We had yet another awesome group Tot School today and I wanted to share the tray work our kiddos did. This time, sweet Becci created the craft and it was SO cute. I'll have to share it in a separate post.
Anyway, our theme was all about Earth Day. The tots had a ton of fun with the topic, which included trees, recycling and nature.
Oh, and before I go on, I'm admitting laziness. I'm tired and we've got Survivor on, but I wanted to get these posted in case they might inspire any Earth Day activities in your home. BUT.
No links tonight. If you see a print-out, it's from HERE.
Well, look at that.
I did provide a link. Just one. Ha!
And so, here are the trays:
A lacing card, laminated for durability
A count and clip activity with tiny pieces of trash to tabulate and clip
Counting and letter recognition and early phonemic awareness with alphabet beads and counting cards
A very popular flower arranging station!
Counting Earth's rocks... The smooth, polished kind of rocks. :)
A tiny tree counting activity
Secret numbers waiting to be found
Peeling foam stickers to make a picture of our planet, strengthening those little muscles throughout it all
(with a bucket for stickers and a bucket for sticker backing trash)
Tweezing pompoms into a flower-shaped ice cube tray
A number adventure with floral rocks
(gosh, lots of counting activities this time, eh?)
Tonging pebbles and rocks by color
Classifying and categorizing seeds and beans
(some were teeny tiny!)
Matching magnets into circles
(a BIG fave!)
Deciding what on this Earth is living and what is not living
And finally, sorting recyclables into a three part basket
It was a very successful Tot School and I'm always reminded of the strength there is when mommas put their minds together. It's always so fun to watch the kids learn and explore, get excited for the trays and expertly manipulate materials (tongs, tweezers, stickers) that gave them trouble just a few short months ago.
And, happy Earth Day (and happy birthday to my mother-in-law!!)!