**This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. View our full disclosure policy here.**

And here are the details of each activity:

Here are the books that we used to begin each day:

I Love Frogs (Rookie Toddler) by Children’s Press
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Frog by Lucille Colandro
Jump, Frog, Jump! by Robert Kalan
5 Green and Speckled Frogs by Scholastic, Inc.
Frog on a Log? by Kes Gray

Roll and Feed Frog:

I broke out our Color Bug Catcher Game to work on number and color recognition along with some fine motor practice. Aubrey rolled the number and color dice. Then she used the gator grabbers to grab that number/color of bugs, and feed them to the frog. We continued to play until all the bugs were gone.

Letter Lily Pads:

This activity was definitely a favorite this week and we are still using it weeks later! It was really a fun way to work on letter identification and matching. First we worked together to make small balls of green play dough. Then Aubrey chose one of our letter ponds. She used letter stamps one at a time to smush the balls of play dough into letter lily pads. Last she had to match each letter lily pad to the same letter on the pond.

Pond Sponge Painting:

For our first froggy craft we created a sponge paint pond.  Aubrey used a sponge brush to stamp blue paint all over the page.  Then after we let that dry, she glued lily pads onto her pond.  Finally she used a sponge that I cut into a frog print shape to stamp green footprints all over her page.

Tear and Fill Lily Pad:

Aubrey is still working on her scissor skills so I have been trying to add in more scissor practice wherever possible. We have been using these Fiskars training scissors and they really help a lot! There is a little spring action that helps open the scissors back up each time. Aubrey did a great job with cutting little snips along the strips I had cut out. She then glued the bits on a blue piece of paper to fill a lily pad.

Tissue Plate Frog Craft:

Our last craft this week was a tissue paper plate frog.  I watered down glue so that it was easily spreadable. Aubrey used a foam brush to paint a paper plate with glue then added green tissue paper squares. Then she painted over the squares with more watered down glue. And to finish off the face she glued paper shapes to the face.

Color Frog Toss:

We started our gross motor activities off by filling a kiddie pool with blue ball pit balls for our pond. I threw in colored plastic frogs, then placed bins near the pool with color labels.  Aubrey jumped in the pool to find the frogs, then tossed them into the matching color bin.

Frog Hide and Seek:

Aubrey loves to play hide and seek, so we switched it up a little to match our theme this week with frog hide and seek.  We took turns hiding a little stuffed frog and counting to 10 before searching for our little froggy friend.

Frog Jumps:

Jumping is a great gross motor activity and really tires little ones out! For this activity I used painters tape to make 5 horizontal lines on the floor parallel to each other. Aubrey started at the first line and counted each jump as she frog jumped across. She also tried to frog jump as far as she could to see how far she could go in one jump.

Five Speckled Frogs:

Our next gross motor activity was inspired by the 5 Green and Speckled Frogs Song. We used the kiddie pool pond again and placed 5 little frogs on a wrapping paper tube “log.”  Then we sang the song and Aubrey used the pieces to act it out.  

Five Green and Speckled Frogs Song:
“Five green and speckled frogs sat on a speckled log
Eating some most delicious bugs, YUM YUM!
One jumped into the pool where it was nice and cool 
Then there were four green and speckled frogs.”
Repeat with 4, 3, 2, 1 frogs.

Lily Pad Leap:

This activity was a repeat from our spring theme last year, but there are so many easy ways to switch up this activity and add in different skills so I thought it couldn’t hurt to repeat it! For this fun outdoor activity, I drew lily pads (a.k.a. green Pac-man like shapes) and waves all over the ground.  Aubrey jumped from lily pad to lily pad trying not to fall in the water. Then I added letters to each lily pad and called out each one for her to jump to. You could do the same with other skills such as numbers, shapes, sight words, colors, or any other concepts you are working on.

Frog Theme Snacks:

Frog Pond Jell-O – Make a batch of blue Jell-O in small round containers. After Jell-O has set, add tootsie rolls and gummy frogs to create a pond.

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.

Frog Pond Crackers – Spread blue frosting on graham crackers. Add tootsie rolls and gummy frogs to create a pond.

Fruit Pond – Fill a small round container with blueberries. Cut a kiwi into a small round slice. Cut out a notch to make a lily pad shape. Add the kiwi on top of the blueberries and place a gummy frog on top.

Frog on a Log – Cut celery into small sticks. Spread a celery sticks with peanut butter. Stick gummy frogs on top.

Froggy Pond Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: plastic frogs, foam lily pads, water, blue aquarium gravel, rocks, plastic insects

Rainbow Frog Sort:

In this sensory bin: plastic frogs, blue aquarium gravel, colored cups for sorting

Play Dough Pond:

On this tray: play dough, colored gems, plastic frogs , foam lily pads, lincoln logs

Jell-O Frog Excavation:

To prepare this fun sensory activity, I started by making 2 large packages of blue Jell-O according to the package directions.  Then before placing in the refrigerator to set, I added plastic frogs.  We waited for the Jell-O to set overnight.  Then Aubrey used spoons, scoops, and tools to rescue the frogs from the sticky pond.

Pond Water Bead Bin:

In this bin: TOOB Frogs, green foam lily pads, lincoln logs. water beads, bowls and cups

Want all of this week’s Frogs activities for tot school?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Frogs Plans & Printables On TpT: Frogs Plans & Printables

Or you can grab our entire year of themes and plans:
On my site here: Tot School Bundle On TpT here: Tot School Bundle

Then check out the rest of our 35+ themes on the Tot School Curriculum Main Page.

The post Tot School: Frogs first appeared on Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten.

**This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. View our full disclosure policy here.**

Here were our plans for 5 Senses Week:

And here are the details of each activity:

Here are the books that we used to begin each day:

Hearing by Rebecca Rissman
Smelling by Rebecca Rissman
Seeing by Rebecca Rissman
Touching by Rebecca Rissman
Tasting by Rebecca Rissman

Listen and Color Animals:

For our first fine motor activity we worked on coloring to fill a shape. I printed a listen and color page then played this adorable Guess the Animal Sound video I found on YouTube. Aubrey followed along and colored each animal as their sound was made.

Scented Shapes:

This activity was perfect for learning about smells! I filled small cups with different colors of powdered Jell-O. I named a shape and Aubrey used clear glue to fill it in (more advanced kiddos could also try tracing the shape outline with glue.) Then she sprinkled Jell-O power on the glue and watched as it changed colors and smelled amazing! I helped her shake off the excess powder and she repeated the process to complete each shape.

Blindfolded Building:

Next Aubrey used her sense of touch to build a structure with blocks.  She put on a blindfold and tried using Duplos to build tall towers and buildings. After she was done she removed her blindfold to see how the structure turned out.

Texture Collage:

For this open ended art activity I gathered craft materials in various textures (ex. ribbons, beads, gems, paper scraps, feathers, yarn, pom poms, sand paper, etc.) Aubrey glued materials to a large piece of cardboard to create a tactile collage. We talked about how the different materials felt as she chose where to attach each one.

Edible Tracing:

Our last fine motor activity for the week focused on our sense of taste. I printed a tracing page with various line styles. Aubrey used cereal pieces to trace the different lines then ate each one after she finished!

