Busy, Busy, Busy

We have had a hard few days and we missed you guys, but I am back and we were busy today.

Today we worked on dropping beans in a water bottle.  The opening is nice and small and requires a good pincer to get the tiny little beans in.

Later we worked on "throwing".  At first Adeline just wanted to let the bean bag drop, but she got the hang of it.  Every thing we threw a bean bag we would say "ready, set, throw".

We have been working on identifying "boys and girls", so we sorted them.  First we used the pictures from our family matching game and then we used little peoples.

When is was all over we ate cakepops!!!!

Buttons

Today we played with buttons,  I would not recommend this if your child is still mouthing.  I really didn't have any set plan with this activity I just know that this would be great for exploring and fine motor.  Adeline seemed to enjoy it, she is always interested when I give her something new to work with.  We played with the buttons for awhile and then I put some in a sock wanting her to try and reach inside to pull some out.  This was hard, and she soon figures out how to just dump the sock.  Ok, next time I need a tighter sock.

Sound Balloons

Balloons are one of Adeline's favorites, they really get her moving.  I decided to surprise her and add some different sounds, in some of the balloons I added bells, dried beans, rice, and buttons.   Adeline was very excited about this and was very curious about all the different sounds.  It was fun.  If you have older children they could  match the sounds or guess the sounds as well.

Snowflake Colors

I found these snowflakes at childcareland and thought they would be great to work on colors and fine motor.  Adeline knows most of her colors but her fine motor is not so great, so I thought this would be fun.  I don't have the exact link to the snowflakes but here is the link to child cares web site  http://www.childcareland.com/.

I just used buttons to match the colors but many others things could be used as well.

Awhile ago I print up Adeline's color flashcards from Brillkids and made them into a book.  I wanted her to be able to look at her colors as much as she wanted.  I would read these to her often also.  This book has now become a bit dull because she knows most of her color so I thought I would revive it by making it into a matching color words interactive book.

I need to add the Velcro yet.  I want her to be able to stick on each word under the matching word.  Thought this would be a handy quiet book to take to church and other places.

Winter Sorting

We worked on a simple sorting project using some pecans, snowflakes and bells.

 After sorting I tried to work on some number.  I think we've got one and two but not sure about that three.

 We just kept adding more.

Our Homemade Iceland!

Well, we love in a warm place, and never see any ice so today we played with our penguins in pretend ice.  I have been wanting to make a salt box for Adeline to start making lines and shapes, so while she took a nap we got it done.

I started with about four containers of salt and a Ziploc bag, added a few drops of food coloring, shake it together and we are ready to go. Adeline was surprised and excited  when she woke up.  We will keep this box for awhile to do some writing, sensory play, and pouring and scooping activities.

 Doing some scooping,

   

Poking Along and Alphabet Introduction

This season save those pieces of foam you find in boxes with fragile items.  I found this piece and so we did a little poking exercise.  This was a little hard for Adeline and I had to do a little hand over hand with her but she enjoyed it and it was a good introduction.  I glued these snowflakes to some toothpick and we poked them "in".

This exercise is a great fine motor activity and works up hand strength and control.

While Adeline was in the hospital with her tonsils and adenoids I occupied myself cutting out sandpaper letters.  I just finished the alphabet.  We are working on matching with them.

Christmas Fine Motor #2

Christmas is in the air today!  We had a lot of fun practicing our skills with some Christmas activities.  It is also pecan season here, so we made a sensory box from our recent harvest.

First, we did some scooping, and then moved into sorting.

 Adeline really enjoyed playing with the pecans.  I think she could have explored them for hours.  So we decided to put the nuts into the trays after sorting.  We worked on putting the nuts in and out of  the trays.  Pulling the nut out really works the pincher grasp.

Next, I pulled out a box that I had wrapped up to look like a present.  You can't see it but there is a little hole cut in the middle where we put the nuts "in".  For some reason Adeline kept wanting to put her eye right on the hole.  She is suppose to wear glasses which are very hard for us to keep on her, so I put them on to see of that would help.

On the other side of the box I cut some slits going different directions to give Adeline a little challenge.  I always save my milk caps so we put caps "in".  This did  make Adeline stop and think a bit.

Later we colored on sandpaper Christmas trees just to give a new sensory experience.