Tot School: Letter B and Fall Fun

Sawyer -42 months
Jax-24 months

Tot Trays

I have put these shape patterns out several times before, but the boys were really into them this time. They probably spent half an hour covering the designs and making their own. It was a great way to review shapes with Jax.

I have been trying to work on writing with Sawyer, but he isn't really interested in it. He does like to write on his chalkboard, so I had the idea to write letters and designs on little pieces of paper. We took turns choosing a piece of paper and copying the design. He really liked this and he was practicing his writing!


I saw these fun file folders on Ramblings of a crazy woman. I made my own variations and put them on tot trays for the boys. They saw them before I put them out one day and were so excited. They were asking for me to please put the trays out.


On another tray I put these pumpkins and gourds. I just wanted them to explore them and describe what they saw and felt. I was pleasantly surprised with their imaginations. They both thought the one Sawyer is holding looked like a microphone and took turns singing into it. Jax said the orange bumpy gourd was a chicken leg. Sawyer thought the larger light colored pumpkin looked like a big marshmallow.


I got this pumpkin ice tray at the dollar tree. I wrote numbers inside the pumpkins and had the boys put these little pom poms in the spaces. I couldn't find my little tongs, so I let them use my tweezers. It was a little tricky for Jax, but he did his best.

Fall Art

I had these orange plates and black foam, so I cut out little shapes from the foam. I put everything out and let the boys make jack-o-lantern faces. Sawyer said these were daddy and mommy pumpkins.

One day I put out paint and fall cookie cutters for the boys to paint with. They had a blast!

Letter B Activities

Here is Sawyer stringing beads on a blue pipe cleaner.

The boys helped me find B objects for our B tray.

They painted a Bb blue.

We also did blue bubble painting. I just mixed dish soap, water, and blue food coloring.

Fall Fun

Daddy took the boys to the store to pick out pumpkins. We would have gone to the pumpkin patch, but it rained non-stop for 2 weeks here and would have been very muddy. We are hoping to have a chance to take them next week.

They helped daddy clean out the seeds and the goop. Then while daddy was carving the big pumpkin the boys and I sponge painted a smaller pumpkin.

Sawyer wanted to name the pumpkin Fritz. They were proud of their pumpkin and their Daddy.

Check out what some other fun tots did this week.

Open Ended Art: Blue B's and Fall Colors

We are learning about the letter B this week. At first I thought we would make some cute little bees. Then I remembered how the boys have been resisting my art projects lately. I asked them if they wanted to paint on the easel and they both answered with a resounding "Yes!" I wrote the letter Bb and then let them take turns painting with blue paint.

Jax had so much fun in fact that he decided to paint a few other things like the wall and a few toys. I discovered him before it got out of hand, so it wasn't too bad.

Since they were really enjoying themselves I decided to go with it and let them paint a little more. I laid out red and yellow paint, paper, and pumpkin and leaves cookie cutters.

They painted until their little hearts were content.

Tot School

Learning Toys and Tools
Sawyer sorted his pegs by color. The boys like stacking these, making "trains" and sorting them.

Jax got these new Melissa and Doug stacking construction vehicles for his birthday. I think they are so cute and the boys love them.

They also liked playing with these Melissa and Doug magnetic puzzles. I played a game with Sawyer where I asked him to give me the truck with a certain number on it. Then he put them in order from 1-10.

Jax is especially fond of the fish puzzle. I used this to work on his colors.

Another new toy the boys enjoy are these Melissa and Doug lacing animals. Can you tell we like Melissa and Doug toys at our house?

I made the boys this bottle top name activity. I found the idea on Carissa's blog. I also made one for every kid in my class with their pictures on it. I just realized I forgot to put my own kids' pictures on these. I will do that soon.

I also saw this book on Carissa's blog and we love, love, love, it. I am so glad we got it. It is called How to Build an A. It is perfect for Sawyer.

Art and Letter Activities
I wanted the boys to make fall trees one day, but they were just not in the mood. They humored me for a minute, but all they wanted to do it paint with their hand. I have to admit it kind of frustrated me, but then I remembered that it is the process, not the product that is important. I really did pay attention in all those child development classes in college.

I hung up Sawyer's fall tree, even though it looks more like a fall colored blob.

Jax was also much more interested in just making hand prints.

I think we will just do open ended art for a while. They love to just free paint and color and it is so important. Maybe I just needed to be reminded of that. It isn't important that we have cute pictures for my blog. The important thing is that the boys are learning and having fun. Look how much fun Jax had with the markers and his easel.

We painted the letter C with cars. The boys loved this. I have done this activity several times with different age groups and every kid loves it. It is so simple, but there is just something about it that kids adore.

When the Cs were painted they didn't want to stop, so I put out more paper for them to paint on. We used various trains, trucks, etc and looked at the different tracks they made.

