Toddler Ideas Tuesday: September 30, 2014

Welcome back to Toddler Idea Tuesdays! I hope you will join with me again in sharing the fun activities, crafts, and lessons that you are doing with your young children. 

I apologize for there being a few weeks between posts again. I do mean for this to be a weekly link up, but between trying to get organized and internet/computer issues, it hasn't been happening. Hoping for a better future of Toddler Idea Tuesdays!

It has been difficult to find time some days to get the one-on-one time I would like to have with the younger two children. I am still working out our schedule and my organization to have things run smoothly. However, last week, I did make some new learning activities for them. This was to go along with our Poppins Book Nook theme of The Wild West. Our focus was Wild West Fairy Tales, though our trays were mostly inspired by the main ideas in the tales themselves, so there really wasn't a western theme there.

On Tuesday we read "Little Red Cowboy Hat" by Susan Lowell, along with "Little Red Riding Hood", so our learning activities centered around the color red.

Harold hasn't had much of a chance to use these yet, but Hannah's favorite was the Bead Counting on Pipe Cleaners.

For this simple activity, Hannah placed beads on the pipe cleaners to match the counting chart I made. She was able to work on counting, number recognition, and fine-motor skills.

I also put together a Block Counting Basket.

For this block counting activity, I added 1-1 peg block, 2- 2 peg blocks, 3- 3 peg blocks and 4- 4 peg blocks for them to sort and count and build with. We haven't had much time to use this one yet though.

Next, I put together a Red Sensory Bin.

Unfortunately, this was one they didn't have any time to use.

I was quite happy with the way my new Word Family Tray turned out. I have always enjoyed coming up with activities that will help the children learn to read, and we like to focus on word families.

I have found that these Tupperware trays are very good for some learning trays. For this activity I set out the "at" in the top left-hand corner using felt letters, then I placed more consonants in the lower corner, letters that would make words when added to the "at."  In the middle compartment, I set out blank index cards on top and a pile of "at" family words on the bottom. On the right, is a red pencil (to keep with our theme).

Hannah was to build the word directly on the index card, covering the written letters.

Then she wrote the word on a blank card.

On Tuesday we read "Dusty Locks and the Three Bears," also by Susan Lowell, along with Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

I made a theme-related size sorting activity.

And I also brought out the Bean Sorting.

I had some other ideas for learning trays, but I just ran out of time. However, they were kept quite busy with our craft projects during the week. In addition to the two books mentioned above, we read two other books by Susan Lowell: The Three Little Javelinas (The Three Little Pigs) and The Bootmaker and the Elves (The Shoemaker and the Elves).

If you would like to see all of the craft projects and food ideas that I had to go along with this theme, I invite you to check out this month's Poppins Book Nook post, Fun With Wild West Fairy Tales. At the bottom of the post, you will find a linky with many other great Wild West Themed posts linked up, plus a wonderful giveaway. For this post, I wanted to focus on the Toddler/Preschooler Learning Trays/Sensory Activities.

Now onto:

Toddler Idea Tuesday Features

On my last Toddler Idea Tuesday post, there were 5 wonderful posts linked up. I will be picking one randomly selected post to share, plus the top clicked-on post. 

This week's randomly selected post is:

Katie's August Tot Trays, posted by Greatly Blessed.

The following post received the most clicks.

20+ Busy Bags to Entertain the Littles, posted by Embark on the Journey.

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your toddler? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on my Toddler Ideas board and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up. Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our toddler time. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your toddler, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Linky will be open through Sunday night, to give me time to check out all the posts and get the Features organized.

<a href="http://totsandme.blogspot.com/search/label/Toddler%20Ideas "><img alt="Tots and Me" src="http://i597.photobucket.com/albums/tt58/kewkewphoto/ToddlerIdeaTuesdays2.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket" /></a>

Teaching Toddlers Number Recognition and Math Readiness

Welcome to the first day of the 5 Days of Teaching Toddlers. Today I am going to focus on some of the fun number/counting activities we have done with the children.

Rote counting:

Since they were very young we have counted the steps as we come downstairs. When daddy started counting the steps with Tabitha after we moved into the house, I don't think we realized we would still be doing it 5 years later. We have 16 steps and when we get to step 11 you can reach the wall that is the children's bedroom closet. As toddlers they have learned to anticipate that number 11 because they get to hit the wall. And after we say 16 and are downstairs, we say, "Hello Downstairs!" The girls used to hit the banister while I said that, Harold on the other hand is fascinated by the portraits on the wall of my older children (Steven, Floyd and Krystal) when they were young.