Listening Walk:

For our first gross motor activity we went on a listening walk. I printed a checklist page and we listened for the sounds pictured on the page. Then we colored each box as we heard the sound. 

Sniff and Match Relay:

To learn about our sense of smell, I made scent bottles for a little relay match. I first soaked 5 cotton balls in cherry, vanilla, lemon, coconut, and mint extracts, and put each one in an empty sprinkle container. Then I also poured cinnamon, cocoa powder, and coffee in 3 more containers.  (I chose to cover each bottle with paper so the color wouldn’t give away the scent.) Then I placed pictures of each scent at one end of the room and the containers at the other end.  To play, the girls had to choose one container, smell the contents then run it to the correct picture. 

Blindfolded Walk:

This activity was a fun one for my girls to do together. I had them each put a blindfold on to move without using their sense of sight. They walked slowly and listened to my directions for where to go. Then we switched roles and they practiced giving directions to me.

Guess the Shape:

Did you ever write words on your friends backs as a kid? I remember doing that with my friends all the time! This was inspired by that activity and was a nice shape review as well. I gave each of the girls a set of shape cards.  Madelynn chose one card and used her finger to draw that shape on Aubrey’s back. She tried to guess the shape using the extra shape cards to point to as a reference. Then they traded roles and repeated with each shape.

Catch the Popcorn:

For our last gross motor activity we kept it simple with a fun and yummy game of catch the popcorn. Pop a bowl of popcorn.  Take turns tossing popcorn in the air and trying to catch it in your mouth. Easy Peasy!

* You may substitute puff corn or another snack if you feel more comfortable with your little ones eating that vs. popcorn*

Five Senses Snacks:

Oreo Eyeballs: Split 2 Oreos in half. Push an M&M in the center of each one. Peel and cut small pieces of pull and peel licorice. Press licorice into the cream.

Marshmallow Mouths: Cut apples into slices. Spread one apple slice with peanut butter. Stick marshmallows into peanut butter. Spread another apple with peanut butter. Stick apple on top of the marshmallows.

Loud and Quiet Snack Sort:

Cut up snacks and place in small cupcake cups. Try each snack and listen to see if the snack sounds loud or quiet. Sort the snacks on the sorting sheet

Sniff and Guess Snacks:

Cut up snacks and put in small cups. Cover each cup with a paper towel and rubber band it to the top. Poke holes with a fork in each one. Smell each cup and try to guess what snack is inside, then open to find out.

Guess the Snacks:

Fill an empty wipe container with snacks. Reach into the container and choose a snack. Try to guess the snack by only using your sense of touch.

Match the Sound Bottles:

For a little sound science investigation, we played a match the sound guessing game. I filled 10 small bottles with 5 different items (pom poms, buttons, straws, jingle bells, beans, etc.) so that each bottle had a match. Then I covered the bottles with paper so that the contents were not visible and numbered them 1-10. Aubrey had to shake to find the bottles that sounded the same. When she thought she found a match, I helped her write the numbers, and guess what was inside. Then she opened them to find out and drew it on the response page.

Cocoa Cupcake Cloud Dough:

In this bin: flour, vegetable oil, cocoa powder, bowls, cups, silicone cupcake cups

To make this yummy chocolate scented cloud dough, fill a sensory bin with 6 cups flour, 1 cup cocoa powder, and 1 cup vegetable oil. Mix together until you reach a crumbly texture that holds its shape when packed together.

Colorful Treasure Hunt:

In this bin: black beans, colored gems, colored pom poms, and colored cups

Guess the Object:

For a little touch science investigation, we played a guess the object guessing game. I filled our sensory bin with 6 different objects. With a blindfold on, Aubrey reached into the bin to touch and feel a mystery item. She guessed what the item was and drew it. Then she took the item out to find out if she was correct and drew it again.

Jell-O Sensory Bin:

In this bin: Jell-O or Jell-O jigglers in ROYGBIV colors, cups, scoops, and fine motor tools    

I chose to make regular Jell-O for a more squishy messy experience. After each color was set, I cut them into small squares and placed them in a sensory bin in rainbow order. Aubrey used all 5 senses to explore the bin and we discussed how each sense is being used which a fun way to wrap up our 5 senses theme.

Want all of this week’s Five Senses activities for preschool?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Five Senses Plans & Printables On TpT: Five Senses Plans & Printables

Or you can grab our entire year of themes and plans:
On my site here: Tot School Bundle On TpT here: Tot School Bundle

Then check out the rest of our 35+ themes on the Tot School Curriculum Main Page.

The post Tot School: Five Senses first appeared on Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten.

**This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. View our full disclosure policy here.**

Here were our plans for our Reindeer theme:

And here are the details for each activity:

Reindeer Theme Books:

The Itsy Bitsy Reindeer by Jeffrey Burton
Eight Jolly Reindeer by Ilanit Oliver
Olive the Other Reindeer by J. Otto Seibold and Vivian Walsh
The Great Reindeer Rebellion by Lisa Trumbauer
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by Rick Bunsen

Reindeer Dot Stamp Page:

First this week, Aubrey used our Do A Dot Art! Markers for fine motor practice. She focused on placing one dot in each circle on the reindeer to help build one to one correspondence then colored the reindeer and letter R.

Fruit Cup Reindeer:

This little Rudolph was fun and easy to make.  Before we started I used a utility knife to poke 2 holes in the bottom of a few plastic fruit cups. Aubrey painted the entire fruit cup brown then we waited for it to dry. Next she bent short pipe cleaner pieces around a longer one to create antlers.  Then she pushed the antlers into holes in the fruit cup and I added a little hot glue on the inside so that they would stay in. Finally I used hot glue to add googly eyes and a large pom pom nose. (I added a dot of glue and she was able to carefully push it into the glue without any problem, but you may want to do this part on your own!)

Feed the Shape Reindeer:

Next, we focused on shape identification. I taped shape reindeer cards to a box and cut slits in each reindeer mouth.  Aubrey chose a shape carrot card, found the matching shape reindeer and pushed the card into the slot. Aubrey named each shape and we talked about the attributes as she found the correct slots.

Reindeer Paper Plate Mask:

To prep this mask I cut out a semi-circle from the top center of a paper plate. Madelynn painted the plate brown. While we waited for it to dry she cut out cardstock antlers and a nose. I reinforced the antlers by taping a craft stick to the back of each one. When the plate was dry she drew a mouth with a marker and  helped glue the antlers and an additional craft stick to the bottom of the plate for a mask handle.

Reindeer Nose Match:

We used jumbo tweezers for this easy color matching fine motor activity. I filled a cup with large colored pom poms. Aubrey used her tweezers to grab one, match it to the correct reindeer, and name the color.

Reindeer Express:

Our first gross motor activity was so much fun! For this activity, Aubrey picked up all the toys in Santa’s workshop, pulled a box “sleigh”, then had to look at pictures on each house bin to deliver the correct gifts to the correct homes.

Reindeer Run:

For our reindeer run activity, I printed reindeer action cards and numbered them 1-6 on the back. Then I gave Aubrey a large foam die to roll. She rolled the die, found the number then completed that reindeer action.

