Jessi Rose

Tot-School Red Day

Read:

Big Red Farm by Christianne C. Jones
Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Birdwell
Red by Patricia M. Stockland
Red as a Fire Truck by Molly Dingles

“I Know My Colors” Animal Coloring Book Jumbo
Abeka Nursery Arts & Crafts pg. 1, 7, 9, 11, 15, 17, 143
Abeka Child Art for 2’s pg. 17, 31,

Song:

I LOVE RED
Tune: “Three Blind Mice”

I love red, I love red.
That’s what I said, that’s what I said.
Firetrucks, wagons and strawberries piled high.
Stop signs, hearts and pizza pies.
Roses, tomatoes and apples, oh my.
I love red.
That’s what I said.
–Jean Warren

Color Recognition: Show the child 3 cars or toys (be sure one is red). Have the child point to the red car.

Word Recognition: Print the Red paper to use with do-a-dot markers.

Discuss:

What is something red? Apples, fire trucks, ladybugs, etc…
“I spy something red…”

Snack: Strawberries, Red Apples, Red Juice, Red Jello, Radishes, Watermelon, Licorice, Pepperoni, Tomato

Red Playdough

Get out any red play dough and red play dough toys and tools. Show the child how to use the tools.

Red Mixed Media Collage

Materials: any drawing materials that you have that are RED (crayons, markers, colored pencil), white and red paper, scissors, glue

Description: Child used drawing materials on the white paper. Then she will cut small pieces of her paper and glue them all onto the red paper.

Skills Targeted: teach your tot to follow directions, be creative, and fine motor skills.

Play with Red Balloon

This girl loves to play with balloons, so I got out a red one for her to play with today.

RED word and pictures

I found these Color Headers in the Target back to school clearance a few years ago. She put the red pictures onto the RED word.

Find the Red Ball

Materials: 3 red solo cups, a small red ball

Description: Place three cups with their opening down on the ground. Show your toddler the red ball and place it under one of the red cups. Move the cups around for a few seconds. Have your child see if they can follow the cup with the red ball and guess what cup it is under. Once you do this several times, allow your toddler to put the ball under the cup and try to trick you!

Skills Targeted: teach your tot color recognition, teach your tot to follow directions, teach your tot to play games, teach your tot to make guesses.

RED Baby Bin

I made a Baby Bin filled with red toys for my granddaughter to play with too.

Here are the links to posts for the individual colors that we learned:

Colors Tot-School

We are learning colors this month. We spent a couple days on each color, basically however long she needed to remember the new color. Storm is 2 years old, but you could use most of these activities for 3 and 4 year old children as well. I also have a few activities for babies; we included my granddaughter in some of the lessons. You can click the links at the bottom of this post to see what we did for each individual color.

Preschool Colors Book List

Clifford the Big Red Dog by Norman Birdwell
The Happy Little Yellow Box by David A. Carter
Small Bunny’s Blue Blanket by Tatyana Feeney
Green by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Manus Pinkwater
The Little Black Truck by Libba Moore Gray
Do Your ABC’s Little Brown Bear by Jonathan London
The Little White Owl by Tracey Corderoy
Squirrelly Gray by James Kochalka
Penny Loves Pink by Cori Doerrfeld

Big Red Farm by Christianne C. Jones
Hello, Yellow by Christianne C. Jones
Splish, Splash, and Blue by Christianne C. Jones
Camping in Green by Christianne C. Jones
Purple Pride by Christianne C. Jones
Autumn Orange by Christianne C. Jones
Batty Black by Christianne C. Jones
Brown at the Zoo by Christianne C. Jones
Winter White by Christianne C. Jones
Pink Takes a Bow by Christianne C. Jones

Tot-School Colors Book List

Abeka Language Development card 1-2
Abeka Child Art for 2’s pg. 1-10
Abeka Arts & Crafts with Button Bear pg. 1

Oscar Otter’s Colors by Maurice Pledger
Richard Scarry’s Colors by Richard Scarry
The Crayons’ Book of Colors by Drew Daywalt
Dog’s Colorful Day by Emma Dodd
A White Butterfly by Laurie Cohen
Cyndy Szekeres’ Colors by Cyndy Szekeres
Bright Basics Colors by Nina Filipek
One Gray Mouse by Katherine Burton
How do Dinosaurs Learn their Colors? By Jane Yolen
My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
Maisy’s Colors by Lucy Cousins
Too Many Balloons by Catherine Matthias
Cat’s Colors by Jane Cabrera
Colors by Thierry Laval
Rain by Robert Kalan
One Brown Bunny by Marion Dane Bauer
Little Critter Colors by Mercer Mayer
Peek-a-page Colors by Jane Ormes