One-to-One Counting/Number Recognition:

When I was working at the Montessori in the toddler room we came up with this fun activity and I decided to make it for the girls. I printed numbers onto cardstock from the DLTK-Growing Together Number Template page.  Then I cut them out and "laminated" them (when I say laminated, it means I covered them with contact paper). Each number gets the corresponding number of Velcro pieces. Then I print and cut out little matching pictures. In the past I have done the snowmen for winter (pictured below), this year I think I will have the pictures match our theme.

I also love that it is a great way to introduce the number zero, because there are no Velcro pieces attached they can't attach any pictures.

If I had been thinking, I would have used black Velcro so it would stand out better. 

We count the number as we put the pictures onto the Velcro.

In addition to the above activity, we have done one-to-one number crafts. I have used craft sticks, plus we have made crafts to go with our lessons. 

One of the earliest number activities I remember doing with Tabitha included jumbo craft sticks and dried kidney beans. I used 5 craft sticks and wrote the numbers 1 through 5 on the top of the sticks. For each stick I then sat down with Tabitha and we counted as I put the appropriate number of glue dots using white Elmer's glue. Then we counted again as she put the beans on the glue. I recommend using the white glue for these activities because the child can actually see the dots of glue that correspond to the number on the stick. Of course, glue sticks wouldn't work for beans anyway, but I have used these Counting Number Sticks to make ants on a log as well, using construction paper ants.

Here is a look at our ladybug counting that was a part of our Ladybug Lapbook.

(There are numbers up there, they are just hard to see)

And we also did apple seeds on apple slices, though the numbers were on the back instead.

We played a game where they lined them up in order

Then we flipped them over.

And they had to match the numerals on the one set, to the quantity on the other.

One summer when we were focusing on a number a week we played a game.  I stood in the living room and told the girls they needed to follow my directions.  I asked them to bring me certain objects, one at a time.  I said, "Tabitha, please bring mommy one block.  Amelia please bring me one doll."  Then when they brought me the requested object I asked for another from each of them.  We laid them out on the couch and took a picture.  Made a great activity for listening and following directions and learning the quantity of  "one."

The following week we did the number 2.

Here are some other fun things to do with counting:

• We count blocks as we build.
• We point to the numbers as we count the days on our calendar.
• We count buttons/snaps as we get dressed.
• We clap and count.
• Even at a young age they are helping in the kitchen, especially when we do Kids and a Mom in the Kitchen. We always count when we add ingredients in. I also have them help make juice (frozen, from concentrate) and they count how many cans of water we are putting in. While we count I make sure to let them know how much we need (3 cans of water or how many cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, etc). As we go I ask them how many more we need to make the required number, showing them that the number needed decreases as we add more. 

Fun Counting Songs (These are songs we sung at the Montessori and I continued singing with the girls):

1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Once I caught a fish alive

6, 7, 8, 9, 10 Then I let him go again

Why did you let him go?

Because he bit my finger so!

Which finger did he bite?

This little finger on the right!

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1 little, 2 little, 3 little Indians

4 little, 5 little, 6 little Indians

7 little, 8 little, 9 little Indians

10 little Indian boys and girls. 

They jumped in the boat and the boat tipped over.

They jumped in the boat and the boat tipped over.

They jumped in the boat and the boat tipped over.

10 little Indian boys and girls.

They swam and they swam til they reached the shore.

They swam and they swam til they reached the shore.

They swam and they swam til they reached the shore.

10 little Indian boys and girls.

Watch those Indians shoot their arrows.

Watch those Indians shoot their arrows. 

Watch those Indians shoot their arrows.

10 little Indian boys and girls.

Don't miss any of the posts in my Teaching Toddlers series:

Monday: Teaching Toddlers Number Recognition and Math Readiness

Tuesday: Teaching Toddlers Reading Readiness

Wednesday: Teaching Toddlers with Montessori Activities

Thursday: Teaching Toddlers while teaching older children

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Don't forget to stop by the other crew member's posts to see what they have to share.

Creating Custom Counting Cards

I have been struggling to come up with subjects for my pictures for the Goosie Cards I am supposed to be reviewing shortly. I decided I wanted to make some number cards for Hannah. Here are some of the pictures I have been working on:

One

Two

Three

Four

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

I realized after I started getting the pictures ready for this post that I don't have any pictures for five and I have two different ideas for six. Hope you enjoyed the sneak peak. And if you have any ideas for five or preferences for the above pictures that have multiple shots, please share in the comments below.