**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 Valentines Week:

And here are the details of each activity:

Our favorite valentine books for the week were: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Rose by Lucille Colandro Love, Splat by Rob Scotton Happy Valentine’s Day, Mouse by Laura Numeroff Llama Llama I Love You by Anna Dewdney Kiss Kiss Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen

  Roll and Fill Heart:

  I don’t know why I feel the need to buy 7,000 conversation hearts every year, but I seem to have so many laying around. I wanted to find a way to use them with Madelynn so we played this roll and fill heart game.  This game incorporates so many different skills. First roll the die and identify the number, then count out the hearts with one to one correspondence to fill the heart cookie cutter. I added the tongs to incorporate a fine motor strength challenge as well.

 Heart Stamp & Paint:

  For this art project we started with a tp tube bent into a heart shape to create a stamp. After Madelynn filled her page with hearts, I gave her pom poms clipped with clothespins to paint the hearts.

Valentines Necklaces:

    Did you know that paper straws make awesome beads? Just cut a few fun themed paper straws into small pieces then thread them onto lacing string and create a fun themed necklace.

  Stained Glass Heart:

  I LOVE making stained glass art crafts because they are so easy to prep & make, and they always turn out gorgeous!  First I cut 2 identical hearts from black construction paper and placed one heart onto a piece of contact paper. With the sticky side up, Madelynn added tissue paper squares to fill the heart. After she was finished she glued the second heart cut out on top along with another sheet of contact paper.  I cut the excess paper from the outside and taped it to the window. So pretty!

   Tear Paper Heart Tree:

  To make this tree I gave Madelynn a large sheet of brown construction paper and let her cut and tear large and small strips. Then she glued each piece together to create branches on a tree.  Finally she added foam heart stickers for a pretty Valentine themed tree.

Musical Hearts ABC: 

  This was a big hit with Madelynn.  I wrote the letters A-Z on paper hearts that I cut out, then laid them out in a circle.  I put on some music and had her dance around the circle.  Then I stopped the music and had her pick up a letter and try to name it.  She has been doing really well with uppercase letters so it is definitely time to move on to using more lowercase letters in our activities. 

 Heart Scavenger Hunt {Letters}:

We love a  scavenger hunt over here, so I took the paper hearts from our musical heart game and hid them all over the first floor of our house. Then we hunted for each letter and brought them back to this large paper mat I made to match them. 

Musical Hearts Numbers: 

  This was exactly the same as the musical hearts activity we did with letters.  I wrote the numbers 0-10 on paper hearts that I cut out, then laid them out in a circle.  I put on some music and had her dance around the circle.  Then I stopped the music and had her pick up a number and try to name it. 

Heart Scavenger Hunt {Numbers}:

  Because we love our scavenger hunts, I took the paper hearts from our musical heart game and hid them all over the first floor of our house. Then we hunted for each number and brought them back to this large paper mat I made to match them.

Valentines Snacks:

Strawberry Swirl Crescents: These hearts were pretty easy to make and super yummy like little danishes! I started with a tube of Pillsbury crescent rounds. I rolled the whole tube out and had Madelynn spread cream cheese over them.  Then she placed small cut up strawberries on top.  I rolled both ends of the rounds towards the center to form hearts and then baked them according to the package directions.  

Veggie Hearts: Using tiny heart cookie cutters I cut out shapes from cucumber, crinkled carrots, and tomatoes to make these colorful healthy Valentines treats.    Heart Eyes Crackers: I’m loving this emoji inspired valentine snack. We spread peanut butter on ritz crackers. Then added raisins and strawberries (cut with a tiny heart cookie cutter) to make a face.     Valentine Parfait: To make this parfait we layered granola, strawberry yogurt, strawberries, and vanilla pudding.

Fruit Heart Skewer: Use a heart cookie cutter to cut shapes from strawberries and bananas. Alternate fruits on a skewer for a fun heart pattern.

Valentine Sensory Bin #1:

  In this sensory bin: pipe cleaners, pom poms, satin hearts, foam hearts, ribbon, heart slinkies, and buttons

Valentine Sensory Bin #2:

  In this sensory bin: water beads, mini heart boxes, heart buttons, and scoops

Valentine Play Dough Cookies:

On this play dough tray: red, pink, and purple play dough, heart stamps, heart gems, heart buttons, heart cookie cutters, and rolling pins

 Valentine Sensory Bin #3: 

In this sensory bin: red rice, valentine mini erasers, mailbox, tongs

Valentine Sensory Bin #4: 

In this sensory bin: red dyed water, heart sponges, heart gems, mini heart boxes, mini cups, scoops, and eye droppers.