Reindeer Training:

What kid doesn’t love a fun obstacle course? Aubrey and Madelynn are always setting up their own obstacle courses so they love when I set up fun themed courses for them. Here is what I set up for our “reindeer training”:
-Cones to gallop through the forest
-A mat to roll in the snow
-Pillows to practice leaps
-Toys and a bag to fill Santa’s sack
-A small box with rope attached and a line of tape to pull Santa’s sleigh
-A tunnel to climb through the chimney and help deliver the presents!

Pin the Nose on Rudolph:

For this pin the nose on the Rudolph activity, we put a little twist on the normal pin the object game. Instead of taping the nose on the picture, Aubrey dipped her nose in petroleum jelly, tried to pick up the pom pom without using her hands, then stuck it to Rudolph’s nose (a laminated picture with more petroleum jelly on the nose part).

Reindeer Ring Toss:

This game was simple to set up because I found this inflatable reindeer ring toss game on Amazon. Super easy to set up and also fun to play with the whole family on Christmas.

Reindeer Snacks:

Peanut Butter Reindeer Cookies – Roll 1” balls of peanut butter cookie dough. Pinch the bottom of each ball and flatten into a little triangle shape. Bake 7-8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press two mini pretzels into the tops of the cookies for the reindeer’s antlers. Press brown M&Ms in for eyes and 1 red M&M for the nose.

Rudolph Pancakes – Make large and small pancakes. Stack one small pancake on top of the large pancake at the bottom. Cut another small pancake in half to use for ears. Add a strawberry for the nose, bacon for antlers, and chocolate chips on top of halved marshmallows for eyes.

Reindeer Cookies – Spread Nilla wafer cookies with chocolate frosting. Add red M&Ms for noses. Add candy eyes. Add broken pretzel pieces for antlers.

Reindeer Brownies – Bake a batch of your favorite brownie recipe (or use premade!) Spread chocolate frosting on top. Cut brownies into rectangles. Attach pretzel antlers, M&M noses and candy eyes.

Reindeer Toast – Toast a piece of bread then cut into heart shape. Spread with peanut butter. Add a blueberry for the nose, pretzels for antlers, and chocolate chips on top of halved marshmallows for eyes.

Rudolph Sensory Bin:

In this bin: Rudolph finger puppets, artificial snow, artificial trees, and foam snowflakes

Reindeer Puzzle Bin:

In this bin: reindeer puzzle, red and green rice

Reindeer Play Dough:

On this tray: chocolate play dough (recipe below), jingle bells, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, sticks

Chocolate play dough recipe:
1 cup chocolate frosting
About 3 cups powdered sugar  

1. Mix in a stand mixer, adding powdered sugar gradually.
2. Add a bit more or less sugar until your dough isn’t sticky.  

That’s it! So easy!

Sleigh Bell Sort:

In this bin: green shredded paper, colored jingle bells, reindeer sleigh cards, fine motor tools

Reindeer Feeding Bin:

In this bin: oats, pipe cleaners (bent into reindeer shapes), cups, bowls, scoops

Want all of this week’s Reindeer activities for tot school?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Reindeer Plans & Printables On TpT: Reindeer Plans & Printables

Or you can grab our entire year of themes and plans:
On my site here: Tot School Bundle On TpT here: Tot School Bundle

Then check out the rest of our 35+ themes on the Tot School Curriculum Main Page.

The post Tot School: Reindeer first appeared on Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten.

**This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. View our full disclosure policy here.**

Here were our plans for our Thanksgiving theme:

And here are the details for each activity:

Here are our favorite Thanksgiving books that we used to begin each day: How to Catch a Turkey by Adam Wallace
The Thankful Book by Todd Parr
Ten Thankful Turkeys by Angela Muse
Thank You, Thanksgiving by David Milgrim
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey by Lucille Colandro

Light Table Turkeys:

Aubrey started Thanksgiving week learning about shapes, colors, counting and symmetry with this turkey building activity. I printed a turkey body and taped it to our clear tray on top of a light pad (aka our cheaper version of a light table). Then I gave her a bin full of translucent pattern blocks to create feathers for the turkey. As she played we were able to incorporate so many different skills. We talked about the colors and shapes she used, practiced counting the number of blocks, sorted colors, tried to make patterns, and discussed symmetry.

Turkey Dot Stamp Page:

Next, we used our Do A Dot Art! Markers for fine motor practice. Aubrey focused on placing one dot in each circle on the turkey. This helps her build one to one correspondence for counting as well.

Turkey Feather Sticker Sort:

Peeling stickers is a great fine motor skill (especially for long car rides and restaurants!). For this sorting activity I printed colored feathers, then gave Aubrey small dot stickers to sort, match and cover each feather.

Turkey Feather Number Order:

For our next fine motor activity, Aubrey worked with pinching clothespins. She clipped the number feathers in order around the turkey body starting on the left side and working all the way around the body.

Marble Paint Feathers:

For our last fine motor activity Aubrey created this marble paint turkey. First, she painted a paper plate brown. Next, I covered the bottom of a shallow tray with shaving cream. Then, I added a few drops of liquid watercolor. Aubrey used a paintbrush to swirl the colors together then gently stamped 2 feather pages on top of the shaving cream. I helped her use a popsicle stick to scrape off the excess cream.
After those dried, Aubrey cut out the feathers and face pieces, glued the cut outs to the face, and attached the feathers behind the paper plate.

Thanksgiving Food Sort:

For our first gross motor activity we focused on sorting by color.  I set up bins with colored turkey labels on each one. Then I gave Aubrey a bin full of different colored play food and she ran each one across the room to feed each turkey the correct color.

Turkey Hokey Pokey:

We love a good you tube kids song around here, so when I searched for Thanksgiving songs and found this adorable Turkey Hokey Pokey video, I knew we had to use it this week. Aubrey was cracking up as she put her turkey wings, drumstick, etc in and out.

Musical Feathers:

This was another favorite activity of Aubrey’s.  I printed feathers with numbers 1-10 on them, then laid them out in a circle.  I put on some music and had her dance around stepping on each feather.  Then I stopped the music and had her pick up a number and try to identify it.  

Turkey Toss:

I found this cute fall tree door decoration at the craft store and thought it would be a fun way to practice color identification. I taped the tree to our door then added the colored leaves. Aubrey chose a colored feather card, identified the color, then tried to toss the turkey at the correct color leaf. Actually hitting the correct color was pretty difficult, but she loved throwing our stuffed turkey over and over again trying to hit the right leaf!

Turkey Wobble:

Okay I couldn’t resist one more fun video/song for our Thanksgiving theme. If you’ve never heard of Go Noodle or Koo Koo Kangaroo, you should just stop what you’re doing and go check them out right now. They have loads of awesome videos to get your kids dancing, moving, and having a great time. One of my favorite videos of theirs is the Turkey Wobble. It’s no secret my girls love learning new dance routines so this one was so fun for them. And its pretty hysterical to watch!

Thanksgiving Snacks:

Donut Hole Turkeys: For these yummy treats, we pushed 5 pieces of candy corn into the top of a donut hole for feathers and 2 pretzel sticks into the bottom for legs. Then we stuck 2 candy eyes, ½ an orange Reese’s pieces, and a piece of red gummy candy on the front of the donut hole with a dab of icing for the turkey face.

