Structured Play

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 pulled out the pattern blocks. Jacob loves these and they are great for hand-eye coordination and learning to control frustration. This day Jacob was a little moody and showed some real frustration when the pieces did not stay in their spot. Although it was a bit annoying to me, it was a great experience to talk about frustration and how to control that frustration. After we talked about his feelings of frustration and lack of patience. I helped him come up with solutions to deal with his feelings.  I ended up telling him that if this activity was making him too frustrated then we should put it away and try again another day. He did not like this option so I told him he then needed to take his time and put his energy towards the blocks instead of towards whining! We did two different flowers. The pattern boards can be found at PreKinders . They have a lot of different boards. I can find at least one to fit into our Monthly Theme every month. Prekinders is ...

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 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...

This is a great activity that builds multiple skills! I have these pattern blocks from my teaching days and have been wanting to incorporate them into my activities and then I saw this post from PreKinders  and had a great way to incorporate them this month! By the way,  PreKinders is a great website to check out! She has more than just these boards too! There are all kinds of animals to give a try! Jake loved this activity right away! He loves shapes and has a very spacial way of thinking. I printed off a couple of the Christmas Themed boards and put them out with the container of shapes. I thought about pulling  just the shapes we would need but decided against it. I am glad I did not just pull out the shapes because he did not need that extra help. He dug right in and found the shapes he needed! I told him the name of the shapes he needed for the tree and the color of the shape; green triangle, red trapezoid and orange square. I modeled for him...

Today we added a new shape practice to our routine. This month I decided to switch it up a little and make some shape cards to sort. I wanted to connect the shapes we have been working with to real-world shapes and connect them with our theme at the same time.  Holiday Shape Practice                                     I made cards with ornaments for circles, presents for squares, tree for triangle, a star tree topper for star and a family photo for heart (representing love). Click on the pictures above for the download.  Jake did a great job sorting the shapes. He has mastered this skill so we are working on saying the color of the shape as well as the name each time he puts the shape into the bowl under the corresponding shape poster. He is great with naming the shapes and really seems to like shapes!

(I must first apologize for my photography right now! I am so big and pregnant that I am only taking pictures from my seated position and if that doesn't work, too bad! Sorry for my extreme laziness!!!) I used puzzles like this last month inspired by Toddler Approved . Jake loved these puzzles so much that I decided to make some to go along with our theme this month: Apples and Farms .  Download here:  Shape Puzzles I just laid out the pieces and Jake knew just what to do! He put every piece where it belonged. I said the name of the shape as he placed the piece in it's correct spot. I would like him to get to the point where he says the name of the shape as well.  This month I cut the pieces out of foam sheets to make them a little easier to handle. These foam sheets came from the Dollar Store. I love using them because I can cut them into any shape I need.  I cut out a rectangular piece so I could right ...

To add to our shape practice this month I took apple cards and drew the four shapes we are focused on; circle, triangle, square, and star. He is getting very good at identifying shapes and I feel after this month we will be able to add to new shapes. I do not want to add new shapes until he shows complete mastery of these  four. I made two of each shape. I also added a card with the name of the shape on it. I want to start spending more time working on our letters and I thought this was a good way. He can identify letters by themselves but I want him to start to identifying them within words.  To introduce these new cards I modeled for him what I wanted him to do. I showed him each of the letters and pointed to the letters in the poster as well. I want him to start noticing letters and words. He did great and was able to name each shape as well! We are getting there, it has felt like forever but things are certainly clicking! He has it all in his head but he is showing me what...

I have written about shape practice before . I have continued to do the same activity this month because he has not shown mastery of naming shapes. He does not have much interest in naming them but he can when asked. But this month he has been doing much better!  Today I separated all the shapes by color and pulled one out at a time saying, "Here is a yellow triangle. Where does the triangle belong?" I did this with each shape for each color. He stayed focused the entire time and placed all the shapes in the appropriate bowl. He even repeated the name of the shape after I said them! Woo hoo! I was so excited as was he! He even made some great connections. When he put the stars in the star bowl he would say, "sky" and point up at the sky. Then he would say, "moon" and point to the circle. I love how he connected the shapes to real world examples. After we went through and put all the shapes in the bowls. I asked him to find the triangle. He was able to poi...

We started by reading Truck Driver Tom, by Monica Wellington. This books is super cute and a perfect introduction to today's activity. The book goes through the process of a delivery truck picking up, driving and dropping off goods. The pictures are large and colorful. The delivery truck was on each page intermixed with other vehicles. This provides a great opportunity to ask your little one, "Where is the delivery truck?" Jake was happy to look on every page to find Tom and his delivery truck. This reiterate's vocabulary and observation skills. I also took the opportunity to point out other vehicles, such as the crane on this page. Jacob was quick to jump in and start naming the trucks he saw.  The Activity This is a shape activity. The shapes are put together to create trucks, perfect for our Construction Theme plans . This is an amazing activity that I got from another blog.  Toddler Approved  provided the printables to make this possible. I printed the printab...