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

And here are the details of each activity:

Our favorite penguin books for the week were: Tacky the Penguin By Helen Lester Penguins By Liz Pichon If You Were a Penguin By Wendell and Florence Minor Penguin Chick By Betty Tatham National Geographic Kids: Penguins By Anne Schreiber

Snow Letter Writing Tray:

  Okay so we didn’t really use snow, because of course we didn’t have any on the ground to scoop up when I needed it. Instead I used salt sprinkled on our tot school tray, close enough right? Then we started out drawing lines, zig zags and circles using a penguin from our Penguin Toob. Madelynn is still a bit young to make letters on her own, so next I drew a letter in the salt tray and had her trace it with her penguin. Easy peasy fine motor practice.

Penguin Counting Tray:

  For this fine motor activity we added in a little counting with a soft foam die. Madelynn rolled the die, counted the dots, then added that number of mini penguin erasers to her ice cube tray.  For a little extra challenge I gave her tweezers to pick up the erasers too.

Penguin Painting:

  Now that Madelynn is getting pretty good at drawing shapes I have been trying to have her work on more open ended art projects. So for this painting I asked her to start by painting a penguin body with black paint. We looked at pictures of penguins in books so she could decide what shapes she needed. She told me she was going to make a big oval and a head. After that dried, we glued cotton balls on the head and body for the white parts and I gave her a few pre-cut pieces for the face and feet.

Igloo Painting:

To prep this activity I froze water inside empty fruit cups that I saved to make little “igloos.” Then Madelynn used watercolors to paint her igloos.

Tacky the Penguin Play Dough Mat:

After reading Tacky the Penguin By Helen Lester, we made our own shirts and bow ties for Tacky using play dough. We also used our Melissa & Doug Play Dough Tools to stamp different shapes and textures on the clothes.

Penguin Dance Chant:

I have tons of preschool movement CDs that I used in the classroom full of fun themed songs. One song I remember loving was Jack Hartman’s Penguin Dance Chant. The song has your little one(s) moving their left and right flippers, feet and more. You can find it on CD here or dance to the YouTube version like we did here.

Penguin Waddle:

  We did this activity last year, but thought we’d try it again now that Madelynn is bigger.  All I did was blow up a balloon and have her try to walk with it between her legs.  We talked about how penguin daddies keep their eggs warm on their feet and have to shuffle around to move anywhere while the mommy is out getting food.

Iceberg Hop:

We did this one last year too, but it was fun and easy so we tried it again! I cut out white “icebergs” from cardstock and laid them out on the floor. Then I had Madelyn move in different ways between them. We tried walking, running, hopping on two feet, hopping on one foot, tiptoeing, and skating.

Penguin Freeze Dance:

  Another fun dance we love is this Penguin Freeze Dance I found on YouTube. This is just a themed version of the basic freeze dance song.  In the video different animals and characters prompt different actions (skate like penguin, twirl like a candy cane, etc.) until the music stops and they shout “freeze.”

Penguin Fish Hunt:

  Madelynn loves these themed scavenger hunts, so this week I printed fish with all of the letters a to z and hid them around the house. She pretended she was a hungry penguin and searcher for all of the letter fish. She used the recording sheet and a clipboard to match and color each letter as she found them.

Penguin Snacks:

Penguin Cookies – Separate the top cookie from the cream of an Oreo. Split the top cookie into 2 pieces to make the wings and reattach. Add a mini oreo for the head. Cut up an orange gumdrop for the feet and beak and added candy eyes on the face with a dot of icing. Build an Igloo – Start with half an apple turned upside down on a plate. Use a plastic knife to spread peanut butter all over the outside of the apple. Built the igloo by sticking mini marshmallow “ice cubes” onto the peanut butter. Blueberry Penguin – Place a large rice cake in the center of a plate. Place blueberries around the rice cake to form the penguin body shape.  Add a half strawberry and blueberry for a hat.  Cut Starburst candy into webbed feet and a beak.  Add Starburst shapes and candy eyes to complete the penguin. Penguin Marshmallow – Start by dipping a jumbo marshmallow in melted chocolate and let it set. Add gumdrops and candy eyes for the face and feet. Veggie Penguin – Use cucumber slices for the penguin body and head. Add cut black olives to outline the body and head. Add carrot pieces for feet and nose and finish the face with candy eyes.

Build an Igloo Sensory Bin:

In this bin: “Snow,”  penguin mini erasers, empty fruit cups

  (We used the same baking soda snow we made last week for our winter theme, I just added a bit more water to soften it up again.)

