Tiny Tot School - Blue

Maddie is 12 months old.

I decided to start a version of "tot school" with Miss Maddie. I'm calling it Tiny Tot School because she is still quite young. We are starting small, but I thought some structured, one on one, intentional playtime would be good for her. It's also a lot of fun for me! For our first week we focused on the color blue. We ended up doing this for two weeks, as the first week was rough - she was sick and we had a lot going on, so we only did Tot School one day.

 Sensory Basket - Blue

I filled the basket with random blue things from around the house - a few toys, a teether, a pair of socks, a towel, a plastic Easter egg, an Origami Owl locket box, a cookie cutter. I just don't feel like she is ready for actual sensory bins - everything still goes in her mouth. At first, she wasn't sure about it, but over the course of the week, she ended up spending quite a bit of time with the locket box and the Easter egg. She just LOVED opening and closing them. By Friday, she went straight to the Easter egg and spent 15 minutes putting a pom pom in, closing it, opening it, and taking the pom out. I'm thinking an open-and-close basket would be perfect for her another week.

Tray #1 - Blue Stickers on Blue Paper

I handed the stickers to her and she put them on the paper. She loved this! Her favorite thing to do was to stack the stickers in her hand... she didn't like to keep them on the paper, she wanted to keep them in her hands.

Tray #2 - Transferring Blue Pom Poms

Maddie absolutely REFUSED to touch the poms the first day, like they were sea urchins. She turned it into a pouring activity. She would try and pour the poms into the other bowl, then stack the bowls together. I tried to convince her to touch a pom pom, but it was definitely a no go. After a day or two, she decided she really liked the poms. She didn't want to transfer them from bowl to bowl, so she dumped out the bowl and then put them back in one at a time.

Tray #3 - Shape Sorter

This is a new toy she got for her birthday. I know shape sorting is still a little beyond her, but I wanted her to have some structured playtime with it. She matched up the square piece very well, then turned it into her own activity. She spent 20 minutes putting the shapes in the bowl, dumping it out, and putting them back in. I would count them as she put them in, and she seemed to enjoy that. This was probably her favorite tray.

Art - Blue Crayon on Paper

We are making a "God Made Everything" book (idea from teacherturnedmomma.blogspot.com) with our colors. This week the page is about blue birds. Maddie is still learning how to color... she tends to just hold it in her hand and scream at me because she is so excited. :)

All in all, Tiny Tot School went really well these last two weeks! I think we will continue doing this. :) I am loving having intentional time with her, and I can tell that Maddie enjoys it too. She gets SO excited when I open the closet and ask her if she wants to play Tot School.