Red as a Fire Truck by Molly Dingles
Yellow as a Lemon by Molly Dingles
Blue as a Blueberry by Molly Dingles
Green as a Frog by Molly Dingles
Purple as a Plum by Molly Dingles
Orange as a Pumpkin by Molly Dingles
Black as a Bat by Molly Dingles
Brown as an Acorn by Molly Dingles
White as a Seashell by Molly Dingles
Gray as a Dolphin by Molly Dingles
Pink as a Piglet by Molly Dingles

Red by Patricia M. Stockland
Yellow by Patricia M. Stockland
Blue by Patricia M. Stockland
Green by Patricia M. Stockland
Purple by Patricia M. Stockland
Orange by Patricia M. Stockland
Black by Patricia M. Stockland
Brown by Patricia M. Stockland
White by Patricia M. Stockland
Gray by Patricia M. Stockland
Pink by Patricia M. Stockland

Baby Colors Book List

What Makes a Rainbow? By Betty Schwarz
Rainbow Colors Peekaboo! By Dawn Sirett
Freight Train by Donald Crews
Colors Sophie la Girafe by Dawn Sirett

Color Music Songs:

Color Activities:

Teachers Pay Teachers Jumbo Coloring Book

Draw a road down the middle of a paper, and make colored rectangles on each side. Drive cars down the road until you come to the right color and park the car on the color. I have also created one of these Color Parking Spots and included it in my Teachers Pay Teachers Colors Worksheets Preschool (Learn to spell 11 Colors) Color Mixing Activities.

I printed out pages 13-15 this Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See Pack for her to match 2 piece puzzles together.

Color Ornaments worksheet from Free4Classrooms.com

The Learning Journey: Learn With Me – Color Fun Fish Bowl

I found these Color Headers in the Target back to school clearance a few years ago. I punched out the pieces and laid them on the floor for her to match up.

Match different shades of colors to the grid I got some paint samples and cut apart the shades. She sorted the shades under the correct color.

I printed out and laminated the Color Puzzles #2 for Storm to put together.

I found this fun Paint Brush Color Matching Game for her to put the paint brushes into the matching paint jars.

Abeka Arts & Crafts with Button Bear pg. 1 Make a Crayon Box

Color Busy Book:

I made Storm a busy book to match up colors. I printed all of these pages from free resources that I have found. Then I laminated them and 3 hole punched them and placed them in a binder. I cut out the matches and added velcro dots to them so that she could place them in the appropriate spot.

Apple Color Sorting free from TwistyNoodle.com

Sort Colored scoops of ice cream from FileFolderFun.com

Ice Cream Cone Color Match

Color Chameleons

Rainbow Hearts File Folder Game

Color Dots from Kidsparkz.com

Christmas Colors

Fruit Colors

Dog House Colors

Paint Brush Colors

Mickey Mouse Colors

Colored Fish

Pop Colors

Rainbow Worms

Here are the links to posts for the individual colors that we learned:

“The Wheels on the Bus” Tot School

“The Wheels on the Bus”

Color: Yellow

Shape: Circle

Number: 4

Letter: B

Verse 1: wheels go round

Look at the wheels on our van.
Show the wheels on the toy bus and push it on the floor to see them go round and round.
Roll a ball to go round and round.

Verse 2: people go up and down

Jump up and down.
Hold a baby doll up then down.

Verse 3: horn goes toot

Sit in the van and honk the horn.
Show child some other types of horns.

Verse 4: money goes clink

Drop coins in a jar or piggy bank to go clink.

Verse 5: wipers go swish

Wash the van window.
Turn on the window wipers in the van.

Book List:

Wheels on the Bus by Sylvie Kantorovitz Wickstrom

Wheels on the Bus by Jerry Smath

The wheels on the Bus by Dana Regan

Big Gus The Double Decker by Ian Pillinger
The Bus Driver by Todd H. Doodler

Red Truck, Yellow Bus: A Book of Colors by Rookie Toddler

I’m Feeling School Bus Yellow by Tina Gallo

Dramatic Play:

Play with Sesame Street bus. “Doors go Open and Shut”

Melissa & Doug Transportation

Fisher Price Little People School Bus

Music/ Poems:

“Wheels on the Bus” youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOiYN7iU-W8&t=572s

Foods:

Graham Cracker
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Cheese
Mini Oreo

Fine Motor:

Paint a Shape Bus

The Bears on the Bus (printed from the ABC’s of Literacy https://abcsofliteracy.com/reading-number-words-activity/)

Hands on Bus with movable parts. (msw-wheels-on-the-bus.pdf)

Wheels Shape Match (MatchtheWheelsontheBus-1.pdf)

Trips:

Take a bus ride.

Christmas Fireside Family Photos

Merry Christmas!

Lots of teens and tots in our family photo this year! The toughest part of family time these days, is matching the schedule of these kids going every which way. They are all involved in so many activities I am sososososo proud of them all.

I set up my props in the backyard by our firepit and picnic table. I used vintage sleds, firewood, checkered tablecloth, wooden guitar, and some evergreenery.

The Tots

These girls are learning how to be good friends.

Pretty girls.

The Picnic Table

Our picnic table became the center of our photos despite my efforts to include all of the props that I set out.

The Tree

The big kids leaned against the tree by the woodpile for some of our photos.

The Guitar

I love that he plays guitar and enjoys music so much.

Small Group Photos

The Storm

She is so beautiful and loved sitting in this little seat at the woodpile.

The Dog

Arwen didn’t make it into very many photos. She is a very active dog and just wanted to play!

Merry Christmas to all!

Fall Sensory (Tot) Tub

I put together some small fall items that I found at our local dollar store to create a fall themed Tot Sensory Tub.

Acorns
Pumpkins
Indian Corn
Fall Leaves
Feathers
Pumpkin Jewels
Acorn Jewels
Toddler Tweezers

This tub kept her happy for a long time.

Happy Fall!

Family Thanksgiving Minute-to-Win-it

We visited some family for Thanksgiving. We played a few Minute-to-Win-it challenges together. Our family has a large age difference, so we tried to choose games that would be equally challenging for each of all.

Corn Cob Roll

Materials:

1 minute Timer
Corn Cob
Wooden Spoons
Masking tape

Directions:

Make straight lines with your masking tape that are at least 12 feet long and 1 foot apart.
In less than 1 minute…
Players should slowly roll the corn cob down the lane
If the corn cob rolls out of the lane, players have to roll it back to where it left the line and keep going
No sliding the corn cob with the spoon

Pumpkin Seed Suck It Up

Materials:

1 minute timer
10 Pumpkin Seeds
Straws
Plates

Directions:

Player needs 2 plates with 10 Pumpkin Seeds on one plate.
In less than 1 minute…
Use the straw to suck up the seeds, one at a time and place them on the second plate.
Try to get all of the seeds to the second plate in less than a minute.
You can adjust the difficulty of this challenge by adding or taking seeds.

Thankful Plate Stack

Materials:

1 minute Timer
6 Plastic Cups
3 Large Paper Plates

Directions:

In less than 1 minute…
have players stack the cups starting with 1, then a plate, 2 more cups, plate, 1 cup, plate, 2 cups!

Match Maker

Materials:

1 minute Timer
9 Pumpkins
9 Acorns
18 Cups
2 Empty Cups (across the room)

Directions:

Place a pumpkin under each cup and an acorn under each cup… and spread them out on the table.
Place an empty cup several feet away.
You have just 1 minute to…
uncover 1 pumpkin and acorn at a time and run it to the empty cups across the room
Sort the pumpkins and acorns into the appropriate cups.

Candy Corn Shake!

Materials:

1 minute Timer
5 plastic cups
15 pieces of candy corn
card stock
glue

Directions:

place candy corn into cups with 1 in a cup, 2 in the next cup, 3 in the next cup, 4, then 5
Cover the opening with card stock and glue – write a little number of how many candy corns are inside for your eyes only
In under a minute…
Players should shake the cups and order them in order 1-5 candy corns.

Shake Your Tail Feather

Materials:

1 minute Timer
an empty tissue box – the rectangle kind
pantyhose
1 bag of feathers
scissors and tape

Directions:

Tie the hose through the tissue box with the legs for the hose extending out of the backside
Fill the tissue box with feathers
In under a minute…
players should shake their tail feathers – emptying feathers out of the box

Inertia Yank

Materials:

1 minute Timer
3 plastic cups
2 pieces of card stock

Directions:

Place a cup with a piece of card stock on top of it. Then a cup on top of that with another piece of card stock on top. Place 1 more cup on top.
In under a minute…

Players should yank the card stock out from between the cups
If they are quick enough the cups should stack up without toppling over.

Pumpkin Bop

Materials:

1 minute Timer
Orange Balloons

Directions:

Players keep one hand in their pocket and try to keep two orange balloons up in the air for one minute.
You can adjust the difficulty of this challenge by adding or taking away a balloon.

Leaf Blower

Materials:

1 minute Timer
leaves, they can be real leaves that are dried out or fake leaves
straws (or turkey basters)

Instructions:

In less that 1 minute…
Player will use a new straw (or turkey baster) to blow/race the leaf to the other end of the table.

Turkey Trot

Materials:

1 minute Timer
Wooden spoons
candy pumpkins or candy corn

Instructions:

Place one candy pumpkin on a spoon and stand at the beginning of the obstacle course.
In less than a minute…
Have players race holding onto their spoon with one hand (you can allow younger kids to use both hands).
If their candy drops off, they have to start back at the beginning.
To make this game more challenging for adults, you can create a bit of an obstacle course.

Acorn/ Pumpkin Toss

Materials:

1 minute Timer
10 Acorns or Candy Pumpkins
Halloween Pumpkin Bucket

Instructions:

Place the bucket on the floor 10 feet from where the player will be standing.
In under a minute…
The person with the acorns needs to throw all of the acorns into the bucket.

Turkeys of a Feather

Materials:

1 minute Timer
2 feathers
Turkey basters

Directions:

The object of the game is to keep your feather in the air without touching the ground or any other surface by blowing on them.
players need to attempt to keep their feather in the air for a full minute by blowing it up.

Buckets of Acorns

Materials:

1 minute Timer
2 bowls
Jumbos kids tweezers or chopsticks
10 acorns

Instructions:

2 bowls side by side. All of the acorns in 1 of the bowls.
In under a minute…
Players will try and get all of the acorns into the empty bowl using only the tweezers.

Pumpkin Head

Materials:

1 minute Timer
Mini pumpkins

Directions:

Give each player a mini pumpkin to balance on their head.
In under a minute…
The players must run from one end of the yard to the other without the pumpkin falling off their heads. If you want to make it more difficult, you can set up an obstacle course.
(our pumpkins were too small and light for this one… I suggest an actual tiny pumpkin)

2 Year Old Pocahontas Toddler Photos

Pocahontas this fall… but it’s too cold to go outside this year.

We had been watching Disney Pocahontas this fall so she was excited to she herself as the “Pretty Princess”.

Laying in the leaves.

Pretty and long hair!

Below she is Pocahontas 1 year apart in each photo…

Family Teen Halloween Festivities

The kids are growing up so we tried some more activities geared toward teens this year!

Campfire

Fall Foods

Hot Cocoa & Apple Cider

Carmel Apples (red, green, yellow apples) with mini chocolate chips, chopped nuts, and sprinkles

Roasted Hot Dogs

S’mores

Chili with cheese, crackers and corn chips

Homemade Chili Recipe

Ingredients:

Chili Brick
2 lb. ground beef
3 cans of kidney beans
1 can tomato soup
1 Cup water

Directions:

Brown the beef and drain.
Mix all of the ingredients in a big pot and bring to boil.
Lower heat and simmer until chili brick is dissolved, at least an hour, stirring occasionally.

Pumpkin Carving

Candy vs. Chocolate

This was one of the kids favorite activities this year!

Storm Trunk -or- Treat

Goodnight Moon Tot School

One of the favorite books for all of my toddlers over the years has been “Goodnight Moon”. The simple rhyming and repetition is calming for my little ones.

Abeka Curriculum

I was able to incorporate several of our Abeka nursery lessons into this unit as well. Following are some of the specific books with links that are used in this Farm Tot School Unit: