Christmas symbols

I love sequencing cards! I usually lay something simple like this out for Stella to see when she gets up from her nap. We always migrate to the kitchen since Sawyer is normally sleeping too, so it works out great...most of the time...to have an activity waiting for her. Sequencing is everywhere...from our daily routines, to the books we read. We've been using words like "first, second, third and fourth" lately. Before she would just say, "and then, and then". :)

This wasn't her favorite, but it was worth a try. I just traced cookie cutters and let her match them to the shape. To make it a little harder, you could always have the word written on separate paper and match the symbol with the word. "What picture begins with the /T/ sound?" You could also talk about syllables... "Which word has 2 claps?"

Merry Christmas :)

N is for Nativity

This month we've had so much going on, but somehow we fit it all in... :)

Smallest to largest nativity scenes... This was super easy, but I think it's important to do tasks we know they can achieve easily. Not only does it make them feel proud of their work, but it gets them one step closer to what's to come!

Wreath Game

I was really excited about using the photo blocks for another purpose other than holding photos :) I bought them when Stella was a baby and she always loved looking at all the different pictures of family and friends...but it's time to move on :)

I saw where someone had used it as a game piece, then I saw this game and got really excited! (I know, I'm probably the only one that never thought to use this as something else...now I have all these ideas...numbers, letters...:) OK..all you do is make a wreath, get some red pom poms (or berries :) and start playing.
The number you roll, is the number of "berries" that go on the wreath! Great for learning to take turns and of course, counting with one to one correspondence!
I think she really had fun...she would roll the dice and say, "Oh, I got a 4! It's my turn now!"



Make it easy: Just have fun rolling the dice and naming the numbers. Instead of using the wreath...jump, clap or stomp the number you roll!
Make it hard: Use tongs for some extra fine motor skills to pick up the berries! Talk about even and odd numbers as you play.