Turkey Pretzel Bites: To make these little turkey bites, I melted a few pieces of chocolate for 15-30 seconds then poured the chocolate onto pretzels (on wax paper) to fill centers. After the chocolate set a bit, we added candy corn feathers, candy eyes and Reese’s pieces.

Kix Corn on the Cob: This snack was easy peasy! I taped the pointy end of an icing bag down a few inches. Aubrey helped fill the bag with Kix cereal. Then I secured the bottom with a twist tie. Finally I wrapped the bag with a square of tissue paper and secured with another twist tie. This was a great snack to take on the go!

Rice Cake Turkey: This easy turkey was made with a mini rice cake, veggie straws for feathers, 2 pretzel stick legs, 2 candy eyes, ½ an orange Reese’s pieces, and a piece of red gummy candy on the rice cake for the turkey face.

Turkey Sandwich: This cute little turkey was my favorite for our last day of Thanksgiving week. I helped Aubrey skewer beef sticks and cheese cubes to make 6 feathers. Then we pushed the feathers into the side of an Uncrustable sandwich. Last we added candy eyes, a triangle of cheese and a red pepper to the top of the sandwich for the turkey face.

Thanksgiving Sensory Bin:

In this bin: brown paper shreds, Little People Thanksgiving Set

Thanksgiving Dinner Bin:

In this bin: popcorn kernels, plastic plates, bowls, cups, forks, and
play food

Cranberries & Water Play:

In our bin: cranberries, water, slotted spoons, cups and bowls

Turkey Play Dough:

On this tray: brown play dough, pipe cleaners, foam shapes, googly eyes, colored feathers

Build a Turkey Sensory Bin:

In this bin: popcorn kernels, turkey bodies, feathers, pipe cleaner legs

Want all of this week’s Thanksgiving activities for tot school?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Thanksgiving Plans & Printables On TpT: Thanksgiving Plans & Printables

Or you can grab our entire year of themes and plans:
On my site here: Tot School Bundle On TpT here: Tot School Bundle

Then check out the rest of our 35+ themes on the Tot School Curriculum Main Page.

The post Tot School: Thanksgiving first appeared on Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten.

**This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. View our full disclosure policy here.**

Here were our plans for About Me Week:

Tot School Read Alouds for an All About Me Theme

The Skin You Live In By Michael Tyler
Eyes, Nose, Fingers, and Toes: A First Book All About You By Judy Hindley
The Feelings Book By Todd Parr
Me and My Family Tree By Joan Sweeney
The Family Book By Todd Parr

Fine Motor All About Me Activities for Tot School

Tear and Stick Names:

Aubrey started all about me week focusing on her own name. She is still working on recognizing all of the letters in her name, so for some fine motor practice she worked on tearing paper and gluing it in the letter outlines. This was much more challenging than I thought it would be so I ended up ripping a lot of the pieces smaller for her while she worked on picking up and gluing them one at a time. Lots of new skills went into this activity!

Roll and Paint Body:

Next we worked on identifying the parts of our body.  I printed a body outline and color/body part dice.  Aubrey rolled the two dice, then used watercolor paints to paint that body part the correct color.

Emotion Play Dough Mats:

This week we also learned about our emotions with this play dough mat.  Aubrey used the pictures at the top as models to create lots of different emotions and use new vocabulary to describe how her person was feeling.

Shape Family Puppets:

Finally we learned about our families, so we created the members of our family as shape puppets!  Aubrey used foam sticker shapes to create people by sticking them onto a craft stick.  I helped her use markers to draw a face and details and glue to add yarn, buttons, etc. for hair and other details.

Build a Home:

Another family activity we did was building houses for our families.  We started with family counters and built a little family.  Then Aubrey used fine motor tweezers to grab blocks and build each family a house.  This was great for strengthening her grasp as the blocks were a bit slippery and tough to hold on to.

Gross Motor All About Me Activities for Tot School

Sort the Hands:

I love gross motor activities for this age because they always seems to keep Aubrey interested for longer periods of time. After reading The Skin You Live In By Michael Tyler, I printed hands in different colors, dumped them on the floor and labeled a few baskets.  We took turns running back and forth with one hand at a time and dropping it in the right basket. Super easy set up and her big sister even joined in too!

Color Hokey Pokey:

Next to practice our body parts, we played the hokey pokey.  To switch it up a bit I tied a different colored rainbow scarf on each part of the body (hand, foot, tummy, and head.) Then I played the hokey pokey song and instead of saying “right hand, left hand, etc.” I said “orange hand, red hand, etc.” This made it easier to identify parts, and added a little extra fun for Aubrey as she waved the scarves around.

Feelings Face Hop:

We brought our next gross motor game outside to practice identifying feelings.  I drew faces with different emotions on the ground with sidewalk chalk. Then I called out an emotion for Aubrey to run to. When she got there she had to act out that emotion. After playing that way for a while I had her hop from face to face and name each emotion along the way.

Color Family Trip:

This color family trip activity was such a fun way to practice sorting by color and identifying family members all while getting some energy out. Using washi tape in rainbow colors, I created roads on the floor with a mixture of straight and zig zag lines. Then I taped a matching colored house at the end of each color road and filled a bin with colored family counters.  Aubrey had to find all of the family members of one color, load them into a toy truck, then follow that color road to deliver them to the correct house.

Race and Wipe Name:

For one more name activity we played this race and wipe game.  I wrote the letters in Aubrey’s name on our sliding glass window with dry erase markers. (I started with just 2 letters multiple times, then we worked up to more.) Aubrey stood back a few feet, and I called out a letter. With an eraser in hand, she ran to the window to erase the letter, then ran back.

All About Me Snack Ideas for Tot School

Pancake Faces – First make a batch of large circle shaped pancakes. (Use a store bought mix, or your own favorite recipe.) Fill a small tray or cupcake tin with cut up bananas, strawberries, blueberries, clementines, chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, etc. Use pieces to create pancake faces.

All About Me Cookie –  Make a batch of your favorite sugar cookie dough or use store bought mix/ready made dough. Roll out dough on floured surface ¼ to ½ inch thick. Cut into people with cookie cutters. Bake, cool completely, and decorate with frosting, sprinkles, choc chips, jelly, and candy eyes.

Feelings Toast – Toast a slice of bread. Spread with peanut butter. Add candy eyes and chocolate chips. Put jelly in a decorator bag or Ziploc with a small corner cut off. Use jelly to create mouths, eyebrows, etc. to show different feelings.

Snack Family – Use various types of crackers, pretzel sticks, cheese, cheerios, mini marshmallows, and jelly to create all of the members of your family. Put jelly in a decorator bag or Ziploc with a small corner cut off to use for adding small details and/or writing names. 

Veggie Family – Cut up cucumbers, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, and cheese. Use veggies and cheese to build family members on an empty plate.

