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Our Tot School: Summer Fun!

Aug. 18, 2008 • 8:06 AM

We've missed posting our Tot School for a few weeks.  My computer took a vacation (to the maufacturer's for a fixing under warranty). We have also been really busy. Tot School learning has continued, I just haven't had the time to take as many photos or to post them without my computer.

Here is this week plus a little catch-up:

As I said before, we are finishing off our basement ourselves. It's been a lot of work,  fun , and family working together. Here is a little peek: (We are on the floor and ceiling now.)

Last week, we went to the free summer movie: Veggie Tales, The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. It was a fun adventure as we usually watch our movies at home! The movie was really good! (Sorry the photo is blurry. I couldn't get it better in the dark movie theater and didn't want those around me getting upset with my constant camera noises)

We also had another new adventure! It was "Peanut"s first dentist visit.  Our dentist does something called kid's day where he only sees kids and has a theme with FUN and prizes. Guess what the theme was!

Yes ... PIRATES. He got to dress up, get a free bag of loot and a free (shaved) italian ice. He entered a drawing and won a Fisher Price little pirate boat. What an awesome adventure. The dentist visit was a huge success. He sat and did exactly as they told him and didn't seem scared at all!

On a day last week, we spent time outside. They played with an inflatable hoover disk (a great $1.00 Store toy. Even though it doesn't last long, it provides a good bit of fun while it lasts!)

Then they did a little swinging...

...and had a picnic!...

They especially liked the sandwiches cut in cookie cutter shapes!

Another day, we did some "Paint with Water" books. A great way to let them paint with little mess!

There was some of this...

... and a little of this...

This picture was taken at our church's annual Corn Roast. It is a wonderful outdoor picnic where the gospel message is preached (by a campfire) after an evening of great fun- all outdoors!

So... that was...

Click here to see the other Tot School participants!

Tot School: Bubbles, golf, Hardware store!

Jul. 21, 2008 • 8:22 PM

This past week we had Vacation Bible School (VBS) at our church. I am the craft leader along with one other leader. So... I was quite busy. We do not use pre-bought kit crafts. We come up with our own things and try to make them good take-home useable items! We open it for Free to ages 3 to 14. "Peanut" was part of VBS. "Precious" was my little shadow helper!  Each night they did a craft and played outside. Peanut also learn a verse each night and listened to the lessons on Jonah's Journey with his age group (and group leaders).

Besdies VBS, we did a few things for Tot School...

We had some outside fun one day with Bubbles!

"Precious" caught one on her arm!

Then we played a round of golf:

"Precious" took a turn too. No one won.. except the heat. We stopped and headed inside. It was just TOO HOT outside. I think they will really enjoy this activitiy though another day when it is less humid.

Another Day, "Precious" joined in the Fun while I was painting my oldest daughter's nails. She got her toenails painted too. She was so cute!

I guess this activity wasn't TOO educational but we did review the color PINK! Also it is a good life skill for a young lady!

It was a fun mother/daughters time!

She likes her pink toenails. She was so cute showing the ladies at VBS!

Another day, we had to go to a hardware store with daddy. We found ourselves waiting while daddy was looking for and finding exactly what he needed in one part of the store.

While we were waiting we saw this display:

Since we are potty training, this was pretty appropriate and we COUNTED the potties!

One, Two, Three Potty- Four Five Six Potty! - My counting Cutie!

Then we moved onto COLORS:

We gathered the Free sample paint cards in all the rainbow colors plus pink, brown, gray, white, and black. We reviewed them until dad was ready. I hope to use them to make a simple colors book for them! What a great FREE colors lesson. They had FUN when usually these trips are pretty boring and/or exhausting! Peanut even got to ride with a COOL tube in the back of the cart.

Then on the way home we watched one of these movies I got at the Dollar Store. They are great for each a buck!

We watched the Counting one!

 Great day of Tot School while Out & About!

That was our week for the most part.

If you wish to see the other Tot School participants, click Here!

Tot School

Jul. 15, 2008 • 10:48 PM

This week has been hard for me to get my Tot School post done. We have VBS this week and I am the craft leader along with one other lady. We don't do kit crafts. We come up with and buy everything for each of our crafts. We try to make really great take-home gifts that are also inexpensive (buying things on clearance.) Having something every evening has kept me from getting a lot done yet it has been wonderful seeing so many kids learning about the Lord and having a great time, too! (I'll try to post some of our crafts later on!)

