Wednesday, May 6, 2009

WFMW - "B" Activity Trays

Tot School
Mommy says "B" school has been bewilderingly busy, and she will be glad to get to "I," or maybe "Q." I wouldn't know. I just know that the last two weeks have been full of one boisterously ballistic bedoozling bedazzling thing after another. Nothing boring going on. In fact, we had picked out 97 photos of the "B" things on our activity shelves to put on this post. But we've squeezed and groaned and moaned and cut it down to 34 for your benefit.

Boo hoo. Yeah. Well. Anyway. Moving on so we can get those 34 photos posted.

Shake and Sniff. Basil this time! I am getting really good at shaking. In fact, I covered my doll with table salt the other day. And to Mommy's relief, I am getting good at sweeping things up with my little broom and dumping the dustpan stuff nicely into the trash.

Bubbles. Blueberry-scented bubbles for more sniffing fun! I actually managed to blow my own bubbles for the first time, in addition to the billions Mommy blew. They were on my shelf, but I could only play with them outside or in the bath.

Pouring. I got to squeeze water out of my honey bear! Plus I had a bear sponge to clean up if I made any mess. Not that I made any mess...

Stickers. I got to put stickers on cards - boats, buses, bugs, butterflies, baby stuff, and Bs! No photo - sorry...

Stamps. I did some rubber stamping, too. Lots of "B" stamps, but my favorite were the butterflies. I even got this tray out on my own this week and did some stamping without ANY help.

Mommy says to tell you she uses the card stock scraps from all the activities we do for rubber stamping cards and sticker cards. They make great bookmarks, among other things.
Cutting. Speaking of card stock scraps, the thin ones work great for cutting practice. Especially after you've stamped them. Here is a butterfly-stamped strip inside my bunny bag with my scissors.
Though my scissors don't work nearly so well as the sharp ones I tried out from the top of the computer desk when Mommy wasn't watching. Maybe one of you can tell her where to get a good pair of safety scissors that cut well.

Play doh. Like we said last time, ya gotta have play doh at our school. We just swapped out the cutters for some "B" ones: the letter B, bunnies, bears, a butterfly, and my favorite - Big Bird! Though I called him Elmo all the time.

Post-its. Mommy put butterfly stickers onto a few post-it notes, and we got to play "catch that butterfly!" I would try to get them off the wall before Mommy did, or stick them on myself and have her catch them on me, or whatever else I felt like doing with them...

Magnets. There were a bunch of bunny magnets in my magnet bowl for "B" school. They all had nursery rhyme characters, so we sang all the nursery rhymes, especially Little Boy Blue, cuz it was "B" school.

Butterfly Vase/Foam. We got a bunch of butterflies on wires from Michaels. We made butterfly bouquets in a little pink vase, but I had most fun sticking the wires into a Styrofoam cup to make a butterfly cuBoldp.

Coloring. Instead of an apple mug, my crayons were in a bear mug. And you'll be happy to know I didn't eat any of them! I did want them all "opened" (unwrapped), though. And my coloring pages (on a clipboard)went along with our theme each day.

Balls. I had a basket of squishy balls (miniature water bombs from the $ store without the water) on my shelf. We got them out to throw into our golf practice net. I'm getting better and better at this! Plus I just carried the basket around and dumped the balls out around the house from time to time to add to the chaos level. That's what I do, ya know...

Bubble Wrap. Just put a square of this on the activity shelf and you'll keep a toddler entertained for five minutes, easy! Though sometimes I would rip the plastic apart instead of popping the bubbles.
Bear Picks. I had a Styrofoam cup full of teddy bear picks (meant for baby showers). Mommy sometimes helped me sort them by color, and then I would stick the picks into the cup.

Matching. I had two matching games. One was bears, the other butterflies. They had colored shapes on them, and you just had to match the color and shape - it was way easy!

Then I got to play Memory with them for the first time. Just with six cards at first, then we added more to make it harder. I actually did pretty good with turning the cards back over when I didn't get a match, but I haven't figured out taking turns yet. Definitely a game we'll be practicing some more! (Oh, and the memory computer games out there? They are a breeze now. I still don't use the mouse, but I tell Mommy which cards to turn over, and I always get it right.)
Butterfly Bush. Mommy put some butterflies without wires into a pretty butterfly container. Then it was my job to take them out of the butterfly container and put them onto the butterfly bush (some fake flowers in a vase). Or I could match up the butterflies by color. Or I could just play with the butterflies.

Beans. That sensory tub? For "B" school we filled it with dry beans, of course! Plus a bunch of "B" miniatures that I could hunt dig out of there at any time, like a balloon, birds, bouquets, brides, bottles, etc.

Balloon Confetti. We put some balloon confetti on a tray, and that was so much fun to play with! Mommy showed me how to sort it out by color, but sometimes I just liked looking and feeling it. Later on I got the bright idea to glue it on one of my coloring pages - I'll show you next week.

Felts. I got to play with bee felts! There was a hive and a bunch of bees to buzz around. And we played the fingerplay: "Here is the beehive, but where are the bees? They're hidden inside where nobody sees. Watch as they slowly come out of the hive. 1-2-3-4-5! Buzzzzzzzz!"

Beads. I had my beads to wear again! Plus a ball whistle to blow! It's so nice to add a bit of class to my pajama outfits... And it takes my mind off my eye infection. Refereeing is hard work!

Blackboard. We found this great blackboard setup at a 2nd hand shop for $8. Pappa gave the board another coat of blackboard paint, and it works wonderful for me! The board folds down to make a table when I'm coloring or doing other activities or eating snacks - and I haven't had a table just my size for a long time, so I am really enjoying it! I'm doing my trigonometry homework on the board there, in case you're wondering. Though Mommy said I should wait until "T" week for that.

Counting. I had buttons in my counting tray for "B" school. Boy, do I love buttons! I dumped them out into my bunny bag and carried them around for a while. And I spent hours playing "hide them from Mommy," too!Not pictured are my butterfly wings and my tub of blocks. There was just way much stuff for "B," huh? And we haven't even started on the "B" themed adventures - those will come next week!
The Attached Mama's Alphabet Craft Collection
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10 comments:

Bran said...

You all have been busy bees this week!

Anonymous said...

Bug loves buttons, too. The game is supposed to be "dump that out of the cup and put them back in," but far more often it's "dump them out of the cup and leave them on the floor for Mamma to step on." Oh well! At least she has the first part of it down.

Looks like Esme has had a busy and fun week!

Ticia said...

Fiskars scissors, they're the best safety scissors around, they come in blunt tip or pointed tip. I try to get the blunt tip ones, because those seem a little less dangerous......

grammy said...

That is enough ideas to keep me busy for a long time. Have fun.

ShEiLa said...

Miss Esmé,

what a [b]usy [b]ee you are.

I am sure you are on your way to [b]eing a [b]rainiac.

ToOdLeS.ShEiLa

dani said...

you have been a busy little bee this week, es!!! when katherine was a little girl, she went to pre-school at a place called, "busy bees":) she did lots of neat projects like you and your mommy do!!!
love,
aunt dani

Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice said...

OH CUTE! I love how you set up the photos and that's a TON of activities!

RockerMom said...

I need to try activities with post-it notes. Thanks for sharing a great week!!

Kim said...

I am in awe! How to you pull all of this together? I have a 5 and 2 (on Wed!) yr old. And I can't figure out how to get all her stuff pulled together. Wah! How long would you say your LO sticks with the activity?
Help!!!
Oh...and you will see on our garden update that our butterfly eggs met an evil fate. :)
Kim

Michelle Gibson said...

That is a bunch of brilliant B ideas! Great job!