All About Me Activities for Tot School Sensory Play

Build My Name Sensory Bin:

In this bin: upper and lowercase letter beads, black beans, gator grabber tweezers, name practice page

Build a Body Sensory Bin:

In this bin: red water beads, my body puzzles and mats

Name the Feelings Sensory Bin:

In this bin: Eggspressions playset, white beans

My Family Sensory Bin:

In this bin: shredded paper, family photos, family name cards

Build a Family Sensory Bin:

In this bin: family counters, kinetic sand

Want all of this week’s all about me activities for tot school?  You can grab them here:
On my site : About Me Plans & Printables On TpT: About Me Plans & Printables

Or you can grab our entire year of themes and plans:
On my site here: Tot School Bundle On TpT here: Tot School Bundle

Then check out the rest of our 35+ themes on the Tot School Curriculum Main Page.

The post Tot School: About Me first appeared on Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten.

**This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. View our full disclosure policy here.**

So where do we go from here? I don’t know about you but my summer calendar is already PACKED with classes, story times, pool dates, and dance recitals so we are going to take a break from our regularly scheduled tot school activities. But don’t you worry I’m not going anywhere

For the next 10 weeks, We will be using one sensory bin for the entire week and finding new ways to play each day. Miss Madelynn is now 3 1/2 and Aubrey just turned 1 (and she is SOOO ready to get in on the fun,) so my challenge is going to be finding materials that M is super excited about that A can safely play with too (i.e. no choking hazards and all taste safe.) I can’t wait to share lots of ways to explore our Sensory Summer Bins.

For now let’s get into all the ice cream themed fun we had over the last week!

  Here were our plans for Ice Cream week:

And here are the details of each activity:

Our favorite Ice Cream books for the week were:
Five Little Monkeys Jump in the Bath By Eileen Christelow
Izzy the Ice Cream Fairy By Tim Bugbird
Splat the Cat: I Scream for Ice Cream By Rob Scotton
Ice Cream: The Full Scoop By Gail Gibbons
The Ice Cream King By Steve Metzger

Ice Cream Writing Tray:

  Last week’s sand writing tray was a big hit, so this week I changed it up to match our ice cream theme by filling the tray with sprinkles and adding some ice cream scoop letter cards. We used our finger but I thought it would also be fun to use a sugar cone for writing if you have one with a point at the bottom!

Ice Cream Counting:

  I whipped up some simple counting cards for this activity with the numbers 1-10 on each cone. Then I gave Madelynn a tub of cut up straw “sprinkles” and a pair of fine motor tweezers. Then she practiced counting out the correct number of sprinkles for each cone.

Puffy Paint Ice Cream:

  To prep this activity I cut out a triangle for the cone from construction paper. Then I mixed up 2 batches of shaving cream puffy paint by mixing equal parts shaving cream and white glue. I left one batch white, and dyed the other batch pink with a few drops of liquid watercolors.  Then Madelynn painted her two ice cream scoops and added some real sprinkles while the paint was still wet.

 Ice Cream Stamping:

  Did you know dot stampers make the perfect ice cream scoops? For this little project I cut out tiny triangle cones from construction paper, then Madelynn stamped scoops, scoops, and more scoops on top of each cone.

Ice Cream Felt Board:

  It’s been a while since I made a new felt set so our ice cream theme gave me the perfect inspiration to get some more use out of out felt board.  I first cut out a bunch of brown triangles for cones. Next I cut scoop shapes from cream, pink, brown, and light blue felt.  Then I cut small cherry pieces from red felt. Finally, I used the scraps of felt I had left to cut small rectangles for sprinkles.  Madelynn loved setting up and playing with her own little ice cream shop!

Ice Cream in a Bag:

  Have you ever made ice cream in a bag? We tried it for the first time and I was SHOCKED at how easy and delicious it was! I have a feeling we’ll be doing this lots this summer. This was also a great way to combine our gross motor and snack activities into one!

Here is the recipe:   1. Mix 3 cups crushed ice and 1/3 cup salt in a gallon freezer bag. 2. Mix 1/2 cup whole milk, 1/4 tsp vanilla, and 1 Tbsp sugar in sandwich bag. 3. Drop the small bag inside the large bag and SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE! **Wear gloves the bag will get really cold ** 4. After about 5 minutes take the small bag out and enjoy, yum!

 Catch the Scoops:

  For this gross motor game, I created a cone from a large sheet of brown construction paper. Then I tossed ball pit balls into the air for Madelynn to catch.

Ice Cream Relay:

  For this game I set up 2 bins on either side of the yard. On one end I filled the bin with ball pit ball “ice cream scoops” and toy ice cream cones.  Then Madelynn tried to balance each ball on a cone and carry it to the other bin.

Ice Cream Cone Toss:

To prep this carnival style game, I hot glued 6 cake cones into an empty cardboard box. Madelynn tossed ping pong balls into the box trying to make one in each cone.

Ice Cream Hunt:

  Madelynn loves these themed scavenger hunts, so for our last week I printed ice cream scoops with the numbers 1-15 and hid them around the house. She searched high and low for all of her ice cream scoops. Then she used the recording sheet and a clipboard to match and color each number as she found them.

 Ice Cream Theme Snacks:

Waffle Ice Cream – Cut a waffle into a cone shape. Use a can of whipped cream to make a large dollop on top for ice cream. Dip the waffle into the whipped cream and enjoy!
  Ice Cream Cake Cones – Stand cake cones up in a cupcake tin. Make your favorite cake batter (I used a box of Funfetti). Pour the batter into each of the cake cones. Bake as directed. Cool and ice each cone.
  Frozen Strawberry Banana Ice Cream – Peel and freeze 4 bananas and 1 lb of strawberries.  Place frozen fruit into a food processor and blend. Serve immediately or place in the freezer to set for a few minutes.
  Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich – Scoop vanilla ice cream onto one graham cracker.  Place another graham cracker on top and squish together. Roll the sides in sprinkles.

 Ice Cream Scoop Sensory Bin:

  In this sensory bin: Cotton balls, toy ice cream cones, scoops, spoons, and bowls  

Ice Cream Sundae Sensory Bin:

  In this sensory bin: Cotton balls, red pom poms, rainbow rice sprinkles, toy ice cream scoops, spoons, and bowls  

Ice Cream Play Dough Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: Funfetti playdough, buckets, sand toy ice cream set   This ice cream play dough is seriously amazing. It smells delicious and actually scoops like real ice cream! Best of all it is taste safe so even your littlest kiddos can play without any worry.
Here’s the super simple recipe:
-1 cup funfetti frosting (white or colored) -About 3 cups powdered sugar   1. Mix in a stand mixer, adding powdered sugar gradually. 2. Add a bit more or less sugar until your dough isn’t sticky.
  That’s it! I  used the pre-colored pink frosting for our “strawberry” so I didn’t have to mess with food coloring. So easy!

Ice Cream Scooping Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: Ping pong balls, sand toy ice cream set

Ice Cream Cloud Dough: 

In this bin: Cloud dough (8 cups flour & 1 cup vegetable oil mixed together), sand toy ice cream set
And that’s a wrap for Tot School 2016-2017! Stay tuned for our Sensory Summer Play Ideas.  

Want all of this week’s Ice Cream activities for preschool?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Ice Cream Plans & Printables On TpT: Ice Cream Plans & Printables

Or you can grab our entire year of themes and plans:
On my site here: Tot School Bundle On TpT here: Tot School Bundle

Then check out the rest of our 35+ themes on the Tot School Curriculum Main Page.