When they were done they washed their cars in the "car wash."

One day we made Chocolate Chip Cookies to review the letter Cc. I wanted to form them into Cs, but the dough was too soft and we were too hungry to wait for it to harden.


One day we made squishy bags with shaving cream and red and yellow paint. We talked about how red and yellow make orange.

Jax really liked squishing his bag. Then I let them finger paint with a little bit of it. They weren't really into this, so it didn't last too long.

Theme: 5 Senses
We did this theme a couple of months ago, but we are talking about the 5 senses in my class, so I thought we would review it at home.

I found the template here thanks to the ten kids and a dog blog. Sawyer did a pretty good job with this.

We talked specifically about taste and sound this week. I put various items like cinnamon, lemons, and honey into little containers. I blindfolded them and let the boys smell and guess what they were smelling. They had so much fun with this.

Just having fun
Last weekend we went to a birthday party where the boys were able to decorate pumpkins. Jax decorated his to look like a cat.

We also went to the fair. They loved riding these little cars.

Check out 1+1+1=1 to see what everyone else did in tot school this week.

Mommy needs a break!

My little two year old is into everything these days. He loves to dump out every toy in the playroom or climb in the fire place. He is a joy, but he does wear me out at times. He is also not sleeping as well as he used to. He does sleep all night, but he is up before the sun every morning and his naps aren't as long as they used to be. All of this is the making of a cranky boy and a tired mommy by dinner time. The last few days I have been pulling out the high chair and giving him things to keep him busy. This has really helped a lot. He likes being with me in the kitchen and I like not having to clean up huge messes.

One day I gave him this spice container and tooth picks. I have also used dry spaghetti noodles and various containers.

Yesterday I gave him some cooked spaghetti and told him to help me make dinner. I just gave him an old formula container and a little bowl. He had fun moving the noodles back and forth. When he got hungry he ate a little spaghetti.

When he was tired of that I gave him a bowl of water and sponges. Other ideas I have used are spooning beans or rice back and forth, stringing beads onto pipe cleaners, or playing with pots,pans, and muffin tins. He also likes to draw with markers. If anyone has any other ideas of how to keep a busy toddler still for 15 minutes please let me know. TV doesn't really work for him. He has a few videos he likes, but they don't keep his attention for long. I am just glad we didn't get rid of our high chair. It is really the only thing that keeps him contained since he learned how to get out of bed. As long as I keep him busy he doesn't mind it.

Raising Rock Stars: Creation

I am really excited about the new program Carissa at 1+1+1=1 recently started called Raising Rock Stars. Basically it is just being intentional about laying a firm foundation of the Bible so that our children will "shine like stars". I decided to join in and share some of my ideas as well as learn from others. I am not only raising 2 rock stars of my own, but I am currently teaching 7 little 3 year old rock stars twice a week at our church. I just recently finished a unit on creation at home and in Mothers Day Out.
Our Bible Verse for the past two weeks has been "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Gen1:1 Every morning at breakfast we read a part of the Bible, recited our verse, and sang a song. Then we did various activities throughout the day to reinforce our learning. On the first day we made these coffee filter earths. I am not sure where I found the idea, but basically we just colored coffee filters with green and blue markers and then sprayed them with water. The preschoolers absolutely loved spraying the water and it is great for their hand muscles.

Day 1: God separated the dark from the light. At home I had my boys separate these black and white pom poms. At school we separated cocoa puffs and kix and then had a yummy snack. During circle time I had different objects and pictures that were associated with day and night. We divided the objects into two groups.

Day 2: God made the sky and the water. We made these cotton ball clouds. We also went outside and talked about the different shapes we saw in the clouds. I also let the kids pour water in the home living center, which they loved.

Day 3: God made the land and the sea and all plants.
We went outside and planted grass in styrofoam cups. I had the kids decorate the cups with stickers and markers first. We also made hand print apple trees. I hung up this foam tree that I found at Michaels. My students love putting the leaves on the tree. I plan to add apples and colored leaves soon.

Day 4: God made the sun, moon, and stars. We made paper plate suns. I traced their hands on yellow and orange paper and glued them to the paper plates they had painted yellow. I don't have a picture, but they came out really cute. We also made moons and stars out of floam. I also made a color matching game with stars and clothes pins. This was a big hit! We were talking about the letter S this week, so we glued stars onto S's.

Day 5: God made the Sea Creatures and Birds
We made these rainbow fish and played with sea creatures in our water table.

They also practiced sorting colors with these fish bowls I made.

Since we were taking about the letter d and a duck is a bird I decided to make these cute D ducks from No Time for Flashcards.

Day 6: God made the animals. (God also made man on this day, but I am doing another unit on God made me that started this week). We made animal tracks with our little animals.

I really enjoyed doing these activities at home and with my students. It is nice to be able to plan once and use the ideas twice!