stART: If You Give A Pig A Pancake

For this week's stART project, we read If You Give A Pig A Pancake.

Izzie helped make blackberry pancakes for breakfast.

I saw a similar activity at Lakeshore Learning awhile back. I used their concept to make Izzie this activity. I made 20 pancakes (Microsoft Word), 10 pancakes with numbers 1-10 and then 10 pancakes with different amount of dots (1-10). The concept is to match the pancakes (number with the correct amount of dots).

For more drama, I put the pancakes on a baking sheet and gave Izzie a spatula to use. I separated the pancakes (1-5 and 6-10), so Izzie would not be overwhelmed. For numbers 1-5, she went in correct order and was able to visually distinguish the correct amount of dots.

For number 6-10, she would choose the correct number that went next, but had to count the number of dots to find the correct pancake. She really liked this activity and it was great for counting!

I wanted to create a game that would reinforce taking turns. So, this is what I came up with. I made 2 large pancakes (cardboard and felt...can you believe I didn't have 2 pieces of brown felt the same color). I then made game cards (Microsoft Word) that included the following toppings, 1 chocolate, 2 strawberries, and 3 blueberries. For the game pieces, I used the velcro chocolates, strawberries, and blueberries from Izzie's Just Like Home Cake Decorator Set.

We took turns picking game cards and then attaching the correct topping to our pancake. It's a simple game, but it really encouraged Izzie to practice taking turns.

For more stART projects, head over to A Mommy's Adventures.

Open Ended Art: Tissue Paper

This week's Open Art theme at Growing and Learning by Leaps and Bounds is egg shells or tissue paper.

We decided to make Apple Sun Catchers. The apple template can be found here. I cut each apple out of construction paper, added contact paper to one side, then had Izzie add the tissue paper. After she was done, I added contact paper over the tissue paper. Yep, it's that easy!

Yellow Apple

Green Apple

Red Apple

Izzie's Apple Suncatchers look adorable on the back door!

To see more Open Ended Art activities, please click here.

Tot School: Week 2

Izzie is currently 36 months old.

We continued our On The Farm theme, completed Creation Days 3-7, and had a lot of fun this week.

Izzie received the LeapFrog Zippity Interactive Learning System for her birthday from her grandparents. We finally got it hooked up and I am disappointed. After seeing the box, we were all very excited, but the excitement quickly wore off. It's not very user friendly, games are not truly interactive, and it did not hold Izzie's attention. Looks like we'll be taking it back.

Izzie and Mac both enjoyed playing with the muscial eggs. Click here for more details.

Izzie is able to work this entire puzzle by herself...well, Mac helps too!

I found this great workbook at Walmart. Izzie has really enjoyed working with it independently. I took Shannon's advice at Growing and Learning By Leaps and Bounds and put each page in a sheet protector and let her use a washable marker...instant RESUABLE workbook!

Izzie working with her On The Farm Magnetic Play Set.

For open ended art this week, Izzie created farm animals with Play-doh.

Her newest favorite activity is working with the "How To Build An A" book, which was a birthday gift. This is a great pre-writing skill activity and Izzie really enjoys it!

I found this Heads and Tails activity at 1+1+1=1. I attached magnets to the back, which worked well with the white board.

Izzie played with the Counting Chicks game. For more details click here.

For our weekly stART project, we read Mrs. Wishy Washy's Farm, created a Mrs. Wishy Washy paperplate, made and played in mud pudding, and enjoyed eating mud pudding with animals crackers. For more pictures and details of this activity, click here.

In addition, we completed Creation Days 3-7. Click here to see Izzie's acitivities for each day.

We had a great week finishing up our On The Farm activities!

To see our On The Farm activities from last week, click here.

To see a HUGE list of inspiring weeks of Tot School from other Mommies and Tots, click here!

Creation: Days 3-7

Last week we completed the days of Creation. To see Days 1 and 2, please click here.

Izzie really enjoyed the sequencing cards (found here) on her tabletop felt board.

For Day 3, Izzie glued down land, made a tree with leaves (leaf maker from Creative Memories), and used flower stickers.

Day 4, scrapbooking die-cuts and stickers for moon, sun, and stars. Our song for the day was "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

Day 5, again stickers for birds and fish.

Day 6, more stickers...animals and humans.

For Day 7, I wrote the letter Z on small pieces of yellow paper for Izzie to glue down on black paper to represent rest.

I think I may take the 7 days and bound them together to make a Creation Book.

stART: Mrs Wishy Washy

I recently found a fabulous blog, A Mommy's Adventure. Each week, she is hosting stART, where you read a book and do a related craft with your child.

This week, we read Mrs. Wishy Washy's Farm.

Izzie created a paper plate version of Mrs. Wishy Washy. For instructions, click here.

We made chocolate mud pudding for the farm animals to get dirty in.

Wishy, washy...wishy, washy...wishy, washy...all clean!

For our morning snack...chocolate mud pudding and animal crackers.

For more inspiring books and fun creative crafts, click here.