Penguin Sensory Bin:

  In this sensory bin: Penguins from our Penguin Toob, instant fake snow, and empty fruit cup igloos.

Penguin Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: Penguins from our Penguin Toob, artificial snow, mini trees, and blue gems(ice).

Penguin Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: Penguins from our Penguin Toob, blue gems, frozen icebergs, bowls, and water.

Penguins at Night:

In this sensory bin: Baking soda snow, penguins from our Penguin Toob, blue gems, clear tray and light pad

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

  And here are the details of each activity:

Our favorite winter books for the week were: The Mitten by Jan Brett Under My Hood I Have a Hat by Karla Kuskin The Jacket I Wear in the Snow by Shirley Nietzel The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats Snowmen at Night by Carayn Buehner

Build a Snowman:

  We used this little snowman last year as one of our very first tot school fine motor activities and it was a big hit so I pulled it back out this year.  The goal is to fill the water bottle with mini marshmallows. Last year we just used fingers, but now that Madelynn is a whole year older I added the tongs for her to grab marshmallows. She used them for a while and then started using her hands. Either way great fine motor practice!

 Snowball Counting Tray:

  Since mini marshmallows make the perfect little “snowballs” we used them for our counting tray as well. We used a mini ice cube tray and tongs then practiced counting and placing marshmallows in each hole.

Snowball Name:

  This was such an easy low prep activity.  I taped 2 sheets of paper together since Madelynn’s name is nice and long. Then I wrote her name with large letters and gave her some white circle labels and hole reinforcements.  She then used the stickers to trace the shape of each letter.

Puffy Paint Snowman:

In order to paint these snowmen, I used a simple DIY recipe to mix up a batch of puffy paint.

Puffy Paint Recipe:
Equal parts shaving cream and white glue
Pinch of glitter
A few drops of vanilla for scent

After painting, I gave Madelynn small paper cutouts to use to decorate her snowman.

 Marshmallow Paint Snowman:

I like to switch up our painting tools from time to time, and since we had all kinds of marshmallows laying around from our other activities, I thought it would be fun to use them to stamp a snowman.  Madelynn started out stamping, then used them more as a paintbrush to create her snowman. After painting we added a few felt snowflake stickers to finish our artwork.

Snowball Fight:

We brought the snowball fight action indoors with this easy gross motor activity. I crumpled up lots and lots of white scrap paper and spread it around the room. Then I yelled “snowball fight” and it was game on!  The best part about using crumpled paper is that it is really hard to throw hard so no one gets hurt!

Snowball Toss:

I couldn’t throw away all those scrap paper snowballs just yet, so I came up with another way to play. For our snowball toss I set out a few metal tubs for Madelynn to toss them into.  Throwing is not her favorite gross motor activity so after she got bored with that I had her hold the tub and try to catch the snowballs as I threw them.

Snow Shoveling:

  Time to get this girl trained young that here in Wisconsin shoveling snow is a family affair.  Without snow on the ground outside, we practiced shoveling indoors with out paper snowballs again.  Madelynn scooped them up in the shovel and tried to fill the metal tub.

Build a Snowman:

  Of course we could build a snowman outside when we have the snow, but I mean how cute is this indoor snowman? I have an Amazon Prime addiction so we always have a million boxes laying around.  To prep this activity, I took 3 different sized boxes and wrapped then with the white side of a roll of wrapping paper facing out. Next, I wrapped a small box in black construction paper for a hat. Then, I cut out red and black circles and a carrot shape for the face  and buttons.  Finally we added a scarf for a finishing touch. Madelynn stacked the boxes largest to smallest to build the snowman, then used all of the decorations to bring her snowman to life. I even cut holes in the sides of the middle box to use wrapping paper tubes for arms!

Snowball Number Hunt:

If you have been following along with our past tot school themes, you know I love a good letter/number hunt.  This week we hunted for number snowballs and recorded them on our clipboard page as we found them.

Snow Theme Snacks:

Snowman Popcorn Cups – Draw a snowman face on a clear plastic cup.  Fill the cup with popcorn.
Snowman Quesadilla– Use circle cookie cutters to create the 3 parts of the snowman body. Add peppers, black olives, and pretzels for the decorations.
Donut Snowman – Lay 3 powdered sugar donuts on the plate.  Add chocolate chips, licorice, Oreo, and a Reese’s cup for the decorations.
Veggie Snowman – Use 3 cucumber slices to make a snowman body. Add carrots, peppers, and black olives for decorations.
Marshmallow Snowflakes – Push 4 pretzel rods into big marshmallows. Press 4 pretzel sticks into mini marshmallows. Push all 8 sticks into a large center marshmallow.

