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.