Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers
Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers
Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Tot School

We had a great tot school week this week, lots of fun & educational play, plus we had about two feet of snow (rather normal for the western NY snow belt), so we got to play outside and learn how to make snowballs this week as well. And Z will tell you the story of how he lost his boot in the snow if you ask him (the poor thing had no socks on, so his bare foot was in the snow while his 39-week pregnant mom took her sweet time waddling over to rescue him).

Anyhow, to begin with this week, I promised I would share some of Z's (and my) favorite birthday presents!

The first one is LeapFrog's Fridge Phonics, I didn't get a great picture of the toy itself, but click on the link & you can see it up close & personal. Here is Z enjoying it - you put the letter in the sun & it sings the song I shared last week (to the tune of Farmer in the Dell) about the sound or sounds the letter makes. It also sings the alphabet song. Ad nauseum, if your child continues to push the button. :)

Here's Z, gleefully pushing the button. Hearing him sing along to the alphabet song is hilarious, his version always goes something like, "Z, K, T, L, B...next time, sing with me" :)

Another great toy that I was planning to buy for him, so I was thrilled when he received one, is a classic shape sorter. He loves 'playing shapes', and is getting pretty good at all of them, except pentagon & hexagon give him a run for his money. :)

Also, hearing him say 'pentagon' and 'hexagon' is pretty much totally adorable. :)

We made salt dough Christmas ornaments this week. I got the recipe for the dough here, and it was pretty easy to work with. I would definitely use it again. Here is Zachary cutting out some ornaments - he LOVES using cookie cutters, so he had a great time with this part. :)

I didn't get any pictures of them before or after they were baking, not sure why, but some of them turned out kind of puffy and weird. I may have rolled them too thick. Also, I completely forgot to punch holes in them, I mean, they ARE ornaments and all...so I ended up having to hot glue some ribbons on them for hangers, a little extra effort, but it worked out just fine.

Anyway, the next step was painting the ornaments. Z loves painting, but for some reason, he wasn't overly interested in it this day.

He was more interested in painting on his tray, so we did a few together (mostly me), and then gave up. :)

Here are the ornaments we painted:

And though Z was reluctant to paint them, he LOVED hanging them on the tree. He loves seeing the projects we've done hanging around the house, it really thrills him. :) He was pretty excited to show them to Daddy when he got home, too.


We made cake balls this week, together, which was a lot of fun. You can get to the recipe by clicking the link. Here's Z crumbling up the cake with me. :)

And here is the finished product:

We also made candy canes this week, courtesy of No Time for Flashcards. She started with painting a candy cane on brown paper, but I just started with a red paper candy cane.

I let Z use some glue...

and stick on some cotton balls for the stripes.

This project was absolutely perfect for his attention span and craft level. He often gets bored with longer crafts & I end up finishing them myself, so I was excited to find something that was just right for him. :)

So, we had lots of fun with tot school activities this week, but we were also able to take time to relax as a family (always important)! Z should be meeting his little sister some time in the next week (I HOPE!), so we will have some fun pictures to post of that soon!!!

For more Tot School ideas, head over to 1+1+1=1!

9 comments:

Tiffany said...

You do such a great job posting about tot school! I need to be better about posting our school stuff. I have almost 100 pictures that I have not posted! lol I will have to go through and pick a few out, I guess. Z is so sweet! Looks like he is loving your activities!
We bought Cadi and Scotty some leapfrog stuff for the fridge for Christmas, but I cnanot remember what it is! lol Scotty has the farm yard one now, and he loves it - so does big sis! Hope you get some rest and enjoy some special time with Z before sweet girly arrives!

Our Little Family said...

I love how the salt dough ornaments turned out! We made some with Model Magic but have yet to paint them. Yours are adorable!

Laura said...

I love the salt dough ornaments. We used to make salt dough when I was a kid and I have been wanting to do this with Smiley. I think I will give it a try over the next couple of weeks. I like the idea of using cookie cutters with it. That definitely makes it a 2-year old friendly craft :)

Susan-Chasing Marcus said...

Looks like you all had a great week! Sophie loves the Fridge Phonics, and I will admit the song gets a little old, she is learning her letters. Good luck this week and I hope Z gets to meet his sister!

melaniet42 said...

You had a very busy and exciting week! I like the classic shape sorters too; my toddler has a tough time with the heart and plus shape. I picked up that Leap Frog Fridge Phonics set (an earlier "model") at a consignment sale a couple months ago and Jillian plays with it on a cookie sheet we keep with her toys.

Rebecca said...

Haha, i love what you said about waddling voer to save him, lol! Cute :)

Deni said...

First of all, I am so excited you are excited about me updating my blog. Haha!

Second, would you move here, please and let me come over for crafts>?

The Little Miss said...

looks like so much fun!
I’m new here to your blog and wanted to “pop” in to say hi! : )
If you would like come check out my blog and enter my current giveaway at littlemissheirlooms.blogspot.com
I hope you decided to follow me because I try to bring my readers a new and AMAZING giveaway every Monday!
Xo
Priscila

Stefanie said...

What a good mommy, with all the baking and ornament making. I'm not that nice. LOL

The candy cane is adorable. I might try that. What a cute idea.