Winter Sensory Bin:

  In this bin: Cotton Balls, Bells, Foam Snowflakes, Star Lights, Bowls, Scoops and Tongs

Build a Snowman Bin:

  In this bin: “Snow,”  pipe cleaners, buttons, googly eyes, black pom poms, sticks

  To make the pretend snow mix together 2 cups baking soda, 1/2 cup water, and glitter in a small bowl. Pop the bowl in the freezer for a bit so it has a chilly feel to it. Don’t make the same mistake I did and forget about it though! I left the bowl in the freezer too long and the water completely froze so we had to wait a good 30 minutes for it to thaw before it was no longer a hard brick of ice.

Pretend Snow Play:

  In this bin: Instant Fake Snow, clear snowman cup, scoops, and snowman cookie cutters

Build a Snow Globe:

  In this bin: Artificial Snow, plastic tubes, small trees, penguin and snowmen mini erasers, and scoops

Snow Shape Pasta Sensory Bin:

  In this bin: Snow Shape Pasta, sorting tray, tongs, measuring cups and spoons

Want all of this week’s Winter activities for tot school?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Winter Plans & Printables On TpT: Winter 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: Winter 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 special 2 week Christmas theme:

And here are the details of each activity:

Our favorite Christmas books were:

How to Catch a Santa By Jean Reagan
Click Clack Ho! Ho! Ho! By Doreen Cronin
Dream Snow By Eric Carle
Snowmen at Christmas By Caralyn Buehner
There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell By Lucille Colandro
The Polar Bear Who Saved Christmas By Fiona Boon
Merry Christmas, Splat By Rob Scotton
The Not Very Merry Pout-Pout Fish By Deborah Diesen
Llama Llama Holiday Drama By Anna Dewdney
It’s Christmas David By David Shannon

  Play Dough Christmas Trees:

We love play dough trays over here, so this week I pulled out green play dough, a tree cookie cutter, foam shapes, buttons and sequins. It made for a nice enticing invitation to create for Madelynn to explore.

 Jingle Bell Painting:

  With a little baby around, sometimes I need a little mess (and stress!) free painting activity to keep Madelynn busy so that I don’t have to keep a super close eye on her.  This jingle bell painting was really easy and fun for her. First, I put a piece of cardstock in a plastic bag. Then I added a few drops of red and green tempera paint, and dropped in a few jingle bells.  Madelynn rolled, pressed, and shook the bag to move the paint around on the paper.

Candy Cane Salt Tray:

Salt trays are great for writing and fine motor practice so this week I made a salt tray with salt and red glitter. Then we used candy canes to make lines and shapes. Madelynn even enjoyed just playing with the salt in her hands.

Gumdrop Building:

  Madelynn loved stacking, poking (and eating) these little Christmas gumdrops. I encouraged her to make 2D shapes and 3D structures as well as to see how tall of a tower she could build.

Christmas Tree Dot Stamps:

Dot stamps are always a crowd pleaser around here. So this week we used these Do A Dot Art! Markers to dot the ornaments on our Christmas tree. Madelynn is still working on placing them in each circle, but this is really helping her build one to one correspondence for counting as well.

Christmas Sticker Letter Match:

First, I made a Christmas tree letter matching page with the letters in Madelynn’s name. Then, I wrote the same letters on round labels. Madelynn used the sticker “ornaments” to  match and decorate her tree.

Christmas Light Colors:

For a little fine motor color matching combo, I made this christmas light page for matching. Then I gave Madelynn a bin of rainbow colored pom poms and she used tweezers to grab and match them to the page.

Reindeer Antler Colors:

I’ve been wanting to introduce Wikki Stix to Madelynn for a while, so I created this little activity to get her exploring. First she chose colored Wikki Stix to match each reindeer then she molded them into antler shapes.

Number Present Match:

I created this matching game for some number practice. We have been working really hard on counting slowly with one to one correspondence and Madelynn really did a great job up to about 5! I also used rhinestone stickers on the present for added tactile interest.  I found they really helped her slow down to count each one.

Christmas Bow Painting:

For this super simple art activity I poured red, yellow, white, and green tempera paint into a tray and added present bows.  Madelynn explored stamping and swishing them around the page to make a really fun textured look.

