L for Lion

 Xander is 28 Months

We are currently working on our Mommy & Me ABC units.  This week was letter L and lions!  Unfortunately we did fewer trays than normal, but we still did plenty of Tot School Activities!  Unless otherwise specified, all of the printables are from my Mommy & Me ABC Printables, which are free as we complete them (for a detailed list of all the materials in the printables, check out this post).

 His white board had some a lion magnet, alphabet magnets, and his fridge phonics set.  His shelf had some L's, some toy lions, and some lion books.  His favorite book was The Lion and the Mouse.

Letter K Alphabet Sensory Bin

 Letter L and Lion Puzzles

Zoo Mix N Match Puzzle

Pattern Blocks

We used the Lion page from his Scholastic Zoo Template and some magnetic pattern blocks (I don't like the blocks that came with the Scholastic set as well).  He does a good job finding the correct pieces but gets frustrated lining them all up properly.

  Puppet Fun

Building Letters
We made an L out of Dado squares.

 Of course we (I) had to build other things too...

 L/Lion Art

We did some stamping with our uppercase and lowercase stamp and washable stamp pads.  He also added some foam stickers and did some coloring with Twistable Crayons.

We also made a lion handprint craft.

Painting an L (from 1+1+1=1)

Other Tot School Activities

Watching Blue Planet on Netflix while playing with his Baby Sea Life Toob.  He was playing with the baby sea turtle while we watched the sea turtles lay eggs on the movie.

Patiently waiting for the laminator to finish.  He likes to pull the sheets out for me when I am working on new Tot School materials.

Magnets

Xander was really into playing with his magnet wands this week.  He went around the house seeing what would stick.  He also did some "fishing" in alphabet letters.  On the right you can see where I gave him a container with pieces of pipe cleaner to move around.

Doing "homework" with Mommy.

Bath time fun with alphabet letters.  He was upset I hadn't gotten out all of the letters so we couldn't spell his name.

K for Kangaroo

Xander is 28 Months

We are currently working on our Mommy & Me ABC units.  Between illness, schoolwork, and a short road trip, it took us a few weeks, but we finally finished letter K!  Unless otherwise specified, all of the printables are from my Mommy & Me ABC Printables, which are free as we complete them (for a detailed list of all the materials in the printables, check out this post).

 His white board had some kangaroo magnets, alphabet magnets, and his fridge phonics set.  His shelf had some K's and some kangaroo books.

Kangaroo Tracing

Letter Clipping

Kangaroo Number Cards

I used a hole punch to make a hole in the square where the number tile goes on each card.  Then we counted the number of kangaroos on the card, found the matching number tile, and then used learning links to make a chain of that length.  He is getting much better at putting the links together!

Kangaroo Size Sort

Kangaroo Bottle Cap Matching

Letter K Alphabet Sensory Bin

Play Dough
Xander asked for the play dough multiple times this letter.  He did his play dough stamping page with the lowercase stampers as well as using some letter K cookie cutters.  He also kept putting all the play dough in the kangaroo cookie cutter and putting it in the "oven" (under the table) to make a cake.

 Drinking coffee and making snakes

 Letter K and Kangaroo Puzzles

Stamping
We did some stamping with our uppercase and lowercase stamp and washable stamp pads.

Alphabet Pegs

Building a "tower" on the K from peg letters.

Other Tot School Activities

I got out the animal matching cards that go with the Mommy and Me ABC printables.  We haven't done them in a long time, but he had a good time and got most of them right away.

Rainbow Math Game

I posted recently about wanting to take a new approach to math.  In the spirit of that, I made this printable for Xander.  The idea is that I put a number tile (printable ones included in the file) in the box and then he has to count out the corresponding number of cotton balls for clouds in the sky.  You can download it for free here, just please link back to me if you post about using it.

I apologize for the lack of pictures!  Eventually I will get some taken!

From Dots to Marshmallows

We are changing our approach to math!

I posted a couple years ago about doing the dot cards with Xander, as described in How to Teach Your Baby Math by Glenn Doman.  We did all cards 0-100 and have since used Little Math.  I delayed counting and numerals, just like I was supposed to and he still doesn't recognize quantities readily.  While Little Reader and the techniques from How To Teach Your Baby to Read have worked for us with phenomenal results, the "right brain" equivalents for math just haven't.  I think it is mostly my fault since I have not been all that consistent in working with him in the subject.  Regardless, we are moving on!

I recently purchased Marshmallow Math (Kindle version available super cheap) and am working my way through it.  I love that it has great suggestions and examples of how to work math into everyday life, without a ton of planning or effort.  Xander is counting pretty well now, so we will continue with this new hands-on, playful approach.

I'm also considering purchasing the first level of Right Start Math this summer and trying to adapt it for his level.  I think using the two approaches would give him well rounded exposure.

What kids of activities do you do to bring math into your toddler's life?