Happy New Year from the studio toddler room! The weather has kept us busy indoors this month but we have filled our days with crafts, discovery bins, winter centers, stories, dancing, and learning through play. Our color focus is white and our shape is the triangle so we incorporated these focus targets into most of our centers, small groups, whole group and purposeful play.
Our toddler classroom is filled with opportunities to explore, problem solve, create, and learn through play. Our curriculum theme of the month is winter. We have used this as a guide to introduce and practice new vocabulary, incorporate our focus of shape (rectangle) and color (white) of the month, practice fine and large motor skills, and build on natural curiosity through using our senses to learn and grow.
Gross Motor Fun inside! An indoor snowball fight and balancing on a rectangular beam.
Individual discovery tubs are filled with items to discover by touching, pouring, sorting, and scooping.
Polar bear shape sort and a rectangular polar bear craft have been a fun way to learn about arctic animals, shapes, and fine motor skills.
Free choice center opportunities provide toddlers with materials to explore and create igloos and “homes” for arctic animals.
Using our five senses to discover hot cocoa / cold whipped cream and enhance a Maurice Sendak classic Chicken Soup with Rice!
Lacing provides problem solving skills, patience, and practice.
We are enjoying the wonders of winter and the color white through sensory experiences. Sensory activities facilitate exploration and naturally encourage children to use scientific processes while they play, create, investigate and explore.
Shaving cream on the tables provided an interesting textured sensory activity. It also provides an empty canvas to practice drawing shapes, letters, and lines.
Our sensory bin and discovery tubs provided different textures and items to sort and pour.
Maurice Sendak’s Chicken Soup with Rice provided an activity to use all of our senses including taste! We read the book, danced to the video with song by Carole King, and tasted chicken soup with rice!
We had so much fun in the Toddler room this month! Focusing on the color white – we made sparkle white playdough, had white food for snack, and created white collage art. Triangles are the shape of the month this January. We used hands-on manipulatives (craft sticks and pretzel sticks) to create triangles and practiced with glue sticks to create a class mural of triangles. Our study of polar animals led to some yummy snacks, a fun obstacle course through the arctic circle, matching animals, songs, stories, and fun!
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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