Week Reveiw

We started the week off with matching shapes and flashcards. Bee loves shapes so this was too easy for him but it is good practise. In order to make it a little more complicated I asked Bee where the triangle is, where is the trapezoid, etc. He can mostly distinguish them but needs a bit of help. This set also allows us to practise our colors. Then of course we get a little goofy.

 

Tuesday was a super great day. We were busy the whole day long. Unfortunately we didn't get to our Tot Box but we did get to go for a nice stroll at the park. It was the perfect day, not kidding. The boys practised some gross motor skills by walking backwards for an impressive amount of time. We love hanging with the cousins. It is such a blessing to have them close. (ps. sad they are moving....)

Wednesday we had a visit from Grandma, my Mom. She brought us dinosaur molds with playdough!

Bee was pretty good at filling the mold, then squishing it nice and tight before pulling off the extra dough. Here are some of the dino's that we made.

 

Thursday was my favorite Tot Box. I bought this Alphabet book from Costco. I love it because the letters are inset so that you can trace the letters with your kids fingers. It is another way to engage their tactile senses. The letters have arrows to show which direction to "write." We are quite a ways away from writing but it is good practise. After we traced the letters and peeked under the windows we searched through the foam letters to locate the match. Then Bee put the letter ontop. We would say the letter multiple times. Add that letter to the "found" pile and onto the next.

 

I have a video of this activity but I haven't figured out how to edit it to make it smaller....Help me blogosphere.

 

Friday didn't happen. Oh well. You win some, you lose some. My goal was to do Tot School 3 times a week. The Tot Box Bins have helped me get more done, definitely above my expectations. I love them and I love watching Bee learn and experiment.

Work Box Wednesday

Monday

 Flashcards, Shapes and the Tower of Hanoi

 

Tuesday

 Fine Motor Hammering

Wednesday

Coloring, Cardboard tube and Dinosaur molds.

Thursday

 Foam Letters and ABC Tracing Book

 

Friday

Xylophone and Go Fish Cards

 

 

Look for our week update on Sunday!

Finding our Rythym

This week went great!

Bee loves his tot boxes. He doesn't know the days of the week yet so he cant pick his own box but he does remember the bin of the day. Every morning he runs to the boxes to get started. Too bad we have to start the day off with breakfast. I am such a drag.

Monday was a day of beading. Bee is getting significantly better. He doesn't do any patterns yet but he gets the beads onto the string so that's a huge win. We also had some bells in this plastic tube. I have no idea where this container came from but he loved it. Flash cards are always a favorite. Bee knows some sign language so he will often sign then say the name of the object on the card. He isn't so great with words yet but I believe the flash cards are helping him. This box was played with for a couple hours then he took a break to come back for another hour.

Who knew that pipe cleaners could be so fun. I paired the pipe cleaners with straws for Bee to slide them inside. He did that for quite a while. Eventually Bee decided to try and shoot the pipe cleaners at me through the straw. When we go out to lunch I shoot him with the paper wrapper that is on straws. I guess he is learning from my bad habits. Lol. When Jason, my hubby, got home he revived our tot box and taught Bee another thing to do. Silly faces is one of the things my boys do oh so well.

 



Tuesday we also played "Go Fish," our version was a little bit more like memory but we had fun.

 

 We also had some sibling love going on. They both like to wrestle and snuggle each other. Its oh so cute!! The day ended off with an impromptu nap on the couch while reading some books.

 

Our sensory bin was my favorite activity this week. In the bin is black beans and foam puzzle pieces. The goal was for Bee to dig out the letters/numbers and put them into the puzzles beside the box. He got a little distracted putting the beans in various containers that he almost forgot about the foam pieces. Bee loves containers. They are his favorite of all time. It's actually hilarious. When Jace got home from work he had better luck finishing the puzzles.

 

 

We love the book "Little Blue Truck." My plan was to put dirt into our sand table and read the story while acting it out with our figurines. Well that just didn't happen so we read the book and acted it out with the figurines. We matched the figurines up with the animals and made all the sounds. Bee especially loved the beep, beep and the horse neighs. We both enjoyed this one. Also the not having to clean up a bunch of mud was a plus on my end.

 

We did play in the dirt later on in the evening. We have a turtle and he needed a snack. So we went on a worm hunt. Yep. We dug in our "garden" for worms. Bee was shocked at their wiggling and couldn't pick them up but he tried his hardest. We also separated dirt, rocks and worms into different containers. We know how much Bee loves separating things so this was right up his alley.

