Tot School On the Go!

We are heading off on vacation in a few days and will have 8 days in the beautiful state of Colorado. My husband and I knew Mr. Little Man had an amazing week ahead of him and would be exposed to all sorts of new things.  He would have so much fun to have flying, being in the mountains, seeing old friends and more. I didn't plan to do Tot School while we were away but did want to bring a few things for those moments when Mr. Little Man has some down time and may just need something fun and familiar.  I decided that since we would spend half of white dog week and half of black sheep week on vacation, I would bring a little of each and teach them together while we were away. However, with all of our fun tot school activities to choose from, this momma was worried she'd go overboard and over pack when TS was not going to even be a big focus for us.  SO... that's when it hit me!  I would bring a travel sized TS kit, full of fun things he really loves to do. 

How did I do you ask?  Let's just say, there were over a dozen activities in a kit about the size of a jar of peanut butter.  I'm so happy with how it came out and can't wait to have these fun favorite activities in the hotel for Mr. Little Man. 

So... Here is the kit!

 

I figured it was hard to judge the size so... here it is next to a jar of peanut butter.

Here are the contents of the kit...

Inside our TS On the Go Kit is:
1. 10 black pompoms
2. 3 white pipecleaners
3. 4 picture/alpha/numerical blocks (with dogs and black/white items depicted)
4. 12 flash cards (6 white/6 black)
5. 1 bowl
6. 1 colander
7. 10 dried red kidney beans
8. 1 can with a hole in the lid

Here are some up close pictures of the contents:

 

We will use Carisa's printables, both the head&tail ones and the picture flashcards from her BBBBWDYS printable pack (see here).

 

 

 A wooden bowl from Mr. Little Man's play kitchen and 12 black pompoms for counting or matching to the flashcards or most likely throwing :)

 

 

 OK, so this is what got me hooked on this project: the steamer tray from our baby food maker happens to fit like a lid on the kitchen bowl.  This was discovered by accident one day while playing! Here there are three white pipe cleaners to play with the 'collander'.

 

 

 Four wooden blocks to stack, count, name the shapes and seek for them too (which is his favorite!)

 

 

I knew if I was going to travel with a few key TS lessons, this HAD to be one.  I use coffee cans and buttons, beans etc. at home and Mr. Little Man absolutely loves this activity.  The coffee can seemed like a big waste of space so I looked through my pantry and I realized one of our baking powder cans was sitting in the back of the pantry and very old... so I poured out the contents, made a cross shaped hole and added some kidney beans.

And there you have it... a kit to allow us to continue with some familiar and favorite lessons while 2000 miles away.  I will of course bring some books too and in his carry-on, we'll have crayons, paper and our new travel chalkboard. I had so much fun making this I just had to share in case anyone else may have use for some TS fun on the go. I sure had fun making this, if you can't tell, but we'll see what Mr. Little Man thinks in a couple days!

Linking to:
Tot School Gathering Place