Summer Adventures Part 1

So I'm very behind in posting these but we had such a busy summer!

More Summer Adventures

Summer Adventures Part 2

Tot school set up

A few people have asked about Molly's Tot School that we do each week and how to do one for their little person so I thought I'd post it all in one place for easy reference. 

Tot school set up

1. Pick a theme for each week

2. Print a do-a-dot marker page for each theme or letter. 

       - day 1 use magnets

       - day 2 use puff balls

       - day 3 use dot markers

http://totschool.shannons.org/do-a-dot-letters/

3. Find printables for each theme. I stick to the preschool or totschool ones because the skills are more on her level. 

http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/TotSchoolPrintables.html

Colors, sizes, matching, etc. Skills I try to hit are fine motor, gross motor, matching, colors, sizing, letters, numbers/counting, transferring objects, pouring, colors, shapes, imagination play, and life skill. I don't get all in each week but I try to hit at least 4-5 

-I also pull images at this point if I want to make felt board pieces for the theme

http://mothersniche.com/felt-pieces-diy/

How to make your own felt pieces

 4. Go through our learning toys and pull ones that match the theme (ie: farm animals, flashcards, stickers, puppets, pegboard, foam animals, lacing cards, felt board pieces,  puzzles, etc)

5. Find books in our collection or  Library search for board books (our library has a toddler collection) pull 4-5 books for the book bin

6. Put together a sensory bin. Basically a big Tupperware container with filler (colored rice, soil, beans, corn, oats, cheerios, whatever) and then add lots of different objects that match our theme. 

7. Lastly if I planned any activities that I need to purchase something for I run to dollar tree, family dollar  or dollar general and pick up what I need. (Last week I needed small disposable pots and fake flowers for our gardening sensory bin) 

8. I try to keep our afternoon snack in the theme so we can talk about it while she eats but sometimes that's just too much work :)

Tot school letter G

G is for garden

We did a G Do-a-Dot page along with our sensory table and counting flowers. We planted seeds too and spent time playing with the items in our letter G drawer. We had these 3 books in our book bin:

Weekly Lunches

Working on making lunch packing easier. Wish I'd come up with this earlier in the year but oh well, better late than never. If it is as helpful as I think it'll be I'll Keep it up through the summer. It's a short week so we only need 4 for this week. 

Carrot & apple juice box, with cherry yogurt, Cheese stick, hummus with baby carrots, almonds with cocoa blueberries, fruit (apples with strawberry & grapes) and macaroni and cheese with grilled chicken. 

Now if only I could come up with a bunch of weight watcher friendly ones for me! 

Oh wait I did!!

I packed a Chicken Caesar Wrap with mandarin oranges, pretzels with Laughing Cow wedge, and a hard boiled egg. 

I also managed to get a few things in the freezer for breakfast for the next 2 weeks. 

I made a batch of 12 Smoothie Popsicles and a large batch of Strawberry Banana Zucchini Muffins. Molly loves them. I used a banana bread mix and used strawberry apple sauce instead of the oil. Then I added a shredded zucchini. They're so yummy!