Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Time For Tots: Space

Yep, you read the title right; we actually did a Time for Tots day again. It was part of my list of 30 Things I would do this summer and summer is quickly coming to a close.

For those who might be new to my blog, I started Time for Tot's days last October. I was in a rut. Days would go by where I really didn't play with my kids at all. Sure I fed them, dressed them, made sure they didn't kill each other... but the real play where I wasn't distracted by ten other things just was not happening. Also, I wanted to help Lucas be prepared for school by helping him learn to follow instructions, finish a project and even basic skills like cutting and writing. I figured one day a week I should be able to spend some extra time planning some activities and truly 100% interacting.

Some weeks went better than others but overall it was a lot of fun. I saw Lucas progress and learn to follow through with an activity, I saw Alex's ability to cut increase exponentially, and I had a lot less mommy guilt as I was fully involved during these activities.

Ryder being born 8 weeks early through a wrench into things. The times when I wasn't caring for Ryder both Lucas and Alex would be asking to play with me but both wanted to do different things. It made it easier to not play with either. When I realized what was happening I knew it was time for another Time for Tot's day. This one had the theme of Space.

We started off by cutting out pictures of each of the planets. We then glued them down in the right order. While they were cutting and gluing I asked them which planet they thought was the hottest and why. We talked about how earth is the only planet that can support life. And we talked about what the different planets were maybe like. Lucas kept asking question after question, some of which I knew and others I did not. We jumped on the computer to find out which planet has two moons (it is Mars) and read about what Saturn's rings are made of.


They both added moons and stars and Lucas added some black holes to his solar system.
Then we made some comets. We simply rolled up some newspaper into a sphere; we added some tape to help it stay. Then we wrapped aluminum foil around the ball then stuck our sparkly pipe cleaners into our rocket. They were actually really hard to push in so we ended up taping on Lucas'. But Alex stuck with it and was able to push all of hers in.
And finally to end the day, we used a cookie cuter and made a shooting star brownie.

After we ate the brownie, Lucas asked what the next activity was. When I told him that was it he said, Time For Tots days used to be longer, I don't want to be done. He was right, I had planned fewer activities as I wasn't sure how Ryder was going to cooperate.

So we got out some paper to write a story about space. Lucas ended up writing his own story, but I completely loved it of course. He was writing and drawing! Of course I would be happy.

It was a great morning. I forgot how good it feels to just take that extra time to plan some activities and accomplish them.

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Resources
  • Planet Printouts found on the Center for Science Education by Berkley or here.
  • Inspiration for comet from Creative Kids at Home or here
You can see past Time For Tots days here or by clicking the tab on top.
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Don't forget next Wednesday the 28th to write your Ten Things to Smile About Lists and linkup.

17 comments:

  1. How fun to start time for tots again. I love the idea and hope to do it with Zander when he gets older. You should check out a blog at meandmybrightsides.blogspot.com she is a photographer and mom like you. She just posted a link to super teacher worksheets and loves them.

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  2. I keep wanting to start Time for Tots, and think this would be the perfect intro. But then I keep thinking he is too young. And then I think he isn't. And then I just don't do it. I WILL do this tomorrow and will even post about it as a follow up. So there. ;)

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  3. Kristin wanted to do something with science today so this works perfectly. So glad you were able to get back into it. Pat yourself on the back lady.

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  4. I did something similar with my oldest a couple years ago when she was homeschooled. We spent about 2 weeks doing different space related activities, she loved it!

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  5. So .... the question is did you include Pluto or not? :) I'm in that stubborn group that still likes to call Pluto a planet.

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  6. You would be a great home school mom, just so you know! That is great! You can tell they both had a blast! There aren't many parents out there who take this kind of time with their kids! I just finished making Lula Mae's "school" folders and will be starting a new "curriculum" with her next week! Can't wait! Just might have to blog about it! Love the links too!

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  7. You are seriously my hero. A new baby and Time for Tots? I didn't do anything for months after I had a new one and with a few, that included showering.

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  8. I just love how you did that. I was big into themed things like that so this made me smile!

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  9. What a fabulous idea!! With me working, we don't really have time for stuff like that.

    Looks like the kids had fun and now i'm seriously craving a shooting star brownie. ;-)

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  10. It looks like they had a great time! I'm glad Ryder cooperated for you all, too. Great job! I'll be bookmarking this for the distant future...

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  11. Nice work Emily! I can tell how much it means to your kids. I really have always loved yoru ideas for these!

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  12. I still love that you do these. And I will be stealing these ideas. We are doing a neighborhood preschool and I will need all the help we can get!

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  13. Love that story ... and the brownies!!

    And kudos to you for getting this going again. I'm very impressed!!

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  14. As a first grade teacher, allow me to say congratulations and this will so benefit your kids as they get older.

    Also, I suppose that I should do this type of thing with my tot as I am home all summer, but I am much too lazy.

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  15. I'm glad you are back at it! This was a cute one!

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  16. Oh, I've been missing Time for Tots too! Looks like a perfect project to get back in to the swing of things and test the Ryder waters.

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  17. Love your Time for Tots. Thanks for your comment on my guest post!~

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