Tot School Tuesday: SQUARES

We focused on squares this week as we work our way through the basic shapes. Here is what we had planned:

And here is what we actually did:

Here are the 5 books that we used as our focus each day.

Squares by Jennifer S Burke

Square Cat by Elizabeth Schoonmaker

Shape Shift by Joyce Hesselberth

Shapes by David Kirkby

Color Farm by Lois Ehlert

Square Paper Gluing and Stamping:

We haven’t used glue sticks in a while so I figured it was a good idea to bring them back out. Madelynn still doesn’t quite get the process of gluing the paper then sticking, but all the more reason to practice right? So I cut up a bunch of bright colored squares and we added a few square stamps too for this easy little art project.

Dot Stamp Squares:

Madelynn LOVES dot stampers, so we practiced making a square this week. I found the printables for each shape here.

Square Puzzles:

The next activity we are doing with each shape is a puzzle. Madelynn loves puzzles and these are a bit of a challenge because they don’t quite stick together like a cardboard puzzle pieces would. She still worked very hard to put the piece together to figure out the shape. I made these easy printables for each shape and you can grab them here.

Square Color, Trace and Draw:

Next we worked on some beginning writing by coloring, tracing, and drawing each shape. You can grab the printables here. These are challenging for M and she has her own idea about how to complete the page, but I just let her decide how she wanted to work on her squares and then did a little guiding with my hand over hers to draw a square in the last box.

Square Bead Threading:

Our last activity for the week was threading square beads. Madelynn did pretty well with these since the beads had very large holes. Much easier than the buttons from last week!

We are repeating our gross motor activities for all of our shape weeks so you’ll get a peek at the other activities in the next few weeks. Here is what we have done so far:

Shape Hopscotch:

I simply drew some shapes on the driveway, and let Madelynn jump from shape to shape. I also called out shapes for her to jump to which she thought was fun.

Shape Scavenger Hunt:

For this activity I cut out a bunch of shapes from colored paper and hid them around the house. Madelynn searched for them and named the shapes she found.

Shape Roll and Hop:

It’s been very wet and rainy here so we moved this activity indoors and I improvised with painters tape instead of sidewalk chalk. I rolled a shape die and had Madelynn try to hop to that shape.

Shape Turtle Toss:

Roll and Hop didn’t hold M’s attention for long so we moved right on to this activity with the same set up. Madelynn would stand back and throw a bean bag turtle at the shapes, then go retrieve it and name the shape. Pretty easy and I love that 3/4 activities this week have basically the same set up!

Gerber Bitty Bite Squares:

I really haven’t ventured into the toddler/baby snack section much lately, but I saw these little fruit filled squares and thought they’d be perfect (and easy) for square week.

Square Crackers and PB Toast Bites:

We did a two for one snack day because miss M fell asleep in the car on the way home from dance and didn’t really eat lunch. Square Cheez-Its and PB toast sandwiches cut into bite sized squares, yum!

Build a Square:

Building with pretzels and marshmallows was perfect for squares. We made a few together then M mostly just shoveled marshmallows in her mouth 🙂

Shape Cheese and Crackers:

Another easy peasy snack, Triscuit crackers with square cheese. I even cheated and bought the cheese already cut up to make this one quick. Can anyone tell I’m 34 weeks pregnant and all about quick and easy snacks these days?

Size Sorting Sensory Bin:

Included in this bin: black beans, plastic squares big & small, cups, scoops, sorting mat.

Shape Sorting Sensory Bin:

Included in this bin: cotton balls, shape buttons, foam shapes, plastic shapes,tongs, sorting mat.

Play Dough Squares:

Madelynn is still working on making little pay dough snakes on her own so I helped her out by making a bunch for her to build with. She sort of got the concept but mostly just lined all the snakes up. Let’s just say this is a picture of the square I built to show her what to do.

Block Building Bin:

So blocks are technically cubes, but they have square faces right? I filled the bin with wooden cubes and square legos for M to build and stack and it kept her pretty busy.