Tot Trays: Fruits & Vegetables/Gardening

I knew that we would possibly be starting a small garden in May/June, so I thought a Fruits & Vegetable theme would be perfect.  This theme ended up lasting 2-3 weeks.  I had intended to change it to an Easter theme by the end of April, but it just did not happen.  

WEEK ONE

Cutting Practice

Once again B loves to use his scissors and do some cutting.  So, I found an activity using paint sample cards.  I cut them into shapes resembling carrots, cucumbers & potatoes.  Then with guidance B worked on cutting the vegetables along the lines.  

Sorting File Folder Game

I have thought about creating some type of file folder game involving fruits & vegetables.  So, I printed various pictures of fruits & vegetables that B is familiar with, colored them and separated them onto each side of the folder for sorting.  

{Photo to come}

Where's The Trowel

I found this activity on Pinterest in a Garden learning pack.  It involves number recognition and guessing.  For B I only used the numbers 1-10, so that the game did not drag on.  First I would have B cover his eyes (which was difficult in itself), and then I would hide the picture of the trowel underneath the vegetables.  Then B would have to name a number and look to see if the trowel was hidden below.  

Color Sorting

Once again because B loves activities that involve running back and forth I created a color sorting game involving fruits & vegetables.  The game was inspired by this activity.  I reused the plates from the shape game and printed color names on the back.  I also had a plates for fruits/vegetables incase we wanted to change it up sometimes.  

Fruits/Vegetable Songs

I found some stick puppets and fruit/vegetable songs on a  learning website, but B didn't really seem too interested in them (it may have been my singing)!  

WEEK TWO

{Apparently I didn't do very well taking pictures of the activities this week}

Planting Seeds

I did not end up creating this activity, but I am sure B would have loved pretending to plant seeds!

Counting Garden

This is another great activity for number recognition and counting.  It was modeled after a farm theme activity on this blog.  I printed my own vegetable clip art with the numbers 1-5 on each different type of vegetable.  Then I taped the picture of the vegetables along the top of one of the trays.  B would then sort/plant the vegetables in a row in numerical order.  

Story Sequencing: The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I really thought I took pictures of B and I going through this activity, but I can't seem to find them?!  I found the activity on a blog, which includes a free printable.  I cut it out and taped it to a sandwich baggy and cut out the hole.  Then I printed off separate story sequencing pictures, colored and cut them up.  As I read the story to B he would put the appropriate pieces inside the caterpillars mouth.  

Letter/Sound Recognition:

Again I used the Garden learning pack and found a letter recognition activity.  It involved pictures of gardening tools with three letters underneath.  The purpose of the activity was to recognize the picture and match the beginning sounds with the letter.  B of course needed help with this one, so I would have him identify the picture and then I would say Trowel starts with ___ and help him with the letter and then he would find it & circle or color over it.  

Tot Trays: Shapes

I am finding that the tot trays are spreading from 1 week to more like 2-3 weeks.  Ideally I would like to switch them up every week and half, so we will see.  Just need to do a little more prepping.

At the end of March we went with Shape activities.  There are so many different options out there!  Again this theme was split up into 8 different trays, which I spread out over 2 weeks.  

WEEK ONE

Clothespin Matching

For this activity I already had some foam shape stickers, but you could easily create your own shapes using foam sheets.  I then drew the shape onto one side of a clothespin and wrote the shape name.  The idea is to work on matching the shape and fine motor skill of opening & closing the clothespin.

Shape Dot Pages

B loves using the bingo daubers and we typically use them for dot letters, but I found some shape examples through Pinterest.  He really enjoyed using differently colors on each shape.  

Sponge Painting

As I have mentioned before B was showing less interest in the crafting/art projects, so we do them a little less frequently.  That is why I think he enjoyed the sponge shape painting a little more.  Now we tend to paint when he asks to do so.  For this activity I cut shapes out of sponges, taped together a few pieces of white paper and let him be creative!  

Stick Shapes

Last year we hosted a toddler busy bag exchange.  There were 10-12 moms who each prepared a gallon sized freezer bag with a toddler friendly activity.  They made enough for everyone in the group to have a copy of the activity and then we met for a play date to exchange.  In the bag was a set of popsicle sticks with velcro pieces designed to allow a child to create different shapes.  B definitely needed some help with this activity!

WEEK TWO

Shape Sorting

We had do different types of sorting activities.  One activity I designed myself using flash cards (dollar bin at Target!) and paper plates.  I just drew the different type of shapes on the back of the plates with the name written underneath.  B and I spread the different plates out in the hallway, and then he would choose a flashcard and run over to sort them onto the plates.  This was very similar to the green eggs and ham activity that he loved so much.  

We did not get around to actually putting the second sorting activity out, because B had so much fun with the activity I mentioned above.  But, I thought it was great, so I wanted to include it here as a future tot tray option.

Shape Search

This activity was a lot of fun!  The goal is to go around the house and objects around the house that are in various shapes.  We focused on triangle, circle, square and rectangle.  B needed a few examples to get started, and daddy even joined in the fun!

Transportation Shapes

When I saw the pictures of different modes of transportation created using various shapes I knew B would love it.  So, I used the website to print off four different pictures that I thought he would like.  We focused not he firetruck, dump truck, train and sailboat.  The activity is very similar to doing a puzzle and/or matching shapes, so he did very well!

Memory/Match

Lately B has really enjoyed playing memory/match.  He liked the St. Patrick's day version, so I dug around for my wooden shapes game.  He wanted to play it over and over again!