Tot School

Lucas is 37 months. Gwendolyn is 14 months.

::Dominoes Lucas loved lining up the dominoes the 'right' way and stacking them up into little towers. Gwendolyn mostly sat on the table and knocked over Lucas's stacks when he told her the stack was ready for her :) She tried stacking them up on her own, but kept knocking the stack over on accident and decided it was more fun to wait for Lucas.
We've been playing lots of games around here lately. Both kids LOVE Hungry, Hungry Hippos - but there aren't any pictures because Gwendolyn tends to think she is a hippo and eats the marbles. We also play Yahtzee quite a bit. Lucas has no real idea what he's supposed to do. But he likes shaking the cup of dice and drawing on his score card. And Tim and I love playing board games :)


::Music time Tim has been teaching Lucas how to read music. Lucas saw there were letters on each of the xylophone keys and asked why they were there, so Tim took the opportunity to start teaching Lucas that those letters correspond to notes on sheet music. Lucas is so entertained! And actually seems to get it.
Gwendolyn loves playing her recorder and often walks around with it in her mouth.
We have been listening to the Classics for Kids weekly composer. This week was The Peer Gynt Suite. We all loved this song and have listened to it MANY times. Gwendolyn often walks over to the computer and pokes it until I turn the classical music on :)

Both kids still love playing with this bongo. It lights up and plays music when you tap the top of it. Gwendolyn was actually awake and playing, she just doesn't like the flash of the camera :)
::Games they play so often the kids make up their own games to play together. Lucas hid their two favorite trucks under a piece of cardboard and jumped on it. And Gwendolyn tried to grab the trucks out and then hop on top. They kept at this game for a LONG time! It's so enjoyable to watch them play so nicely together and to hear their sweet little laughs :)
::Art time

This is Gwendolyn's picture! She is really getting the hang of coloring paper (rather than her tongue) and is loving our regular drawing times!
::Play-doh we have been using Halloween themed sugar cookie stamps with our play-doh. Gwendolyn LOVES poking the stamped images!

::Potato head our Halloween Mr. Potato Head has been a big hit.
::Beads I set out a cup of orange beads with a few pipe cleaners for the kids to work on stringing.
This is what it turned into. A scooping/pouring activity :) Lucas did make one orange bracelet for Gwendolyn, tho!
::Orange bag I saw the idea for a color theme over at little moments and loved it! We have been working on colors with Gwendolyn for a little while now and I thought she would really enjoy this. I filled up their little white sack with a bunch of orange toys. We practice taking turns and each one gets to take one thing out at a time and I ask what color each item is. Lucas has so much fun and thinks it's hysterically funny to keep telling me that everything is orange. And Gwendolyn is happy pulling things out of a bag :) This has been one of our most played with toys!
::Stacking/nest/shape sorting wooden cubes I do love multi-purpose toys.. Gwendolyn is getting so good at finding the right hole for the shapes and putting them in. And Lucas loves setting the cubes up in a tower for her :)
::Reading we have been reading lots of fall and Halloween books lately.

And field guides. The kids love looking at pictures of the birds and trees. Lucas loves finding the birds that come to our house in the books.
::Pop beads they are such a great manipulative for learning colors, counting, patterning and strengthening little hands. We use these a lot!::Wooden train this is how I often find Lucas these days. He LOVES his wooden train! We have been talking more and more about the magnets that hold the cars together.
::Life skills Lucas has been able to unload the dishwasher on his own for quite some time. He has recently taken an interest in loading the dishwasher himself. He put all of the dishes in without help :) He was so proud of himself! Gwendolyn has started helping unload the dishwasher, too. She can put all of the plates/bowls/cups away in the right place. (we keep the dishes in the bottom cabinets so that the kids can reach them - it's always colorful explaining to company just where the dishes are)::Recess I saw the idea for indoor recess at 1+1+1=1 and loved it! Lucas is such an active kid and needs a lot of physical activity to be happy. No problem at all in the warm weather when we're outside in the yard for hours a day and visiting the parks every day. It gets to be a challenge in the winter. This week I brought one of their smaller ride on toys inside. Lucas was beyond happy to have his little fire truck in the house! And it definitely helped to keep him calmer when we didn't get outside due to the rain.
The kids chased each other around the table in circles. They do this regularly without prompting. We also have a stack of cushions that often get rearranged for jumping on/climbing on.