Easter in our classroom!

Every season and occasion brings little extras into the classroom,

which makes things fun and interesting!

Here are a few things we added:

An I Spy - made from a plastic Easter egg and all the goodies that fit the occasion.

Like Barrel of Monkeys - but it Bunnies!

For fine motor and hand eye coordination skills.

Tic Tac Toe - we are using it for sorting, patterns / sequencing and counting

Transferring and sorting with tongs.

Open and closing activity - each egg has a small eraser in it.

Pouring small erasers from one flower pot to another.

Patterns - counting - sorting.

Our little bunnies!

There are probably Kmart coupons available for holiday supplies, to save some money, so check online for next time.

Do they use that stuff?

There are often times when I get asked if the children actually choose to use the practical life items I place out for the children in the classroom.
Indeed they do! I think it's because they are different. They are not pre-packaged toys - they are something outside of the box. I also present the objects before independant use, so the children have an idea of how they may manipulate the objects. Not because I don't think they would come up with their own solutions - but because some kids simply need a stepping off point. Besides I think it also makes the object more important since they were presented as something special.

Here the children use the I Spy Christmas Tubes and some Christmas icecube trays with glitter pompoms & Christmas erasers. Great for fine motor practice, sorting , matching, sequencing, counting and sensory stimulation etc. The presents our magical elf 'Stanley' brought for the children to count.  The puzzle the one boy is using was very difficult, but he is a really great puzzle expert! He even stumped one of our teachers - he had to show her how it went together! LOL It's really interesting to watch the children use the objects with great interest since most people would simply look at them as just stuff without a purpose.

So - do they use that stuff? YUP!

This week I added magnets with a jar of jingle bells and pipe cleaners bent into candy canes.

 

Fun to play with!

Counting

We often use this magnetic animal Tic Tack Toe board for counting! It's visual - easy to use and appeals to the toddlers as a great manipulative. The squared off sections makes it easy to place the animals while counting. There are 10 pieces - just the right amount so we don't get overwhelmed and most of the children can now count to 10. It's also great to do sequencing.

One of my garage sale finds! If I remember correctly it was 50 cents.