Winter and Valentine's Activity Trays!!

Tomorrow is my monthly day to 'teach' at our homeschool co-op preschool group.  

Here is what will be on the trays this month:

Snowman addition game.  I found this idea on My Montessori Journey.

It is free for download from Making Learning Fun.

Snowman Colors.  I found out about this great printable from Deb at Pre-K and K Sharing (also LivingMontessoriNow).

It is available at The Kids Place.

Heart patterning.  I downloaded pattern strips from PreKinders.

Then I paired them with the hearts from a pack of candies I got from Oriental Trading Company (not an affiliate link).

Snowman magnet page, also from The Kid's Place. 

I found this through Deb's Pinterest page.

Roll a snowman.

From 2 Teaching Mommies.

How Tall is the Snowman?

Yet another great printable from The Kid's Place.

Matching Snowflakes.

These are from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

Tweezing feathers.  I found this idea on My Montessori Journey.

Mini Cooper got into my bin of materials while I was putting together other trays.

She started doing this on her own, so I hope the other kids like it, too.

Felt heart sorting. I made this one up a couple of years ago.

It's nice to have it already made up :).

Lacing beads.

Opening and closing little heart boxes.  There is a little bead in each one.

Red boxes are from the Dollar Tree. 

Heart sticks from the Dollar Tree put into a Parmesan holder (also from the Dollar Tree).  

Penguin pattern blocks from Prekinders.

Heart scratchers I found at Hobby Lobby.  

Water transfer.  I made the mistake of pouring all the water out before I took a picture!  I got this idea from My Montessori Journey.

Spelling puzzles by Lauri.

Matching written numbers to the numeral.

I made these 2 years ago, so they aren't as great as some of my newer printables.  You can find them here.

Count and clip cards.

These are from Nicole at Tired, Need Sleep.

Matching the uppercase snowman to his lowercase hat is one more great printable from The Kid's Place.

It was featured on PreK and K Sharing, which is how I heard about it :).

So there you have it, 20 Activity Trays or Tot Trays as some would call them.  I'm so thankful for the many printables that are shared by wonderful blog mommies out there!  It really made my job a breeze this time!!

Enjoy and God Bless!!

We're linked up!

    

Snowed In

A big thank you to Lindsay at Bytes of Memory who shared on her Tot School page the idea of bringing the cold snow into our warm house.

It was all of 9 degrees today with a windchill of 10 below, but from inside our warm and toasty house, the kids couldnt tell that! They saw over a foot of white, crisp snow under a shiny sunshine and they wanted to go PLAY! Of course, since there has been snow on the ground for nearly 2 weeks (something that was uncommon at our last location) they were pretty used to me saying no to the idea of trecking out into the cold, so they didnt even ask.

That's what made this surprise all the more fun. They couldnt believe-and really neither could I-that Mom would go outside and get buckets of snow to play with inside! It was in the sink, with a large towel set below them for any melting water, and mittens were provided to keep fingers warm. They each got a chair to stand on, a bucket, and an ice cream scoop. I knew, someday, it would be useful that I own 3 ice cream scoopers!

We made a couple snowmen and even posed one with my snowman salt and pepper shakers. We made snow balls, though throwing them wasnt allowed. And the kids ate a lot, I mean TONS of snow. I think they ate their weeks required water intake.

Most of all we had a lot of fun and made some great memories!

Our first Muffin Tin Monday!

I'd read about Muffin Tin Monday on a number of great blogs and we wanted to join in the fun. Thankfully, there wasnt a theme for the week, so I was able to come up with ideas from what I had on hand.

I used the cupcake holders left over from Mustang's birthday party and cut off the lids (I did save them in case MTM is ever a picnic). They were the perfect 6 cup size, and they dont rust :).

Our school theme this week is snow-gee am I creative, so I made a snowman in our muffin tin. Mustang had PB&J and Charger just had peanut butter because he hates jelly-not my kid! I took a glass and made a round pattern and then used clean scissors to cut out the circles.



I used tiny M&M's for the eyes, a tiny carrot for the nose, and a Cherrio for the mouth. I took some of the crust and stuffed it in as a scarf. The buttons were raisins, and the hat a slice of banana. Some things worked a bit better then others, but I was pleased with the result.



Then, I tried to make edible snowflakes with tortillas, melted butter and cinnamom. They looked cute, but did not taste good. I filled the last spot with extra raisins and carrots. When we were done, the kids each got a few extra M&M's for dessert. I couldnt put them in the tin, though, because the food would not have been eaten.

Both kiddos thought it was pretty cool to eat a snowman for lunch, and I have to admitt I had a lot of fun making this lunch! I'm looking forward to next week!!