Structured Play

I gave Jack our color buckets again. (Target dollar station) and some sponge fish. We stuck to 4 colors this time. I modeled how to match the color to the box then placed them in the box saying the color. He did it with a little guidance then quickly lost interest and carried around the boxes to play. He used the fish to dump and refill the boxes. Sometimes he would put them in the coordinating boxes other times he would not. The whole activity lasted about 5 minutes.

We are well into our Airplane Theme and the boys are having a fun time. I was able to click a few pictures (on my phone) as Jacob worked on his color by number picture. All I did was print the picture and add numbers and colors. (see top left of picture) I explained to Jacob what to do he and he got busy right away. He enjoyed having to follow the directions, surprise! At first he just colored the numbers so I had to clarify to him that he should color the whole section.  He did a nice job and stayed in the lines for the most part. Usually he colors all around inside and outside of the lines, which is developmentally appropriate but not so appealing. I was happily surprised to see him staying within the lines. Notice how he is holding the crayon.  As you can see from this chart, Jacob at 4 years old at the end of August, is right on track. If you have been following the blog for a while, you will notice his progression with holding a crayon. This absolutely happ...

I bought these paper leaves at a teacher store. I have hung on to them for the last 3 years with our Structured Play things. This year I did something a little different with them. I laid them all out on the floor. I told Jake we were going to play a matching game. Each leaf had three matching leaves. This was a nice change to make Jake slow down and look for three matches. The leaves were multicolored and really took taking your time to look for the matches. The shapes were similar as well. Again, just what a busy toddler needs to help him slow down! Jake enjoyed this game and did not protest. I think partly because it was a movement game, he had to move around the room to pick-up the leaves. We took turns collecting matches.  We both had fun playing this game and played repeatedly. There are all kinds of way to make games out of unsuspecting objects. Get creative!

We love these Truck Puzzles made by Toddler Approved . They are great shape, color, spacial sense and self control practice. I just printed the color and black and white copies and cut the color copy up to use as the puzzle pieces.  Jake gets a little frustrated if the pieces move around but it is good practice of self control. He really loves these especially because they are trucks so I can keep him engaged even if he gets frustrated. We discuss the parts of the trucks as well as the colors and shapes used to make the trucks. I started introducing the concept that shapes make up everything. After doing the puzzles we looked around the room and pointed out shapes we saw in the furniture. The idea is that we will then practice drawing for ourselves using basic shapes.  Check out Toddler Approved for these free printables. 

Today we did a little in house fishing! This is a great coordination activity. I tied a string with a magnet on the end to a stick. We used those as the fishing poles (one for both of us). I then cut fish out of foam. I drew faces and scales on the fish. I just clipped a paper clip to one end to provide the metal.  I put these faux wood mats down for both of us. We each had our own and they represented our boats. We stood on our boats and fished over the side.  Jake had to really try to catch a fish. He had to dangle the "fishing rod" over the fish in just the right spot. He tried to bend down and use his hands but I told him he could not do it that way. And he quickly figured it out.  He caught all his fish and we counted them before throwing them back in. As we caught the fish a second time we named the color of the fish we were catching. This activity then took a step further and we "cooked" up our fish and ate them up. This was so much fun! We...

Today we read, The Deep Blue Sea, A Book of Colors. This is a fun book with a nice rhythm. We have read it a few times over the last week and being a color book I knew this would be a good book to use to inspire an activity. As we read the story, I stopped after reading each page and had Jake search the room for items that matched the color we just read in the story. "There is a green tree on a red rock in the middle of the deep blue sea." I had him use our colored buckets to find items of the same color.  Every time he found something of the same color he would say, "Same!" I did have him add saying the name of the color as well. He still has trouble with his colors and this is just more practice. By having him say the name it reiterates the name, over and over.  I have also added clues to the color names to help him try to remember the color words. For instance, if he cannot remember the name of the color blue I say, "It is daddy's favorite ...