So here is last week's tot school...

We tried a clothespin relay. They liked it but it was harder for the youngest to work the clothespin.

I just put a variety of small toys in one tub and had them transfer them to an empty tub at the other side of the room!

Since the clothespin was too hard for "Precious" to work, I switched them to plastic kitchen scoops. They both then had a lot of fun!

They did this for quite awhile especially my little girl. They kept going back and forth from tub to tub. Simple but fun!

Then they played this game...

It is a fishing (magnetic game)

Another day, "Precious" enjoyed watering (misting, really) my outdoor flowers pots while I grilled supper.  I use the spray bottle of water at the grill just in case the flames get high. She loved using it over at the flowers.

We had a game of Cranium's Balloon Lagoon!

Then I DID get our sand box set up...

 ...and they had a great time playing in it.

We also picked lots of raspberries! (Anyone have a good raspberry recipe? I'd love it!)

If you want to see what other participant's did in their Tot School, click here!

Tot School

Jul. 6, 2008 • 10:08 PM

We are in the process of finishing our basement to be a game/movie room. It will be great for the family but also to host youth group events. We have really been spending a lot of time trying to get it done so... Tot School was limited this past week.

"Precious" enjoyed coloring one morning. She initiated this herself so I got things out for her. She held up different colored pencils and called out a color. She usually was NOT right but she was trying and when she did name a color right, we cheered for her. We corrected her the other times and she would repeat it. It was purely spontaneous on her part and was great for working on colors!

Another day, she had a lot of fun with an assortment of blocks. Most of these are foam blocks. I keep them in a basket and they can get them out when they want to. She enjoyed this for quite awhile!

We had a summer picnic for our Homeschool group (co-op). The family that hosted it has a gorgeous outdoor environment. Isn't it beautiful?

 In the top part of their yard, they had a samdbox under a playground set. My little ones loved this.

 I recently bought play sand and hope to get our turtle sandbox set back up for them. Since we moved, I didn't get sand in it yet but they had such a wonderful time, I hope to surprise them this week with their own sandbox (again).

Also this past week, "Peanut" got to go to his first (minor league) baseball game. He went with his older sisters and daddy. ("Pilgrim" went with daddy earlier in the season). I am hoping that our whole family goes next to a game! They had a BALL! They got cotton candy and he even came home singing "Take me out to the ballgame!" He was so VERY excited about this outing!

I think we will have more Tot School activities this coming week but sometimes it is nice to have a little break... It doesn't mean they didn't learn things this week. Life is just a HUGE learning experience even when we are adults. We learn so much everyday! I wonder what each of us will learn today?!

Have a great day!

Check out the other Tot School participants Here!

Tot School: Outside Fun, reading, and Tot Books!

Jun. 30, 2008 • 2:30 PM

We had a VERY busy week outside of school. We are refinishing our basement to be a movie/family room so much work has been done with that. We also had a big 12th birthday party for my oldest! (I hope to post about it soon. It was a black and white party! Can you guess why? You'll have to check back for my next posts to see!)

We still managed to get some things done for Tot School....

While working in the basement, the kids took turns on this sit-and-spin. (Remember those?). They got tired of taking turns and tried it this way:

We also pulled out this great thing (that was given to me) and tried counting:

Another day became a bit musical:

Do you see the blue tape in the center? We had to put that there to give them each a side (for no fighting!). It worked! That was my older daughters' clever idea!

We had outside fun!: Here they are coloring while outside!

My son also made a lasso and a gun out of a rope and stick piece he found! Quite imaginative I thought!

We had some good reading times where my older girls read to "Precious". She really enjoys these times- and what special memories.

Also this past week, I made my little ones each a Tot Book, Carisa's Creations that she posted to share with everyone! (Thanks, Carisa!)

I made the Cars Tot Book for my son and the Nemo Tot Book for my daughter, using her printables. I presented them to my Toddlers before bed one evening. They loved them and looked through them and practiced the skills until bedtime.

My son's Cars lapbook

Carisa's Cars printables are Here! and the cover's Cars coloring picture can be found Here!

