Tot School: Back-to-School Theme

Henry is 30 months old.

We took a break from letters this week at tot school to do a back-to-school theme. This past week many of our fall classes, including our tot-school co-op, have started up for the season. Next week, we return to "school" -- the early childhood class we take through the school district. So, I wanted to focus on all these changes and use tot school to help Henry with the transition.

Henry had a lot of fun with this. I learned that he had no idea what a school bus was -- clearly, I've failed him as a parent, haha. Actually, we live within walking distance of at least three schools, so we almost never see school buses on our street since all the kids walk. But I can say this problem has been eliminated! Also, Henry had a hard time keeping his clothes on this week, so tot school action shots we're kept to a minimum -- silly toddlers. 

On the first tray was the book 10 Apples up on Top by Dr. Seuss. {I figured apples are back-to-school-ish.} Also on the tray was a printable I made, that included each of the characters from the book and spaces for 10 apples. I used small red glass beads for the apples.

Although Henry has owned this book for awhile I don't know that he has ever picked to read it. Turns out he loved it, but wasn't a huge fan of placing all the glass beads around. 

The second tray was a set of Montessori 3-part cards that I made using common back-to-school supplies. Henry used these a few times and actually showed a lot more interest in the words that he has before.


The final tray was wheels on the bus inspired tray. I made a sheet with a bunch of school buses and different colored wheels. Then, I included baby food pouch lids in all the colors of the wheels. Henry could then match the wheels on the bus. This activity was really easy for him, but he enjoyed singing the song while doing this, and this was his favorite tray. 

Other things we did this week included: 

Backpack Clip Work: This is actually a puzzle piece from a Melissa and Doug skills puzzle. It was a big hit with Henry, who recently just figured out how to clip and unclip these buckles.

Magnet Board: It said Back To School and included a couple of shapes. Henry ignored this, although I saw several kids using it during co-op time.

Apple Cutting: These were wooden apples from our food cutting set, a wooden knife, and a cutting board. Henry could then practice slicing the apples up. This was another favorite for the week.

Apple Matching: This was a color and number matching game we made last year at school. Henry immediately remembered that we made it at school, and it led to good discussions about school starting. But, it was way to easy to keep his attention for long.

School Maze: I used the same maze I made for letter M week, but replaced the m's with a school bus and a school house. Since we don't have a single school bus toy {how is that possible!?} I used a yellow glass bead for him to move through the maze. Henry liked this -- mostly because the bead was yellow -- but still didn't quite understand that he was supposed to follow the lines.