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.