Christmas Scarf Dance:

  Dancing is a daily gross motor activity in our house anyways, so to add some Christmas flair I pulled out some red and green scarves.  Then I cranked up some Christmas music and we had a festive dance party

Wreath Ring Toss:

  To make this ring toss game I hot glued an empty paper towel tube to a paper plate then painted it red.  Then I cut the center out of 3 more paper plates and had Madelynn paint them green for “wreaths.”

Candy Cane Hunt:

We have way too many candy canes laying around at Christmas time, so I decided to make them into a game. I hid 10 candy canes around the house and Madelynn had to search high and low and count them to be sure she found them all.

Christmas Tree Balance:

Our spider web balance game was a hit for Halloween so we made a Christmas Tree version with green washi tape.  First Madelynn practiced walking across the center. Then I had her try different forms of movement: jumping, hopping on one foot, leaping, tiptoeing, crawling, etc.

Don’t Ring the Bell:

This game was essentially a limbo game with jingle bells. I strung several bells and stretched the string across the room.  Madelynn had to try to make her way under the string without ringing a bell as I moved the string progressively lower and lower.

  Christmas Snacks:

Strawberry Banana Candy Cane  – Slice a banana and strawberries into circles.  Alternate fruits and lay in a cane shape on a plate.

Veggie Christmas Trees – Use a cookie cutter to cut tortillas into tree shapes.  Spread with a thin layer of cream cheese. Slice cucumbers and lay on top of the cream cheese. Cut a star shape from sliced cheese and add to the top.  Sprinkle diced peppers on top.

Rice Crispy Trees – Heat 3 Tbsp butter and 4 cups mini marshmallows in microwave on high for 3 minutes. Stir after 2 minutes. Remove a scoop of the mixture and add 1 cup Cocoa Krispies cereal. Add green food coloring and 5 cups rice cereal to the remaining marshmallow mixture. Stir until well coated. Using cooking spray or wax paper, press green cereal mixture into triangle cookie cutters. Add small squares of Cocoa Krispies mixture to the bottom of each triangle. Cool on wax paper. Decorate with icing and candy pieces.

Reindeer Peanut Butter Crackers – Spread circle crackers with peanut butter. Add two pretzels near the top for antlers. Add candy eyes and jelly beans for the eyes and nose.

M&M Christmas Tree Count – Use printable christmas tree mats to count out the correct number of M&M candy ornaments to fill each tree.

Christmas Crunch Popcorn – Pop 2 bags microwave popcorn. Remove any unpopped popcorn kernels. Toss in broken pretzels and M&Ms. Melt vanilla candy melts according to package. Pour half of melted candy over popcorn mixture. Stir and repeat with the second half. Pour mixture onto wax paper and add sprinkles.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Trees – Wash, dry, and cut off the top of each strawberry. Melt green candy melts according to the package. Dip strawberries in green candy melt. Sprinkle with white nonpareils and candy cane sprinkles.  Add a star sprinkle at the top. Place on wax paper and allow candy to set.

Santa Strawberries – Wash, dry, and cut off the top of each strawberry. Slice strawberries again near the top. Fill a bag with cool whip. Place bigger part of strawberry on plate. Pipe cool whip on top. Squish the smaller pointy strawberry piece on top and add another small dollop of cool whip. Add nonpareils or sprinkles for eyes and nose.

Reindeer Brownies – Bake your favorite brownie recipe or use a boxed mix.  Cut brownies into rectangles. Use a bit of icing to attach pretzels to the top for antlers. Use more icing to attach candy eyes and a jelly bean nose for the reindeer face.

Candy Cane Cookies – Make your favorite sugar cookie cutout recipe or use a bag mix. Split cookie dough in half and dye one half red.  Roll a tablespoon of each color out into a “hot dog” like you would with playdough.  Twist the colors together, shape into a cane, and bake according to recipe directions.

Magnetic Christmas Tree Bin:

In this sensory bin: cotton ball “snow,” red and green Magnatiles, jingle bells, and magnetic bingo chips In this bin we used Magnatiles to build Christmas trees. Then decorated our trees with jingle bells and magnetic bingo chips. Good clean holiday themed fun!

Ornament Water Bead Bin:

In this sensory bin: green water beads, plastic fillable ornaments, colored gems and sequins, and scoops

Ornament Snow Filling Bin:

In this sensory bin: poly fil, plastic fillable ornaments, and fine motor tools Beware poly fil beads can hold a lot of static!! For a static free version you could also use poly pellets which are clear and less like snow, but also less of a mess!

