Tot School – Christmas Time

I know, I know.  It’s January 9th.  But I have time tonight…so here’s the rest of Christmas Tot School:

We read about the legend of the candy cane, learned how the shape & colors of the candy cane help us tell the story of Jesus, and then we made candy cane cookies & fudge to share with a few of our neighbors – along with a poem that tells the story of the candy cane.

This was our first time trying a lacing card.  This one is from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  (We used a shoelace that was in Alex’s drawer…I’ve since bought something more appropriate.)  Honestly, Alex didn’t care…didn’t understand…didn’t even really want to try.

I did catch him attempting it later in the day, but it was still too much of a struggle for him.  I’ll include a lacing card in our activities every once in a while, but he’s not really ready for it yet.

Alex still found size sequencing a bit tricky, but he’s starting to care.  He wants to get it right, and he’s thrilled when he does!

Roll A Nativity Game – This activity came from Musings of Me.   He really enjoyed this game, and I think we’ll have a lot more of these “Roll a ____” activities in the future….good for number recognition AND for fun :)

 

I think this is from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  Alex had a more difficult time with the prewriting than usual.  His circles?  UGH!  He seemed to be trying…just one of those off days, I guess!

Another page for our (unfinished) nativity book – this printout came from Musings of Me.  Alex really enjoyed making the angel (in our last Tot School post) and this donkey.  We used the donkey from my Willow Tree nativity to help tell this part of the story.  (Excuse my horrid donkey-shape-cutting skills…this donkey needs the Fit & Trim donkey food, I think!)  We read a really neat Christmas story about the animals at the nativity and (of course) we read from his children’s Bible, as well.  Wish I could get at the box of Christmas books right now to remember the name of the story, but everyone’s sleeping & I’d make a racket! I can’t remember if this one is from 2 Teaching Mommies, but I think it is.  You match the shapes to their shadows.  Alex did this again and again throughout the week! 

And that’s all we’ve got.  We just finished a FUN week of gingerbread activities – including making gingerbread cookies that we ran out of time to decorate! (But we ate the M&Ms, so that counts for something, doesn’t it?!)  

To see what other tots are up to, check out the Tot School post for this week!