Tot School-Week #1 – Lesson Plans

I love the concept of Tot School (found on 1+1+1=1) and have decided to do something similar with my son at home. Once a week, I will post our “Lesson Plans” (really an outline of actvities) that we are going to work on along with links. Hopefully some of it will help you as you work with your preschoolers/toddlers at home!! Some of the activities can also be modified for younger elementary students.

I’ve already ordered (and received) the trays to set up activities on, so that’s where I am starting with my Tot School. I will put out 6 activities this Wednesday as an experiment and see how it goes.

Here’s what we’ll be doing:

Tray One: playdough and cookie cutters

Tray Two: Transferring large craft pom poms into ice cube trays with tongs

Tray Three: Hide and Seek bowls with sand and hidden magnetic letters

Tray Four: Stickers and contruction paper

Tray Five: Apple prints with paint

Tray Six: A-Aliigator coloring page and crayons. Jakson already knows his letters, but I like these sheets for review and he loves to say “A, Alligator!!” so I thought it would be appropriate.

There you have it-pretty simple, but I want to see what works for him and what doesn’t. If you have any other ideas that you do with your toddler/preschooler, please leave them in the comments! I’d love to get more ideas!!

Next Plan Idea:

Playdough Learning Activities

I’m in deep denial about the fact that new year is almost upon us again! It’s been the fastest and the longest year at the same time, and I can look back and see some good things as well as some things I wish had gone differently.

Doing a year in review with your kids — whether in the classroom or at home — is a good way to capture some of their memories and the things they really liked about the year gone by.

There are a lot of different printable year in review worksheets you can use if you want to make this super easy. Here are links to a few (often part of larger posts about NYE celebrations with kids that are worth a read, too):

Teach Beside Me has lots of fun printables fro the end of the year, including a year in review that covers favorite memory, funniest memory and the best book they read, among other topics.
NurtureStore‘s version has space for a self-portrait and prompts like favorite toy, best day out this year and future dream job.
Remember favorites, their “best idea” of the year and have room for setting goals for next year with this one from The Keele Deal.
The year in review from Yes We Made This has room for drawing or writing and includes things like something they learned, a memory they made and a place they visited.

Of course you could pretty easily make your own year in review for the whole family to do that asks questions based on what you most want to remember. (Favorite video game? Best friend? Favorite family memory?)

And if after the year in review you’re ready to look ahead a bit, Mrs. Merry has new year’s resolution printables to inspired kids to look ahead and set goals for things they want to try. You can totally fill this one out as a grownup, too.

[Photo: Mrs. Merry]

Next Plan Idea:

Have you read?

Leave a Reply