Tot School: Outdoor Play

We are linked up to Tot School Gathering Place.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!

Last week, Spring officially arrived in our little corner of the world, and it is about time!! We only had one rainy day, the rest of the week was sunny and hot, sunburn weather! I got two sunburns, boo. Miss Salean was lucky and didn't get any, but I took more care about how she was dressed in order to avoid it. So, needless to say, we spent just about every day outdoors and had barely any time for tot school. Here is an overview of our week, mostly outdoor activities.

We had a BBQ at Nanny & Grampy's house, and learned how to play soccer! Daddy giving little Miss some tips on how to kick the ball. She doesn't quite get it because she still has difficulty standing on one foot in order to kick.

Cousin showing how it is done. He is seven months older than she is, and will be two this week coming! Happy Birthday, cousin!

This picture was caught by pure luck! She was running and offering the ball to Daddy and screamed just as the camera caught the moment!

We spent two mornings at the lovely place pictured below.

This beautiful lake is the water reservoir for East Saint John. There are walking trails and a wonderful playground. We spent half an hour Wednesday morning and over two hours Thursday morning here with some new friends.

Excited for a new playground! 

Vroom, Vroom!

This walkway was the only one that was 'open' like this, the rest were solid like the steps below. She was a bit wary at first about crossing it. She stepped on it and off a couple times before going for it. 

Figuring out her own way to get down the stairs. She just suddenly started doing this last week. Before this, she would slide down on her bum. She now crawls backwards down the stairs, the same way she has been getting off beds and platforms for a few months. 

We spent Thursday at another playground, mostly on the swings, she really seems to enjoy them!

Saturday was a damp day, we had an impromptu hockey lesson in the yard. We showed her how to hit the ball with the stick, she tried several times then simply bent down and swatted the ball with her hand! Smart little cookie! 

 She was successful a few times, and she really enjoyed it. We tried the same activity Sunday morning with a toy golf club.

Break time on big cousin's bike! 

Back at the ball swatting, it was really good for her eye-hand coordination. 

To backtrack, Monday was our other rainy day, we focused a half hour or so on her stacking cups. She absolutely loves these, I ordered them through Discovery Toys using a gift card from Huggies diapers that I got from their points. Thirteen months of baby wipes added up to a nice gift, and I don't regret the extra money plus shipping I paid.

For now, we are just focusing on stacking and size gradients. Eventually we will work in colours and numbers, as each one is numbered in order. They have the number written on the side and on the inside bottom, as well as raised dots representing that number from 1 to 12.

I can also use them for animal recognition, as each cup has a different animal on the bottom. 

We got one day of sensory play in this week, the bin had pom poms in it. I got the idea from THIS list, which I found on Pintrest, of course.

I tried to get her to focus on putting the different colours and sizes into the baskets, but she had no interest in it.

She mostly slid some down through the bottle and put a lot on the floor. After, I got her to help pick them up and put them in the baskets; this was very successful.

So, that was our week in a nutshell. Next week is supposed to be nice again, so I think I may try to plan some outdoor activities in our yard. Our sensory bin will be a messy one, so it can be outside. It hasn't quite gotten warm enough for water play, though. Hopefully in a few more weeks!

Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day! 

~Natasha.