My daughter's Nemo Tot Book: 

The paper clip closure at the top was something I had from a past order with Oriental Trading. I am not sure that they still sell these.

The cover picture came from here. (I edited it to say "Learning with Nemo!")

Carisa's Nemo printables are here!

They really enjoyed these and both worked on their own books together. These are so great to work on preschool skills with your preschoolers. They make learning fun and special. You can do these with any theme - whatever your child is currently interested in.

Here is my son working with his Cars number cards! (I laminated them for durability):

Check out the other participants of the Tot School meme! Also if you are interested in making a Tot Book, check out these!

 Have a great week!

Tot School: Sick

Jun. 23, 2008 • 9:43 AM

This week, we had a lot of:

Running noses

high temperatures

Coughing to throwing up

and ...much rest! (when possible with the busy-ness of our home)

You see.. my tots weren't feeling well.

Thankfully they are on the mend. The noses are still running but they are now back to normal temperatures, playing and eating and being happy!

We did a few things from time to time this week: puzzles, games, movies, and lots of outside play. Here are just a few photos I snapped this week of some of their FUN!

They had a lot of fun with-- the best free toys around--- Boxes!

Stickers came out but didn't end up on any paper!  

There's nothing like smiling faces!!!

And here is a favorite toy. All my kids loved this toy. There is also one in our church nursery. It is a great toy with buttons,levers, and jack-in-the-box style pop-up farm animals.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

CHECK OUT THE OTHER tOt sChOol particiapants at Carisa's blog!

Tot School: Summertime

Jun. 16, 2008 • 9:36 AM

This week of summertime Tot School had a little less of planned activities but there was still a lot of creative play on their own- indoors and out.

Here are a few acitvities I did get photos of...

This past week the older children had swimming lessons with their cousins. They were there everyday for an hour so the little ones and I visitied with their aunt and older cousin while the others swam.

One day I brought play dough for them to play with. I like the boards they are using and keep them for the times we take playdough along with us. They are white boards for dry erase markers but work so well for "traveling" play dough.

 That evening we thought we'd surprise the kids and take them to a local carnival. We met daddy after work and the kids were quite surprised.

We got supper with them (and a few ballons) and then a thunderstorm rolled in so we headed back home. (No riding rides in a thunderstorm!)

So... instead we picked up some ice cream on the way home and made (fresh) strawberry milkshakes and played games! It was a fun night for the family!

We found a new puzzle to pull out and she enjoyed that a lot this week! It is a floor puzzle made of foam and has many different lay-out possibilities.

At the end of the week we get to watch their progress with the swim lessons so we did that. Here they are watching their siblings and cousins...and friends.

They also made homemade Father's day cards for their daddy! The little ones did this as well! Here is the whole crew with daddy (displaying one of his gifts)

Have a great week!

Check out the other Tot School participants!

Tot School: Preschool Activities

Jun. 9, 2008 • 10:19 AM

Here is our Tot School from this past week!

This week, my oldest son read them a story. This wasn't planned. I just caught them this way!

(Notice the backpack, Gram!)

There was also some computer time using preschool themed learning games:

We had fun with musical instruments:

They enjoyed this so much, they played with these on two different days. (This is certainly a toy I keep away - up high. It is a bit noisy for everyday use!  )

We had a lot of time outside enjoying this wonderful weather! Here "Precious" is playing with the ribbon wand. These are a lot of fun. The kids put on pretty shows of color!

We also had an outside picnic. They had fun riding the kid-sized tractors!

...and they really loved getting drenched with LARGE water guns.

Don't get Mom wet!  (They tried!- Thankfully I had the camera!)

We also saw this baby bird this week:

Here is my favorite picture from this past week:

Have a great week Tot Schooling! Remember they learn so much everyday whether you plan activities or just let them be creative!

Love them and Love your times together!!

Check out the other Tot School participants at Carisa's blog!

Tot School: aquarium, water table, more!

Jun. 2, 2008 • 7:28 AM

This week Tot School started out with lacing cards (actually they are more like puzzle pieces made for lacing.) and also wooden letter blocks:

Here's what they did together with the blocks (Sissy helped them):

Also this past week, we went to the aquarium. It was a wonderful day! It kicks off our unit on ocean creatures! All the kids loved it!

They even got to look at shells (hands-on) while a lady spoke to them about some ocean creatures with shell homes.

