Tot School 7

Tot School last week consisted mostly of the heavy realities of life. However, sandwiched between goodbyes said to special friends and a final farewell to my cousin, there were bright moments.

For starters, the most anticipated piece of candy was acquired once gymnastics was over. I am not sure if they enjoy gymnastics because it is fun or because it is the ONLY time I allow them to have candy.

(No, Mr. Me-Too isn't auditioning for a role as Rudolph. He is proudly showing off his sucker.)


After gymnastics, we hung out with our dear friends at the local wood park who recently felt God's call to relocate closer to family and (I suspect) eventually start a church. While the kids played, the two moms enjoyed venti Starbucks. (Hey, we aren't going to get to hang out nearly as much!)


We got out the wood Handwriting Without Tears letters, and constructed the letter B. Yes, we are moving on . . . and still NO ANTS! I feel slightly ripped off.


After making various letters, I allowed them to have some creative play time. Mr. Me-Too was very excited to make a rainbow.


Taking Carisa's idea, we are making fuzzy letter books. We didn't have much luck with the pipe cleaners, so we are going to use string. Mr. Me-Too is working on his fine motor skills and string proved to be easier for his precious thick and strong hands.


Since the wood letters were still out, the boys made Mat Man. I love the multi-faceted uses of the wood letters. With Mat Man they make a face, give him body parts, and change his body shapes (i.e. a square, oval, triangle, etc.).


Pattern blocks really stretch Mr. Me-Too. It is a bit detailed for him, and requires concentration to line the block up with the pattern.



Eventually they had free play with the pattern blocks and had to come up with their own designs.


Mr. Smackdown wanted to keep playing with pattern blocks, but Mr. Me-Too got bored. So he stacked up some library books and became engrossed in the pictures.



While I was getting dinner made one night, the boys were QUITE restless. So I made gumball machines, and they filled the machine with "gumballs."


They worked a lot on sharing and learning to be gentle when Mr. Smiley wants to join in on the fun. This is going to take some work. Mr. Smiley grabs their toys, mainly because he doesn't know that there is a word and concept called SHARING!


The boys also separated ALL of the cubes, much to my chagrin. We did discover that we are missing one orange cube. I wonder what piece of furniture it is under?


After a long and hard day being at my cousin's funeral, we lounged around outside and played Husker Du. I think that the original game is much sturdier. But it was fun to see the same pictures. Mr. Smackdown was out to win. Mr. Me-Too was happy to not knock over other pieces and click the game pieces back into place.



For other creative Tot School ideas, visit:

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