Black and White

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.

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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Colors: Black and White

Theme Of The Day: The Colors Black and White

Age: 22 months

Notes: Little M&M is due to arrive in three weeks, and so our tot school activities will gradually become fewer. Just three things today, but Honey Pot really enjoyed each one. And I think they were very successful in showing her the difference between these two colors, as she had been getting them confused!

Bah Bah Black/White Sheep

This is a classic nursery rhyme that we have read many times in Honey Pot's Mother Goose book. I think it was nice for her to hear it in song, as she sang it all day long afterward. I printed this clip art from the Internet, matted them to cardstock and then glued a craft stick onto each one. As I held up the black sheep, I sang:

Bah, Bah, black sheep,

Have you any wool?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Three bags full.

One for my master,

One for my dame,

And one for the little boy who lives down the lane.

Bah, bah, black sheep,

Have you any wool?

Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

Three bags full.

Then I would hold up the white one and sing the same song, replacing the word "black" with "white." Honey Pot loved hearing and singing along to the songs, as well as playing with the sheep as toys. So as we played, I tried to insert their color names into their dialogue. IE: "Hello, black sheep!"

Which Is Black/White?

I created these sets in Photoshop Elements. It is getting harder to think of images that I haven't yet used, but I managed! Honey Pot and I went over these a couple of times today, and each time she seemed to get the answer right more and more. I'm so pleased that she considers this more of a game than a quiz, because it definitely is effective in teaching her colors.

Sheep Craft

The idea and free printable for this craft came from All Kids Network. I asked Honey Pot if she wanted to do a craft. When she saw the glue, she grabbed it with a nod and hurried to her craft table. This girl loves glue! Without any instruction, she squeezed glue out onto the sheep's body.

Then I encouraged her to place the cotton balls onto the glue, and push them down.

We added the head, facial features and legs.

(See Daddy's hands! He had off work today, so he got to help!)

And here is the final product! Honey Pot was so proud of her artwork, as always! We pointed out which parts of the sheep were white, and which were black.

And for once when I asked her to pose for the picture, I got a not-so-cheesy smile out of her. Hooray!