Tot School: January 31

The Littlest Apple is 29 months old.

Our TotSchool activities have been rather sparse lately.  The Littlest Apple had an ear infection, we went on a road trip to visit family, and he just hasn’t been interested.  (Oh, and we’re potty training, but I think that deserves a whole post of its own.)

The Littlest Apple has been really resistant to many of the Tot School activities that I have presented lately, and I’m not sure exactly what the problem is.  Honestly, I feel like maybe I’m doing something wrong.  He definitely prefers activities that are more physical.  I get that.  This little boy has got lots of energy and wants to be DOING.  (Although he does sit still for TV as long as it is on, and begs for more).  He used to enjoy arts and crafts much more, and liked to create stuff with his hands.  That’s not the case now.  He really doesn’t want to do anything art related.  I offer the activities, demonstrate the activity, then let him do it or not do it, as the case may be.

The Littlest Apple has an amazing imagination, and when we’re at home, his first choice of activities is playing construction or fireman in the living room with the same trucks, day in, day out.  I don’t want to discourage the free play and use of imagination, but I would like to do some other TotSchool activities too!  I’m trying to incorporate his love of trucks and physical activity into my TotSchool stuff, but even that doesn’t always work.  Any suggestions?  Anyone else having similar issues?

We spent some time assembling these construction puzzles that The Littlest Apple got for Christmas.  They are still too difficult for him to do on his own, but but I assemble the outside and he puts the pieces in the middle.

I presented 3 locks and keys to The Littlest Apple.  The idea was that he would match the key to the proper lock.  (Idea from Chasing Cheerios).  The Littlest Apple tried it once, then proceeded to bring them to the living room and bang the biggest metal lock repeatedly on our side table…we still have the dings to prove it.

We’ve done this once before and it was a huge hit:  Oatmeal Transferring.  I put a bowl full of oatmeal at one end of the kitchen and an empty bowl at the other end, then handed The Littlest Apple a measuring cup and a spoon to transfer the oatmeal to the empty bowl.  In theory, I do it too, and we “race,” but that didn’t really happen this time.  After transferring the entire bowl of oatmeal back and forth twice, he moved the bowls closer together and just went to town playing with the oatmeal.

After the oatmeal mess (and several other times throughout the week) The Littlest Apple helped me to sweep.  He’s got several small brooms and dustpans, but he prefers the big feather duster.  Also, he likes to wear a hat while he dusts.  The firemen have to keep the fire station clean, you know.

I saw this marshmallow snowman outline activity on A Mommy’s Adventures and thought it would be a neat craft for The Littlest Apple.  All he wanted to do was eat the marshmallows.  (All of the marshmallows seen here were assembled by me).  Just wanted to share this activity since I STILL think it is a good idea.

Another activity that didn’t go over:  Using Dot Paints to outline a rectangle (the shape we are learning). Does anyone else’s kiddo hold their other hand out/up while painting/drawing/everything?  The Littlest Apple does that ALL the time.

We colored with some new markers.  We haven’t used markers in a while, so this kept his attention for about 10 minutes!  The Littlest Apple also made me draw him a cement mixer to color, but then he wanted me to color it for him.  Silly boy.

This Recycling Center color sorting activity was featured just a few days ago on No Time for Flashcards.  Since The Littlest Apple is obsessed with all things trash and recycling, I thought this was a no-brainer.  He didn’t enjoy it as much as I would have liked, but he did enjoy sending the blocks down the conveyor belt in the middle and sorting to the appropriate bin for a few minutes.