Present Wrapping Bin:

  In this sensory bin: squares of wrapping paper, tape, scissors, and small boxes

Christmas Tree Sensory Bag:

  To make this bag, tape the 2 long edges of a triangle shaped treat bag with green duct tape.  Fill bag with green food coloring, shaving cream and foam circles. Push air out of the bag. Fold the edge over a few times and use green duct tape to seal the edge.  Tape a foam star and trunk to the outside of the bag.

Red and Green Peppermint Rice:

In this sensory bin: rice (dyed red, green and white, then scented with mint extract), plastic candy canes, and Christmas mini erasers

Ornament Water Filling Bin:

In this sensory bin: water, plastic fillable ornaments, red and green beads, eye droppers, and food coloring

 Candy Cane Slime:

To make this slime: Pour 6 oz. of red glitter glue into a bowl. Add ½ Tbsp baking soda and mix. Add 1 ¼ Tbsp. contact lens solution. Mix until slime forms.  If mixture is too sticky add more contact solution. Repeat with white glue and add glitter. Twist and squish the colors together to make candy canes.

Christmas Color Sorting Bin:

  In this sensory bin: white beans, red and green items (jingle bells, pipe cleaners, mini lights, mini presents, etc.)

Christmas Light Box Trees:

In this sensory bin: green tissue paper triangles, brown tissue paper rectangles, magnetic bingo chips, sequins, gems, clear tray and light pad

Want all of this week’s Christmas activities for tot school?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Christmas Plans & Printables On TpT: Christmas 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: Christmas first appeared on Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten.

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Here were our plans for Gingerbread Week:

And here are the details of each activity:

  Our favorite gingerbread books for the week were:

The Gingerbread Man by Karen Schmidt
The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst
The Gingerbread Pirates by Kristin Kladstrup
Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett
The Gingerbread Cowboy by Janet Squires

Gingerbread Stamping:

Painting with cookie cutters is a super easy low prep activity.  Pour red and brown tempera paint onto paper plates then use a gingerbread man cookie cutter to dip and stamp.

Cut Paper Gingerbread:

We are trying to incorporate scissors more and more each week, so this week I printed a gingerbread outline and had Madelynn cut small pieces of paper to fill and decorate her little guy.

 Gingerbread Play Dough:

We spiced up our play dough routine with these little gingerbread guys to decorate. I pulled out brown, white, red and green play dough to keep thing festive and let her play away!

Gingerbread Houses:

Using an empty milk carton, we stuck graham crackers to the sides with white icing to form a house. Then we used red, green, and white icing and assorted candy to decorate the house. And of course immediately started snacking on all the decorations

 Gingerbread Letter Match:

First, I made this gingerbread house letter matching page with lowercase letters. Then Madelynn used letter stickers to decorate the house by matching uppercase to lowercase letters.

Catch and Sort Gingerbread:

For this gross motor game, we started with gingerbread cut outs in 3 different sizes in a pile on the floor. At the other end of the room I placed 3 different sized baskets for sorting: large, medium and small.  Then we chanted “Run, run as fast as you can, you cant catch me I’m the gingerbread man!” and Madelynn raced back and forth to grab a gingerbread man and sort it into the correct basket. She even did a few extra laps around the house just for fun pretending that her gingerbread guys were running away.

 Gingerbread Hokey Pokey:

  This was probably my favorite activity of the week because Madelynn was just cracking me up with her silliness. I printed some buttons and cut out gumdrops from colored cardstock and taped them on Madelynn’s hands, feet and tummy. Then I played the hokey pokey and instead of saying “right hand, left hand, etc.” I said “orange hand, yellow hand, etc.” Much easier for a toddler that doesn’t know left and right!

Gingerbread Hop Letters:

  First, I cut out gumdrop letters. Then I placed them in a circle on the floor. Next I turned on some Christmas music and Madelynn hopped and danced around the circle. When I stopped the music and said freeze, she tried to name the letter she was standing on.

Build a Gingerbread House:

Like most kids, Madelynn loves climbing in and pretending with large boxes so I decided to add a few props to encourage even more pretend play. I printed and cut out candies, windows and gumdrops from colored card stock. Then I used packing tape to secure a roof on our large box to build a gingerbread house. Madelynn used crayons, tape and printable decorations to create her gingerbread house. I’m in love with how it turned out!

Gingerbread Hop Numbers:

This activity was just like the letter hop we did earlier in the week. First, I cut out gumdrop numbers. Then I placed them in a circle on the floor.  We practiced counting the numbers in order as Madelynn walked around the circle a few times before we started. Next I turned on some Christmas music and shed hopped and danced around the circle. When I stopped the music and said freeze, she tried to name the number she was standing on.

