A large family, homeschooling, adoption, special needs, whatever strikes my fancy, sort of blog.

A large family, homeschooling, adoption, special needs, whatever strikes my fancy, sort of blog.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Preschool Fun: Katie's Tot Trays for May


So many people wonder, "What do I do with my little kids while I'm homeschooling my older ones??"


Well, there are as many answers as there are families, of course, but I'll share what we've been up to, to give you some ideas you might want to try out at your house.  I'll even include helpful affiliate links, for your benefit.  (wink)


I'm always anxious to include fine motor skills activities for Katie (and Hannah) because of her finger differences.  I want to make sure she's managing well (which, she is, of course).  But even typical-limbed preschoolers benefit from fine motor skills exercises.  Not only in terms of manual dexterity, but also in helping them learn to focus and stay on task.


Look at that cute face!  So proud of her success!

There are lots of wooden lacing beads out there.  I picked these because they're cute, and because they have the wooden "needle" at the end of the string, which makes it easier for beginners.

In addition to stringing, you can also see how many your child can stack in a tower, or make a picture scene, or sort by color, or sort by type.  These are more open ended than round beads.


I was recently cleaning up the school room and ran across these colored wooden shapes.  Aha!  Perfect for a tot tray!  I was thinking "mosaic" when I put them in front of her.


But it looks like she was thinking "sorting/matching" instead.  That's okay!  It's all good.

Now, some of you may be thinking, "What's a Tot Tray??"  Well, I'm hardly the first to coin the phrase.  A Tot Tray is simply a single activity, in a container, designed to facilitate learning for your little one.  It can be a directed activity or an open ended collection of objects.  It lasts as long as it holds your child's interest.  Some trays hold their attention longer than others, and it's not always the ones you think!

The red tray shown came from Lakeshore Learning, as did it's fellow trays, which hold all sorts of fun things in the school room:


It works better for us to have these things in stacking boxes than in all sorts of random shaped containers.


I offered Lukey the light blocks the other day, but he wasn't interested.  I thought he might try to see if they were food, but he wouldn't hold them at all.


Katie, on the other hand, loves the light blocks.  She likes to pick 2 large ones of the same color and hold them up to her eyes to look through them.  She built this and then told me, "Mommy take a picture my blocks house!"


I recently ran across some printable dot marker pages, so I put some of those and some dot markers in Katie's tray one day.


Next, I pulled out the buttons and lacing bag and added 2 laces and the very biggest buttons, to see how she would do with those.  I'm starting out simple, knowing I can add more, smaller buttons later, if she succeeds with the big ones.

We don't do a tray every single day.  I pull one out when Katie needs a change of pace.  If the girls are bickering, or she's getting hungry/tired a little before lunch, or after she's fallen and hurt herself.

Having a tray set up and ready to go means I don't have to spend a lot of time digging up something for her to do, I just open it.

It also eliminates the "Do you want to read a book?"  No!  "Do you want to do a puzzle?"  No!  "Do you want to play blocks?"  NO! phenomenon.  Sometimes toddlers, preschoolers, and even mommies, are cranky and contrary, and will say no to anything presented to them.  (Katie's not usually like this, but I've certainly had kids who were.)  Presenting the tray as a done deal instead of an option is working really well for us.

Tot Trays don't have to be expensive.  You can use things you already have around the house.  You can also re-purpose stuff that would ordinarily be thrown away.  I've been saving pouch lids from Luke's baby food to add to a tray, so watch for those in next month's Tot Trays post.

Linking up at Homeschool Creations Preschool Corner and Mama's Blog Central.

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13 comments:

  1. Great ideas. I have some of these based on the MFW preschool program, though I think my littlest ones are starting to outgrow them.

    How is Luke doing? Have you gotten any more results from his tests?

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    1. No results yet. He sees a GI doc and has his school district assessment next month, and PM&R and IEP in July.

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  2. Love it! Love the boxes you use too! Thanks for linking up at WW :D

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  3. What Clever Ideas. I don't homeschool, but can still use these for so many different situations. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thanks, Kira! I imagine when my homeschooling days are done I'll find another use for the boxes. :)

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  4. What Clever Ideas. I don't homeschool, but can still use these for so many different situations. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Thanks for sharing this. I am a homeschooling mom so I love seeing what other people do.

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  6. I definitely need this. It's so timely. I was thinking, what should I do with Graycee next year. I need something more structured for him. I think I may pick up some of those boxes. He loves stacking things. Did you get those light boxes from the same place?

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    1. I think the light blocks did come from there, too. :)

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  7. This fabulous Shecki! You are my go-to person when it comes to ideas to keep little ones busy while homeschooling.

    Thanks so much for sharing (and for linking up to the SHINE Blog Hop).

    Wishing you a lovely weekend.
    xoxo

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    1. Thanks, Jennifer! I know I'm not disciplined enough to make it a weekly post, but I hope to do a monthly Tot Tray summary. :)

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