As I am spending my birthday with my favorite boys (probably treating myself to a fancy lunch at McDonald's), I am leaving you with this little post on our baking themed week during tot school last week. I thought it turned out really cute and finally made up some new games for John. Woohoo! So, here it goes...
**All games that I made can be dowloaded HERE!**
Cookie Monster Game:
I printed off a picture of Cookie Monster and attached it to an empty tissue box. Then I printed out different pictures of cookies- either different shapes or with letters, numbers or words on them. I put out all the cookies for John and pretended to be Cookie Monster asking for a certain cookie. John loved it and would crack up every time he fed Cookie Monster the correct cookie. I threw in words that he spells on his own to see if he could recognize the words and he did! I was so excited! We played this game several times (even with Daddy at night). Matthew joined in on just putting stuff in Cookie Monster's mouth. Seriously, John LOVED this game and wanted to play it every day. So, I consider this one a success!
Counting Cookies Game:
I printed some different style cookies, laminated them, and glued them onto magnets. My mom has been giving me advertising magnets for a while so I have quite the stash of magnets now! (Thanks, Mom!) I took a block we had at the house and used stickers to number the sides. John would roll the cube and the put that many cookies onto the baking tray. I used a muffin top pan for this which worked perfect because each cookie fit nicely into its own spot. You probably could even do without the magnet part but I thought it might be fun to let Matthew use them on a the fridge late or for another activity.
Fine Motor Skills:
John practiced pouring rice krispie cereal using measuring cups. After he did this a couple times he decided he just wanted to eat the cereal and made a HUGE mess. They had fun so it was ok that I had to vacuum up half a bag of cereal off the floor. :) I am still nervous about Matthew choking on small items so I am hesitant to use beans or something else that isn't edible.
He also practiced scooping up 'candy' (decorative stones) and put them in a muffin tin. Not very exciting for him so he only did this one time.
Sorting:
I put out a pitcher of different spoons for John to sort by size. He did a couple and lost interest. Then I let Matthew play with it and was interesting because he didn't quite know how to get the big spoons back in the pitcher. So this was a great activity for him too- very simple but he is still fine tuning those fine motor skills.
Dot Pages:
I made a C is for Chef page and downloaded a B dot page from Confessions of a Homeschooler. John really loves dot pages so I thought he would enjoy playing around with the marker. However, I guess he decided he wasn't as interested in dot pages this week and only did the C page. You can download the C is for Chef page I made and the other cookies games HERE for FREE!
Random Kitchen Stuff:
I put out a tray of random kitchen stuff for the boys to play with: measuring cups, spoons, sifter, slotted spoon, and cupcake liners. Matthew liked stacking the measuring cups and squeezing the cupcake liners. So this was kind of just like a sensory bin without the beans. We also played with the play kitchen for a little bit. The boys aren't super interested in the kitchen at our house yet they love to play with toy kitchens at other people's houses! So weird!
Real Life:
We made cupcakes and icing during the week. Of course I had my helpers with me the whole time! Then my nieces came over for our weekly playdate and we decorated cupcakes together. So fun! and super yummy! Tomorrow I will post more about this for Toddler Art Tuesday.
Science:
We mixed up pudding and watched it change colors as we mixed in food dye. That counts as science, right?! We then turned it into a sensory activity and I let the boys paint and play with the pudding. Matthew had a cooking brush and John has a bottle cleaner and they just sat there mesmerized by how it felt with pudding all over it. So cute! Of course we ended up with baths (and a quick mopping of the floor!) to clean up the mess.
The printables I made are available for free download HERE!
John starts preschool tomorrow so wish me luck on not crying when I drop him off!
Please be a fan of lil Mop Top on facebook!! I link up to these parties!
So fun!
ReplyDeleteLove the cookie monster game!
ReplyDeleteGreat baking themed activities! And I think it's a great idea to use cereal for scooping and pouring until you feel there's no danger of your child choking on the materials. Thanks so much for linking up with Montessori Monday ... it would be great if you could add the Montessori Monday button to help others join in the fun! I featured your post at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/LivingMontessoriNow
ReplyDeleteGreat activities! My oldest starts full time school next week-I'm with on you the crying!
ReplyDeleteKids are playing with mind growing games and that's very important for kids growth .Its really good for kids..Montessori Nursery School
ReplyDeleteI tried using this same theme. But our cookie monster has ended up eating our lost and found crayons and marker supplies, lol. I am printing out another cooky monster to laminate and then I am going to add foam sticker shapes. Kids have to guess the shape with their eyes closed. Should be fun!
ReplyDelete