 Gingerbread Snacks:

Gingerbread Cheese & Crackers – Use a mini gingerbread man cookie cutter to cut out cheese shapes. Use cheese cut outs to top crackers.

Gingerbread Man & House Toast – Toast 2 slices of bread. Use gingerbread man and house cookie cutters to cut out shapes from the toast. Spread peanut butter on each shape.

Chocolate Gingerbread Rice Krispies Treats – Heat butter and marshmallows in microwave on high for 3 minutes. Stir after 2 minutes. Add cereal. Stir until well coated. Using cooking spray or wax paper, press cereal mixture into cookie cutters. Cool on wax paper. Decorate with icing and candy eyes.

Graham Cracker Gingerbread House – (This activity doubled as a fine motor and snack activity from earlier.)  “Glue” graham crackers to the sides of an empty milk carton using white icing to form a house. Use red, green, and white icing and assorted candy to decorate the house.

Snack Mix Gingerbread House – Use pretzel sticks to form a house shape on a plate. Add mini marshmallows, M&Ms and cereal to decorate your house.

 Gingerbread Sensory Bin:

In this sensory bin: Rice, gingerbread men cutouts, pom poms, buttons, pipe cleaners, bells. To play Madelynn placed the cut outs on the table and used the small pieces for decorations.

Gingerbread Sorting Bin:

In this sensory bin: Rice, gingerbread men cutouts, pom poms, buttons, pipe cleaners, bells and sorting trays We used the same bin from the day before and added in a sorting tray. Madelynn found the decorations and sorted them by color.

 Gingerbread Sensory Bin:

Warning this bin gets super messy, but is lots of fun! In this sensory bin: 5lb flour, 1 carton salt, 3T each all spice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, sorting trays, gingerbread cut outs, measuring cups and spoons.

 Gingerbread Frosting Dough:

This frosting dough is so easy to make and smells super yummy! Mix 1 cup chocolate frosting and 3 cups powdered sugar in a stand mixer. Add powdered sugar gradually. Add a bit more or less sugar until your dough isn’t sticky. Use gingerbread cookie cutters and buttons to make gingerbread men.

Gingerbread Slime:

To make this slime: Pour 6 oz. of clear glue into a bowl and mix with brown food coloring. Add ½ Tbsp baking soda and mix. Add 1 ¼ Tbsp. contact lens solution. Mix until slime forms. If mixture is too sticky add more contact solution. Then I added buttons and cookie cutters for Madelynn to use for exploring

Want all of this week’s Gingerbread activities for tot school?  You can grab them here:
On my site : Gingerbread Plans & Printables On TpT: Gingerbread 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: Gingerbread first appeared on Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten.

Felt Heart Threading:

I found a felt heart banner in the dollar spot at Target and of course had to grab one even though I had no idea how I would use it.  I found these silly straws a while back at the dollar store and thought they would be fun for threading beads but none of the beads I found had a big enough hole.  I decided to cut the heart off of the ribbon and cut a slit in the middle of each one. Madelynn had a great time threading them onto the different shaped straws.  Check out that “ooooh” face.

 Mail the Hearts:

While filling my cart in the dollar spot I also saw this little mailbox that was too cute for words and these erasers.  They fit perfectly in the little slot so I knew this would be an easy activity for M and it kept her occupied for a really long time.

 Tear Paper Heart:

I’ve seen lots of variations of this activity on pinterest so I created this quick heart printable and cut up some strips of paper for Madelyn to rip apart. Then we used our trusty glue sponge to stick them onto the heart.

 Roll, Count, and Fill Heart:

I found these fun sparkly pom poms in the craft section at Hobby Lobby and figured we’d find something fun to do with them.  Since we worked on numbers and counting last week I wanted to try to incorporate those sills as much as possible.  I grabbed a die and we rolled, and counted out pom poms to fill the heart cookie cutter.  This last about 3 rolls, then M started shoveling handfuls in and out of the bowl, but hey it was worth a shot right?

 Paper Heart Punch:

I thought it would be fun for Madelynn to try out a paper punch this week to really work on fine motor strength.  I thought I had a heart one, but no such luck.  So I cut out a bunch of hearts and had M punch around the outside.  This was really hard for her and I had to help a lot, but she tried her best.  We will definitely try this more and I am sure she will get the hang of it.

 Counting Heart Mats:

I found these adorable counting mats from Life Over Cs while searching Pinterest for ideas and already had a bunch of erasers from my Target Dollar Spot haul. Madelynn was pretty good at lining them up inside the numbers, but counting them out was a bit of a challenge so I helped her with this for a while, then let her go wild scooping handfuls of erasers onto each mat.

