Tot School-Construction

This week we are centering all of our activities around construction.  During the planning of this week I was a little disappointed as to how little I had to do with Mara.  I wasn't able to find a lot of activities and we don't have that many construction themed toys.  We're going to just roll with it and see where the week takes us!

On Monday we got off to a fast start.  I tried to interest her in a coloring page but she had other ideas.  Instead she grabbed one of her coloring books off the shelf and did that.  Mama got to color the dump truck!

She was semi interested in our next activity where I grabbed some of the prickly balls and pom poms I typically use as sensory bin fillers.  I asked her to fill her dump truck with them.  I wish I would have thought to give her a spoon or something so she could work on her fine motor skills but oh well.  We filled the truck twice and dumped it back out.  Currently our floor is covered in balls!

Even though the last few themes have been challenging for us they do seem to engage Mara in learning types of activities.  Usually shortly after finishing our projects she will move on to a puzzle or a book.  I love that these are the types of toys that interest her!

Tuesday we started with a do a dot dump truck.  She did a few dots and then asked me to do some.  I loved how she worked hard to match the colors of the markers to the colors of the dump truck.


After nap we did some lego stamping.  I had intended to have this activity involve paint but decided I didn't feel like cleaning up the mess.  Mara loves her stamp pads so it was a win win.  I grabbed a piece of paper and two of her duplo legos.  She pressed both sides of the legos into the ink to make lego stamps on the paper.  As with any stamp and Mara we quickly started to have to stamp her belly.
 

Wednesday was Veteran's Day so we didn't do any activities.  Daddy was off of work so we spent the day with him and exploring the city.  The beauty of this theme is you can almost talk about it no matter where you go in Tbilisi.  Our road is under construction currently so we talk about how bumpy it is and the big equipment present.

On Thursday we did some tool matching in the morning.  The night before I traced some of her tools on a piece of construction paper.  The next morning I simply set the paper out with her tool box.  She knew what to do immediately! She quickly matched all of the tools and then asked to do it again.  After a few times of matching them we played construction for a bit!

I had some work to do with Usborne so I set out a play dough invitation to play with her tools.  I know I keep saying this but she loves play dough.  It's an instant entertainer and I know she'll be good to go for hours.  She hammered and pounded her nails into the dough.

Friday morning Mara started by resorting her tools on the tool matching sheet and then getting out some play dough (girl loves her play dough).  Repetition with activities is good so I let her run with it.

We then moved on to a sensory bin.  I filled our tote with pom pom balls and threw in her tools.  I also gave her her dump truck and some legos to play with.  I love watching these activities evolve.  She started by filling the truck using her pliers which is great for her fine motor skills.  Then she used the legos to sort the pom poms by colors.  We ended the activity by pulling out all the legos and building the tallest tower we could.

Our Friday afternoon got away from us but we ended up building more lego towers and playing with her tools!  Sometimes the best learning activities are just through play alone!

This week was fun but busy.  I had two parties with Usborne which kept me occupied.  Despite that we still managed to get a lot of learning in.  Next week we're moving on to clothing.  I'm pumped for a few more hands on activities! (I'm going to attempt to make a washing machine out of a box and I hope she loves it)