Tot School: Spring Has Sprung!

Miss E ~ 28 months

This week was one of those weeks that there was just no time to plan, but seeing that we've been so stinking busy in April, I wanted to finish the month off strong. Miss E has had her colors confused for quite some time (except for purple, of course) so I thought for Tot School this week, we could combine our spring theme and colors for a week. And I'm so happy we did! We got outside, got to know our colors a bit more, and I got to see Miss E get creative with the activities I set up for her.

First of all, if you haven't been around the DC Metro area in the past 1-2 weeks, let me just tell you something. It has been GORGEOUS! Like the perfect kind of spring. Really. It's kind of making the winter that never ended seem like a distant memory. Sort of.

What better way than to discover the colors around us than to explore spring? That's exactly what we did. For our first day of Tot School this week, we went for a nature walk. And then we did it Every. Single. Day. Both Mr. C and I loved getting the fresh air, and it was such a joy to see Miss E discovering all of the beautiful colors nature provides.

"Lots' of yellows, mommy!"

"It's kind of like light yellow, mommy."

"You take this home."

For each walk, we focused on one color. Green was the obvious, as it's bursting in everywhere you turn. We also focused on yellow, pink, red, and purple. As a side note, Miss E thought it was hilarious that blueberries tend to have a "dark purpur" (purple) color. How observant!

Here we are shamelessly discovering someone else's tulips. Since mine are already spent. Sigh...

Azalea's are now one of Miss E's favorite spring flowers. There are a TON in our area, and it seems to blow her mind that they come in all sorts of shapes and colors. Too cute.

Since Miss E is an apple that hasn't fallen far from my tree, the kid loves to organize things. Enter our color sorters! I found an awesome pair of little tongs in the $1 bin at Target. I had been searching for something a little easier for her little hands to work on fine motor skills. Clothes pins and regular tweezers were just a bit too challenging (which = frustrating). Finally! That bin never seems to fail me. (And I love how it's parked right near the entrance so I never forget to stop by :)

I just pulled out some of the 4 ounce cups I use for Mr. C's baby food, gave some basic instructions, and Miss E went to town. We went back and forth, suggesting which colors to choose next. So much fun.

And since she had commented on the purple blueberries, I thought it might be the perfect chance to make colors "real world" for her. I grabbed some of her play food, and had her add them to the puffy balls. What a hit! She did this activity over and over and over again. I think I'll add it in next week, too.

I cannot tell you how much this correspondence has changed the way she sees colors. She now brings them up all the time as she observes her surroundings, and it just makes me so stinking happy.

We also have these awesome foam letters that I had originally bought for the bath when Miss E was just a baby. Well, long story short, they never made it there. Miss E did this sorting on her own... I'll let the picture explain itself:

Love her tongue sticking out to the side. Thinking hard!

Here's one of my favorite shots of the week, during our quiet time.

If she wants to read, I'm not going to tell her where to do it.

In addition to the above activities, we colored A LOT, read books with the themes of colors and Spring, and I really let Miss E forge the way. We also did some gardening, but unfortunately missed the photo ops (between keeping Miss from throwing dirt, and Mr. C from eating it). I'm usually a planned activities kind of girl, but that's what I'm loving about Tot School. As long as Miss E is engaged, she's learning!

Until next time,

Mrs. Kuda

Where I'm linking up this week!
Tot School at 1+1+1=1
No Time for Flashcards

Hello, April! (And farewell, too, since I guess you're almost over. How'd that happen?)

I've been a little absent for the past month, mostly just because I didn't really notice April had come, and now it's almost gone.

To quote one of Miss E's (current) favorite books right now, "Hubba-What?!?" I know. I can't believe April's almost over either.

To catch you up to speed, I thought I'd do a little, well, catching up. We've had visitors and Easter and more visitors.  There've been some sick days and teething, but mostly warm days where it just wasn't possible to spend a moment inside.

Tot School has gone somewhat off the radar. The thought has been there, and Miss E has been learning SO much, but I just haven't had the time to begin to prepare for any sort of structured activities. This week has been better, so you'll just have to stay tuned for next week's update :)

On to April. Well, rather spring. There was actually a point in time when I didn't think it would ever come. And it's here! It's really, really here! Green pollen and everything!

Daffodils = Spring!

Easter was SO. MUCH. FUN. this year. Seriously. I think during Christmastime, Miss E was still just a smidge young to really get into the magic of it all. But Easter? She loved it!

Not the best quality picture, but I just love the look on her face.
She was so excited to get her Easter basket!

A great friend of ours gave Miss E this giant Easter egg last year, and I decided to keep it for this year. So happy I did! You know what a giant Easter egg holds? MANY SMALLER EASTER EGGS! Honestly this could have been what we did every day and Miss E would have been in heaven. It also led to some really nice Tot School moments, even though they weren't planned.

In addition opening and closing each and every egg a gazillion times, we played a matching game with them. I just found some trinkets in Mr. Kuda's desk drawer to hide under each half. She loved it!

We made cards for the grandparents...

We went up to a sweet little farm where they have an annual Bunnyland Festival. There weren't any bunnies, but lots of sweet activities for the kiddos. Since Miss E is TERRIFIED of live animals other than her dog, I think her favorite part was the playground. Despite this, we had a great time with all of our friends, and it even included a stop on the way to Chick-Fil-A. In my opinion, any day with C of A cannot be bad!

Did I mention it was frigid during the week of Easter?

Poor guy. He's always there, but never enough pictures of his sweet face.

She'll kill me for this one day, but how stinking cute?!

We even had a great Easter egg hunt with the neighborhood kids the day after Easter because we had a rainy Sunday. Miss E loved this because it was like Christmas two days in a row. There were jelly beans! She couldn't believe I was actually letting her eat (some of) them.

So that was Easter! I know it didn't fall in April this year, but it may as well have. Here's a tidbit more of what we've done so far...

We visited the Cherry Blossoms in DC.

Gran came for a visit...

We even discovered some nature (with chosen walking stick, of course)...

And we got to hang out with some old friends...

I love this picture for So. Many. Reasons.

I think it's safe to say we've had a successful spring so far! I'm so excited for this summer to get under way. Here's praying for more sleep, no sick, and lots of fun in the upcoming months!

Until next time,

Mrs. Kuda