Heart Tube Stamping:

This one is really easy to prep. All you need is a toilet paper tube, I know you hoard them *just in case* like I do! bend it in the middle and wrap some tape around it to hold the shape.  And that’s it, just stamp in paint on onto the paper for mostly mess free heart painting.

 Pom Pom Painting:

Another fun low mess painting activity we tried this week was painting with pom poms.  I grabbed a few different size pom poms, clipped them in a clothespin and dropped them in cups of paint.  Madelynn knew just what to do! I was worried she would just try to take the clothespins off, but surprisingly they didn’t come off once and she painted a few heart valentines for our family.

 Stamps and Stickers:

Stickers and stamps are always a win around here and sometimes its fun for Madelynn just to create and explore without her type A momma having a specific objective for her.  She still has a bit of trouble peeling the backs off foam stickers so while she created I peeled them and stuck them at the top of her tray to use, along with small strips of washi tape.

Musical Hearts {Letters}:

I have a set of heart fondant cutters so I used them to cut out small pieces of turkey and cheese to put on top of these crackers. I had to fit in at least one more healthy snack between the sugar overload

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

I could have swore I had a printable book called “Mitten Mitten What Do You See” (like Brown Bear) somewhere, but couldn’t find it so I found this great Mitten Colors Stamp Book from Making Learning Fun. This was Madelynn’s first time using stamps so she was pretty excited about it too! I had to help her quite a bit with finding the correct letters, but she was a pro at finding the color I named for her.

 Mitten Count:

I printed this adorable Mitten Clip Art from Creative Clips and laminated each piece. Then I prepped each number 1-10 with velcro dots, foam snowflakes, and a sharpie. We practiced counting and adding the snowflakes to each mitten and then played a “Where’s the Snowflake?” game.  I hid a snowflake under one of the mittens and Madelynn had to guess which color she thought it was under.  We tried guessing numbers too but she’s not quite there with her knowledge of numbers yet.

 Things got a little crazy when we pulled out the blue sprinkles

 M was more excited about taste testing than cutting out mittens.

Peanut Butter Mittens:

Can you tell I went a little crazy with the cookie cutter this week? For this snack I made a few pieces of toast and had Mmadelynn spread the peanut butter.

 It’s a miracle any made it on the bread because I’m convinced she would scoop it out of the jar by the handful if I let her!

 Painted Mittens:
Yup you guessed it, we pulled out that mitten cookie cutter again and cut bread into mitten shapes.  Then I colored a small amount of water with some food coloring and let Madelynn paint the bread.

 I planned to pop them in the toaster oven so they weren’t soggy, but M decided she didn’t mind and started munching on her mittens about halfway through, so there are no after pictures of this one!

 Animals in a Mitten:
We actually did this one on Monday and Tuesday since we were on the road.  Luckily Madelynn loved “The Mitten” by Jan Brett so this simple snack was a huge hit. She had fun putting the animals in and taking them out of the mitten and there was literally no prep involved for me. WIN!

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

I LOVE making felt boards and they are so easy to do.  I’m not a sewer so I love that I can just cut out shapes and glue them together. If you want to make your own felt board to use at home it is easy peasy! Check out my post here to see how to turn a canvas into your own felt board. We used this as a color practice activity, and M loved putting the different colored bow ties on the penguins neck and head to make a “girl” penguin.

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

Well, we did it! We finished our first week of Tot School and it was full of fun, surprises, and a few Pinterest fails I am thrilled to be sharing my very first week of Tot School with you today, and can’t wait to keep the fun going.  So in case you missed my post last week and you’re wondering what on Earth I’m doing, you can check out here: Getting Started with Tot School.

I printed letter S dot sheets from Confessions of  a Homeschooler on pretty blue paper and planned to have Madelynn place the marshmallows in the circles to practice one-to-one correspondence, but she had her own agenda of course. She played with the marshmallows a little bit before discovering they were delicious and fun to eat, so fine motor time, turned into snack time

I hot glued a few odds and ends to an empty water bottle to create this little snowman and had Madelynn fill it up with marshmallows. Only a few were eaten in the process this time Suprisingly this was probably her favorite activity of the week and she keeps asking to play with her snowman every day!

I wasn’t too sure how this would go over, or even if M would really get how to do it, but I thought it was worth a shot.  I cut 2 small squares of wax paper for “ice skates” and demonstrated a few times. After that Madelynn was skating around, and falling all over the place.  Definitely entertaining for at least 10 minutes before she decided to crumple them up and practice some more throwing

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