The post Tot School: Ice Cream first appeared on Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten.

**This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. View our full disclosure policy here.**

    Here were our plans for Ocean week:

  And here are the details of each activity:

Our favorite ocean books for the week were:
Mister Seahorse By Eric Carle
Commotion in the Ocean By Giles Andreae
Clumsy Crab By Ruth Galloway
Rainbow Fish By Marcus Pfister
The Snail and the Whale By Julia Donaldson

Tissue Paper Seahorse:

Eric Carle’s artwork always inspires me, so this little seahorse craft was inspired by his book Mister Seahorse. I prepped a cut out seahorse shape and cut up tissue paper squares in green, blue, purple, and pink. Madelynn used a foam brush and watered down glue to attach the tissue paper. First she painted the seahorse, then stuck the tissue paper to the sticky spots, and finally painted over it again with more glue.

Octopus Bead Counting:

Madelynn totally called me out on the fact that this octopus look like a jellyfish, but hey I tried. I cut a paper plate in half, punched 8 holes and tied on yarn legs (or tentacles I guess!). I used a bit of washi tape wrapped around the end of each piece of yarn to make them easier to thread. Then Madelynn counted and threaded beads to match each number.

Ocean Letter Writing Tray:

We love salt trays for practicing pre-writing skills! I made this under the sea letter writing tray with blue salt (dyed with a little bit of gel food coloring), glitter, gems, and added letter cards as a model.

Play Dough Rainbow Fish:

We just couldn’t have an ocean unit without reading Rainbow Fish. Afterwards we made our own rainbow fish with this easy peasy play dough tray. All you need is: blue, purple and white play doh, fish shaped cookie cutters, sequins, gems, & googly eyes.

Under the Sea Stained Glass:

If you’ve followed along with our tot school adventures this year, you know I love a good stained glass window project! They always turn out so pretty and are a super easy way to keep little hands busy. First I cut out 2 black rectangles and ocean animal shapes from black construction paper. Then I stuck one rectangle on contact paper and Madelynn filled in with tissue paper squares for the water. Then she glued the animals and the second rectangle on top. Finally I helped her seal with another sheet of contact paper. Display in a sunny window

Beach Towel Ball Toss:

For this game I planned to use a large beach towel, then quickly realized it was way too big for little hands. So I swapped it out for a kitchen towel and we were good to go. I had Madelynn hold the towel loosely and try to catch a beach ball with it.  Then I showed her how to snap the towel to make the ball fly out. After she got the hang of it, I grabbed a towel and we tried to toss the ball back and forth.

Ocean Ball Sorting:

We were lucky enough to make it outside this week for some movement activities. We started with this ocean bubble color sort. To set up I put blue green and purple ball pit balls in a kiddie pool and placed 3 empty storage bins on the other side of the yard.  Then I got Madelynn started by showing her how to grab a few balls and sort them into the 3 bins.  Then all I did was watch her wear herself out!

Sponge Fish Target Toss:

For this gross motor activity, I cut a few sponges into fish shapes and dropped them in a bin of water.  Then I drew a target with sidewalk chalk. Madelynn then tried to toss the wet fish sponges to hit the center of the target. Lots of splashy fun!

Chalk Ocean Sprayers:

Madelynn is always asking me to draw fun scenes with sidewalk chalk, so I made this ocean scene for her to “swim” through. Then she used some spray chalk I found in the Target Dollar Spot to run around and spray all the animals.

Flying Fish Catch:

We pulled out those sponge fish again for this super simple flying fish game.  I tossed soaked fish sponges into the air and Madelynn used a tin tub to try to catch them. Lots of wet fun!

Ocean Theme Snacks:

Sea Turtle – Peel and cut a kiwi into a thick oval slice. Halve grapes for the legs and head. Attach candy eyes with a bit of decorator icing. Draw a smile with a food coloring pen.

Starfish Rice Krispies Treats – Heat 3 Tbsp butter and 4 cups mini marshmallows in microwave on high for 3 minutes. Stir after 2 minutes. Add 6 cups Rice Krispies cereal and sprinkles. Stir until well coated. Using cooking spray or wax paper, press cereal mixture into star cookie cutters. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Cool on wax paper.

Apple Crab – Core and cut an apple in half. Use one half for the body and cut the other half into 10 slices. Use 8 slices for legs and carve the last 2 slices into claws. Attach candy eyes with a bit of decorator icing.  

Quesadilla Jellyfish – Make a quesadilla with one tortilla folded in half. Cut tentacles from cheese and turkey slices. Add candy eyes.  

Ocean Pops – Drop a few Swedish fish candies into Popsicle molds. Fill with blue juice. Freeze and enjoy!

Ocean Sand Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: Ocean play sand, blue gems, mini ocean animal sand molds

Water Bead Ocean Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: Ocean water beads, ocean animals, fine motor tools, cups

Under the Sea Rescue Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: water, blue/clear gems, ocean animals, stretchy ocean animals, net, tweezers

Sea Foam Ocean Animals Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: water, dishsoap, green liquid watercolors, ocean animals

Seashell Dig Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: wet play sand, seashells, sand tools

Want all of this week’s Ocean activities for tot school?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Ocean Plans & Printables On TpT: Ocean Plans & Printables

Or you can grab our entire year of themes and plans:
On my site here: Tot School Bundle On TpT here: Tot School Bundle

Then check out the rest of our 35+ themes on the Tot School Curriculum Main Page.

The post Tot School: Ocean first appeared on Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten.

**This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. View our full disclosure policy here.**

Here were our plans for Farm week:

And here are the details of each activity:

Our favorite farm books for the week were:
Farm by Mary Novick
Mrs. Wishy Washy by Joy Cowley
Who’s In the Shed? by Brenda Parkes
The Little Red Hen by Brenda Parkes
Click, Clack, Quackity, Quack by Doreen Cronin

String a Word Farm:

I found these little wooden farm beads a few weeks back and knew that they would be PERFECT for fine motor practice during our farm theme. I added a few word cards and alphabet beads for Madelynn to practice making words. The best part? They are a great size for our 1 year old to play with too, even if she mostly puts them in her mouth still

Wishy Washy Play Dough:

I love story inspired play, so we used an old favorite Mrs. Wishy Washy as the inspiration for this play dough tray. All you need is brown “mud” play dough, blue “water” play dough, a “tin tub” bowl, and a toy cow, pig, and duck. Madelynn also requested a brush so she could give them a good scrub.

Who’s in the Barn:

For more story inspired play, I created this “Who’s in the Barn” painting activity inspired by Who’s In the Shed? To prep, I printed a page of barns with animals inside, laminated it, then painted a thin layer of tempera paint over the animals. After the paint was completely dry I gave Madelynn water and a brush so she could uncover the animals. I see lots of possibilities for this fun activity in the future!

Milk the Cow:

I’ve been wanting to take Madelynn to a really fun kids farm in our area where you get to do a lot of hands on things like milk a real cow, but haven’t had the chance yet. So I set up our own little cow milking activity for her to try out. I mixed a tiny bit of white paint with water and poured it into a clear latex glove and closed it off with a rubber band. I drew on a few spots to make it more cow-like, then with it positioned over a cup I poked a tiny hole in the “udders” with the smallest needle I could find. We’ll see if she is brave enough to try milking a real cow when we make it to the farm soon!

