Thursday, September 5, 2013

White Dog Week (22 Months)

White Dog, White Dog, What do you see? This book is ingrained in my head at this point...

This week the plan was to explore the color white and dogs.  Half way through the week, however, we were leaving for vacation so mommy got to get really creative and strategic about tot school activities for the trip. I planned to focus on exploring the new place that we were going and all of the fun of traveling but thought that some white dog (and black sheep since we would be there for the first half of this week) activities may be a nice things to have as well. See the Tot School On the Go post to see more about this here.

Set-Up:
Our set up was only utilized for a few days since we left but it was a hit for those few days. I laid out his BBBBWDYS book open to the white dog page and we played hide and seek every morning with our white dog poster.

I went ahead and set up some anytime items to explore like I had the week prior. I included 3 white golf balls and 3 black/white colored balls in an egg carton.  He loves to throw balls, kick them, etc so I knew laying out some white ones on his shelf would be fun. Interestingly, he was drawn to the colors and designs before he felt the urge to throw, roll and kick them.

Lessons:

I made a food item sorter game for Mr. Little Man using his wooden food and some quick drawings. He played this a few times a day for each day.  He found this pretty easy after I demonstrated one food match upon our first attempt.  Regardless of it being easy, he seemed to enjoy it... well, once each time and then he'd move right along.  Later, he'd see it and complete it again... Then move on again.




We also had a tray with a few nautical ropes.  This was something I hadn't thought much about but thought it might be a good opportunity for him to get creative. As i handed him the tray, he looked wideneyednand then eagerly grabbed the rope. immediately, he laid out the rope and walked along it. It was so cute! I went ahead and followed, and we walked the rope again and again.  We also tied the rope to his stuffed puppy and he "walked" the dog around the house. His puppy got jealous I think after seeing Mr. Little Man walk a stuffed puppy for 10 minutes. Lastly, we used the rope as a tug of war tool.  This didn't last long but caused a ton of giggles! 






We had a rice sensory tray this week and he really enjoyed it. I put the tiles from our Bananagrams game into the tray and he had fun seeking the tiles.  I used letters from his name and the word "dog". I also made a strip of paper with his name on one side and "dog" on the other. I felt this may be over his head but that it was worth exposing him to the concept of matching letters since matching the food items was so easy. He did recognize that the symbols of the paper should be matched with a tile but didn't grasp the letter to letter matching. This will be a fun thing to try again and watch his progression. 




Our last lesson before we left on vacation was something I'd created in a pinch... I needed to make some snacks for our trip and Mr. Little Man was not interested in playing on his own.  I set up a blanket  outside of the kitchen and put a tray out for him. The tray had a box of Bananagram letter tiles and an empty wipe box. He had so much fun putting the tiles in and then pouring them out. He used the little box, the wipe box, the tray... And he loves the white tiles. He also found a little white card in the box and was fascinated... It is the little things in life! 


I decided I need to have a basket in the corner of the dining room (where the dog is in the picture above) where I would keep an activity he can safely play with while I cook. I plan to change this up every few days. I folded the blanket and put this tray above in the basket after I finished cooking. Later, I found him laying out the blanket and setting up the activity again just like I had... And then he had round two of play.  This is an idea that causes me to pat myself on the back! I got the kitchen cleaned after making a trips worth of healthy snacks and he couldn't have been happier!

On our vacation we used our Tot School On the Go kit a few times during the last few days of White Dog week.  He particularly loved playing with the pipe cleaners and really loved that I used the white dog flash card as our hide & seek dog while away on vacation. 

We spent most of our time enjoying the beautiful outdoors. We found some natural white objects and we met LOTS of new dog friends! Here are a few pictures of our natural play & learning... White animal statues, hiking the Rockies and some fragrant flowers from the mountains. 








Practical Life:

This week we really dedicated time to putting used dishes in the sink or dishwasher.  I realized inserting things into the dishwasher properly was a challenge but a fun one at that.  This is something we will work on for another week at least since we left for vacation mid week. The fun part was, each friends house we visited on vacation, Mr. Little Man would put his dishes in the sink and dishwasher (when it was open) without even being asked. I was so proud of him using this new skill even away from home.

What We Read:
Go, Dog Go by P.D. Eastman
Good Dog Carl by Alexandra Day
Carl's Snowy Day by Alexandra Day
First Words by Bright Baby
Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See? By Eric Carle

What We Sang:
We spent the week singing BINGO but using our dogs name... DUKIE... he LOVED this!

http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.net/2013/08/tot-school-gathering-place-week-34/
http://www.icanteachmychild.com/2013/08/show-share-saturday-link-2/

7 comments:

  1. I love the wipes box activity! I love them all, but I think that's my favorite! :) I KNEW I saved that last wipes box for a reason.... :) stealing this one! - your blogging friend, Amy @ No Greater Honors

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  2. Such good ideas! You're so organized!

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  3. That's funny, we've learned color white from this book too. Camilla was so proud of herself (she is 22 months old). So great with matching, really! I've recently tried with her the color matching, and that's above her head :( I am very happy to find your blog!

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  4. Great ideas! Lots of fun stuff and I'm glad you shared! I've nominated you for the Liebster Award! Have fun and keep sharing your ideas! http://whereimaginationgrows.blogspot.com/2013/09/liebster-award.html

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  5. I love the ways he came up with to use the rope!

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