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Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Snowman/Winter Activities

We have had a fabulous week exploring our winter and snowmen theme! Here are a few (ok maybe more than a few) pictures from our week.

So to be real honest, Monday morning didn't quite go as I had hoped. JP didn't really want to do the activities I had planned.  So I decided to lay low and not push it. I then laid out our sensory bin and left it while I cut another activity. Before I knew it they were enthralled with it!

This time around I laid out our favorite blanket and instructed them to keep all sensory bin items on the blanket. :) This worked much better to try to keep the items contained.
JP made a cave for the polar bears.


Before I knew it they were both beading the pipe cleaners all on their own. 

One thing I really enjoy is to sit back and watch them explore the sensory bins on their own. At times, the "teacher" in me wants to direct their learning and thinking right away, but it is so much more rewarding and fun to watch them learn on their own.My goals for the sensory bin are for the boys to sort objects, make and extend patterns, work on fine motor skills by scooping, pouring and transferring. Some days they have their own agenda and that is ok too!

Next we began working on the Snowman, Snowman, What do you See printable from Playing with Words 365, which is awesome! The boys LOVED it! First I read the book to the boys and then they glued the pictures on each page. The winter vocabulary in this activity is awesome. I also love all the questions that are provided in the "lesson guide".

 Lately, the boys have loved taking a few pictures with my camera. So here is the real mama on a weekday with no make up and comfy clothes. Please tell me the rest of you awesome mamas look the same daily?!?! Why put on my face, if I'm not leaving the house?!

CA LOVED putting his pictures in his book. Then he "read" the book to me numerous times. So precious! 



Then out of the blue JP says to me, "Mommy, wouldn't it be cool if I could draw a picture of myself with winter clothes on?!" Well to his surprise that is an extension activity provided with this printable!

He was so excited and proud of himself when he finished!

Then we pulled out all of our "winter gear" and pretended to dress up. This kept them occupied and engaged for a long amount of time! They loved this and wanted to do it first thing Tuesday morning too!
Nice pink scarf, son! 
All in all Monday morning was a blast, even if didn't quite start as I had hoped, but as I've said before I am learning to be flexible! And let my kiddos lead the learning!


Tuesday morning was a ton of fun too! I decided to try something new by allowing CA to work on a few activities/trays on his own while JP worked at the table. I've seen a lot of tot school activities on trays for younger learners and thought I would give this a try. So far CA did well with it.

CA is working on his colors so I allowed him to sort the new magnetic wooden letters by color. 

Then he laced his new Melissa and Doug Lace and Trace animal cards.

 We then began working on the Snowman Tot Pack from Royalbaloo.
Cutting practice

Tracing practice

Tracing practice for CA
 Then we pulled out salt to make shapes and letters in! Such fun!

 Then JP wanted to get the polar bears out of the sensory bin to play in the "snow" as he called it. So off he went to find them. Again, this one was all his idea. Love that!

We also played with white and blue playdoh to top off the fun for the day!



I also made snowman shaped sandwiches one day for lunch.

So here are a few more trays with activities on them that we used this week. I found this awesome Snowman Colors printable at The "Kids Place ".


 I modified this activity for CA today by only putting out 7 upper case and lower case letters to match. He aced it and I will have to add more for him next week.I am enjoying the "tray" idea and will need to do it more often. :)
 Here are the books we've been reading. Remember I have a little bit of a book/library addiction. :) Please tell me I am not the only one? :)
Then CA blew me away with the next activity by laying out all the alphabet cards (on his own initiative)  and then he matched Leap Frog letters to the cards. He did a great job and was so proud of himself and so was his mama!

We also painted snow pictures with cotton balls to wrap up the learning!  

