More Snow Day or Any Day Preschool Activities

A few days ago the Tulsa area received a record-breaking 20 inches of snow. Just when we thought things were starting to get better, we looked outside this morning to find this...

Four to six more inches of snow falling today.

Snowbound, we've done plenty of this:

And lots of this:

Yes, I'm aware it is February and Riley is still wearing a Christmas-themed shirt and only has on one sock. I'm okay with it.

One of Sophie's favorite snacks is apple slices (no peel, of course) and peanut butter in the shape of a flower (because she's "a princess and that's how they like to eat it.")



This week I introduced the idea of counting the apple seeds and making a chart with the number of seeds in each apple.

I'm not sure she understands the chart concept yet, but it's a fun activity and a great way to introduce the idea to her using the apple seeds she's already seeing during her daily snack.

Although I made this preschool activity up off the top of my head, I did want to share two preschool resources I found and really like from my local library. They are two books from the Williamson Little Hands series. Science Play: Beginning Discoveries for 2 to 6 Year Olds and Wow! I'm Reading!: Fun Activities to Make Reading Happen. I am using so many great ideas from these books I'll probably just end up buying my own copies.

Do you have any snow day activities you'd like to share?

Poop on the Carpet - No We Don't Have Pets

I was in the middle of writing my post about today's preschool activities when Sophie yelled, "Mom, Riley took off her diaper and has poop everywhere!" That's what I get for sneaking away into my room for a few minutes of blog time. Somewhere in a far corner of my subconscious mind I suppose I knew a poopie incident could occur, yet the realization of it still came as a surprise. "Surprise!" Maybe I'm not too fond of surprises. Did you know both "poopie" and "poopy" are considered correct spellings? I had to look it up.

Somehow, Riley took off her dance leotard all by herself and removed her own dirty diaper. It's not like I had neglected her diaper needs. I had just given her a fresh diaper thirty minutes earlier and had no idea she needed changed again. Fortunately, Riley did not get poop "everywhere" as Sophie suggested, and Spot Shot came to the rescue. Notice I didn't actually show you the poo. You're welcome.

So, back to the preschool activities I planned for today, and "Poop on the carpet," is not a part of my lesson plans.

Today we worked with our Leap Frog fridge magnet sets. All three girls play with these together. Sometimes they put them on the fridge and sometimes they play with them on trays. Sophie likes to use the metal cookie trays to spell out words with the letters.

Piper uses the letters with the toy which tells her, in a catchy tune, the name of each letter and the sound(s) it makes.

Riley prefers to match the front and back of animals and place them in the barn. The barn sings another catchy tune and tells her if she made a match or not and says information about the animal she matched. If she puts mismatched pieces together, the barn tells her that too. For example, "You put a pig in front, you put a cow behind, put them together and what do you find? A pigcow? That's silly. snort-moo". That's my favorite part of this toy. It makes me smile every time. (this is the "crime evidence" dance leotard she removed in the poopie incident)

We may or may not make it to the library in time for the weekly childrens' storytime group. Sophie likes to go to the library and check out new books every week- especially Fancy Nancy books, but she and Piper aren't too keen on the thirty minute storytime. Riley loves storytime and I think the librarian does a fantastic job.

This afternoon we'll head to a friend's house for a playdate. I try to get a playdate in once every two or three weeks. I'd do it more often if I could get some scheduled. Any takers out there? Dressing up in princess dresses or dance leotards is a plus, but not a requirement.

Tonight I think there will be a mug of hot tea, a warm bubble bath, and a book calling my name - after the kids are asleep and all dirty diapers are out of Riley's reach.

Preschool Monday Activities

Today, while Piper and Riley napped, Sophie enjoyed a few preschool activities. She played music by making her own water glass instrument (think "Minute to Win It"). Vocabulary/concepts we discussed were: short/tall, full/empty, high/low/medium. She also scooped water out of one cup and placed it in another to change the notes. Then, she made up various songs and tried to hear if the notes changed higher or lower when she added or subtracted water. Sophie is three years old (four in April) and I wouldn't want to do this with my two-year-old twins since they would probably drop and break the glasses.

Another activity Sophie worked on today was her Three-Letter Puzzle Words. Each picture is comprised of three cards - one letter per card. She loves playing with these cards. Even if she didn't know which letter was supposed to be there, she could use picture clues and find the correct card. After placing the three cards together to complete the picture, she spells the word out one letter at a time, then says the whole word. "-c, -o, -w - cow". I bought these cards for $2.99 at a school supply store we have here in Tulsa called Mardel Christian and Education Book Store. They are made by School Zone Publishing Company. Although I haven't used these cards with Piper and Riley yet, I will start doing a few at a time with them.

The final activity Sophie practiced today was to trace and write her numbers (one - thirty) on the dry erase flip book I bought in Target's dollar section a couple of weeks ago (they still have some). She loves to practice these while sitting up at the bar and watching me cook. The elementary teacher in me would like to correct the way she's holding her pen, but I stopped myself. She's learning and having a good time. I'm not sure she has the fine motor skills yet to "correctly" hold the pen and write the numbers yet.

What are some of your favorite toddler/preschool activities you've come across? Do you have any links or websites to share? I'm on the lookout for great preschool educational activities.