This week we've started our first ventures into Tot School! My little Bugaboo is 15 months old now and into everything. For the last 8 weeks, she's had to adapt to less time with me due to the addition of Ladybug to the family. Since Ladybug is now sleeping a bit longer between feedings, I decided to dedicate some one-on-one time to Tot School. Recently, Bugaboo has spent a lot of time playing independently and attempting to climb on me in ways that won't lead to hearing a firm "No" from me. Unfortunately, there's also been an inordinate amount of TV which has served as an easy way to keep her busy while I tried to find balance. While the independent play and climbing don't bother me, the amount of tv she's been watching does. The solution: Tot School!
Tot School is not rigidly structured school time. Instead, it is education through exploration. This often means that she is in charge of the activity, but it doesn't mean that there aren't goals for the program in general. In addition to developing various intellectual skills like problem solving, categorizing, and matching, each activity helps to develop gross and fine motor skills as well.
The Set Up
Currently Tot school is in our living room, but hopefully by summer it will move to the front room. I'm working on transitioning its main function from a guest room to a play/school room. Each morning, I pull out the supplies for our activity and place them in the middle of the living room while bugaboo finishes her breakfast. My hope is that once I get more supplies and dedicated space, I'll be able to organize bins or trays for the activities.
Each day, after tending to Ladybug and getting her settled for a nap, Bugaboo and I sit down on the floor with the supplies. I let her look and them and explore without any prompting. After a few minutes, I either show her a new function of the object or add something to the area to see what she does. If I've shown her a new function, she sometimes imitates it, but often she continues doing her own thing. If she is content to play on her own, I leave her alone to explore the objects. Occasionally, it looks as though she's given up on the activity only to find that she's getting something to add to it. When she loses interest, we stop and move on to another activity of her choice.
The Results of 2 Days
So far, most of her time has been spent putting objects inside of various containers and then pulling them back out. If she adds something to her activity, she often adds a cup, box, or bowl to place the objects in and then taking them back out.
Day 1 - Bells
Bugaboo was given 5 small craft bells and a couple small containers. She played with the bells for a few minutes and then I laced a piece of string through 3 of the bells. I used two of the bells to secure the ends and left one bell loose to slide along the string. She loved the strung bells and swung them around wildly, smiling and giggling. At one point, she left the area to get an empty box. She put the bells in the box, shook it and then dumped them back out. I only expected her to play with them for 5 minutes or so, but she played with them for about 20 minutes before giving up.
Day 2 - Easter Eggs.
I placed 5 small eggs, 5 medium eggs and 2 large eggs in a tupperware bowl. She put them in an empty puffs container and then went looking for the extension items I had placed in a small basket. I showed her how to pull the eggs apart and put them back together, but she couldn't quite get the hang of it. The small eggs seemed too slick and the medium eggs were too big for her to hold while trying to open them. I put a few bells and colorful beads inside of one of the large eggs, which was transparent. She shook it and inspected the objects inside and then went back to distributing the eggs and other objects to the various containers she had collected. Today's activity lasted about 30 minutes or so.
I'm hoping this blog will encourage me to reflect on the things we do as well as keep a record of her activities. In the future, I hope to add photos and videos of her working on her Tot School lessons.
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