tot school - week 5

Noah is 11 months old (only 11 more days!!!).

I decided to be a little adventurous this week and do somewhat of a theme. Not that it was anything elaborate, or well-planned even...I don't think Noah wouldn't really "get" a real theme just yet. So this was just an on-the-fly activity that we ended up talking about all week long.

And the "theme" was - things that roll/spin!

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Like I said, on the spur of the moment, I grabbed a few things from Noah's main toy basket that would roll or spin...here is what we initially used.

I let him do whatever he wanted with the objects at first, them I showed him how each object could roll or spin.

The little shapes didn't interest him too much....I tried to roll them back and forth between us, but he wasn't focused on it. But he did like to retrieve them when they rolled off!

He loved spinning the wheels on the truck and his big Thomas train..

We worked on rolling the different balls too. Noah wouldn't roll them back to me though...he would bring them over to me and hand them back:)

He also enjoyed retrieving the balls from the back of the dump truck...I would dump them out so they would roll across the floor and Noah would have to go catch them and bring them back.

Noah got a new tot school toy this week too, and we were able to incorporate it into our theme! The toy is called Kringles; they are little connectable pieces made by Baby Genius (we found them at Walmart). The set is supposed to make different vehicles...Noah wasn't interested in the building part, but he did LOVE playing with the little axel and wheels!

He actually carried those pieces around for a few days until he figured how to take the actual wheel apart...the pieces were too small for him then (choking hazard) so this has officially become a tot school (aka closely supervised) toy. But to tie in with the week, he loved to spin the wheels!

And of course, Noah spent time pushing, pulling, and spinning his beloved Mater!

Some other things we did that I didn't get pictures of included:

-playing with pompom balls..Noah would shake them out of a container and watch them roll around

-play on his little castle...I talked to him about how the steering wheel spins

-identifying where the wheels were on various cars/trucks/trains

One last thing I tried to do was link that things that spin/roll are circular. I'm sure Noah doesn't understand this at his age, but I still said it with each new activity. We worked on identifying the circle piece in his shapes puzzle, and I also helped him draw a few circles during art time this week.

So overall, I think that Noah's first week of "themed" tot school went great, even if I did come up with things on the fly! I definitely look forward to doing more themes when he gets older and can understand more elaborate things. But in the meantime, any ideas on really simple themes that a 12 month old could do?

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Noah also did more general tot school activities this week too..

He has taken to dancing standing up now:) And this is really helping him build confidence in standing independently! He will dance without support really often, and has started standing alone to play a bit now too. Also, Noah has learned to sit down easily (not plopping down) without help from standing. I doubt if he will take actual steps on his own before his birthday, but I wouldn't be totally surprised is he does!

Here he is dancing with Daddy..to the Imagination Movers of course. They have officially surpassed Thomas the Tank Engine on Noah's list..which basically only consists of the Movers and Thomas, but you know:)

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Noah got an early birthday present in the mail this week from my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew that live in Michgan:) They sent Noah four new books, as well as a glittery bouncy ball (perfect for our week!)..

Obviously they know Noah likes to read...

haha:) If left alone in the playroom for a few minutes, that is what happens to the shelves. But I don't care..I'm just glad he likes to read!

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Jimmy's birthday was on Wednesday this week, so of course Noah made him a special card:)

Sorry if the close-up looks weird...the flash was being a pain. Anyway, I stamped Noah's thumb print and pinkie print, then he helped me turn them into stick people (thumb is Daddy, pinkie is Noah). Then Noah squiggled away:)

Actually, Noah got to spend lots of time with Jimmy this week. Because of how his work schedule fell, he was able to keep Noah home two days while I went to class. I think they both had a pretty fun time:)

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See what other's are doing for Tot School, and share your own ideas too at 1+1+1=1!