Friday turned into a bubble day mostly but Bee did enjoy the Tower of Hanoi. Obviously he didn't play correctly but he did enjoy stacking them. I also quizzed him on their colors and he mostly got them right. We are making head way and I am so proud of him.

 

We are also in the middle of toilet training. Ugh. That has been keeping us busy too. Hence the lack of pants....

 

Don't judge. Embrace.



Work Box Wednesday

 Here is our exciting weekly layout!!

 

Monday

 

 Beading, Flashcards and a container filled with Bells.

 

Tuesday

Pipe Cleaners, Straws and Go Fish.

 

Wednesday

 

Puzzles and Black Beans Sensory Bin

 

Thursday

Sticker Book, Bubbles and a Tower of Hanoi.

 

Friday

 Little Blue truck book with our Farm Set.

 

Stay tuned here to see how Bee actually plays with our Tot Boxes.

Why The Box?

I have had a lot of interest in regards to our tot school boxes aka Tot Box. I thought it would be a great idea to share some of the things that are bouncing around in my brain. I have done a ton of reading, almost an embarrassing amount and it will probably continue.... When I dive into something I go hook, line and sinker.

The idea for Tot Boxes came from multiple ideas from various sites which I combined for a system that I think will work for my family.

• Sue Patrick developed he workbox system to aid with organizing homeschool. I love the concept but it was too much for tots. Basically Patrick 's system is a way of separating subjects/activities into boxes, folders, or drawers. One activity per drawer. When that activity is complete you move onto the next box. This cuts out kids asking a million times "Are we finished yet," wasting time looking for materials or the facilitator forgetting a subject. Everything is laid out for the day. Patrick uses all the drawers for one day. You can read more about her system here.
• I read about quiet time boxes on The Chirping Mom. She had multiple activities from different categories in one box so her preschooler could decide what he wanted to do. She created 5 boxes, one for each day of the week to use instead of enforcing a naptime.
• On 1+1+1=1 she uses tot trays with her kids. Best site ever! Seriously I have spent a lot of time on there. Tot trays have one activity on them. The activities are geared toward a specific skill. She has multiple trays displayed at the same time but only one tray is to be used at a time. Carisa is also the "developer" of tot school, she has endless resources. I am always amazed by her.

Those combined became Tot Boxes. I tweaked them obviously. Tots don't need multiple boxes a day I just wanted my babes to have some designated learning time, that's why I went with one box a day. Kids learn by playing so our boxes are filled with skill based activities and some things I know my babes enjoy. Learning should be fun! Bee (2yrs) doesn't always nap but he reads in his bed for about an hour give or take. My two kids share a room so I don't want him giving the baby things she shouldn't have. Especially in her crib. So no toys in the room here. We tried tot trays for quite a while but we don't have the space to make the trays really accessible and separate from our regular toys. I was terrible at making sure Bee was only playing with one activity at a time. Maybe we are free thinkers..... I'm not sure but if he wanted to play with the supplies in his own way I let him. He had a blast but it didn't go as planned. Still a win in my mind. I did spend time teaching him the various skill sets but once he knew what I wanted him to do he got bored and creativity too over. Once the baby started moving she wanted the trays and that ended our accessible trays.

Another thing I love about our boxes is that it helps me rotate our toys. More things get used. Bee forgets about them so he gets tricked into playing with a new toy or they just become a special toy that he doesn't have access to constantly.

In our boxes I try and have multiple skill sets such as fine motor, gross motor, cognitive, religious, exploration, etc. I will share pictures the contents of our boxes in the next post.

Tot boxes can be anything that you would like. Trays may work for you. Nothing will be perfect but you can teach your babe some valuable skills and have fun at the same time.

I love questions!! Ask away.

 

We're Back!

Organization proceeds follow though. At least that's how it works for me.

The last few months we have been on a hiatus of sorts. We have been doing activities and having fun but there has not been any schedule or plans. It worked. Sort of. Most days it was easier to just play with my beautiful babes. Good but definitely not best. I have wanted to get back to a schedule but my planner instincts have gotten in my way. I can plan all day without actually accomplishing anything. It's a problem. Please say I'm not the only one.

We have pressed on!

In the past I have read about work boxes. I love the idea. It makes sense to have a spot for each subject. For us, tot school, we don't need that many options nor do we need to fill a set amount of time. I needed a system to help me stay on top of planning and organizing activities.

We went on a shopping spree and purchased some gorgeous white Trofast shelves with matching white bins. I slapped on some labels and wallah an instant area to plan my week.

School is in tomorrow. Not bright and not early but it is in!

Wish us luck!