Farm Babies Early Reader

Earlier in the week I shared some Farm Babies vocabulary cards I had made. To go with it, I also made this early reader.  (I used this same text on the Little Reader file). It has large, clear font on one page and pictures on the opposite.  If you wanted, you could also print one sided and have the text and images completely separate.

Below are a few sample pages. I printed the pages on cardstock, laminated them and used these 3/4" binder rings to "bind" the book.

Print the Farm Babies Book Here

Check out my other Early Readers Here

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Farm Babies Vocabulary Cards

I try hard to both follow my toddler's interests and expose him to new things.  Since he loves animals, I decided to teach him what different baby farm animals are called.  I made Montessori style 3 part matching cards (I also made a Little Reader file, but their website won't let me upload lessons right now). If your kiddo likes matching toys too, all of the animals in the Farm Babies toob are represented.

You can print the vocabulary cards here!

You can check out my other Free Vocabulary Cards Here.

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Yellow Totschool Week

Archer is 20 months

In August I posted our Color Themes Goals. Those are what I had in mind while we started Tot School this week, not actually learning the color.

His little shelf had a few Yellow books.  I also got out two of his Non-Fiction Sight Words books, two of his Meet the Sight Words readers and two of his Meet the Phonics books (he likes those better than story books at the moment).  The poster was free from Isla Hearts Teaching on TPT. I also hung up the pages to his color book (free here).

Yellow food word cards (free here). Sometimes he really likes these matching activities, and other times he gets bored.  He can usually read all the words (from watching the corresponding Little Reader lessons)

 Coloring his Yellow Book (free here). We used crayons, paint and a paint roller. I also got out a Water Wow book for another fine motor option if he wanted.

Bin of miscellaneous yellow objects.

Yellow play dough and tools (these shape cutters are his current favorites and get used multiple times a week).

This cornmeal "kinetic sand" mad a fun, but very messy sensory play activity (recipe from here).

Xander got some adjustable hurdles for Christmas, so we got them out for Archer to practice stepping over. We also rolled a ball under them.

Playroom shelves this week.  The goal of the toys is to entertain him and give him some fine motor practice.  Things like building, sorting and puzzles also provide some spacial awareness (math and even physics). 

These shelves had sorting food, a DIY Velcro Block, cars and ramps, the spinagain (out for several weeks because it got so much use), wobbles, Lucky Ducks, Crocodile Dentist, a sound puzzle, his airplane, a bin of yellow toys and some two part puzzles.  On top was his yellow color viewer.  

 

Archer did some baking with me, so we were practicing cleaning the counter.

Affiliate links used, at no cost to you!  Thank you for your support!

Kaysha @ Memorizing the MomentsColorsFollow On

Christmas Activities 18 Months

Archer is 18 months

We're taking a break from our Color Themes to do some Christmas themed Tot School activities.  With family visiting and many many festivities going on, these shelves will probably stay up for at least a couple of weeks. 

Here are our shelves. On the top I have a sensory bin and some Magna Tile "trees." The shelves have a felt Christmas tree activity, Christmas word 3 Part Cards (free printable here), a spinagain, some finger puppets, sight words matching activity (free printable here), a shapes game, a jingle bell exploration basket, a pom pom activity, lalabloom and a Christmas puzzle.

The sensory bin used white kidney beans as a base for plastic ornaments and accessories.  I used colored jingle bells with the Magna Tile "trees."

This basket had a felt tree with various colored ornaments and a big star for the top.

Christmas vocabulary cards. I love it when Archer can use activities I made for Xander! He can match pretty much all of the words to the pictures, but only has the attention span to do 4-5 at any given time.  He seems to like matching them on the pocket chart better than having them lie flat on the ground or a table.

Archer really likes the sight words trees and ornaments, but mostly just likes to go through them all and read all the words.  Matching is a skill we're still practicing, so I get out just a few at a time to have him match.

This was a huge hit with both the 9 year old and the 18 month old.  I got a bunch of jingle bells in various sizes, some metal and some plastic containers, and some magnets.  I showed them how to use the wand to move the bells up the sides of the plastic containers.

A scooping activity, that ended up just being a picking up and dropping activity.  Still good one to one correspondence. :)

I put out the lalabloom because it kind of reminded me of garland.

A play dough kit I made for Archer. I haven't actually shown it to him yet, so I've very excited to have him play with it.  Hopefully, several times in the next couple of weeks!

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You might also like my other Christmas Resources

Christmas Sight Words Matching Game

Christmas season is in full swing and I found myself wanting some more hands on activities for Archer.  I ended up making this ornament/tree sight words matching game for my word-loving little guy.

You are welcome to download the files and use them with your own little one.  I made both a color tree page and an outline page, so you can print on green card stock (and save ink).

Print the Christmas Sight Words Matching Game HERE

You might also like my other Christmas Resources

1500 Book Reading Challenge

Way back when Xander was a toddler, I did a 1500 Book Reading Challenge.  The idea was to read 1500 books with him over the course of the year. I thought it was a fun and beneficial challenge (research suggests reading to kids improves their brain development, vocabulary and academic success). 1500 books means a LOT of exposure to words, books and cuddle time! I made the challenge just that much harder for myself by choosing to do 1500 unique books (so reading the same ones again and again didn't count towards the goal). It works out to slightly over 4 new books a day, so we made lots of trips to the library!

I have decided 2020 is the time to do the challenge with Archer! I'd love for others to join along (#1500BookChallenge)! If you just want to read 1500 books, I think a tally would probably be the easiest way to keep track.  However, if you want to do unique books, I made a spreadsheet where I can write the books we read each week and it will count them.  You're welcome to copy this template (Google Sheets) to keep track for your little one.

With Xander, I updated periodically with some of our favorite book finds, so will probably do something similar this go round.  I'm open to suggestions as to whether it should be on the blog or somewhere on social media.

Flower Play Dough Kit

Another cousin birthday, and another play dough kit assembled! This was a cute little flower themed kit.  I love how fun and girly it turned out!

I used a taller Latchmate storage box that had a cute little storage tray. In the top I put a flower toob and a little wooden rainbow. I added some flower buttons in different colors and different sizes and some flower cookie cutters, as well as some homemade purple play dough.

The bottom had a tub of pink homemade play dough, a rolling pin, another flower shaped cookie cutter and a little metal tub with handle. I also threw in some flower vocabulary cards (free here) that included all the flowers from the toob.

Here's hoping that our cousins like it!