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
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!
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
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.
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!
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!
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