train.  The large train pattern was found here.

 The name train was next.  I think this is one of the cutest crafts we have done in a while.  It was inspired by this pin from Pinterest.  I had pre-cut all the pieces, so Little Guy just had to glue it all together.  I love how it came out!  We hung it on Little Guy's door!

 The last activity was printables.  I used several printables from Royal Baloo's Zoomin' Movin' Alphabet.  Little Guy cut apart trains to glue on a T and stamped T's on a train.

 And a bonus...we completed his rainbow name from last week.  He had only done one letter, and started slowly again this week.  However, after hanging his train on the outside of his door, he wanted to hang this on the inside of his door, so he completed the last three letters in one sitting!  Gotta love what a little inspiration will do!

 This was one of our best weeks in Tot School.  What have you found that helps make a great week?

We lined up to the Tot School Gathering Place at 1+1+1=1!