Little M&M is 23 months old
Black + White Zebra Craft
We started our unit with a gluing craft. The fun template comes from Kids Craft Weekly. I put dabs of glue throughout the zebra, and provided Little M&M with strips of black paper. We identified the colors and talked about how zebras have stripes.
Here is how it looked when he finished putting the strips of paper on.
When it was completely dry, I cut it out and asked him to glue it onto a black piece of paper.
Then I wrote the word "ZEBRA" out in white crayon, and had him do some letter matching. He did so well with this! I think it's time we introduce more alphabet into his tot school units!
Ta-da!
Black Playdough
We used our homemade batch of playdough with some laminated mats we made a few months ago. I created them all myself except for the dump truck mat, which I found on Pinterest and revised. Unfortunately I lost its source. If you recognize it, please let me know!
The first is a bee, where he had to practice rolling the dough to make stripes.
The first is a bee, where he had to practice rolling the dough to make stripes.
Adding spots to the ladybug.
Putting wheels on the car.
Loading rocks into the dump truck.
Black + White Sensory Bin and Sorting
Instead of a discovery basket this week, I created this bin for him. It is made up of lots and lots of black and white yarn, as well as three black and three white objects.
I hid the objects inside before presenting him with the bin.
He dug his hands in to explore. Then I asked him to search for the black and white objects.
And he sorted them onto black and white pieces of paper.
Some objects were a little tangled up in the yarn!
Color Review - Parking Lot
After introducing each color we like to do an activity that reviews all that we have learned so far. This week we played with one of Little M&M's favorite things: cars! I have a huge roll of brown paper that we sometimes use to draw roads, or line the holiday table with so we can decorate it before we eat. So I tore a piece off and made Little M&M a road and color-coded parking lot. I've seen a ton of these on Pinterest, so I'm not sure where the idea originated. But here is our version.
We drove the cars around, greeted one another's cars. "Hi, purple car. I'm a blue car." He could play like this for a long time. We'd drive all around the road and come back to park in the parking lot.
"Where is your green car going to park?" "Right dair!"
Black + White Night Sky Craft
We finished our unit with another craft. I gave Little M&M star stickers to place onto a white piece of paper.
Then he painted the whole thing black with a sponge brush.
This is the first painting craft that he felt the urge to complete the entire paper. Usually he dabs his brush a bit in the middle and says he's done. He must have liked the sponge brush!
Then we allowed it to dry for a bit.
I lifted each sticker just slightly, so he'd be able to pull them up. Great fine motor practice!
And when he had finished, he had a beautiful black and white night sky. "Look'at I made!"
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