Dollar Tree Play

I'm not in a hurry to start school this year, so we are enjoying the summer still!  I picked up some things at the Dollar Tree for the kids to play with: to "paint", "do laundry", and other things.  Their squirt bottles make great squirt guns, too!  We'll use the rice for some sensory play with Jonny and the spaghetti to stick into the holes of the cheese shaker.  I have gotten rid of a lot of toys this past year, because they create a lot of mess and don't get played with very much.  We still have a lot of Lego, Lego duplo, wooden trains and tracks, wooden blocks, and some other toys that are favorites.  Quinn has several baby dolls, a kitchen set (but with much less food than we originally had out), and we still have a ton of books and lots of board and logic games.  Anyways, the younger kids like to do these kind of "practical life" activities and the Dollar Tree is a great place to find materials.  I don't know very much about Montessori play, but I guess this is considered Montessori-like.  It's nice that even if the kids get bored with these things, the materials can still be used for other things around the house, too!  Like, the "clothespins" I got are actually chip clips :) and I think those little baskets are so cute.

Here Quinn is using a turned over crate we already had as a washboard and washing her dress.  She had so much fun doing her own "laundry"!

She rinsed out the soap in the bucket of water:

Pressed it down to squeeze out the water:

And hung it up to dry on the bungie cord "clothesline":

Jonny enjoyed "painting" the fence.  Actually, he enjoys pretty much anything that involves playing with water:

I didn't know Quinn would be so interested in the little spaghetti activity:

Jonny concentrating and hoarding the spaghetti:

This will be a good little activity for school time:

Oh, and look at this cute little guy!  He had just gotten squirted with water by Jonny but didn't seem to mind too much:

Tot School

9/20 to 9/26

Here's a few things we did this week!

Playing with Cuisinaire Rods.  He's really learned a lot of colors already and could tell me yellow, orange, blue, and green.



Bingo Dauber paintings!



Playing with a shape nesting toy.



Trying to tell baby sister not to play with his toy...."No, baby, no!" he would say.



Sorting dinosaur counters by color.



He insists on wearing his bike helmet backwards!



This boy loves changing clothes for each sport he's playing; this is baseball time!



Time for golf! I don't know how he knew to put a glove on, as he's never seen Daddy wear a glove when swinging a club outside.  He's pretty inventive and used this gardening glove as his golf glove.



Playing at the park after church. Such a beautiful day!



So Proud of himself! I love my joyful toddler :)

Tot School

Dorian is currently 27 months old.

Here are some fun things we did this past week!

Playing with playdoh is always a big hit.  He's not quite strong enough to push down that little contraption, but I helped him to make countless "snakes"!

Beading activity.  It wasn't too long before he took a handful of beads and threw them....so we'll wait a while to try that again!

He must have been inspired by his playdoh, as he's practicing drawing some "snakes".

We had some gorgeous weather earlier this week, just perfect for playing outside!

Discovering that the scooter doesn't scoot so well on the grass.

Taking Hippity, the bunny, for a stroll.  By the way, I'm sorry to state that Hippity and that stroller got left out in the rain....but I'm sure they'll make a full recovery!

Swinging with Hippity.

Tot Tray: transferring seashells.  All these supplies, including the tray, were from the Dollar Tree, a Tot Tray jackpot!  The trays are meant for catering, but are a nice size for tot tray activities.  The tongs are wonderful and easy for little hands to grasp and open and shut.

Pouring, more like dropping, paperclips through the funnel into the glass jar.  Not quite sure what I was thinking with this one, but thankfully Dorian still enjoyed it!

Small Spaces: Putting the straws into the holes of a toothbrush holder (from Goodwill).

He liked the shells and laid them all out on the tray and we sorted them into types.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of him holding the shells up to his ear, listening for the ocean!  It was so cute.

These are "Dodo's Weh-gos".  Having a 6-year-old Legomaniac brother has caused this little guy to snub his nose to Duplo and insist on the real thing.  He loves, loves, loves the minifigs in particular, taking them apart and putting them back together in different combinations.

Find out what other moms are doing with their toddlers for Tot School over at 1+1+1=1

Little Hands to Heaven, Tot Trays, and more!

I decided to take some pictures throughout the day just for fun.  We started "Little Hands to Heaven" with Dorian, a preschool program for ages 2-5.  He seemed to enjoy it, and surprisingly, Davin had a blast with it too!

Dorian helping me make Strawberry Bread.  He loves to be my helper in the kitchen!  He really is becoming quite helpful, as I can ask him to get the milk, eggs, etc. and he understands and can do it!

Here is the resident grape-washer, getting very good at picking grapes off the stem and washing them.  I think grapes are probably his favorite food!

I had him color in some circles I drew, then we looked around for objects in the house that matched those colors (part of Little Hands).

Davin showing me the colors he chose and the checkmarks around each circle represent how many objects of that color he found.

We made an "A" on the kitchen floor using masking tape, and the boys first had a stuffed animal hop along it, then it was their turn to walk along it, saying the "A" sound as they went (part of Little Hands).

The strawberry bread is done, and it was very yummy!

I made homemade chicken nuggets and they were very good.

A fun Guidecraft toy that I just ordered from Amazon.

Another Guidecraft toy, great for learning 1-1 counting and colors.

Tot Tray transferring activity. He used the tongs to transfer the pom-poms into the paint tray.

Dorian is very proud of his accomplishment.  Great job!

Daddy cooked tonight!  He made some delicious grilled BBQ chicken and potatoes.

So those were some highlights from our day.  Before you think that everything goes perfectly and smoothly all the time, let me inform you that I did not include pictures of crying children, tantrums, etc. ...just so you know!