I wanted to start with something fun and hands on so we tried a science experience. Since we are talking about plants and flowers this month I wanted to show Jacob how flowers absorb water through roots and how the water travels through the plant. I prepped by putting three stalks of celery in glasses of water. I then let Jacob add food coloring to two of the glasses and we left one just plan water. We used red and blue in hopes of observing a dramatic change. Once the celery sits in the water and absorbs the colored water you will be able to see the color through the veins of the celery and into the leaves at the top of the stalks. And the results... Look!  Here they are after 48 hours. You can see the red and blue stalks are discolored and a bit wilted. The one in plain water is healthy looking for the most part. As you can see through the blue example the leaves have blue speckles throughout.   The red shows through as well but the leaves a...

This month I decided to print a couple new Pattern Block Boards from PreKinders . We have been using these boards for a few months now and Jacob loves them! I had the blocks from my teaching days so we use them but if you do not have them you could easily print some and use paper blocks! Jake uses great concentration and focus. He becomes slightly frustrated when the pieces slide around but I think it is good for him to learn control. He sits stands and finishes the boards completely. He does like puzzles too so I guess it is along the same lines. I love watching him focus. This provides great opportunity to talk about shapes and colors as well.  We used the fish and the cat for this month. You can find these printables  here on prekinders . 

We spent some time playing postman! Jake got out his mailbag and mailbox to practice delivering Valentines! (He had to wear his hardhat as well! Of course any time you work you need a hardhat, right?) We used the Valentines we made as well as some felt mail I made and had on hand. He really loves being the 'worker.' He tends to boss me around telling me what to do next, his brother is going to be in trouble when he is old enough to play! We enjoyed ourselves!  We took a break for a little while and colored some hearts. This is another printable from  Home School Creations . We colored the hearts the correct colors matching the crayons to the color words.  Jacob then 'delivered' the hearts to the items on the color posters. "One for Apple, one for Froggy." I guess he thought they were Valentines because we have been talking about Valentines and because they were hearts. So he taped them up on the color posters.  Happy Valentine's Day! ...

Today I pulled out the Fire Hydrant Color pages from Home School Creations . I just pulled four colors. I then put the corresponding crayons on the table with the pages. We read the words and then I had Jacob choose the correct color crayon. Colors are not his strength so I chose to control the activity to keep it manageable for him and to prevent frustration. Next I had him take the Hydrant page over to the color wall and tape it to the corresponding color. He loves this part of our color practice. I think it is the movement that he enjoys. For some of the colors I have to remind him to "match" the color on the paper to the color on the wall. By just choosing a few colors at a time he can stay engaged and enjoy what the task at hand is without getting overly frustrated. 

We loved doing the Christmas Pattern Blocks from PreKinders last month so I printed off some more for this month.                                                  We did the snowman and penguin today. Jake just loves doing these puzzles and they are great for motor skills, hand-eye coordination, shape recognition, and colors. Jake really focuses while doing these puzzles. They are somewhat difficult for a toddler because the pieces move around easily on the paper. I thought this would truly send him into a frustrated state, but he takes his time and if a piece moves he moves it right back. The key is to make sure he is not too tired.   He asks me to do a board while he is doing one. He makes sure I keep busy while he is working as well! These are fun and every educational, if you do not have the pattern blocks just make th...

Jake has enjoyed practicing his colors with his color bucket . Today he decided to create some more cards to put in the buckets. He picked a color, colored on a piece of paper and then went over and put it in the bucket with the other cards. He even put the crayon in the bucket too. He said,"Match too!" This was lead by Jacob, all his idea! The only thing I suggested was color choices. We have a large crayon box with multiple shades of the same color. I suggested the basic colors that match the buckets opposed to "sky blue" or "crimson".  We practiced saying the name of the color and matching the crayons to the buckets, cards, and color posters. He really enjoyed the activity especially because it was his idea! This is a great way to stretch an activity to make it fun and exciting!