Valentine's Trays

I made up a few trays with Valentine's Day themed activities for this month. Most of these activities are geared toward Boo but Buzz enjoys them too!

Matching heart cards. I got this idea from Counting Coconuts.

Put the little guys with the balloons in size order, from Musings of Me.

Heart addition puzzles. This one is for Buzz.

Cards and counters. Cards are from Musings of Me.

Tracing pages. Also from Musings of Me.

Transferring beads with spoon.

Button snake. I've seen this idea in a few different places, but I first saw it at Counting Coconuts.

Transferring pony beads with tongs.

Clipping clothespins around the edge of a ramekin.

A Valentine's coloring craft I picked up at Michael's.

Lacing beads onto the matching pipe cleaner. This idea comes from Counting Coconuts too!

Sorting beads.

Our sensory tub is also getting a lot use!

And we have a book basket filled with Valentine's Day books:

The Story of Valentine's Day by Nancy J. Skarmeas

The Valentine Bears by Eve Bunting

If You'll Be My Valentine by Cynthia Rylant

Roses Are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane deGroat

I Lost My Kisses by Trudie Trewin

Love, Splat by Rob Scotton

Valentine Mice! by Bethany Roberts

Amelia Bedelia's First Valentine by Herman Parish

I linked this to Preschool Corner



Wordless Wednesday: Bean's First Teeth!!!

(Can you see 'em on the bottom there?)

Valentine's Sensory Tub

My kiddos are loving this month's sensory tub!

Great northern beans

Small pail (Target)

Glittery foam hearts (Dollar Tree)

Erasers (Dollar Tree)

Heart bracelets (Target)

Spiky balls (Wal-Mart)

Heart gems (Michael's)

Heart boxes (Michael's)

Duckies (Michael's)

Boo has played with this pretty much non-stop since I brought it out. She especially loves filling the little boxes and giving them as "presents" to everyone.

Buzz likes using tongs to transfer things into the pail.

Muffin Tin Monday: Favorite Foods



Today's theme is favorite foods. Usually Buzz and Boo eat identical lunches, but since they have different favorites and since I only have one muffin tin, they each got their own plate with muffin cups filled with their faves.

Buzz had pizza, broccoli, animal crackers, pears and a cookie

Boo had pizza, pineapple, goldfish, carrots and a cookie

Buzz ate all of his and then reminded me that we have cheesecake left over in the fridge and since that's another one of his favorites, he thought he should have a piece of that as well :)

Winter Book Basket

Our book basket is filled with winter books right now:

The First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming

The Hat by Jan Brett

The Mitten by Jan Brett

The Three Snow Bears by Jan Brett

The Trouble With Trolls by Jan Brett

The Jacket I Wear in the Snow by Shirley Neitzel

No Two Snowflakes by Sheree Fitch

Sneezy the Snowman by Maureen Wright

Snow by Roy McKibe

Snow by Uri Shulevitz

Snow by Cynthia Rylant

Snow Day! by Barbara M. Joosse

The Snow Show by Carolyn Fisher

There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow by Lucille Colandro

The Twelve Days of Winter: A School Counting Book by Deborah Lee Rose

When Winter Comes by Nancy Van Laan

Buzz and Boo love Jan Brett's books, so those were the most popular (The Trouble With Trolls technically takes place in early spring, but it's a favorite, so I threw it in anyway). Buzz also loved both The First Day of Winter and The Twelve Days of Winter and insisted that they be sung instead of read.

Winter Playdough

To go along with our winter unit I made homemade playdough. Boo loves to play with playdough and was super excited to play with some with sparkles in it (I left the dough white and added white gliiter so that it looked like sparkly snow). I used the recipe from My Montessori Journey. The recipe made enough for each of my kids to have a good sized ball to play with.

Muffin Tin Monday: Big and Little, Short and Tall



Twice a month we go to baby storytime at the library for Bean (Buzz and Boo have a great time too) and afterward we head over to my friend Meghan's house for lunch and some play time. I packed a light lunch for Buzz and Boo to eat there and once we got home they ate their muffin tin (minus the tin) snack.

I decided to focus on the little part of the theme, little foods for a little snack

Top row: little star shaped peanut butter sandwiches, little bites of pear

Bottom row: mini chocolate chips and a (regular size) cookie, little pieces of string cheese

Happy Muffin Tin Monday!