The Color Blue!

This week we officially started Little M&M on tot school! He is a little younger than his sister was, and doesn't seem quite as ready to dive in, so I kept his activities a little simpler. Take a look at Honey Pot's blue unit, from back when she and I were just starting out.

Little M&M is 18 months old

Blue Discovery Basket

We started our unit with a discovery basket. I gathered blue items from around the house, and brought the basket out once in a while for him to explore.

There were all sorts of toys and craft supplies, as well as items from the kitchen, like a cup and a straw.

The pom poms were a hit! He loved them so much I wound up creating another activity with these later in the week.

We talked about how each of these things is blue, and I labeled each as such in conversation with him. "Look at this blue dinosaur!" "Cookie Monster is blue too!"

He loves the poppers!

Painting the Sky

This idea comes from Growing A Jeweled Rose. On a beautiful morning while his big sister was at preschool, we pulled out the hallway mirror and some blue paint. I had read somewhere that paint is easier to wash off of mirrors and windows if you mix in a little bit of dish soap. I have nothing to compare it to, but we did this method and it washed off just fine!

He enjoyed doing this. Definitely different from painting on plain ol' paper!

My favorite...

Walking on the sky!

Balls in a Muffin Pan

I borrowed this idea from my sister! I gathered some ball pit balls, mostly blue, and put them in a muffin pan for him to play with. 

He enjoyed picking them up and dropping them back into the pan! I tried having him identify a blue ball, but he didn't quite seem ready yet. So I just gave him all blue ones next.

Pom Pom Transfering

This is a great activity for fine motor practice. I provided Little M&M with some blue bowls, as well as a couple spoons from his play kitchen. He loved transferring the pom poms from one bowl to the other!

Blue Coloring Page

For a simple time-filler activity this week, I printed out a coloring page from Twisty Noodle for Little M&M and gave him just a blue crayon.

Blue Bath

We concluded his first week with a color tablet in his bath. He loved it!

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Robots!

Honey Pot is 3 years and 4 months old

Little M&M is 17 months old

Books

I chose a bunch of robot themed books to jump-start our unit this week! Little M&M was keen on See Pip Point, perhaps because he loves balloons so much. Honey Pot's favorite, as well as mine, was Boy + Bot. This is the type of book I would add to my collection at home in a heartbeat. Such a sweet story-line.

Robot Worksheets

I sat the kids down to each work on some robot worksheets. These came from a preschool pack by Homeschool Creations. I gave Honey Pot the prewriting practice pages while Little M&M played with the magnetic pom poms.

Then I gave Honey Pot another worksheet which comes from Ben's Coloring Pages. It is a robot made entirely of shapes. I had her identify each shape, then count up how many of each there were. Then I wrote the number in the space at the bottom. Originally I was going to have her color in the shapes, a different color for each type, but she didn't want to.

So I handed it over to Little M&M to color!

And then Honey Pot had her turn with the magnetic pom poms.

Build-A-Robot

This idea originates from No Time for Flashcards. I cut the pieces out of foam, and glued on a few details. Then I placed magnetic tape on the back of each piece. Here is what each of the two robots were intended to look like.

Then I placed all of the pieces on the dishwasher, and let Honey Pot create her own robots.

Here is her final result. She named them Nell and Belle. I explained to her that robots are machines, like computers. And we talked a little bit about them, and what her robots could do. From our conversation, I gather that her robots do tricks and get rich, LOL.

And then Little M&M had a turn to play. He mainly just wanted to "beep" and "boop" all the robot's buttons!

Build-A-Robot, revisited

We also built a robot on a larger scale. I provided the kids with aluminum foil, markers, toilet paper rolls and an empty shoe box.

First they used their markers on the aluminum foil, which was a fun new way to color.

Little M&M even donned his robot shirt for the occasion.

Then Honey Pot started to roll up our robot pieces in foil.

And I asked her to draw a face on the robot.

Here it is! I asked her if she wanted to give the robot a name. She called it "Mary." And, revisiting our idea that robots have a function, I asked her what Mary can do. She plays!

Alphabet Robot

I drew up a robot and placed it on the dishwasher to complete our unit with some alphabet practice. Honey Pot had to name each letter, find the matching fridge magnet and then push the buttons!

"Beeep. Booop!"

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