Tot School–4th of July Theme

- Adam is 43 months old -
- Abigail is 17 months old -

For the past 2 weeks we had a 4th of July theme for our sporadic Tot School.  The biggest hit was the sensory bin!  After reading a great Montessori Minute post all about sensory activities on 1+1+1=1, I was inspired to create our first sensory bin.  The kids absolutely loved it!

Bin #1
Colored rice, glittery pom-poms, necklaces, star confetti, 2 light-up balls, and 2 pinwheels.
I got these items from the craft store or dollar store and dyed the rice with food coloring and rubbing alcohol.

Adam collected all the star confetti he could find and both kids were yell out “star!” when they found one.  Abby especially loves stars.  It is the first official shape she recognizes.  In fact, we went to TGIFridays a couple weeks ago and she yelled out “stah!” and pointed to them throughout dinner because there were so many star decoration around the restaurant!

When she isn’t making car noises and driving monster trucks around, Abby loves to put on bracelets, shoes, and necklaces.  I knew she’d love these USA necklaces I found.

Another day with this bin.  I brought it out 3 times during the week before the 4th of July.

Bin #2
I pulled every red and blue thing I could find in our toys.  I came up with Magneatos, foam dice, counting bears, counting bugs, wooden nuts and bolts, large plastic buttons, and little measuring cups.  I also added in some glittery garland and a container full of the glittery pom-poms.



Finally, I added in little star beads which they thought were fun.  This is a rare moment of teamwork caught on camera! :)

I’m excited to create for sensory bins for them.  I already have a Pirate theme in mind as well as holiday/season themes for our Preschool year.

I got the following firework activities from the 4th of July pack from 2 Teaching Mommies.

Firework Clip Cards

Which is Different?
Adam struggled with the concept of same vs. different.  We had to talk about each picture and I had to help him a lot.  I have a preschool workbook all about this so he will have lots of practice in the future!  I was encouraged that he was able to circle the items though!

He did a few of these capital letter-to-lowercase letter sheets.  He thought the dry erase markers were awesome!  Again, I was happy to see that he was able to draw the lines.  I haven’t worked much on writing/drawing with him because he simply isn’t interested in drawing or coloring.  I think our Handwriting Without Tears curriculum will be really good for him when we start next month.

Firework Patterns
He looked at the pattern strip and copied it with the cards.

My United States Flag
This was color coded so Adam drew red lines, colored in the blue square, and then glued white stars on.

Finger Paint Flag

This may only be the 2nd or 3rd time Abby has finger painted and after getting over the initial ick factor, she had a great time.  I showed her how to make handprints and from there she just smashed her hands all over her paper.

Adam was itching to be “free” so after I had him finish the painstaking task of making flag lines, he had fun smooshing on another paper.

Play-Doh

Abby’s first time with Play-Doh!  What is wrong with me?  I forgot how much fun little one have putting balls in and taking balls out of cups.  Adam used to love doing this as a toddler.

So that was our 2 weeks worth of laid-back 4th of July fun.  I’m kind of dreading having a structured preschool year next year so I may revamp what I’ve already planned and do less.  Adam will have another full year of preschool or K4 before official Kindergarten so I’m feeling the need to simplify.  It’s a constant battle with me to figure out what, when, and how to structure our days and our learning and playtimes.  These feelings always lead me to the realization that I need to rely on the Lord more.  Note taken. :)