And... she writes!

I'm going to start this off by being totally honest and say that the impetus to start teaching Maddie how to spell her name came from a place of total panic.

Kidding. Sorta.

When I worked in her classroom last week, the teacher was pulling kids back, individually, and casually asking them some questions (could they say their address, were they able to locate a specific color crayon, could they hand her a book about penguins, ect). I worked with the kids on their letter I craft and, of course, casually listened to the teacher. Haha.

I wasn't really thinking too much about the questions when suddenly I heard,

"Can you write your name?"

Now. I know she is only 3. I know this. I also know that she can write several letters.

But her name? We'd never worked on her name!

And so, out of curiousity's sake, I talked to Mike and he suggested that I casually start working with her to see if she would be interested and ready in writing her name.

Turns out, she was.

See, I turned that panic into production! Haha.

Anyway, we've been doing some fun activities with spelling her name (as well as other people's names as she is suddenly very interested in writing everything now).

Her favorite thing was when I got out my giant whiteboard (back from my teaching days), some markers and a towel.

She went straight to work and within about 30 minutes, was spelling her name.

*And yes, we work on that pencil grip. Slow but steady. :)

She worked on this whiteboard off and on all afternoon and evening.

She did this independently before bed tonight and aside from one backward D, I think she did quite fabulous!

It's funny because I never want to push her. I don't want her to ever dread doing "work" together and so sometimes, I think I step back and let her lead 100%. But, when introducing the letters of her name, and the specific sequence, she just took to it.

I love being her mom. :)

Tot School: Father's Day!

Maddie and I just wrapped up our Tot School week dedicated totally to Father's Day! Along with reading some really cute books about this special day, we also worked on a lot of fun trays.

And, yay on me for getting this posted before Father's Day! Ha! Maddie is in an atrocious mood this morning and good, kind Mike has taken her outside to play (and I quickly sat down to blog!).

Anyway, onto the trays! If you have a special dad or grandpa in your life, maybe you'll want to try one or two of these!

Wait, one more thing! The printables can all be found HERE (I think!). And, just because you use printables, doesn't mean you can't add your own twist on them. Add in some stamps, glue, glitter or paint and you have a unique creation!

Okay... NOW the trays! :)

Maddie "wrote" a letter to her daddy, giving her tricked-out pencil another run. She likes it and I think it's really helping train her fingers where to go when holding a pencil (also, that's a big ol' chunky pencil, which helps, too).

Using watercolor crayons (if your tot hasn't tried these, definitely pick up a pack; they are so fun!), she designed him a tie.

In reality, you couldn't even see the tie when she was finished with this one.

It was highly saturated in watercolors. :)

Have I mentioned her obsession with mazes?!

She loved this one.

Ohhh, this one was fun (and I was praising the use of trays for containing lots of blue glitter!).

First, we talked about what a blue ribbon means and then she colored the ribbon in blue.

Then, she squeezed glue wherever she wanted and...

shook on copious amounts of blue glitter!

Together, we gently shook the tray back and forth (it helps if you tape the paper to the tray first) so that the glitter would softly scatter.

Super fun.

This was fun, too!

First she colored it in and then...

I showed her how to dip her thumb into the yellow stamp pad ink and make a print. Using a thin black marker, we turned each print into a bumblebee!

The dot stampers are always fun...

She couldn't do the letters because, "I'm pretty tired now." Ha!

Oh! Another really fun one included some giant letters, stamps and of course, jewels. :)

She stamped and decorated the D-a-d with appropriate letter stamps and then we cut and glued them on a big place card (adding the very important bling, too!).

Now, Daddy knows exactly where to sit for dinner! :)

Hmm, I either didn't take a picture of this tray or can't find the picture...

Weird.

Anyway, this was a watercolor painting of a little girl thanking God for her father. We talked about God's blessings and how her daddy was/is a gift from God.

This was another cute craft that we actually got to do with her friend, Emma!

The girls had fun coloring, cutting and gluing these.

I know it's kind of hard to see, but she became the topper on one of Daddy's presents (which is handmade and will be photographed once Mike opens it!).

Oh my goodness.

So cute.

Go print this right away and make one. Ha!

But seriously, I was cracking up at some of Maddie's answers in this little book about her daddy.

Forgive the flash glare.

Some of her greatest answers?

His favorite thing to do for fun: Spend time at work.

I love him because: His teeth are very white.

Ha!

Holy cow.

This one may get laminated and inducted into the Maddie Hall of Fame.

This was one of the first projects she did without much/any help from me (and it was hard!).

Initially, she chose it in the midst of me preparing some meal. I told her to just color it and when I was done, we'd do it together.

She colored.

Then, she asked if she could cut.

So, she cut.

Then, she asked if she could glue.

She glued.

And...

Hellooooooo masterpiece!

Ha!

But really, she worked so hard on this that I could hear her steady, heavy breathing throughout.

Such a worker!

This is cute, though Maddie reminded me that usually, Daddy gets up "real, real early before you, Mama."

Still, it turned out to be another cute little present that will maybe get hung on the doorknob!

Whew! What a week, huh?! I hope Mike likes his little gifts tomorrow. I know that Maddie and I have had a blast focusing on him and learning more about the holiday!

I even have high hopes of linking back up with Tot School, since I'm finally ahead of the game (for once!)!

Kumon Book Series

You know, I'd been eyeing these books for quite some time, but always hesitated to buy any. For one, they aren't cheap. At about $7 a book, that's a hefty investment for a workbook. And also, Maddie's not a real big fan of doing any sort of book-type work.

But.

When we were trying to kill time at the allergist's office, Mike quickly drew some mazes on paper. He introduced them to Maddie and she gave it a go.

And another go.

And another go.

She was hooked. Even the doctor (when he finally came in!) stood and watched her do maze after maze. Ha!

Since we have the Barnes & Noble membership (eh... Since my parents have the Barnes & Noble membership and I use their phone number), I got 20% off each book.

Still pricey, but I'm glad we got them.

We started working first in tracing and have also begun the mazes (Daddy's mazes are way harder though!).

She can't get enough.

Seriously, I have to set a limit when we first start.

She could easily sit and do the whole book.

I'm not totally sure how to approach the whole, "Here's how you hold your pencil" thing. I usually let her do a page and then gently fix her hand correctly around the pencil (as in the picture above). If I move her hand, she rolls with it and completes the work holding the pencil just so, but if left to her own devices, she grips it like a baseball bat. Any ideas? Maybe it's something that will slowly come in time...?

Anyway, I highly recommend the Kumon books. I can't believe how many they have available!