Tearing For Toddlers

Okay, so I have been a little quiet on the blog front......actually that is an understatement, I have been a terrible blogger lately! Sorry to those of you who check in regularly only to find no updates :(
I could say I have been super crazy busy (which is true, we have ALOT going on personally at the moment but then so does everyone!) or I could say I have been more exhausted than usual (which also is true for so many reasons I can't even begin to explain!) but to be brutally honest.....I am a perfectionist.
I have procrastinated posting a blog simply because I wanted it to be perfect....I wanted the perfect picture and the perfect post to go with the perfect pictures. But let's face it perfection is near impossible and nobody wants perfection. People want real.
So, I promise to try my very best to worry less about posting perfect pictures and worry more about just posting regular, real, meaningful posts :) Bare with me, as my friends and family will know that 'letting go' and just 'going with it' does not come easy to me! But for all of you, I will try ;)

Tonights post will be short and sweet (I hope!) Like many mammas out there I juggle many balls in the air when the bath/dinner/bedtime part of the evening hits....I have many little activities I whip out to keep my little guy buzzing busy so I can get dinner prepped, cooked and served. Recently I was perusing the wonderful world of google and came across an activity that managed to keep my little guy busy for a lot longer than I expected!

 I cut up strips of coloured paper,

supplied him with a tin dish....

 and let him tear to his hearts content!

This was such an easy and minimal prep activity that not only kept him entertained but helped encourage fine motor skills and hand-eye co-ordination.....fun and educational, it's a double win!

            

                                 

Number Punching

Our Term 4 School Readiness class kicked off today and goodness what a busy morning it was! Being the first day back since a two week break, it was only right to start the first session off with a bit of revision!

We did a whole bunch of fun stuff this morning including a Number Punch activity which my students absolutely loved! They all felt like little teachers hole punching away and it was so adorable to watch! i got this idea from my Laugh & Learn 4 Kids Pinterest page but I switched it up a little by painting the numbers and words to add a bit of colour and brightness!

We started off identifying each number and using our 'magic finger' to trace each digit and write it in the air. We then used the single hole punch to punch the correct amount of holes to match each given number.

This activity was not only good for number identification and object matching but also for fine motor! The hole puncher required students to use their hand muscles while still holding the paper with the other hand. It took a few goes for students to get the hang of it but once they did it was hard to stop them punching! Haha
To start off, students used two hands on the hole punch while I held the paper then once they got the hang of it I encouraged them to hold the puncher in one hand and the paper in the other just like they do when cutting with scissors!

We also reviewed our Pencil Control skills by completing a simple tracing activity using oil pastels....

and we practised matching numbers and pictures 1-10 just to be sure we still remembered them!

Although it was a busy start to Term for with these munchkins it was an enjoyable morning with lots of holiday stories to share :)

iPhone Numbers 1-10

Ok so most of you have begun to work out that I love to see kids Laughing and Learning outside the ol'skool way just like we did as kids. In saying that, I do believe that technology is also a great learning tool and like so many learning tools out there it also has a place in the world of learning. All I can stress is to use technology in moderation and remember it is another tool but not is not the only tool.

With that said, the mamma of one of my sweet students was chatting to me about how we could get her little girl to better remember her numbers 1-5 and identify them with greater ease and speed.

We have tried and tested many ways and while many of them have helped both her mum and I were still trying to find a way that would click for her and give her that light bulb moment we knew would come....and finally it did!

Thanks to the trusty iPhone!

Her clever mamma realised that Miss J (along with her younger brother) knew her passcode off by heart so she decided to switch the code up with the numbers little miss was struggling to remember.

Little Miss J was struggling specifically with the numbers 2 and 5 so her clever mamma made sure the code had these two numbers and hey presto! She now knows her numbers 1-5! Even her three year old younger brother is able to identify and recall the numbers! So simple but oh so effective, even her 3 year old brother knows his numbers 1-5!

If you are going to use this little trick, I would encourage you to have your little one say the numbers aloud as they enter them into your phone. Doing so helps to reinforce the connection between the number and its name.