Tot School

::Puzzles we have been working on alot of puzzles lately. Lucas has been enjoying this one. It's matching animals with their homes. It's a twist on the usual fitting the pieces in puzzle or basic jigsaw puzzles that we usually do. He likes making a match and then putting the matched cards in a row. After he lines them all up, he tells stories about the pictures (the illustrations are awesome!!) in whatever order they are in. Who knew a puzzle was so good for the imagination??

::Active play a floor mat See N Say to jump on. It has animals and numbers on it. I'm hoping Lucas will pick up on the numbers since he presses the same one over and over :) He seems to really want to learn to count, but is resistant to just about everything I try.

::Fine motor skills putting nuts on bolts and taking them back apart. This was a big hit!! We've played with it just about every day since I set it out. For a LONG time.

Putting small straws into the straw hole of a big cup. An unforeseen benefit - the top is really hard to take off and put back on, so Lucas has to persevere and be patient and do it *just so*. Something that teaches patience is always good for us!

::ABCs we've been doing a lot of alphabet work lately. We just got this toy - is has spinning wood blocks with the letter on one side and a picture starting with the letter on the other side. Lucas mostly likes spinning the blocks around, but he does point out a letter every now and then or ask more about a picture. He took an interest in the Igloo picture.

::Not pictured we're introducing more non-fiction books every week. If Lucas shows even a hint of interest in anything, we go and find a book about it for him. This week we read non-fiction books about earthworms, elephants, and farms.

And in an effort to teach Lucas an appreciation for fine art and literature; a portion of a Shel Silverstein poetry book. A Yeats poetry book. And a book of Monet's paintings. We keep trying to read Shakespeare to Lucas, but he will have none of it. And he normally LOVES poetry.

We also want to start working on a foreign language. Kids are supposed to learn so easily by immersion, so we have started talking to Lucas in Spanish on occassion. And reading Spanish picture books. I'm planning to find some Spanish music that he will enjoy and can sing along to.
I'm sure there's so much more that we've been doing, but this is all that I have pictures of or cant hink of for now :)

This is the website where I got the idea for Tot School :) I love the idea of keeping track of what we're working on and maybe what needs a little more work with pictures.