You can see more of our aqurium photos in a slideshow here!

We had some very nice weather this past week so we had many days where we could play outside!

Here they are getting a ride from their big sister!

Then I set up an outdoor watertable for them to enjoy! I've seen these before but didn't want to spend $35- $50 on one especially since I don't think we'd get that much use out of it before they grow out of it. I saw the toy at a great store that can be used for sand or water. (It was under $5.00!). Then I used a table and tray from the basement (another score as we are trying to clean out our basement!)

This was a hit! They enjoyed it very much!

Then, after an outdoor lunch, they spontaneously decided they wanted to color on the empty Capri Sun box. I think my daughter, "Princess" started this because they wanted a pirate treaure box for what they were playing. We tore the box in half so they'd each have a side and they had fun doing this for a little while, letting us clean up the yard before heading back inside!

One morning at the end of the week, I found my girls like this:

I love that even though they are 8-10 years apart they all can play happily together!

Hope you had a great week and are having a great start to this week!

If you wish to see other Tot School participants, check out Carisa's Blog, 1+1+1=1

Tot School: puzzles, hug, fishing, beads

May. 26, 2008 • 3:53 PM

We had a lot of fun this week with our Tot School!

The beginning of the week had some Lincoln log building on the car mats.

Another day, they enjoyed playing with the new 99cents puzzles I got them. They were pretty goofy but we had a fun time. Can you tell?...

Later that day, all  the children went outside to play! The little ones had fun doing this...

...and this is one of my favorite photos this week!...

This week we also had our homeschool group's co-op day! The L.A.M.B.S (Learning And Memorizing Bible Stories) class I teach includes both of my own toddlers! I started class putting clear things on the table and ask how all those things are alike. (They are clear- can see through them) Then we played memory with those things. I then had them look closely at one child. That child left the room and I ask them... was the child a boy or girl? What color was his/her shirt, shorts, etc.? How many hairs are on his head?

Then I showed them some X-rays and how it lets us see through the skin to the bones. And, I showed them a photo of an X-ray fish. We then did these sheets (both from Danielle's Place.com)

The verse is "O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me." I told them how the Lord can see through everything and knows everything- even the hairs on everyone's heads. He has no limitations. He can even see everything in the blackest of night!

The fish coloring picture was neat. It was two layers. The bottom page had the bones. The kids colored the page and we then rubbed oil over the fish (top page) and the bones showed up! They loved it!

Then at the end of this week...

We got to go fishing with our church group. It was a lot of fun. The older children did most of the fishing with daddy and with friends. "Peanut" did get to give it a try though, too! His older brother helps him at first ...then he tries flying solo!

"Peanut" also got to go out in a row boat with daddy, some siblings and a friend! He really liked that! ("Peanut" is in the middle.)

It was a great day!

Then I found this fishing Alphabet coloring book while looking for things for our upcoming ocean themed lapbook! He will enjoy this next week!

There was also a beading activity for "Precious" who wanted to do this too when her older sister was making a necklace with a new Shrinky Dink pendant she made at our homeschool co-op day!

"Precious" beaded large beads onto a pipe cleaner!

We had a wonderful week of Tot School but even more so we had a wonderful week together as a family! I am so thankful for that!

My prayers are with the Steven Curtis-Chapman family who didn't have this privelege this week! What deep sorrow they must feel! We've been praying for them and others that I recently heard have lost loved ones unexpectantly!

Don't forget to check out the other Tot School participants!

Tot School: sorting, story and clay porcupine

May. 19, 2008 • 11:35 AM

Here is our past week in Tot School:

One day the little ones spent quite a long time racing each other with this Fisher Price toy! They had fun with it. Not too educational, I guess,

but they worked together and did learn that sometimes you win and sometimes you don't!

My son worked on some things for his flower lapbook! His younger sister has to do everything he does lately so she needed something to color and do at the table as well!

Then they spent a long time sorting: They started by sorting pom poms then moved on to sorting small Lego pieces. It was FUN!

Another day my son worked on his cover to his flower lapbook! Here he is putting foam flower stickers onto a cool patterned file folder!

Later in the week: We read this CUTE story! My daughter "Princess" read the story to them as one of her kindness acts!

