Tot School: Spring

Spring has finally arrived for good here in Wisconsin. We are enjoying every minute of the fresh spring air, and this week’s theme combined bugs, plants, frogs, ducks, chicks, and all things spring.

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Here were our plans for Spring week:

And here are the details of each activity:

Our favorite books this week were:

10 Little Rubber Ducks By Eric Carle

Weather in Spring By Martha E. H. Rustad

People in Spring By Martha E. H. Rustad

Animals in Spring By Martha E. H. Rustad

Plants in Spring By Martha E. H. Rustad

Paper Plate Chick:

To make this paper plate chick, we started with watered down glue and a foam brush. Then Madelynn painted the plate with glue and added yellow tissue paper squares. Afterwards she painted over the squares with more watered down glue and added paper cutouts to complete the chick.

Feather Cutting:

This feather cutting activity was great for working on scissor skills. I gave Madelynn a combination of feathers that I cut out along with others for her to cut out. After cutting out a few feathers on her own, I showed Madelynn how to snip the edges of the feathers to give them a frayed texture.

Flower Sun Catcher:

To make this flower sun catcher I prepped 2 sets of black construction paper outlines ahead of time. Then I laid one set on the sticky side of a sheet on contact paper. Madelynn filled them in with tissue paper squares then added the matching set of outlines with a little glue. I sandwiched another sheet of contact paper on top and had Madelynn help cut the extra contact paper off. And that’s it! Easy and gorgeous window decor.

Feed the Froggy:

This fine motor activity turned out to be even harder than I expected. I cut a tennis ball across the middle and glued 2 googly eyes on top to make a little froggy. I planned to have Madelynn roll the die and then squeeze the ball to place the correct number of bead “flies” into the mouth. The ball was REALLY hard to squeeze however so I helped her with the squeezing while she did the rolling and counting. After a bit the ball started to loosen up and was easier for little hands to squeeze. So if you plan on doing this activity with 2-3 year olds, maybe “pre-squeeze” your froggy 😉

Pipe Cleaner Inchworms:

These super easy inchworms kept Madelynn nice and busy. I simply set up a tray with some wiggly pipe cleaners and beads and had her thread her own little inchworms.

Five Little Ducks:

Our first gross motor activity was inspired by the 5 Little Ducks Song. I filled a kiddie pool with blue ball pit balls to make a pond. Then I placed 5 little ducks pictures in the pond, and a mother duck a few feet away. Then we sang the song and Madelynn use the pieces to act it out.

Five Little Ducks Song:

“Five little ducks went swimming one day

Over the hill and far away

Mother duck said, “Quack quack quack quack”

And only four little ducks came back!

Repeat with 4, 3, 2 ducks

One little duck went swimming one day

Over the hill and far away

Mother duck said, “Quack quack quack quack”

And all her five little ducks came back!”

Bird Sort Relay:

To set up this activity, I scattered colored birds on the floor. Across the room I set up a sorting tray with colored birdhouse labels. Then Madelynn and I took turns choosing a bird and running it across the room to the matching color birdhouse.

Lily Pad Leap:

What kid doesn’t love playing “hot lava.” You know where you can only step on certain things and not the “lava” where you burn yourself? So for this fun outdoor activity I drew lily pads (a.k.a. green pac mans) and waves all over the ground. Then Madelynn jumped from lily pad to lily pad trying not to fall in the water.

Stomp the Bug:

This game was a huge hit so we recycled this activity from our Bug Theme. For stomp the bug I drew lots of shapes, added legs, antennae, and faces. Then I yelled out a shape for Madelynn to stomp. She also had fun seeing how far she could jump and if she could make it to the next bug with just one jump.

Flower Hop Memory:

This was another favorite game from our Plant Theme. First, I drew 6 different colored flowers on the ground and had Madelynn help color them. Then, I named a color for her to jump on..”pink.” Next, I named another color to jump on, adding on to the previous color… “pink, then purple.” Finally we continued to add colors in the sequence to practice following multi step directions…”pink, then purple, then yellow, etc.”

Spring Snacks:

Fruit Flowers: Arrange strawberries, and clementines in circles, add blackberries/strawberries to the middle, and sliced cucumbers underneath for the stem

Duck Fruit Cup: Glue googly eyes, a paper cutout beak and feet to a mixed fruit cup for this easy snack to go.

Bird Nest: Mold rice crispy treats into nests using a small muffin cup, then add a few eggs candies to complete the nest.

Cucumber & Grape Froggy: Cut two cucumber rounds for the frog head and body. Add two half circle cucumber slices for the hind legs. Add grape slices for feet and eyes. Place candy eyes on top of the green grapes and use a food coloring pen to draw nostrils and a mouth.

Rice Cake Flower: Spread cream cheese on a large rice cake, add strawberry slices for petals and pour sprinkles in the center.

Little Duck Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: water, rubber ducks, bubbles, washcloths, sponges, cups

Feed the Bird Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: shredded brown construction paper, pots, pipe cleaner worms, fine motor tools, bird cut out taped to frosting container with cut out hole for mouth.