Tot School - Yellow Week(s)

*LINKING UP TO TOT SCHOOL GATHERING PLACE*

Finally - our Yellow Week post. Or, should I say, Yellow Weeks!

We have been so busy the last three weeks. First, sadly, a friend of mine lost her 5 day old baby, so for a few days of our first week of Yellow, I was a little busier than normal with extra things pertaining to that. Then, the following week, my children decided to start coming down with some kind of virus. When you have five children, you almost wish they would just all be sick at the same time. It can make for a hectic couple of days, but when it's over, it's OVER! However, that was not to be this time. This virus decided to move slowly through the kids, one at a time, and linger for a couple of days - then back off - then hit a couple of them AGAIN! I am hoping that we have seen the last of it, but who knows?! Add normal busyness to that, and you can imagine our life around here!

I tried a couple new things out this week with Buddy Boy, still trying to get a feel for what really motivates him and what doesn't interest him at all. So far, I've come to one big conclusion - gross motor is a great thing right now! Specifically, throwing/catching a ball. So anything that even remotely resembles a ball is highly favored.

Here's a peek at our trays:

      Pouring Beads

Buddy boy could pour yellow and white beads from this cute, tiny little white pitcher into a yellow ice cube tray with banana shaped sections.

Clothespin clipping

I wish this one was a little better, honestly, but it is what it is. We had our yellow foam hand shapes (just like the ones used in our red and blue weeks) and I wanted to do something a little different this time, so I thought I would set them on a tray with some clothespins and let him clip the clothespins on them. Instead, he liked to compare HIS hand to the yellow foam hands, and clip the clothespins to the tray. So I guess it wasn't a total bust, just definitely didn't get used the way I thought he would use them.

Big and Small Erasers

I pulled out some yellow duck erasers, both chunky and small, and threw them in a basket. I knew that was all the invitation Buddy would need, because he loves to line things up in a row and loved these erasers the last time we used them (with our Easter theme last year). It gave a great opportunity to talk about Big/Small and grouping.

We also used our Crayola My First Crayon (in yellow). Buddy Boy was almost more interested in the yellow shoes and the button at the top that must be pushed as you twist his head to extend the crayon. I am honestly glad that he didn't figure out how to twist and push at the same time - I got the 'Mama knows everything' advantage and the crayon didn't get broken from being twisted too high.

Yellow Banana Puzzle

I found this puzzle in a three pack of fruit puzzles at the Dollar Tree. Buddy enjoyed this puzzle, and used it several times. Although you could see the outline of the puzzle piece shapes in the base of it, I was very thankful that it was a perfect square shape - it kept him from getting frustrated when he put it together.

Number Matching with Yellow Foam Blocks

I hesitated to put this tray out, because we haven't touched numbers yet. Buddy Boy can count fairly well, but number recognition hasn't been covered. I did want to use these little foam blocks/dice that I got.... well, I don't remember where I got them. This is what I came up with! I could have made it look even nicer, and use yellow squared with the numbers written in, but I was in a rush and did this before we started school one morning. Turns out, he did pretty well with them!

Yellow Sensory Basket

This is ALWAYS a hit. Can I make a confession for a minute? Okay - I will. Sometimes - I don't pull this basket down. Because I know he loves to get elbow deep in it, and the cleaner in me can't handle the mess  fun. Not that I clean it up, mind you - but like I said earlier - gross motor throwing/catching is great to him.... I'm sure you are getting the picture now :) .

The Contents:

YELLOW cookie cutters

YELLOW gel ice cubes

YELLOW buttons

YELLOW magnetic numbers

YELLOW wooden cheese (from Melissa and Doug Sandwich Set)

YELLOW sensory bottle (mustard bottle, cleaned well, and filled with macaroni noodles). I did glue the lid on VERY well with hot glue.

YELLOW circle and square puzzle pieces

YELLOW poms, spiky ball, and truck 

YELLOW counting bears family

YELLOW blocks

YELLOW assorted erasers, most of these found at Target's Dollar Spot (I LOVE dollar deals :) )

Action Shots:

The first couple of times Buddy used this tray, he clipped each finger of the foam hands. Eventually, though, he clipped anywhere on the hand, or the edges of the tray. He definitely got the fine motor practice in.

Buddy Boy used his yellow crayon to color on blank sheets of paper. In retrospect, I should have printed off some coloring sheets of yellow items, which I will probably do for the next color if they are needed.

Buddy is usually VERY good about returning trays exactly where they came from, all the way down to which direction they were pointing on the shelf/table.

He liked pouring the beads, but decided that pretending to drink from the tiny pitcher was a great idea. I try to be as lenient as possibly, letting Buddy make up his own ideas for his trays when I can, but this was a little bit more than I wanted to allow. SO - I did redirect him to the correct way to use the pitcher - after the picture. This is definitely a Montessori-inspired work, so I didn't want him to stray too far from the purpose.

As you can see with this picture, and the picture below of the erasers, he really really likes to line objects up. 

Although we didn't focus on the names of the numbers, I was very surprised to see him correctly match the blocks each time he used these. He is very good at visual matching - it's just getting the oral recognition to stick in his head.

I don't plan on taking quite so much time with our next color, but I am glad that I decided not to rush him through these - I don't want to move on until I can see the signs that he is ready - recognition and desire for new trays - and really enjoy seeing him learn!

Feel free to check out our other Tot School weeks:

BLUE WEEK

RED WEEK : WEEK 1

RED WEEK : WEEK 2

*LINKING UP TO TOT SCHOOL GATHERING PLACE*