Overall we have had a great week!
Feel free to leave me comments about what you've been up to with your littles!
I LOVE reading each comment and really try to respond to each one!
Happy Learning!
Trina

Linking up here:
Thrifty Thursday-Playing with Words 365
What's on the Tray Wed-H is for Homeschooling
Thinky Linky Thursday- Cachey Mama's Classroom
Preschool Corner- Homeschool Creations
Fun Stuff Fridays-Toys in the Dryer
Sharing Saturday

22 comments:

  1. I love all your winter activities!

    I like how you guys played dress up with winter clothes. That's a great idea and it looks like your boys had a lot of fun with it.

    I love your snowman sandwiches too. I keep meaning to break out my cookie cutters to make Liam some shape sandwiches for his lunch. I think he'd get a kick out of that, but so far I've been lazy.

    I like to go crazy at the library too, however I found out over Christmas that trying to read too many books over the course of a week is overwhelming for Liam. He prefers to have a few books read over and over. Guess all kids are different.

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    1. Hi Jenny! Thank you for all of your awesome feedback! I love hearing from you! Your Liam is so blessed to have you! I hear ya, on not reading too many books. It is great you already know his learning style. I have both of my boys pick out a book before nap time and bedtime from our themed selection. They often pick a familiar one or a favorite from the day before. :) I found so many great winter ideas and I didn't even get to all of them that I found. :)

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  2. We're doing a winter unit soon, thanks for some great inspiration!

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    1. Hi Lori! Sure! I found so many great ideas, I couldn't implement them all. :)

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  3. You're not the only one. Our library is a fairly long drive, so I don't stop in as much as I'd like, but I hit up all the book sales, and I try to stop in goodwill to shop their book section whenever I can. It makes it easier to have at least a small selection of topics at home for when I can't get to the library.

    My kids often ask for "surprise cookie cutter" sandwiches at lunch...sometimes I'll even make a small scene with fruit, pretzel rods, etc. It's fun!

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    1. Hi Brittney! Thanks for your comments. Thankfully the library is right down the street for us. :) I too like to make lunch a little more fun when I can.

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  4. Thanks for the comment, I had no idea there was a printable out there for the color snowmen I made :) I like your activities.
    Jodie ~ Tons of Fun
    http://tonsoffunpreschoolactivities.blogspot.com

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  5. You got through so many activities. Loved the winter clothes/ paper doll dress up. We did snowman last week with a Mitten theme. So much fun.

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    1. Hi Happyscrapper 42! Thanks for visiting and commenting! The funny thing is I still have more winter ideas swirling in my head and may extend in one more week and move my lesson plans around, but that is one of the things I love about this preschool/homeschool journey, is that I get to decide and plan it all out! :) I really enjoyed your blog today too! :)

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  7. oooh what fun! thanks for sharing the great ideas and printables!

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    1. Thanks for visiting and commenting and you're welcome for the printables. :)

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  8. These are great activities. I am working on a winter sensory bin for my little guy right now. Thanks for linking up to Thinky Linky Thursday!
    Lori

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    1. Thanks! Thank you for hosting Thinky Linky Thurs! Hope your sensory bin turns out great! Can't wait to see it!

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  9. I love the cave your son made for the polar bear =-) I LOVE books too!! I have piles of library books at home at one time =-) Thanks for linking up to TGIF! Have a great week,
    Beth =-)

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    1. Thanks, Beth for your sweet "bloggy love"! I hope you have a great week too!

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  10. So many great activities!!! And no.. you're not the only who has book addictions :) thanks so much for sharing this on Sharing Saturday.

    ~MiaB
    www.mamamiasheart2heart.com

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    1. Thanks, Mia! So glad to know I am not the only one with book addictions! Thanks for hosting the linky party! You're awesome!

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  11. So fun! I can totally relate to what you were saying about the teacher in you wanting to step in and direct the activity. =)

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  12. Thanks, Activity Mom! Today I did step in with the sensory bin fun, after a week of exploring it was time to do some patterns and such. :)

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  13. I love so many things about this post! I love that you share your books, I love your sensory bin, I love the use of the salt tray, I love the snowman matching- so many great ideas! Thank you for sharing at WOTT this week!

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