Paint & Stamp Farm Art:

This masterpiece was a 3 step project. First Madelynn drew a black line across a sheet paper with a black crayon. Then she used watercolor paints to make the sky blue and the grass green. Next she painted a barn shape cut out with red tempera paint. She insisted that the barn needed a door first though so she drew that with black crayon. After both of those pages dried we glued them together and added farm animal stamps.

Farmer Says:

For this themed Simon says game, I created cards with actions based on different jobs, and called out the action for her to follow (Ex: milk a cow, gallop like a horse, roll in the mud like a pig, etc.) She still not too good about listening for the “Farmer Says” vs no “Farmer Says” but this activity was great for getting some energy out for sure!

Mrs. Wishy Washy Relay:

This game was inspired by the Mrs. Wishy Washy story. I set out a tub of mud and placed cows, ducks, and pigs inside. Then across the yard I filled another metal tub with water and a scrub brush. Madelynn ran back and forth to wash each animal.

Round up the Sheep:

This “Round up the Sheep” game was hysterical to watch. Madelynn chased balloon “sheep” around the yard, and tried to get them all back in the pen. All I did was draw a sheep face on some white balloons and set them free in the yard and we used our outdoor play pen to hold the sheep. Also great for containing rambunctious 3 year olds and their 1 year old sisters.

Farm Animal Bowling:

To play farm animal bowling I started by placing our farm animal puppets on top of upside down red solo cups and they were the perfect fit. Then I set them up and gave Madelynn a small ball to roll. Easy set up and great for getting out some toddler wiggles.

Farm Animal Ring Toss:

Farm animal ring toss (aka another way to get more play out of the same set up above!) I started by placing our farm animal puppets on top of upside down red solo cups again. Then we used paper plate rings and tried to ring each animal. This was much harder than it looks which means lots of running around to pick up the rings.

Farm Animal Ring Toss:

Cheesy Horseshoe Breadsticks – Start with a tube of refrigerated bread stick dough. Form the dough onto the pan in a horseshoe shape. Brush with butter and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake according to package directions.

Muddy Animals – Start with a cup of chocolate pudding. Add farm animal crackers.

Horse Cookies – Start with a Nutter Butter cookie. Use a dot of icing to attach candy eyes to the horse’s face. Attach peanuts between the cookie layers for ears. Use red and blue icing to add the details on the horses face.

Tractor Cracker – Use to graham cracker pieces to form the tractor shape. Cover with green frosting. Add chocolate donut wheels.Use pretzel rods and Chex cereal for the details.

Duck Footprints – Cut cheese slices into circles, then cut wedges out to form webbed feet. Add to round crackers.

Farm Match Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: Oatmeal, Melissa & Doug Farm Animal Pop Blocs, spoons, cups

Wishy Washy Sensory Play:

In this sensory bin: Mud, water, Fisher Price farm animals, scrub brushes, sponges

Feed the Animals Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: Popcorn kernels, paint cups, scoops, animal labels

Little Red Hen Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: White beans, Fisher Price hen, rubber duck, cat & dog, pig, toy baking set

Build a Farm Sensory Bin:

In this bin: Melissa & Doug farm blocks, split peas, and scoops

Want all of this week’s Farm activities for tot school?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Farm Plans & Printables On TpT: Farm Plans & Printables

Or you can grab our entire year of themes and plans:
On my site here: Tot School Bundle On TpT here: Tot School Bundle

Then check out the rest of our 35+ themes on the Tot School Curriculum Main Page.

The post Tot School: Farm first appeared on Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten.

**This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. View our full disclosure policy here.**

Here were our plans for Community Week:

And here are the details of each activity:

Our favorite community books for the week were:

People Who Help Us: Police Officer by Amanda Askew
People Who Help Us: Fire Fighter by Amanda Askew
People Who Help Us: Doctor by Amanda Askew
Whose Hands are These? by Miranda Paul
Clothesline Clues to Jobs People Do by Kathryn Heling & Deborah Hembrook

Community Sticker Play:

It’s no secret I love Melissa and Doug toys, and they are always on our birthday and Christmas wishlists. So while I was planning our community theme I knew it would be the perfect time to pull out our Vehicles and My Town reusable sticker pages. Great fine motor practice and fun pretend play.

Fire Finger Painting:

This fire finger painting activity was intentionally simple and open ended. After reading about fire fighters, I squirted a few blobs of red, orange and yellow tempera paint onto a piece of white paper. (Find our favorite paint here) Madelynn used her hands to mix the colors, make flames, and write the letter F for fire.

Band Aid Babies:

Is your little one as obsessed with band aids as mine? I’m not sure what it is but we are in a serious “every bump, bruise and mysterious ailment needs a band aid phase.” I figured what better way to indulge this interest than with some band aid play with our baby dolls.  Of course this was really a fine motor activity in disguise with lots of peeling and sticking practice.

Envelope Letter Match:

For more sticker fun, I created some envelopes with uppercase letters on them, then wrote lowercase letters on dot stickers for Madelynn to match to the correct envelope.

Community Cut Apart Puzzles:

We always need more scissor practice over here and Madelynn is getting much better at cutting straight lines. I created these community helper puzzles for her to cut apart on the dotted lines, then piece back together. This was a really good start to practice cutting on a line which we haven’t tried before.

Community Simon Says:

Although Madelynn doesn’t quite get the Simon says concept yet, (she does every action whether simon says or not…if only she’d listen to me that well!) we have been trying out several themed Simon says games. For this game I created cards with actions based on different jobs, and called out the action for her to follow (Ex: climb a ladder like a firefighter, open wide for the dentist, swim like a lifeguard, etc.)

 Put out the Fires:

  This firefighter themed activity combined both gross motor and fine motor skills. First I drew fires on the ground with sidewalk chalk. Then I gave Madelynn a spray bottle and she ran from fire to fire spraying them to put them out.  If it were warmer outside we would have pulled out the hose for some stronger spray to really wash away the fires.

Drive the City:

  First I printed out pictures of places in the community and posted them around the yard. Then I gave Madelynn a list of 3 places she needed to visit.  She hopped in her cozy coupe car and off she went to visit each location.  After she got to each place she had fun pretending to pick up cupcakes for her friends, mail letters, milk a cow and more.

Find and Match Doctor Tools:

For this gross motor activity I pulled out our Fisher Price doctor set (kind of a childhood staple right?) and traced outlines of each item on a large sheet of paper. Then I hid each item around our house and Madelynn had to find them and return them to the proper place while I took a nap helped her name each item.

Window Washing:

Not a typical job you think of when you do a community helper theme, but we happened to see some window washers downtown a few weeks ago and they captured Madelynn’s interest. I thought it would be fun to pull out some spray bottles and squeegees for Madelynn to play and pretend with.

Community Themed Snacks:

School Bus – Start with a Twinkie. Cut out a wedge from the front, slice a small piece of, then reattach to the same spot.  Use white icing to make dots for windows and to attach small red candies for tail lights.  Use a black food coloring marker to draw a line along the side under the windows. Use more white icing to attach Rolo candies for wheels.

