Monday's Tot School

I am taking a different approach to the way I do my Tot School blog post this week and will see if it works out better for me. I feel I have far to much to say to try and squeeze it all into one weekly post so I want to post about our school each day in detail and then my weekly Tot School post will contain titles and photos of activities which will have links to my more detailed posts.

We had a very nice day today even though the weather was slightly chilly and windy.

We did three Tot Trays (four including the water tray)...

I will explain each activity in detail a little further on...


Spooning shells into containers (Andy is in love with his shells and wants it included in every weeks activities - most probably cause he collected them himself)...


Sound / No Sound...


Color pegs (I got this great activity idea from Growing and learning by leaps and bounds)...


Spooning shells: Andy opens each container, spoons shells in and...


then closes the container...


Sound/No Sound: I bought little bottles, that where not see-through so that Andy would have to shake it to hear if there's anything inside to make a sound...


He shakes each bottle and then says 'sound' or 'no sound' as he puts them into the appropriate bowl...


Then he packs them all straight again for Mommy to have a turn. This is a favorite and we took loads of turns each...


This peg game is such a lovely idea. I got those little sheets from the hardware store (for the shades of paint colors) and pasted one set to a piece of white card and another set I cut up and glued to the pegs to match...


He did shades of blue and orange...


Andy asked to do a water activity outside so while I was getting that ready he put his outside table and chair on the grass. I put different levels of masking tape on different bottles and asked him to transfer the water (which I colored blue) with a large syringe till the water reaches the line of the tape. He's only used the syringe once before and I left him to try and figure it out for himself - which was so cute to observe. First he decided teeth work best and so drew the water up by grasping the white part with his teeth and pulling it up...


He was very proud of the result...


And transferred it into the jar...


After a while he must have figured that there must be a better way than using ones teeth so, with intense concentration, pulled it with his hand...


And was delighted with the result...


We took the flowers off of a bunch of carnations that had reached the end of it's vase life...


And prepared them to be plucked and dried for our little pouches we intend to make as Christmas presents for Andy's grannies (we previously dried lavender as well which is now stored until we start the pouches)...


Andy had fun plucking all the petals off the flowers and placing it on newspaper...


Left to air dry...


We spent some time in our herb patch today collecting more lavender for drying and other herbs to freeze. We like to keep our bushes trimmed cause not only is it fun but it encourages growth.

We picked Rosemary, Lavender, Peppermint, Oregano and Fennel...


I let Andy rub each one and smell the fragrance that was transferred to his hand...


He smelt each one and told me whether he liked or disliked the smell...


Then we picked the leaves off the twigs and put it into the holes of an ice cube tray...


We filled each hole with water and popped it into the freezer. When it is frozen I pop it into labeled freezer bags. It's ideal to use in soups, stews or any cooked food. We love to pop a mint ice cube into our homemade lemonade as it is very refreshing.


And last but not least Andy played his favorite before-bath-time game. He sits at his school table while I sit at my laptop on my desk and he takes paper out of the scrap drawer and draws pictures and 'writes' and sticks stickers onto a 'letter' which he then posts into he's 'post box' (which is the top of the chest of drawers). I then 'open' the post box and act surprised and delighted at this wonderfully unexpected letter and proceed to open it with shouts of admiration and joy. He then tells me in detail what the picture is and what he has 'written' and a huge amounts of kisses and hugs and thank you's are given. What I love about this game is that it is a wonderful way for him to improve his folding skills. It has improved a lot since he first invented this game a few weeks ago. Here's my overflowing postbox...


Ahhhh! (satisfied sigh). Now I feel like I've had my say. Looking forward to what delights tomorrow's Tot School will hold!