We had a great week as I introduced Eric to "Tot School." This is fun activities with a purpose. Eric has showed a real interest to books lately and wanting to "read." I thought it was about time we started some real basic preschool activities. We spend about an hour in the morning with Ella as my helper. She will often read the books to Eric and help with the games. This is a great character builder for Ella, as she learns to be a role model for her little brother and encourages her to take on a leadership role.
We started the week with "Brown, Bear, Brown Bear" by Eric Carle. We read through the book each day and worked on animal and color recognition.
This "heads and tails" game was lots of fun. Eric enjoys matching the animals and making funny new ones. He practiced animal names, colors, directional attributes (behind, in front), and animal sounds.
I initially intended this dot paint sheet to be brown dots, but since we didn't have the color brown I thought just the dots itself was good practice for his fine motor skills. He did really well at covering all the dots neatly.
We experimented with water colors too; however, he had more fun just playing with the water.
His favorite activity this week, was this color match sheet. I used M&M's and had him match the colors as I had him say the color and animals, placing the M&M on the correct colored animal. This was also a lesson in patience, as he had to wait, until all the animals had an M&M and I called on the color before he could eat them. He asked for this activity every day, wonder why??? :)
We worked on matching this week as well, with this shadow sheet. He enjoyed this activity and did very well!
Another fun game, sizing the "Brown Bear." Not only did he size the bears, but he had to feed each bear a Cheerio (one-one correspondence). Of course, once all the bears were fed he had a snack of his own.
I picked up this stacking, shapes, and sorting toy at "Tuesday Morning." A great find that keeps him busy for quite a bit, while Ella and I wrap up our morning Bible time.
I am grasping Eric's learning style and really enjoyed the time with him this past week. I am still learning how to incorporate both children at times, but really enjoy seeing Ella work with Eric as well. Eric impresses me with what he already knows and I'm starting to make note of what we need to work on as we prepare for Preschool next fall/winter.
