MOMMY SCHOOL

So Emmalee and I have started a pre-preschool called Mommy School. Bascially we have fun doing activities that expose Emmalee to new things. I choose a theme, letter, number, and shape for the week and plan activities surrounding these ideas. We've had tons of fun so far. I am amazed at how fast Emmalee learns things and how easily she seems to retain them. Here are a few pictures from our Valentine's theme.



Making red jell-o hearts. YUMM-O Emmalee did a lot of the pouring and stirring. I'm trying to let her be more independent.



Transferring red pompoms with tongs into a paint tray. Fine motor skills to get those fingers ready for writing one day.



Cutting practice. Emmalee has been dying to use scissors, so I bought her some and let her give it a try. She wouldn't let me help her AT ALL (yep, she's 2) so needless to say she got frustrated. However, she came back to the scissors 5 or 6 times that day to try again. She's determined, but just not quite ready to cut.



Layering Hearts. Emmalee had to follow the numbers (1-6) listed on the hearts to layer them on top of each other from largest to smallest. I modeled it once and then let her go at it. She's improved after just one week with her oral counting, one-to-one matching and recognizing numbers.



Valentine Sensory Bin. I made pink rice and then added tons of red, pink, and white items on top. She explored and then quickly moved everything off of the rice so she could play in just the rice. Then she found the heart necklaces and bracelets and put them all on and pranced around the house.



Inserting red toothpicks into the holes of a cinnamon jar. Little ones love tiny spaces. Great hand-eye coordination practice.



Pouring M&Ms. I did not mention to Emmalee that she was pouring candy M&Ms or she would have just eaten them. She's still VERY fixated with putting things in her mouth...even non-food items.



We also turned white carnations different colors. We talked about the parts of the flower (stem and petals) and how the flowers drink the water and it goes up the stem to the petals to make the petals a new color. She loves seeing the new colors...purple, green, and red.



Emmalee also worked on her ABC puzzle (love Dollar Tree) with Daddy on Sunday morning before church. Earlier that week we learned about the letter V, it's sounds, and some words that start with V...like volcano mountain, van, vegetables, and vines, to name a few. We put up pictures of these words with the words next to the picture. Emmalee "finger kissed" the V at the beginning of each word. This week we will put a giant V on the floor and walk on it, make a V collage, and go on a V scavenger hunt for capitals and lowercases (and we'll attempt sorting them).

We attempted many other activities, but there were some things Emmalee just didn't want to do this week. First, she was sick most of the week. Second, she's 2 and when she doesn't want to do it there's no convincing her otherwise. I had to adapt! We had a fantastic week and I'll post more about our next unit on penguins. (Thanks Aunt Jenn for all the great penguin ideas!)