Tot Preschool - Ss is for Sun

*J-Bug is currently 38 months old*

J-Bug is never required to participate in school time.  I set up these trays to give him something educational and fun to do while JZ works.  I would give him toys only, but he requests work.  Like  most younger siblings he is eager to keep up and be just like his big brother.  Please note:  I do not encourage pushing young children to do school work.  If you want to engage in educational activities with your young child remember that early learning is best accomplished through play.  I encourage you to follow your little one's cues and have fun!

Here is a glance at a few of J-Bug's Tot Trays for the week.

I don't have action shots of the following:
Making the letter S with Letter Builders .

Do-A-Dot painting an American flag printable from I Can Teach My Child.

Making rockets with Crystal Connectors .

Sensory play and scooping with colored pasta.

It's J-Bug's job to put the weather card up each day during calendar time.  I don't think he is learning too much.  It's pretty much always sunny here, LOL.

He loves his calendar time notebook and pulls it out when JZ works on his.  You can read the details about his notebook HERE.

Using sandbox writing cards from Walking by the Way (which I laminated and cut apart), J-Bug traced the lines and curves on the cards in homemade sensory paint.  You can find the recipe HERE.

He loves cutting practice.

Here he is pouting a bit, because he wanted a sheet just like JZ's.  (The kindergarten sheets are -understandably- copyrighted.)  I offered several substitutions, but they weren't quite what he had in mind.

It's no surprise that he loved painting a paper plate sun.

He cut strings of "spaghetti" playdough into tiny pieces.

Using a printout from Confessions of a Homeschooler, he poked holes along the letter S with a toothpick for fine motor practice.

Math Links are hands down J-Bug's favorite manipulative.  I printed and laminated pattern cards for him from Child Care Land. 

He started the first one.

Then he decided it would be more fun to make a snake to pull around the room.

We experienced some cold, sensory 4th of July fun with festive frozen stars!

I don't have any action shots, because I did this with all four little guys at once.  J-Bug was the only one who cared for this.  The twins hated the feel of the ice, and my oldest was not happy that the stars melted so fast.  At least one little guy enjoyed it!

We are participating in a Flat Me project hosted by Crayon Freckles.  J-Bug takes his buddy "B" everywhere with him.  When he puts his own shoes on, he puts some on "B".  One of the activities we did for JZ's kindergarten curriculum was tracing each other's shadows with sidewalk chalk.  J-Bug wanted to trace "B's".  I love my boy and his little imagination so much.

Here he is with us at a park with a spray ground.  Since J-Bug insists on bringing him everywhere we go, I put "B" in a ziploc for safekeeping.  

I don't think I've ever blogged about our Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom tree.  The idea was inspired by Confessions of a Homeschooler.  I freehanded the design on cardstock, cut out, shaded areas with chalk, laminated and pinned in our studio.  Last year at the end of each week JZ pinned the Letter of the Week to our tree.  This year it is J-Bug's turn, and he is oh so proud.  :)

I have two bulletin boards above J-Bugs trays where I pin his completed work.  He is very proud of all he does, and I like to display it to show him that we value his accomplishments.  At the end of the week this is what they looked like:

I didn't have a chance to write up an individual post, so here is a sneak peak:  Inspired by this incredible sensory bin from Famiglia and Seoul I made Night and Day bins to go along with our study of the sun.

Other activities we did this week are linked under each photo:

We made Absorption Art Fireworks.

We mixed Tempura Paint in the Play Pool.

We made Friendship Brownie Bites to go along with the Friendship theme for the MeMeTales Readathon.

If you haven't already linked up to The Sunday Showcase, now is your chance!