tot school : dinosaur + green week

WHAT I LOVED

I knew going into this week, Will loved dinosaurs.  It was so much fun to see him excited about the theme.  It is turning out to be super convenient to have several activities on hand when he got bored.  Also, I found a great recipe for play dough and had a hay-day one night making a few batches.  So fun!  (I may have stained my counter tops reddish-pink with food coloring...  Oops.  Good thing we are renovating?!)

WHAT WE FOCUSED ON

The color green!  Will knows most of his colors already, but review is great, right?  I dug through drawers and closets and found lots of green things to have fun with!  Green cupcake liners, green blocks, green balls, green tissue paper, green straws - whatever.  You'd be surprised the games and play that happen using random junk!

Shape Sorting.  This was not thematic - just because.  

Dinosaurs.  I thought about teaching Will a few different types of dinosaurs, but then we never really got around to it.  We just had fun with the dinosaur theme in general.  Not a lot of important learning...just FUN, people.

The letter D!  Again, sort of...  When I ask him what "D" says, "He thinks it's funny to jump up and down and say, "Duh, duh, duh!"  But that's about it.  Baby steps, people.

We were supposed to learn more about Jesus' ascension in our Jesus Storybook Bible, but every time we started the story, Will whined to go to another story.  Hmm.  We ended up reading through the Sermon on the Mount and Lord's Prayer stories.  Perhaps that was more on the Lord's agenda for us this week, maybe?

WHAT WE DID

Will played with a green sensory tub I threw together using things from around the house.

I updated our bulletin board (of sorts) with green stuff.  It's basically just a frame that I pin random crap to.  Pictures, fun sayings, Project Life quotes, magazine clippings, patterned napkins, fabric, and everything else that is amusing.  Because, why not?!

We listened to the Jurassic Park soundtrack every day at snack time.  Best idea, ever, Liza.

We played with our dinosaur-themed play dough.  I will admit, I coaxed Will into playing this several times, mostly because I wanted to...  Am I living vicariously through my children?  Yes, yes, I am.

We colored free dino coloring pages from the net.

We were going to clean fossils (rocks), but the weather never cooperated.

Will played with his dinosaur toys in the sandbox with his neighborhood gal pals.

We had a bingo-dot dinosaur worksheet, but because I don't have bingo-dot markers, we stuck little green-circle-garage-sale stickers on instead.  Will is totally digging the sticker thing lately.

Dinosaur books from the library.  I heart you, library.

I was going to make these dino parfaits, but life happened instead.

WE SAW A REAL DINOSAUR, ya'll.  ...at the gas station in Orange City.  We were well aware there were a few cool dinosaur exhibits at fancy children's museums near our home, but since we are cheapo and a little redneck, and because Will isn't even two, and because he could care less...  We went to a gas station, sat on the dinosaur, and took a picture, all touristy-like.