School Begins

" Life isn't a matter of milestones,

but of moments."

-Rose Kennedy

As we are gearing up for school to start,
I thought I would start back to routine with my youngest.
The Diva was eager to "help" and the two of them had a blast this week!

(The boys are busy making the most of what is left of summer.)

I set out a lacing/bead game similar to these to work on fine motor skills for the Baby.

This is a great game with wooden pieces and a thick sturdy lacing string.

All of the beads are different colors and shapes,

which allow me to introduce and re-enforce those words with O.

We did this several times this week,

as she requested it every time we were in the school room!

We played a game with these Baby Einstein First Words Discovery Cards.

(Couldn't find a link...sorry!)

After choosing a few to work with,

I collected similar items that were on the cards into a basket.

Then we set the cards out in a circle pattern on the floor.

The girls ran around the circle, as I sang a song.

When the song stopped, they had to place an object on the matching floor card.

We could practice saying the object for O,

and spelling the object for E.

E also practiced her beginning sounds.

 

Here are a few examples of what we used:

Dog, Ball, Cat, Block, Tree, Phone, Cup, Bowl, Teddy Bear, Blanket.

Later on in the week, we took turns "hiding" the objects around the school room.  It was a race to see who could find the most objects!

E really liked this game.

 

The girls played with our Melissa and Doug Animal Nesting Blocks.

We talked about the groups of animals: Ocean, Farm, Woodland, African.

The Baby practiced making animal sounds.

The baby also practiced a very important life skill:

putting on and wearing heels!  Lol!

We just need to work on matching them!

We did lots of other fun things, these were just the few that I got on camera.

Next week, when school has officially started, the Baby will

go along with The Diva's Letter-of-the-Week curriculum and

other various themes that I have planned for her. 

My goal for the Baby is simple: 

learning through play! 

"What we play is life."

-Louis Armstrong