Blogworld Giveaways

This week's round of giveaways.

GoGadgetGiveaway is giving away an iPad.
Mommy Katie is giving also away an iPad3.
Thanks Mail Carrier is giving away a Bumpidoodle.
Thanks Mail Carrier is giving away a Haba Toy
Mommy of Two Little Monkey's is giving away an iPad
Energizer Bunnies' Mommy Reports is giving away a Step2 Water Table

Fishing for Shapes

As I said in this week's Tot School Post, we are having an off week.  We're not doing our normal activities, but we are still managing to sneak in some educational fun!  I took the shapes from his Playskool Shape Sorter and put them in with his water beads.  I gave him a mini strainer and let him try to scoop them out.

While he had fun trying to scoop them, he had more fun pointing to the shapes I would say.

Tot School - Off Week

Xander is 17.5 months

I decided to take this week off from our regular Tot School.  The main reason was it is getting near the end of my semester and I am swamped with papers and projects.  I feel guilty that I don't get to spend the quality time with Xander that I would like, but I know that it is only a short time and my grades are definitely important too. Also, my computer had a meltdown and spent over a week at the shop, therefore no Little Reader or Little Math.

We were still able to read plenty of books and have some fun learning through play.  I know I usually write my Tot School posts about the more "academic" things we do, or fine motor skills, however, I believe gross motor skills are just as important.  Here are some pictures of what we have been doing.

Crawling through the tunnel.

On a whim I picked up a pool noodle at the dollar store.  He had a blast with it!  I showed him how to hit the ball with it, and he spent an afternoon trying.

He also practiced stepping over the noodle, harder than it sounds when your legs are that short and it rests high on the grass.  He would get so proud of himself!

Not sure where he got the idea, but he thought it was great fun to push the ball down the slide.

Digging in the sandbox.  We are still working on keeping the sand in the box.  He is also working on shoveling the sand into other things.  He understands the concept, but his wrists are just a little too weak to turn the shovels when they are full of sand.

 We had some raccoon adventures this week, so the wildlife expert was on the roof.  Xander had no fear of the latter, and actually climbed up to the second rung, at which point mommy freaked out and pulled him back down.

We should be back to normal Tot School next week!  I have a new Tot Pack for him and lots of fun activities planned!

Blogworld Giveaways

Here is another round of giveaways I found!

GoGadgetGiveaway is giving away an iPad.
Mommy Katie is giving also away an iPad3.
One Savvy Mom!  is giving away a set of Little Tikes TikeStix.
Mommy PR is also giving away a set of Little Tikes TikeStix.
Mama to 4 Blessings is giving away an Educational Insights gift card.
Mommy to Bed By 8 is giving away a set of 8 Endangered Species Books.
Thanks Mail Carrier is giving away a Bumpidoodle.

Best Books - Week 16

Best Books is my series of posts that highlights books we find during our book challenge!
These are our finds from week 16.

Xander's Favorite:

Trucks  by Meg Greve

Pretty much since he was able to express a preference, Xander has chosen books with real pictures.  I like them better because I feel they have more educational value.  Anyway, this week he really liked this book about trucks that had nice clean photographs.  He is starting to get interested in anything with a motor, so it makes sense.

Mommy's Favorite:

Rah, Rah, Radishes! A Vegetable Chant by April Pulley Sayre

I put this under Mommy's Favorite, but Xander really liked it too.  It was a cute little rhyme about various vegetables and had some great photographs to go with.  He liked to go through the book and point to the pictures.

Tiny Artist

I mentioned last week that I was going to make an effort to do more arts and crafts with Xander (a tough thing to do at the end of my semester).  Since last week was our heart week, I decided to do a heart themed project.

I gave him a heart shaped sponge and some paint and let him make a big mess.

For some reason he decided to taste it (glad I used non toxic paint).  He didn't much care for it.

 I let it dry and cut it out in a heart shape.  Xander helped me glue it to a piece of paper (I put the cap back on the glue for the picture).  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE his desk for projects like this?

The finished project.

Tot Trays - 17 Months

Since my regular Tot School posts have been getting so long, I decided to split off the Tot Tray segment.  These are the trays from last week, so they happened during our Hearts Week and our Pete the Cat Theme.  I try to have the trays link in when I can, but don't feel constrained by making them fit.  I don't intend the trays to be done independently, but rather scaffolded by me.

Tray #1:
Our first tray had his ring counter.  It has been a while since he has used it and I was really impressed with how much better he did than last time.  I have to tell which color to put where, but he is pretty good at it.

 Even more fun on Mommy's bed.

Tray #2:
His second tray had some colored blocks and the corresponding cards from his English and Spanish Color Cards.  He did some stacking and together we did some sorting.

Tray #3:
This tray had a Parmesan cheese container and some pipe cleaners.  The idea was for him to put the pipe cleaners in the small holes.  I also included some porcupine balls and I had him put them in the larger side.  He had fun putting them in and shaking them out.

Puzzle of the Week:
For one of his trays I always try to do a puzzle.  He is not actually ready to do puzzles on his own, but loves to do them with me.  We will slowly transition into him doing them without help. This week's puzzle was the Construction Wooden Chunky Puzzle from Melissa and Doug.  I have always loved Melissa and Doug products, but this puzzle exceeded my expectation.  The pieces are so brightly colored and sturdy!  Xander loved it.