Fire Engine – Start with two rectangle fruit strips. Cut one end to make it rounded for the front of the fire engine. Cut the other piece down and lay it on top perpendicular to the first piece.  Add a vanilla wafer cookie for the ladder, 2 chocolate donuts for wheels, red M&Ms and pull & peel candy for lights, and icing for windows and headlights.

Police Car – Stack 2 wafer cookies and a third wafer cookie cut in half to form the car body.  Attach brown M&Ms with icing for wheels, and add red and blue icing to the top for lights.

Dentist Mouth and Toothbrush – Slice a Twinkie in half lengthwise and add marshmallow teeth. Cut a thin slice of fruit strip for the toothbrush, add white and blue icing for the bristles and toothpaste.

Thermometers – Melt White candy melt in the microwave. Dip pretzel dipping sticks in the white candy and place on waxed paper to set.  Melt red (or pink) candy melt in the microwave in a decorator bag or melt first then pour into a plastic bag and cut off the tip.  Pipe lines on the pretzel to make thermometers.

Community Sensory Bin:

In this bin: White beans, community helper figures, vehicles, scoops

Fire Theme Sensory Bin:

  In this bin: Shredded red, orange, and yellow paper, community helper figures, vehicles, magna tiles

Doctor Tool Sensory Bin:

  In this bin: Cotton balls, Fisher Price doctor set, paper with outlines of tools

Mail the Letters Sensory Bin:

In this bin: Cut up straws, colored envelopes, box with slots cut out and labeled for each color

Dentist Play Dough:

In this bin: Dentist play doh kit

Want all of this week’s Community activities for tot school?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Community Plans & Printables On TpT: Community Plans & Printables

Or you can grab our entire year of themes and plans:
On my site here: Tot School Bundle On TpT here: Tot School Bundle

Then check out the rest of our 35+ themes on the Tot School Curriculum Main Page.

The post Tot School: Community first appeared on Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten.

**This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. View our full disclosure policy here.**

  Here were our plans for our butterfly theme:

And here are the details of each activity:

Our favorite butterfly books for the week were:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar By Eric Carle
Caterpillar to Butterfly By Laura Marsh
TenLittle Caterpillars By Bill Martin Jr
ClaraCaterpillar By Pamela Duncan Edwards
From Caterpillar to Butterfly By Deborah Heiligmann

Cut the Fruits:

  For a little scissor challenge this week I printed out a whole pile of fruit clip art images for Miss Madelynn to practice with. Most of these shapes are too hard for her to cut out exactly, but since she tends to be a bit of a perfectionist (hmmm, wonder where she got that from…) I thought it would be good for her to work on just “trying her best.” After a bit of frustration with not being able to do it perfectly, she settled in to cutting close to the lines and being happy with that. Of course our little hungry caterpillar friend was cheering her on the whole time

Hungry Caterpillar Retelling:

  I was inspired by the cute little hole punches in The Very Hungry Caterpillar and knew they would make for a great lacing activity.  I printed out clip art to match the story, hole punched them and Madelynn laced the pieces together to tell the story in order.

Dot Marker Butterflies:

Dot stampers are a great go to fine motor activity. I love how easy it is to spice up a plain old coloring page with bright beautiful dots. I printed a few of these butterfly outlines and let Madelynn design her own butterflies. Easy Peasy!

Beaded Butterfly:

Beads + pipe cleaners = amazing fine motor creations.  To create these butterflies we used 2 pipe cleaners. After Madelynn nearly filled them with beads, we twisted each side into a large oval with a little bit extra left for the antenna/body.  Then we twisted each oval in the center to create the upper and lower wing for each side.  Using the small piece of pipe cleaner in the center we added one bead on each side for a spacer and then twisted them together to connect both sides and create antennas.

Pom Pom Stamp Caterpillars:

To stamp these little cuties, I attached pom poms to clothespins, and gave Madelynn 2 small cups of paint.  We dipped, stamped and repeated all over the page to create crawly little hungry caterpillars.

Butterfly Life Cycle:

For me one of the best ways to remember something new is by acting it out, so we acted out each part of the butterfly life cycle.  We started out curling up in a little ball for the egg. Then we crawled on our tummies like caterpillars. Next, we hid in our chrysalis staying very still.  Last we emerged as  butterfly flapping our wings and flying around the room.

Feed the Hungry Caterpillar:

  For some throwing/gross motor practice, I printed a large caterpillar head and attached it to a small crate. Then I gave Madelynn another crate filled with fruits and food from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. She tried her best to throw them into the basket carnival game style, which turned out to be quite challenging!

Catch the Butterflies:

  I found this net in the Target dollar spot and knew we had to use it for some butterfly catching.  Well it was rainy and cold all week which means no butterflies to chase outside. I  improvised with some bean bag butterflies and threw them in the air for Madelynn to try to try to catch.

Butterfly Dancing:

For our butterfly dancing activity, first I tied a few of these scarves together to make colorful flowing wings. Then I put some soft classical music on and Madelynn fluttered around the room flapping her beautiful wings.

Butterfly Color Relay:

    For this activity I printed purple, pink, and yellow butterflies and scattered them around the room. Then I labeled 3 buckets with color words for sorting.  We took turns running back and forth with one butterfly at a time and sorted it into the correct bucket until all of the butterflies were caught.

Butterfly Theme Snacks:

PB & J Butterflies: Cut an Uncrustable sandwich in half for the wings, add a cheese stick in the center for the body.   Waffle Butterflies: Toast and cut a waffle in half for the base of the wings, then decorate with cut up fruit.   Grape Caterpillars: Skewer green grapes for the body, then add a strawberry for the head. Use candy eyes and raisins to make the face.
Fruit Butterflies: Slice strawberries into thin pieces. Arrange blueberries and strawberry slices into butterflies on a plate. Add small grape slivers for antennae.

Butterfly Pretzels: Dip regular shaped and stick pretzels in white candy melt, arrange in the shape of a butterfly on wax paper, add sprinkles and chocolate chips to decorate

Hungry Caterpillar Sensory Bin:

  In this bin: Black beans, play food, caterpillar toy, mini cups

 Butterfly Play Dough:

  In this bin: Play dough, rollers, butterfly cookie cutter, gems, googly eyes, buttons

Life Cycle Sensory Bin:

  In this bin: spaghetti noodles (cooked and dyed green), butterfly shape pasta (dyed pink and purple), green rotini noodles (taken from pre-dyed rainbow rotini box), cups for sorting

Butterfly Sensory Bin:

In this bin: Plastic grass, butterfly toys, silk flowers

Feeding Butterflies Sensory Bin:

In this bin: Mini cups, colored water, toy butterflies, flowers, pipettes

Want all of this week’s Butterflies activities for tot school?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Butterflies Plans & Printables On TpT: Butterflies Plans & Printables

Or you can grab our entire year of themes and plans:
On my site here: Tot School Bundle On TpT here: Tot School Bundle

Then check out the rest of our 35+ themes on the Tot School Curriculum Main Page.

The post Tot School: Butterflies first appeared on Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten.