Author: Jessi Rose

Tot-School Green Day

Read:  

Song: 

THERE’S A COLOR WE ALL KNOW
Tune: “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”

There’s a color we all know,
G-R-E-E-N.
It’s the color that means “Go!”
G-R-E-E-N.
Oh, grass is green and lettuce is green,
Leaves and spinach and peas are green,
There’s a color we all know,
G-R-E-E-N
–Elizabeth Scofield

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

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

Discuss: 

  • What is something green? Frog, tree, grapes, etc…
  • “I spy something green…”

Snack:  Green Sugar Cookie, Grapes, Green Beans, Honeydew, Kiwi, Lettuce, Cucumber, Green Apple, Green Koolaid, Pickle

Green Playdough

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

Green Mixed Media Collage

Materials: any drawing materials that you have that are GREEN (crayons, markers, colored pencil), white and green 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 green paper.

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

Play with Green Balloon

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

GREEN word and pictures

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

Shopping for Green Food

Materials:

Directions:

  1. Put play food in a shopping basket.
  2. Have the child pick out all of the green foods and place them on her plate.

Skills Targeted: teach your tot color recognition, teach your tot to follow directions

GREEN Baby Bin

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

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

Tot-School Blue Day

Read:  

Song: 

WE LOVE BLUE
Tune: “Three Blind Mice”

We love blue. We love blue.
Yes, we do. Yes, we do.
We love the ocean and sky so blue.
We love blue ribbons and blue jeans, too.
We love blueberries, so good for you.

We love blue.
–Liz Ryerson

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

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

Discuss: 

  • What is something blue? Blueberries, train, jeans, etc…
  • “I spy something blue…”

Snack:  Blueberries, Blue Jello, Blue Popsicle, Blue Gatorade, Blue Chips, Blue Unicorn Pudding

Blue Playdough

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

Blue Mixed Media Collage

Materials: any drawing materials that you have that are BLUE (crayons, markers, colored pencil), white and blue 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 blue paper.

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

Play with Blue Balloon

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

BLUE word and pictures

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

Blue Fish Painting

Materials:

  • White paper
  • Blue paint
  • Paintbrush
  • Masking tape
  • Googly Eye

Directions:

  1. Use the masking tape to make the shape of a fish on the white paper.
  2. Let the child paint the whole paper blue.
  3. After it dries peel off the masking tape.
  4. Add a googly eye.  It looks like you have a blue fish swimming in blue water now.

Skills Targeted: teach your tot color recognition, teach your tot to follow directions

BLUE Baby Bin

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

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

Tot-School Yellow Day

Read:  

Song: 

YELLOW SUN


Yellow sun, oh what fun.
Now we all can play.
I will wear my yellow suit
And swim out in the bay.

Yellow sun, in the sky
Shinning down on me.
I will play out in the sun,
Then rest beneath a tree.

–Jean Warren

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

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

Discuss: 

  • What is something yellow? Sunshine, bumble bee, cheese, etc…
  • “I spy something yellow…”

Snack:  Bananas, Lemonade, Lemon pudding, Pineapple, Corn, Kix, Eggs

Yellow Playdough

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

Yellow Mixed Media Collage

Materials: any drawing materials that you have that are YELLOW (crayons, markers, colored pencil), white and yellow 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 yellow paper.

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

Play with Yellow Balloon

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

YELLOW word and pictures

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

Cornmeal Sunshine

Materials:

  • Paper
  • Glue
  • Cornmeal

Directions:

  1. Make a sunshine with glue on the paper.
  2. Let the child sprinkle cornmeal over the glue.
  3. Shake off any extra. Then she drew in the cornmeal with his finger.

Skills Targeted: teach your tot color recognition, teach your tot to follow directions

YELLOW Baby Bin

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

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

Tot-School Red Day

Read:  

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

Tot-School Colors Book List

  • 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

Color Music Songs:

Color Activities:

  • 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. 

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.

  • Paint Brush Colors

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

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!

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

Corn Cob Roll

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • Corn Cob
  • Wooden Spoons
  • Masking tape

Directions:

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

Pumpkin Seed Suck It Up

Pumpkin Seed Suck It Up

Materials:

  • 1 minute timer
  • 10 Pumpkin Seeds
  • Straws
  • Plates

Directions:

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

Thankful Plate Stack

Thankful Plate Stack

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • 6 Plastic Cups
  • 3 Large Paper Plates

Directions:

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

Match Maker

Match Maker

Materials:

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

Directions:

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

Candy Corn Shake!

Candy Corn Shake!

Materials:

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

Directions:

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

 Shake Your Tail Feather

Shake Your Tail Feather

Materials:

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

Directions:

  1. Tie the hose through the tissue box with the legs for the hose extending out of the backside
  2. Fill the tissue box with feathers
  3. In under a minute…
  4. players should shake their tail feathers – emptying feathers out of the box
Shake Your Tail Feather
Shake Your Tail Feather

Inertia Yank

Inertia Yank

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • 3 plastic cups
  • 2 pieces of card stock

Directions:

  1. 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.
  2. In under a minute…
  1. Players should yank the card stock out from between the cups
  2. If they are quick enough the cups should stack up without toppling over.

Pumpkin Bop

Pumpkin Bop

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • Orange Balloons

Directions:

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

Leaf Blower

Leaf Blower

Materials:

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

Instructions:

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

Turkey Trot

Turkey Trot

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • Wooden spoons
  • candy pumpkins or candy corn

Instructions:

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

Acorn/ Pumpkin Toss

Acorn/ Pumpkin Toss

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • 10 Acorns or Candy Pumpkins
  • Halloween Pumpkin Bucket

Instructions:

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

Turkeys of a Feather

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • 2 feathers
  • Turkey basters

Directions:

  1. 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.
  2. players need to attempt to keep their feather in the air for a full minute by blowing it up.

Buckets of Acorns

Buckets of Acorns

Materials:

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

Instructions:

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

Pumpkin Head

Pumpkin Head

Materials:

  • 1 minute Timer
  • Mini pumpkins

Directions:

  1. Give each player a mini pumpkin to balance on their head.
  2. In under a minute…
  3. 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.
  4. (our pumpkins were too small and light for this one… I suggest an actual tiny pumpkin)

2 Year Old Pocahontas Toddler Photos

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

Pocahontas loves to explore the outdoors and nature. She’s an adventurous and curious girl who is looking for the right path to follow. She is wise enough to seek the advice of her elder grandmother tree, and stands up for what is right even if it goes against the norm.

Ever since she could walk, Storm also loves being outdoors. She loves to pick flowers and help me in the garden. We will always teach her to follow the ways of the Lord even though most people will disagree with it.

I found this Pocahontas dress at a local resale store after Halloween. I was so excited, it was just in time for her pictures. I just combed her hair straight after her bath and parted it on the side. She also has these turquoise earrings to wear. I placed my  blue sheet for the background with Christmas lights behind it to look like a water fall. I just crumpled brown packing paper to place on either side of the waterfall and a brown sheet on the ground. We also used fabric leaves these photos.

Deuteronomy 31:8 “It is the LORD who goes before you; he will be with you and will never fail you or forsake you. So do not fear or be dismayed”. 

Below she is Pocahontas 1 year apart in each photo…

You might enjoy Storm’s other Pocahontas photoshoots:

Or some of her other Princess Photoshoots:

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