~Mommy School~

I desperately wanted to find more productive things to do with our time, but had a few obstacles finding activities for two little ones under two. So, in an attempt to stop finding myself aimlessly wandering around the Starbucks/Target, I decided to start "Mommy School!"

L has the best built-in buddies right here in the neighborhood.
And those little ones have some great Mommas that I knew would help make this great.

The Mommies

 One Mommy even decided to host her own Mommy School at her house on Mondays! (score!! that's two productive mornings!!)

So every Tuesday six of the cutest little loves come over to play and learn with Lawrence and Evan.

Here's the breakdown:

• Educational Toys/books/puzzles in L's room
• Carpet Time: hello song, book, game, finger plays/songs
• Art
• outdoor play/sensory activity
• Snack
• Carpet game, goodbye song

September Theme and Focuses: 

 Last Tuesday was our first class. It was so much fun! We learned all of our new hello/goodbye songs and "Way Up High in the Apple Tree" song. This song/fingerplay is so great becuase you can adapt it for any age. We were much more interactive and used our babies as "props" in the song. The avg. age of this froup is "2" so getting them up and moving on the carpet is the best way to keep them engaged. They loved it!! L sings the new song he learned all the time now. After carpet we did  an apple tree project. 

We traced each child's arm and hand for the tree

Then, they added apples by dipping their fingers in red paint and "stamping them on the leaves. Lawrence's apples got a  little crazy at the end. 

 Today, we talked about school buses and sang and acted out "The Wheels on the Bus." We talked about the round wheels on the bus and how they look like circles. For art we used several different materials(toilet paper and paper towel rolls, lids, cups etc)  to stamp circles with red paint on white paper.

 We also made letter "A" To do this I made capital "A" with masking tape on red paper. Then the kiddos painted (with hands and brushes) any color over the "A"  When the paint drys, you tear it off and reveal the letter underneath.

 For our sensory activity we had some "fizzy fun" with baking soda and vinegar.
 All you need is:
 some containers, medicine droppers (or even just some spoons) food coloring, baking soda, and vinegar.

I put the baking soda in a large pan and vinegar in four smaller containers. The babes helped me put drops of food coloring in each container to make red, blue, yellow and green. Then, I showed them how to make the first fizz. Just take some vinegar in the dropper or with a spoon or anything!! and drop it into the pan of baking soda... I had them all "shh" so they could listen for the fizz. From there, they explored all on their own!! 

What about Evan?? I didn't get a lot of  pictures, but he played with the bus, rolled around on the kitchen floor with a paper towel roll, and watched all the action from his jumper! He was worn out and took a nap :)

These kids are awesome!!