The book is called A Porcupine Named Fluffy!" (by: Helen Lester) It is a fun story with really cute illustrations! We talked a little about why it is funny that a porcupine would be named Fluffy.

Then we got out these supplies and made our own cute little porcupines!

You could make these too- they are easy and fun even though they are "pokey" as my kids called it. I told them that is how porcupines are! You could probably find a story at your local library that has a porcupine in it. I want to start doing activities more often that are extensions of a story, etc. so that is why we did these! My little ones really liked them.

After they played with the play-dough a little while, I had them make a large ball. I shaped it so that it had a nose. They pressed in the eyes and then got to place all the toothpicks!

These little critters are currently keeping me company while I wash dishes etc. as they are hardening at my kitchen sink window sill. I think they are very cute!

Have a fun week of homeschooling and or Tot Schooling! If you wish to see the other Tot School participant's activities this past week, check out Carisa's meme for Tot School.

Tot School

May. 11, 2008 • 8:35 PM

Here is what we did in our Tot School this week:

Tot School started out with a full day outside. The whole family worked outside all day (for the most part) after some main school subjects were completed. It was a great day! We even ate outside by a fire!

Before heading outside, "Precious" played with the counting rack (and a little peek-a-boo).

Here are my favorite shots from our day outdoors!

Trampoline Fun:

The balls are soft and from a ballpit. It makes jumping more fun. We also collected balls of a certain color that I called out. "Precious" just gathered two like colors and I told her the color they were! She currently likes yellow!

We even had a basic lesson about static electricity- can you see why?

They also visited the swings....

...plus a ride with big sister!

Then a quick wave to our shadow! (look how many lessons can be taught easily outside: colors, static, shadows,etc.)

Don't forget to stop and smell the flowers!!!

(By-the-way: She is smelling "bleeding hearts"- one of my favorite flowers. I love how they really are the shape of a pink heart with a drop coming out. Plus she has hearts on her shirt! She pulled the whole bunch off the plant in her grasp- but it will grow back thankfully)

"Peanut" did some things for his flower lapbook. Here he colored the flowers with colored pencils then finger painted the border.

The next day we did something new: Pom Pom Alphabet pages. The kids thought it was fun however they are just starting to learn the letter shapes. "Precious" watched "Peanut" and then joined in the fun!

It didn't take long and the schoolroom looked like this:

Then we also had homeschool softball. My hubby was along the one day so I took my 2 little ones and a friend's daughter for a walk around the park. I pushed "Precious" in a stroller and my son and his friend (from our church) walked along with me. It was so nice. The kids were so sweet and were looking at everything!

We even found some flowers from a dogwood tree and I was able to show them how it represented Jesus' death on the cross for us! (another great flower idea for our lapbook, too! I wish I had some kind of printable. Maybe I will do a search!)

One of our favorite books this week (in honor of being Mother's Day) was...

What Moms can't do! by Douglas Wood.

It was cute and made us giggle!

...And here is how books get read in our house sometimes.

"Precious" is such a copy-cat. She has to hold a book too. My "Princess" is reading the top book to her!

Again..."peek-a-boo,Mom!"

Have a great week with your family!

If you want to visit the other Tot School participants' posts

visit Carisa's blog 1+1+1=1! Link-up if you do Tot School activites!

Tot School; Softball, dot stamper art, baby einstein

May. 5, 2008 • 7:16 AM

Here is what we did in Tot School this past week!

My hubby had a lot more time off work this week!  However, that made our schedule different. We had one day of shopping... Ugh! but we got a lot of things we needed so it was successful! Plus we spent a lot of time organizing our garage/shed. Things just got stuck there over the past year since we moved in and it needed to get organized. This meant a lot of time out side for the kids but I was too busy and didn't get many photos!

Here is what I did get in photos!

We started SOFTBALL this month. It is twice a month but only this month. The older kids play while the moms and younger siblings socialize! This first time my younger ones were "into" the softball and wanted to try too. "Peanut" (my son) actually batted 3 different times with my hubby's help! This softball is with our local homeschool association and it is so great as it is no-pressure. Everyone gets a chance to hit and the adults try to teach them as they go!

We also started working a little on my son's Flower lapbook.

We did some FUN dot painting using BINGO stampers. You can also buy specific paint dabbers for activities like this. If you don't have the stampers, etc. you could let your child add stickers in the circles!

