Muffin Tin Monday (Circus)

I must admit, I hit a blank when trying to think of the circus theme. But here's what we did today...

From top left: Smoothie, apple ring with apple ring master (the only circus thing I could think of), carrot sticks (Andy's favourite), 'boerewors' roll, corn nuts, cheese cut into small circles.

Here's Andy starting his feast...

To see other fun MTM's follow the link at the top of this post.

Muffin Tin Monday (People and Faces)

Today we had our first of many Muffin Tin Monday's. The theme was people and faces so we cut a boy and a girl sandwich with gingerbread men cookie cutters. On top in the middle we made a face of apple and fruit and nuts and in the bottom three sections we put some noses (dried fruit sticks), some eyes (pistachio nuts) and some mouths (naartjie segments). We grated some apple as 'hair' and sprinkled it all over...


Andy enjoying his first MTM. He was very impressed...


To see what fun MTM's others have done go here.

Ocean theme

I thought I'd put some pics up of what we're busy with this week with our Ocean themed lapbook.

Andy loves the ocean and it's creatures and I'm continually amazed at the amount of detail and information he absorbs and remembers. Reading theme related library books as well has armed him with everyday phrases such as 'porcupine fish are very ugly' and 'dolphins jump up out of the water to breath through their breath hole' and his favourite breed of shark is specifically the Tiger Shark. As a stroke of luck we spotted an article about Tiger Sharks in one of the diving magazines while house-sitting for my mother-in-law this past weekend and Andy really enjoyed the pictures.

Here is a few pics from our Ocean Lapbook that we are working on...

Accordion book - colouring each creature a different colour...


This is a cut and paste layer book activity on Sea Gulls - I read it to Andy and he cut out and paste the pictures...


This is collection of Ocean poems and songs in a layer book - each one has a picture and Andy really enjoyed singing the songs and listening to the poems...


A colour and paste activity to make your own sand castle...


Some counting star fish cards...


A mini book recording the theme related books we borrowed from the library and how Andy liked them...


A few variaties of different sharks - Andy loved hearing about the different sharks cause sharks are the best creatures in the whole world according to him...


And a previously blogged about 'fishy emotions matching game' that Andy pasted at the back of his lapbook...


This is a jelly fish craft which Andy made today and which he thoroughly enjoyed...


A paper lobster hand puppet... the orignal craft is made out of a toilet roll but that would be rather difficult to fit into the back pocket of a lapbook so we made it out of red card which works just as well but can become completely flat...


We'll still be doing the Ocean theme for another week so I'll be putting up some more ocean pics soon. We got most of our templates for our Ocean Lapbook from Homeschool Share.

Tot School

We've decided to keep with the ocean theme until we officially start Tot School in the week Andy turns 3 years old which is in a week and a half's time. Tot School is really just recording through the week what you do with your toddler and sharing ideas with other parents of toddlers by posting about it once a week and in return getting ideas from them. It takes a bit of planning though as we will be doing themed Tot Trays as well as carrying on with our themed lapbooks. We haven't done Tot School at a younger age (it's from about 1 year old till PreK) for the simply reason that I only discovered it a few weeks ago and had to spend many hours reading up about it and searching for ideas etc. I feel now though that I am fully clued up and ready to start. We will be having a monthly theme with sub devisions on this theme for each week. Through experimenting I find toddlers are much more comfortable with repitition so keeping an overall theme for a month works much better than changing the theme each week - and it's less work for Mommy too - win, win situation!

We have decided to go with a 'On The Farm' theme for the month of September as we planned Andy's birthday party to be a Farmyard theme. So week 1 and 2 will focus on Farm Animals, week 3 on Farm Produce and week 4 on People and Equipment. I will be blogging about it so check in each week for my weekly Tot School post.

Lunch

We're hoping to start with Muffin Tin Monday next week Monday but in the mean time here's our lunch for just an ordinary Tuesday. (I will be recording some meals for fun and the more meals I record the more I can look back on them and remember which ones Andy enjoyed most).

He had a snowman made from apple and banana on a skewer, a apple jaw (red apple as the lips with pistachio nuts stuck in as the teeth - pistachios are his favourite nuts at the moment) and a whole wheat 'carrot, apple and cinnamon' muffin (fresh out of the oven - at which he stated 'I'll have them hot, just one at a time okay Mommy?' - oh how this little guy cracks me up! :-)...


...after which he had 3 provitas (wholewheat crackers) with cheddar cheese, which also served as airplanes during the process of being devoured...

We made some homemade traditional shortbread today as well for tea time when Wowo comes for her weekly visit tomorrow. Andy LOVES to bake and prepare meals not only in real life but in play too. This afternoon he braught a kitchen chair into the room and told me to sit and watch him bake. He makes all kinds of things in play and it is facinating to see how acurately he does it... mixing, pouring, putting in the oven, checking up on it, smelling the delicious aromas, taking out of the oven and serving.

Stormy day fun

It was very rainy and cold today so we spent part of the morning with me sewing and Andy played with his puzzles. After which he emptied the contents of his puzzle drawer in the hole where the drawer is supposed to go and 'made a fire' with the puzzle pieces as the 'fire wood' and the drawer was his 'boat'. Later when my sister-in-law came for her weekly visit he had a tea party in his 'boat'.

Random Conversation

I thought I'd share some random conversations Andy and I had today. You can't keep a straight face for long when you have a Tot.

