Sunday, October 10, 2010

Tot School: Fall Theme

I have been blogging about our preschool group trays for the last week or so, and today I have a few more. I put them out on our school shelves for a test run before our group class. My kiddos got the chance to try them out and let me know of any flaws in the tray's design. I was so excited to find Mini Cooper trying a few out!



This first one I found at the Dollar Tree. It comes with pumpkins & ghosts so I bought 3 to make sure there were enough pumpkins for each hole.

The card I put with the tray for the preschool group reads:

Pumpkin Patch
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Objective:
Put one pumpkin in each hole
Control of Error:
There is one pumpkin for each hole
Questions to ask your child:
*What are these? {Pumpkins}
*Where do they grow? {In the ground, on a farm, in a garden, etc}
*What color are they? {Orange}
*How many pumpkins are there? {15}
*What shape is the pumpkin patch? {triangle}
*How many sides are on a triangle? {3}
*What animals are living in this pumpkin patch? {spiders}
*How many spiders are there? {5}



I was amazed at Mini Cooper's concentration while she put the little pumpkins in the patch.



The next tray that caught Mini Cooper's eye was the tonging pom poms. The sparkle pom poms are from Hobby Lobby and the pumpkin mold is from the Dollar Tree. The card I put with the tray reads:

Tonging Pom Poms
Level of difficulty: Easy
Objective:Tong pom poms into pumpkin ice cube mold. If your child is having a hard time using the tongs, encourage them to simply use their pincher fingers to transfer the pom poms.
Control of error:
There is one pom pom for each of the pumpkins.
Going beyond:
*There are 2 each of 5 colors. See if your child can match each pair.
*What colors are the pom poms? {red, green, gold, orange & purple}
*How many pom poms are there? {10}
*What shape are the openings? {pumpkins}
*Are there enough pom poms for each pumpkin? {yes}
*What is the utensil used to transfer the pom poms? {Tongs}



Mini ditched the tongs, but enjoyed putting the pom poms in the pumpkin tray.



The final tray she tried was the apple size sorting. I found the apples at a yard sale, and the bag just happened to have three different sizes! The baskets are the nesting baskets we use in the nursery under the changing table. I just took their liners out and used them for the tray.




The card I put with the tray reads:

Apple Size Sort
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Objective:
Sort the apples, by size, into corresponding sized baskets.
Control of Error:
The apples in each basket will all match.
Going beyond:
*Your child will likely be able to do this sort without reading the size labels or knowing the words small, medium and large, so be sure to point them out.
*What are these? {apples}
*What color are they? {red}
*How many large apples are there? {7}
*How many medium apples are there? {12}
*How many small apples are there? {14}
*Which basket has the most? {small}
*Which basket has the least? {large}







Mini Cooper didnt exactly sort the apples. She just transferred them from the bag to the basket. With a quick try at eating them in between :).

This post will be linked up at the Tot School linky on 1plus1plus1equals1.com when its up. Check it out for more ideas to use with your Tot!

God Bless!!

7 comments:

Kim B. said...

I am so impressed with Mini Cooper's 'small spaces' skills. I've been trying so hard to get L to put things into small spaces with no avail. In fact, I put out the exact same Pom Poms tray for her this week (minus the tongs), and the only thing she did with it was turn the ice cube tray upside down and scatter the Pom Poms all over the floor. Any tips?

www.growingagodlygirl.blogspot.com

Nadia said...

great job with tot school this week. I love your dollar store finds! i wish we had one here in south africa!

Tam said...

love the apple sorting! we just finished up apples last week!

Tracey M. said...

I really like the set up of your posts with the details (difficulty level, what they are learning, etc.) and you had some great activity ideas for fall!

Kelly said...

Thanks so much for sharing your idea with the pumpkin/pom activity! I purchased the same pumpkin tray at the Dollar Tree, but I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how to use it. Now I know what to do! :-)

Marmee's Pantry said...

What lovely, creative ideas you have! I wish I would have known about them when our girls were little. Now I'll just have to try to remember them for our 1-of-these-days homeschooled grand babies! '-)

Blessings from Ohio...Kim<><

Anonymous said...

oo what fun activities!! I love the pumpkin patch activity!