The above flower picture we then cut around, leaving a slight white border. We will use this as part of his flower lapbook!

Here is a great link for many of these printable Fill in the dot pictures. They have pictures for Spring, Summer, Winter and Fall plus Holiday themes and animals!

Here is another great link for pages where the pictures are made with dots and the child can just trace around it like drawing. Tracer pages We did some of these as well!

Then we enjoyed a wonderful book this week called: baby einstein The ABCs of Art. I really like this book! What a wonderful way to introduce art world to our young ones!

 There is a famous piece of art for each letter in the alphabet. A is an angel. There are just a few lines of script starting with A is for... Angel. Then they ask questions like "What is the angel holding." Each piece of artwork has two questions to get your child to really look at the picture! I highly recommend this great book!

Check out what the other participants did in their TOT Schools over at Carisa's TOT SCHOOL meme! Join in if you have preschoolers! We'd love to see the activities you do!

Tot School

Apr. 28, 2008 • 7:16 PM

Carisa hosts a great meme from her blog 1+1+1=1 called Tot School. We post some of the activities we have done with our younger children throughout the past week and then link up on her post. All of us participating can then easily visit each other for some new ideas or encouragement!

Here is some of what we did this past week:

This week we worked a lot on our rainbow labook. Our completed lapbook will be posted here on my blog soon. Most of the pictures from that I will be posting then. (so.. check back if you want to see it!  )

One day my son played cars and I had him sort all the colors by their color. He then counted them all for me and I ask him comparison questions like which color has the most/least cars? Which color has only 3 cars?, etc. It was a fun way to incorporate some lessons.

Another fun acticity this week was coloring with RoseArt's Magicolor special coloring book and markers. The markers were clear and only made their color on this special paper. Colorific and Crayola (Color Wonder) have products like this. I got this set on clearance and tucked it away. I really like it. They can't get the colors on their clothing or anywhere- it only works on the special paper so it's mess-free!

Thursday was our co-op/homeschool group. They are both in my L.A.M.B.S (Learning And Memorizing Bible Stories) class. We learned what "fishers of men" means in the story of when Jesus told Peter and Andrew to cast their nets and fish in the deep water (after catching no fish all night). Their nets were so full of fish that the nets broke. Jesus then told them (and the other men there that became the disciples) to follow Him and He would make them fishers of men. We sang the song, had the lesson and made two crafts. They didn't know what was meant by being fishers of men before but I believe by the end of the class they understood. The bait to catch "men" is the Bible. They all could say Matthew 4:19 (Jesus said "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.") by the end of the class -and they got a gummy worm treat. Here is the class!

We went away for the weekend- joining "Daddy" on a business retreat. Since this weekend was also the Webkinz extraganza weekend we had a special time Friday morning before going away. My niece joined us who is also "into" webkinz. We left in the morning, each child equipped with their Easter money and loads of excitement. The deal was (for the first so-many cutomers) "Buy One, get one free". I thought that was a great deal! It was so fun being with them as each one had so much fun! Here are some photos! (Buy the way, if you don't know what webkinz are, Click here!)

Look how cute they are!

...And off we go for another treat... breakfast out with mommy! I really enjoyed this special time with my children ...and niece. It was so great to be part of the excitement they all had that morning!

When we were away over the weekend, we stopped at a cute chocolate/ice cream factory/shop. We saw this display..

The sign read "Hickory Dickory Dock, It's a 10 foot tall Chocolate Clock". They estimated it would be 800,000 calories if eaten! (Ugh!)

TOT School

Apr. 21, 2008 • 5:19 PM

Here is what we did in TOT SCHOOL this week!

Carisa at 1+1+1=1 blog hosts TOT SCHOOL. Check it out for some great learning activities and other ideas to do with your little ones!

In the beginning of the week, we played with magnets!

We have three different kinds here. I keep them in a basket to easily pull out and sit in front of the fridge. Then clean up is easy as well!

The three different types of magnets we have are: animal magnets (made by Melissa & Doug Company). We also have alphabet letters. These can be bought at most Dollar stores.(I recommend you buy a couple sets so they can spell words that have multiples of one letter in them!) Then we have some I made. I just printed them and laminated them (you can also use clear contact paper) and then added magnet to the back. You could also just print them right onto magnetic sheets.

