Our most popular center year after year is one that has many benefits for all of our learners! Blocks (or Legos!) help children learn to take turns and share materials, develop new friendships, become self-reliant, increase attention span, cooperate with others, and develop self-esteem. Block play requires fine and gross motor skills.
Color words have been our focus in reading groups these past two weeks. We focused on the spelling patterns -ee, -ay, and -ow. Some of the color word activities included building each word with Play-Doh, reading multiple emergent readers with color words, covering color words with color stickers to create a rainbow gum ball machine, and color the illustrations in our readers to match the color words in the text. We incorporate coloring into many of our activities. Coloring has an important place in child development. It provides an opportunity to practice and develop many skills such as concentration, fine motor and coordination for early writing skills and correct finger grip.
The toddler class is making the most of our time indoors on these cold days. We have enjoyed some extra center time, baked, painted, crafted, crawled through an arctic cave and bounced “snowballs” on the parachute!
Sensory play supports language and cognitive growth, fine motor skills, and problem solving skills. It aids in enhancing memory functioning and is great for calming. The sensory tub and discovery bins are popular in our room. This is truly hands-on learning!
We provide an environment that is safe and interactive. Learning centers allow children to understand the social world, develop communication skills, and build relationships. Our classroom is designed as an invitation to play and explore.
Our dramatic play center was converted into a veterinarian office. The toddlers enjoy pretending to take care of the puppies. They use new vocabulary, take turns, and get a little puppy snuggle.
Creating is important for the toddlers. They improve their fine motor skills, experimenting with materials is the foundation for science, and it provides a sense of pride which boosts self confidence. We often do crafts in small groups which allows for instruction and discussion of shapes, colors, letters, counting, and theme vocabulary.
Cooking with children provides practical experience with many skills such as following directions and measuring. It helps toddlers develop fine motor skills, eye hand coordination and even early concepts of math and science. We make chocolate chip muffins when talking about the letter M then oatmeal cookies when focusing on the letter O. The toddlers also tasted chicken soup with rice after reading the book by Maurice Sendak. Fun process – yummy product!
Large motor skills helps children gain strength and confidence in his/her body. It also helps them to get exercise and physical activity, which is important for a healthy lifestyle. The toddlers love to play outside but the parachute and tunnel are a special treat!
In the Preschool class we have been working on strengthening our fine motor skills since the beginning of the school year. Now that it is January, we start each day by ‘signing in’ or tracing our name. We will continue working on pencil grip, letter formation, and writing our names each day for the remainder of the school year.
The studio toddlers had a penguin party, using penguins to help us match colors. They had to match the penguin’s hat to the color scarf the penguin was wearing. Sometimes our friends will choose a color on their own, and then they try to name the color for us. Other times we will direct them to a specific color to try and challenge them to find colors they may not know as well as others.
In our other small group, we used our shape of the month, triangle, to make a penguin of our own! Here, our learners follow 1 and 2 step directions to complete the activity.
Ms. Kelsey’s toddler class helped make chocolate chip muffins for letter M week!
During our hands-on whole group activity, we talked about following a recipe, practiced taking turns, and used our senses.
Asking questions and letting our little learners process what they are experiencing through their senses helps to connect these ideas to other environments and experiences outside of the classroom. Some things we discussed: What color was the mix? What color did it turn after we added our eggs? Was it cold or warm? How did it feel? Squishy or solid? We could smell the muffins in our classroom after they came out of the oven. And of course, we got to taste them, which was the best part!
Celebrating the season with a star print craft.
Star cookie cutters with red playdough enforce our shape and color of the month.
Practice matching colors with holiday bows and trees.
J is for jingle bells.
K is for kiss under the mistletoe.
Holiday themed centers provide an opportunity to engage the toddlers in pretend play, sharing, and fine motor skills.
More crafts of holiday fun.
During circle time we discussed our favorite things about Christmas. The toddlers placed their picture under their favorite thing.
The toddlers participated in some fun activities to learn the concept of hot and cold using senses. We practiced scooping with a hot cocoa sensory bin.
A special snack of “hot” cocoa and cold ice cream provided a sweet way to learn about opposites through the sense of taste and touch.
Creative Tots has specialized in the private education of both toddlers and preschool age children for over 15 years. We began in the heart of Madeira and now also have a new Mason location. We are specifically designed to focus on early childhood development for children ages 18 months to 5 years.
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