Shapes Tot Pack

This is the beginning of Bee's Shapes Tot Pack (click the image to download PDF). I've only made things and added things made by others that Bee can currently do and use but there are so many other great shapes resources out there that could be easily used too.  Here is what we've done...

First things first we have a shape train! Bee loves trains so I figured why not make each car carry a shape. I've only cut out the yellow shapes for right now and once he knows what all the shapes are and how to match them correctly I'll cut out the other colors as well. This way it isn't too overwhelming to start with. The idea being that he adds the shapes to the appropriate train car. : )

Next we have the shape matching on other images. This idea I actually borrowed from First-School.  This site has several pages made just like mine. I however found these cute clip art images for pictures Bee already knew so that the shapes would really be the new item.  Bee chooses which of the four he wants to use and then matches the shapes (with much prompting because he mainly knows circle, heart, and star).

Finally I printed the shape puzzles from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  Bee's still not very interested in puzzles so right now I put them together and we just talk about what shapes they are.  Nothing too crazy but I'm going to keep them available to him!

There are so many other great shape activities out there and as Bee's interest and ability increase I'll add more activities to his tot pack. Hope you all enjoy. Please leave a comment if you use my PDF during your tot school time!

Tot Packs!

Here are the links to download the two tot packs I have made. One is Dr. Seuss themed can be seen in greater detail here. The second is a transportation tot pack I created which can be seen in greater detail here. To download just click on the image below and you will be redirected to www.4shared.com.





 

Please let me know in a comment if you have any difficulty with the formatting or downloading the tot packs from 4-shared.  This is the first time I've ever posted documents and was initially having trouble with the formatting.

Tot School (17 months)

~Bee is 17 months old.

Tot School:

This week we've had a wonderful time focusing on transportation. I made a tot pack that we worked with, we read a lot of books involving transportation and even played with Bee's vehicles all week!

Bee continues to be very interested in his transportation and animal beads.  These were scooped and poured between many containers and into egg cartons many times!

In this picture Bee is coloring his school bus yellow. We don't know our colors yet but with more work like this we'll know them soon, I'm sure!

Bee matching his transportation cars. We have a boat, helicopter, car, train, and airplane. At the beginning of the week he wouldn't do anything but throw them but by the end of the week he was matching the correct cards and handing me whichever cards I asked for. : )

This is a new activity I saw on The Adventures of Bear.  Bee did great at it and would pour them out and put them back in over and over again for about twenty minutes! Which in my book is a HIT! We have stated counting the toothpicks as he puts them in the container to try and work on our numbers as well as our fine motor. 

I also borrowed this idea from The Adventures of Bear.  The first time he did this all he really cared about was throwing the checkers. But since then Bee and Daddy have played a nice "game" of connect four and actually got most of the checkers in the board!!

Continuing with our transportation them this week we did a construction paper art project.  This was Bee's first experience with glue so I was pretty impressed.  A little hand over hand got the pieces in the right spot but this week we'll practice again when we make a construction paper cake for Dr. Seuss' birthday!

Bee admiring the final product. : )

During meal times we have been giving Bee a spoon or fork for each meal and encouraging him to use them as much as he can when eating! This morning in particular Bee scooped most of his pancakes into his mouth using his fork. I was so impressed!!

A first this week also was playing with stickers. I found some Tonka stickers at our local dollar store and we decorated our Transportation Tot Pack with them. Bee had a lot of fun.  Some of the stickers went on over others but no big deal right. 

Finally, this was my favorite picture this week. Bee loves playing with my oven mitts. Really doing anything cooking related. In this picture he was using the mitt to pick up toys and put them in an old mayo jar.

This Weeks Books:

Transportation Theme:

The Pigeon Loves Things that Go by Mo Willems

What am I by Little Scholastic

The Wheels on the Bus by Kate Toms

Alphabeep by Debora Pearson

Transportation Tot Pack

The last two weeks I have been working feverishly to complete Bee's first Tot Pack! And guess what... It's DONE! That's right I am proud to present Bee's very first Tot Pack and that we have been working with it starting this week. : )

This is Bee's Tot Pack all put together. (except the book pages will be attached to each other eventually)

Bee coloring his transportation.

He colored the green one well and lost interest with coloring the car blue, but hey... it gives us somewhere to pick up with tomorrow!

These are the pages from the story.  Like previously mentioned I intend on attaching them all but right now Bee enjoys them as flash cards and can name each vehicle so we're going to keep them this way for a while.

This is the Alphabet train.  We are currently pointing to the letters as we (correction: I) sing our Alphabet Song.  Eventually I hope Bee will be able to sing with me and put them in order (but that's a LONG way away!)

Finally, Bee playing with some of the matching and book cards.

My very first Tot Pack was inspired by the many available from this site! Thanks Carissa for all your inspiration!  I am working on making it available to others, I just don't know how to yet. :)