Tot School

Connor is 24 months old

As I missed last week’s Tot School post, this week combines things Connor did over the two week period. As Connor’s birthday was last week, I didn’t get much time to prepare specific activities for him. We didn’t even get around to baking or painting. However, I found that by just following our simple routine, we still managed to learn so much.

The weather has been quite hot here, so Connor has had water play as a daily activity. Connor washed his tea set, played in his sensory table which was filled with sand and shells, and on really hot days, he swam in his clam shell pool. On one of the days we had a short swim in our swimming pool. The water was still a bit cold but Connor loved it.

I guess because we spend so much time outside, and because it’s spring, Connor and I are having a wonderful time observing the nature around us. I’ve almost completed collating enough pictures to create a personalised nature book for Connor. This idea came from one of my readers a while back after I mentioned my disappointment that Connor wasn’t old enough to keep a nature journal.

We observed a grasshopper, ladybugs, bees, and even found a couple of bird nests in a tree in our backyard.

 

Playing in the sandpit and with play dough also continue to be daily activities for Connor. This week I wet the sand and we started to use our moulds to make fish, bears and small sand castles. When playing with the play dough, Connor made cookies using our red and yellow play dough (which is now orange), and small bears which we used to practise counting.

On our drawing day, I thought I would see how Connor would go using some rubbing plates. I have a set with flowers on it. As long as I was holding the page with the rubbing plate underneath it, Connor was able to scribble with his crayons to bring the designs out. I’m thinking of buying the Stockmar Beeswax Block Crayons to make this activity easier for him.

Lastly, Connor enjoyed playing with his birthday gifts. Below is a photo of him using his new magnetic doll dress ups kit which he received from his cousins.

   

My favourite photo this week isn’t actually of Connor. It’s Sarah on the day of his birthday at the wildlife park.

 

Connor’s 2nd Birthday

I have been meaning to post this several days ago but this week has been really busy. Anyway, Connor has turned 2. I think every mum is amazed at how fast time flies when one of their children reaches another birthday. I’m already missing those baby days, especially since Connor has started testing his boundaries as most two year olds do. Despite this, I am also amazed at how quickly he is learning new skills and am looking forward to all the wonderful things we will be doing together.

The week leading up to his birthday, I began to hide digger men for Connor to discover. Below are some photos of him finding his new buddies. He was quite puzzled when he found the first digger man, but by the end of the week, he was asking me whether anymore would appear!

  

Connor finding a digger when washing his tea set.

 

Connor finding a digger in the sand pit.

Diggers on Connor’s birthday cake.

On the day of his birthday, we celebrated by going to a local wildlife park. We got really close to several of our favourite animals. Connor enjoyed feeding the animals, and really liked touching the kookaburra and koala.

Then, we headed back home for a BBQ, some swimming and playtime outside.

I could not have asked for a better day.

Happy Birthday Connor! I love you.

Montessori Cards - Primary Colours

Control Chart

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Papa, Please Get Me the Moon

We absolutely love Eric Carle books. He is one of our favourite authors and we have read most of his books. However, one book which we haven’t had a chance to read until recently was Papa, Please Get Me the Moon. After reading the book about ten times over a period of  two days, I decided to base our weekly craft activity on the book.

The craft itself was very simple. We selected a scene from the story and decided to recreate it. As the book is set during the night, I chose blue cardstock for the background. Then Connor stuck on star stickers to create the night sky.

Following this, I scanned a selected page and cut out the moon and the father and daughter figures. Connor then proceeded to glue these on his scene.

The activity took just the right amount of time and Connor was very proud of the end product.

 

Tot School

Connor is 23 months old

We have had another really fun week. The week began with Connor’s cousins coming to visit us. Lots of time was spent outside doing things such as painting, drawing on the chalkboard, playing hide and seek, and even going on a bear hunt (We read the book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.)

For our Craft Day, Connor practised his gluing again. As this is a skill he is developing, I decided to create another craft activity that incorporated gluing. We read the book Papa, Please Get Me the Moon and then re-created a scene from the book. I will be posting the details of this craft in the next couple of days. Also, Connor has continued being fascinated with facial features. I have been drawing circles for him and he has been drawing in the eyes, nose and mouth.

This week, our sensory table has had dinosaurs, rocks, and sand in it. It didn’t take long for lots of water to be added to the sand, turning it into what looked like a swamp.

As it’s the school holidays, Connor has had more time to spend with his older sister. One of the activities they did together was tracing each others bodies with chalk and then filling in the details.

Lastly, we went to visit our local duck pond. We fed the ducks and then went to play at the local park.

This coming week is Connor’s last week as a one year old. I cannot believe that he is turning two and I am feeling a little sad that my baby is growing up so quickly.