On someone dropping something on the floor of the upstairs flat:

Andy: What was that?
Me: The people upstairs dropped something.
Andy: The people dropped down the stairs?
Me: No, the people dropped something.
Andy: (enlightenment dawning on his face) Oh, they dropped the person.

On having lunch:

Me: Would you like some more?
Andy: No!
Me: Are you sure?
Andy: No!
Me: You must say 'yes' you are sure.
Andy: But I'm not sure.
Me: Oh, Andy (sigh)
Andy: Oh, Mommy (sigh)
We both burst out laughing

Winter

It's been rather cold and dull this week but when the sun did pop out Andy and I went outside for some gardening and to savor the outdoors until it became too cold and overcast again...


Coming back from a walk Andy trip and fell into some soggy, muddy grass...


And when we're forced to keep indoors we play, learn, bake, listen to audio books and constantly 'dive' into the puzzle drawer...

A thought before creating tomorrows to do list...

...so that we might look at this poem at the end of the day and answer, YES!

Did you have lots of fun with your child today?
Did you take time to climb, to run and to play?
Did you look at new things through his eager eyes?
Did you comfort and hold him when you heard his cries?

Were your fingers all sticky with paint and cold glue?
Was there enough play dough for him and for you?
Did you help him to cut, to paste and to thread?
Or did you sit quietly and watch him instead?

Was there enough time for a story last night?
Did you talk about why the stars looked so bright?
Did you talk about insects and why a bee stings?
Did you watch as a butterfly spread silky wings?

Your child's childhood years are so precious and few,
They're gone in what seems just a moment or two,
What he really needs most is for you to be there,
to love him and show him just how much you care.

by Doreen Maree

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Lapbook: Part 2

The second section has our bugs matching cards, our expandable caterpillar, caterpillar and butterfly size sequence and our games folder...


My sister gave us a few sets of these great matching cards. This is the insects set and has the names on the back of each card...


Andy and I made this little caterpillar by folding two strips of paper together...


Here is a extra file folder attached to the last flap of the double lapbook for our games section with the game tokens in the pocket...


Opening the extra file folder section...


The game folder opened...



Caterpillar counting game...


Butterfly colour match game...


The back cover (a colour in picture)...

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Lapbook: Part 1

We did 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar Lapbook by Eric Carle' as our theme 3 weeks ago and had lots of fun. This is one of Andy's favourite lapbooks and he's spent and still is spending many contented hours with it. We got most of the printables off of This Blog but also did a few things of our own.

The cover...


This is how it looks when first opened... (double lapbook with a extra file folder in the back section)


The first section (from top left) : Letter B mini book, butterfly pull out for sticker activity, 'the things the caterpillar ate' threading activity (backed with cardboard and punched and punch holes reinforced with ring stickers), story sequence cards, butterfly song, shape accordion book, Letter C mini book.



For the threading activity I knotted the thread on the bottom brad to secure it and then it gets twisted round the top brad after being threaded so when he wants to thread he just unwinds it at the top. I put some cello tape at the tip of the thread to make it stiff for easier threading. This is one of Andy's favourite activities. This activity enables him to tell the story as he threads and also try to thread the food in the sequence the caterpillar ate it.


On the outside flap of the first section are our Italian words for each item in the life cycle of a butterfly...


And on the oposite side flap is the days of the week copy work which we're saving for when Andy's older but he coloured the pictures in on the sides so long...


In the second section we made a handprint butterfly craft as the cover for our 'Life Cycle of a Butterfly' pocket which has info and activities inside... And on the green flap that folds downwards we have our bible memory verse...

Feelings!?:-)

This morning we focused on 'feelings'. We are working on a 'Ocean' themed lapbook for the next 2 weeks and Andy couldn't be more excited. His favourite thing at this stage are ocean creatures especially sharks. This morning we printed a file folder game to stick at the back of our Ocean lapbook. We did it as a matching game so Andy glued one set of fishes on the lapbook and I backed the other set with cardboard for durability. Then he matched up the fishes discussing each ones feelings...


Andy copying the different feelings...


The finished game...


Afterwards Andy practised some different feelings in his mirror. I mounted this mirror on the wall at Andy's height so that he can explore different feelings and identify them...


Andy is busy painting now... (I dress him in a set of old clothes 'painting clothes' so I can leave him to have fun and not fuss over any mess)...


Next on the agenda... a walk to the park, baking some cookies, lapbooking, playing and cooking a special supper for daddy. Hope everyone else has a fun filled day too.

Cars Tot Book

We found this at 1+1+1=1. This is a great site if you have tots aged 1-3. I expanded mine a bit cause Andy is already very familiar with his numbers, shapes and colours but still has lots of fun with them so I just added some stickers to the 'recipe', and for Andy stickers means hours of fun.

The cover (for the front and back covers he coloured, cut and pasted some CARS pics)...


The back...


To include the stickers I cut a file folder in half and put the two halves together by stapling the sides and bottom of the back (leaving the top of the back open) so as to create a flap on each side and a pocket for the stickers at the back. Seen in this pic are the stickers sticking out of the back pocket and the two flaps on the sides which I lined with sticker album paper so as to make the stickers reusable...


Andy's learning how to spell his name as part of a fun memory game. I made the cards to spell 'Andrew' as well as 'Andy'...


Counting cards...


A book of Cars colours (we printed everything on cardboard so as to make it more durable)...


A book with different shapes to find on the cars...


Andy doing some of his stickers (for variation I bought a book with sheets of stickers including airplanes, boats, fire engines and police as well as other cars)...