Our Tot School Activities

Wood Blocks teaches them about body parts.  Callista makes her own "Mat Man" face with googly eyes, pom pom nose and wood blocks.  Dashie is laughing when I asked her where her ear is, and she'd get a wood block and pretend to be Mat Man! (Twins at 22 months).  Wood blocks from Handwriting Without Tears (www.hwtears.com)

When you become a mom, you suddenly need to have all your creative instincts out!  It is the busy-ness of life that stops mommies from thinking of activities for their kids.

Motherhood is not a pageant of who gets to think of the nicest, decorative, elaborate, uberly creative crafts or activities for their kids. Simple things, a little time and a lot of love is all you'll ever need.

Sharing to you some of my simple (some, I have downloaded from the internet) activities for my tots!

Teaching Letters

Teaching 1 letter (for 2 weeks) at a time.  A is for apple.  I usually lay the materials on the table for the twins and prepare these printed materials I got from internet.
I have tried other washable pens, but Crayola washable is still the most washable of all markers!
Dashielle loves short, activities like this.

I bought these puzzle snake at National Bookstore.  I start with a few letters and let them try it out by giving them the next letter of the alphabet which they will try to put in the puzzle.  Of course, they haven't perfected this yet (they're 21 months)  I just enforce good grip.

Teaching Colors

Here's a video on how we do color matching activities.  I saw that Callista was very interested with color/shape sorting.  So, I printed a sheet with colors.  Placed those colorful PomPoms on a pallet and asked her to match it up. Callista @ 22 months.

I don't expect them to be perfect with any activity they do.  A lot of coaching and praises is what they need to hear.

Gluing Activities

Snip, Rip and Stick.  My twins love this activity (especially, Callista).  I let them practice holding the Crayola brand kids scissors (no sharp edges), and tons of colorful square mini notepads I bought from National Books Store and Office Warehouse.  I just let them cut (or rip - w/c they both love) and let them glue it on the paper.  I usually cut different shapes so they can enjoy it more.  This is how they learned heart, moon and circle shapes.

Stick the shapes on the balloon.  I drew a ballon (it's our B day) with shapes inside, cut out shapes and asked her to put it on top of the paper.  Don't do this in a windy area. Or perhaps, put sticky tapes at the back of the tiny pieces of shapes.  No need to perfect it if they can't.

Callista @ 20 months.  Dashielle didn't like this activity at all. :)

Writing Activities

Rolled Manila Paper on our living room table is a cranky moment quick activity.  I just grab their can of crayons for them to use.

Note: I prefer using regular gripped crayons than those fat ones.  I would actually cut their crayons because regular-sized crayons are always the perfect size for little hands.  Look at them holding the crayon in an almost perfect tripod grip.  Isn't it hard to write on fat gripped pentel pens than regular ones? I just find fat ones utterly useless for me.  I don't care less even if they break those regular sized ones into bits and pieces, anyway.  It simply means, they are learning!

These tempera watercolors are perfect.  It is cheap, easy to clean-up and just last longer than others.  Those pom pom balls are also used for textured painting.
 Callista is the one loving all our writing activities.  She can stay put for 15-20 minutes, while Dashielle lasts for 5 minutes only.  It doesn't matter if they are not interested, just keep them busy with playing! :)

Callista love writing.  When I am on my laptop and working, giving her a pen and paper keeps ber busy (from bothering me) :D  She's 16 months on this photo. 

She got moustache! Thank you washable pens! Making learning fun!

My little girl's work of art!

Writing on our hands doesn't make Mommy mad.

Other activities

Playing with empty boxes and jars. 

Find the baby of the Mommy - Learning animal and their sounds. Bought this at SM Storyland for P135.00

Puzzles is one of Callista's favorite activities! This used to be my 6 year old's puzzle toy I have kept for years.  Now, the twins are playing with them.

Our Tot School tools

Our activity shelf.  It has our Books, blocks, Zoobs, Board Games, Letter Blocks, Puzzles, Musical Instruments, Balls, Microscope (For my preschooler) and all our supplies!

This is my list of consumable and tot school items I would always have on our activity shelf which could also help you.  No need to rush buying them all right away.  This shelf is a special shelf where all our learning activities are stored.  The kids are not allowed to get anything (except books) without my permission since I don't want them to tire out on activities.  There should be a time and space for the activity (which doesn't normally have a specific time at all) haha!

• Googly eyes
• Pipe Cleaners
• Pom Poms
• Tempera paint
• Different paint brushes
• Crayons in regular grip sizes
• Washable markers
• Crayola Washable Glue (they are not runny! Perfect for crafts)
• Clear Pen-type glue
• Tons of stickers
• Dot makers (I got mine from the Bingo shop! I can't seem to find washable ones)
• Dot Stickers (Price tags kind)
• Rolled Manila Paper
• Construction Paper
• Small, square, colorful notepads in different colors (Perfect for Origami with my pre-schooler too)
• Crayola safety scissors (and a really good pair for my pre-schooler)
• 1 white Illustration Board (big and easy to store) for chalk writing!
• Dustless Chalks
• Tons and tons of scratch paper!

If this helped you in some ways, do show me your photos and how you and your toddler do your Tot School too. :)