Here are some links for some print-outs if you want to make some of your own magnets.

These are to play match-up so the kids can look for the matching picture/word cards and place them together. Sheet a, sheet e, sheet i, sheet o, sheet u.

If you are a member at EnchantedLearning, you can find alot of great picture/word boxes to print for magnets!

Portable magnets Set: Here is a great idea to make this into an activity for the car. They have metal tins at the Dollar store as well but I might try using a larger one that we use for Christmas cookies. This would be great for times in the car and esp. during times of waiting (appointments, etc.) A smaller tin would be great though to throw into our Church bag to keep them quiet during meetings.

Making them into family photo magnets  is something I think they'd like even more! It would help them learn to say (and recognize extended family members as well!)

Another magnet set we have using this magnetic board. It is a color match-up or number match-up. You could do this on a cookie sheet as well!

Another day we did the lunchtime dessert idea that Carisa posted Here! They are working on a unit and lapbook on rainbows like we are. They used Skittles candies (we used Jelly Belly jelly beans)

 This was FUN and really yummy. (Thankfully we could do this outside as it got messy - but well worth it. Nothing a wet wipe couldn't easily wipe up!)

 Another day, we made the cover for our Rainbow Lapbook! We turned small crayons on their sides to make this!

 The next day we did a fun activity in the evening before bedtime. We made art pictures by placing different pieces of yarn onto sandpaper. The corse texture of the sandpaper "held" the yarn in place. It was just temporary art as it will fall off but it was fun and they all enjoyed it.

By clean-up time , he looked like this!:

Thursday, the 4 older kids went on a hike with daddy, who had the day off! It took about 2 hours and at times they got scratched by some jaggers but well worth it, they said. They loved it. Daddy had to hold "Peanut" at some parts. I would have liked to go and could have used the exercise but stayed home while "Precious" napped and I had some much welcomed quiet time!

Having Spring weather has been so nice this week. We spent more time outside! One day they started getting bored  so I tried to "feed" their imaginations!

We got out the pirate hats...

 and I quickly made this map and grabbed a lunch bag (for treaures). I cut off the bottom of a second brown lunch bag and cut it open. I wrinkled and reopened it. Then taped a pc. of jute string to the outside to tie closed and a brown crayon to use and not get lost (however- it melts fast if hot outside).

I added a pirate-hints page to the corner that  I photocopied from a book closeby. (This book was what gave me the idea to do this with them.) They drew a map of our yard with the crayon and found treasures from the yard for their treasure chest bag.

Then they hide the bag from one child and stuck the X circle (with tape) onto the map where they hide the bag. That other child then took the map and found the treasures!

The real "treasures" (in their eyes) came next: Pop-ice!

Here are two of our favorite books from this week. They are NEW too. I got them this week at one of my favorite local stores- it's a Bargain Outlet and they always have great inespensive finds- especially on educational and/or Christian books! These books are great and I recommend them!

No, No, Noah! is a cute story about how it can be scary sometimes to try new things and go to new places but it reminds us to pray and trust the Lord! The illustrations are whimsical and the story ends with a rainbow!  The main character, a monkey, swings on the rainbow... and the last page reads:

" When your day brings something new,

Think of Noah's floating zoo.

Pray like Monkey swinging low.

God stays with you as you go!"

ABC Animals, A Bedtime Story is so neat because the pages are the shapes of letters A-Z and each letter page has an animal (that starts with that letter) and tells how they get ready for bed (using many words starting with that letter).

  The week ended with a small family birthday party for my youngest, "Precious". Here she is with one of her new puzzles. It is made by Melissa & Doug Co. and it makes the animal sound when you put that correct piece in its spot! A neat added feature to an activity she already loves!

There are the highlights from our week of TOT SCHOOL. Stop by and link up to Carisa's Tot School meme and I will try tp stop by and see what you did with your little ones. I really tend to do more now that I do this weekly log of their activities and I really see them learning throughout the activities we do!

Happy TOT HomeSCHOOLing!

Tot School

Apr. 14, 2008 • 12:45 PM

Here are some of our preschool activities for this week's Tot School post!

One day started off with coloring! Then moved into puzzles. My youngest children like doing the simpler wooden puzzles right now!