Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Tot School Letter B Theme {18-24 months old}

Tot School 18-24 months old | Letter B Theme | seriously-lovely.blogspot.com | activities, crafts, and supplies ideas for a week of Tot School with the Letter B as its theme

B is for: bears, blueberries, bananas, baking, bunny rabbits, birds, buses, baseball, basketball, and lots more!

Which means there are lots of fun activities that you can do to have an exciting week of Tot School using the letter B as the theme. Want to learn more? Keep reading for my plan for our second week of Tot School!


I feel like I learned quite a bit from our first week of Tot School. For this second week, I ended up prepping fewer materials for the more formal aspects of tot school and brainstorming more of the outdoors/field trip/hands-on fun aspects. I think it makes perfect sense that for young toddlers those types of activities are more appropriate and therefore more enjoyable for everyone. I'm still going to be using flash cards/coloring exercises/etc... but I'm realizing that we will probably only spend a few minutes at a time on them and I'll be planning more time for getting outside or doing field trips.

Depending on the age of your child, you may want to do more--or fewer--activities with them. In the section below where I've linked to our resources, you'll find plenty of activities that older toddlers and preschoolers will enjoy and of course you can use as many or as few as you would like. For more information about what tot school is and why we're doing it check out my post about our Tot School Plans for 18-24 Months Old.

Our Goals

  • learning to identify lowercase and uppercase letters
  • learning the sounds of each letter
  • learning new signs
  • connecting signs with objects
  • using markers/crayons
  • fine motor skills 
  • learning about colors
  • counting 
  • most importantly--to have fun!

Activities


Sign Language/Verbal Skills

Here are our new signs for the week, words starting with "B":

Bunny
Ball
Banana
Bird

For more ideas, check out this list on the Baby Sign Language website.

Books

We like to let our son choose two to three books to have us read to him before his nap and at bedtime, so the books on our weekly book lists won't be the only books we read each week. I will be pulling the books in this list and keeping them separate and handy to read throughout the day as part of our tot school. Books with an * are books we own, the rest we'll be borrowing from the library.

Big Red Barn by MArgaret Wise Brown
*Boats by Byron BArton
*Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey
*Don't Push the Button by
*Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle
*Don't Let the Pigeon Ride the Bus by Mo Willems

Skill Building Activities


Use Magnetic Letters
I separated out all of the uppercase and lowercase "B" magnets from this set and we will be using them along with the "A" magnets I took out last week. We'll practice with them on our magnetic board (it came with the set) and on the fridge.

Use Three-Part Cards/Flash Cards
I'll be using the three-part cards from the free Letter B Preschool Unit from Simply Learning. I print them on cardstock, laminate them, and then cut them out. I love these sets and I'm looking forward to being able to use them again and again!

Lacing/Fine Motor Skills
I printed the letter B lacing pages from the Learning the Alphabet Letter B Printable Pack from thisreadingmama.com. Even though Little Buddy seemed to have little interest in trying this last week, I think it's a nice and simple activity and I'm going to keep trying it with him.

Safari Ltd. Toob Animals
I've started investing in these plastic model animal sets to use in various ways. So far we have the North American Wildlife and Pets Toobs so I separated out the bison, bear, bunny, and beaver for this week. (Note: I'm linking to Amazon but I've been purchasing mine at Michael's using their 40 or 50 percent off coupons each week. It helps with the ol' budget.) I'd like to see if I can get Little Buddy to try matching these to flash cards.

Coloring
I purchased these Dab and Dot markers and I'm looking forward to seeing how Little Buddy likes them this week. I print off a couple of copies of the "Stamp It Poke It Write It" page in the Letter B Preschool Unit from Simply Learning for him to scribble and color on throughout the week in addition to his other coloring books or plain paper.

Crafts/Snacks/Indoor Fun


Banana Snack
I will do something similar to what I did last week with the apple and peel it/cut it with him before sharing it as a snack.

Bake Blueberry Muffins Together
We just purchased this Guidecraft Kitchen Helper stand that I've seen recommended by other parents online and I'm hoping to get it put together before the end of the week to make this activity easier. (Also to make it easier, I cheated and bought a mix even though I really enjoy baking from scratch.)

Bunny "B" Craft
This is also part of the Letter B Preschool Unit from Simply Learning Kids. It's an outline of a bunny that you glue cotton balls onto and then attach ears to.

Make Blueberry Dough
We can use this recipe from The Craft Train to make a play dough that is colored naturally with real blueberries. I haven't let Little Buddy play with play dough yet (which I feel unreasonable guilty about). I love the idea that this is completely natural and edible if he happens to try tasting it. And he probably will.

Building with Blocks
So far my son hasn't had much patience for block building but we'll work on this a bit more this week.

Outdoors


Bird Watching
We can watch and listen for birds in our backyard or at the park.

Look for Bunny Rabbits
We have lots in our yard and when we spot one this week, we'll also practice doing the sign for bunny.

Playing Baseball
Some wonderful relatives just bought Little Buddy his first whiffle bat and ball and even though he can't actually swing the bat in the air yet (but he's really good at using it like a golf club and actually hitting the ball lol) we'll still have fun playing outside with the set.

Field Trips


Visit a Bakery
Who wouldn't love a trip to a delicious-smelling bakery full of yummy treats? We have several in our area to choose from. Or maybe we'll be rebels and visit more than one.

Scavenger Hunt at the Store
Little Buddy goes with me to the grocery store each week, so I plan on looking for items that start with our current letter, plus different looks for that letter on signage.


Additional Ideas

  • going to the bank--could be especially fun with an older child if they can help you interact with the teller by handing them your check or deposit slip, etc...
  • preparing/eating broccoli by itself or in recipes like Broccoli Cheddar Soup
  • going to the zoo to check out the bears and other "B" animals
  • going berry picking (when in season)
  • having blueberries as a snack and letting the child sort them by size first
  • practicing bunny hopping together
  • go to a basketball or baseball game

Resources/Supplies


Here are the free printables we'll be using this week, as well as others that you may find useful. There are also links to the supplies we're using this week in case you'd like to give them a try.

Free Printables/Instructions

Letter B Preschool Unit from Simply Learning Kids
B is for Buttons - Letter B printables from teachingmama.org
Learning the Alphabet Letter B Printable Pack from thisreadingmama.com
My Letter B Book from themeasuredmom.com
Blueberry Dough Recipe from The Craft Train

You can also find more Letter B activity ideas and links to free printables on my Letter B Pinterest Theme board. (And feel free to follow me because I'll be creating boards for our future themes as well!)


Supplies

magnetic letter set
twist-up crayons
Dab and Dot markers 
laminator
laminating sheets
Guidecraft Kitchen Helper stand
North American Wildlife and Pets Safari Ltd. Toob Animals

So what do you think of our plan for Week 2? Do you have any fun Letter B activities to share? I'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions down below.

xo Sarah

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