Mommy School--Shapes

I have been crafting, really!  I've slowed down lately, though.  (I blame being pregnant, mostly.)  I even have a finished project to show you...but not right now.  Today's post is about the two main things I've been doing lately:  Mommy School and enjoying springtime.  First, Mommy School.

Boo and I usually just hang out around the house, sometimes coloring, sometimes playing with her toys (Buzz, Mike, and Jessie are by far her favorites--mostly Jessie), and all-too-often playing on the iPad.  Frankly, I was getting bored, and I bet Boo was, too.  I wanted to add a little more learning, structure, and just new-ness to our daily routine.  Enter Mommy School.

I got the idea from this awesome blog, where a former first grade teacher/current mommy to a toddler posts Mommy School packets.  I look through her packets and pick what I think will work the best for my little munchkin, and add my own ideas so that we have one Mommy School game each weekday morning.  I hope for the activities to last about half an hour, but we just go as long as Boo still wants to play.  Here's what we did our first week...

For this week, we focused on shapes.  On Monday, we played the Jumping Game.  I cut shapes out of copy paper, laid them on the rug, and told Boo different shapes to stand on, and then "One, two, three, jump off!"  So she was practicing identifying her shapes while jumping all around.  And at the end, she colored all she shapes and we put them up on the freezer to show Daddy when he got home.  (Repetition + reinforcement = good!)  In this picture, Boo was playing her own variation on the game by putting her toys on the different shapes.

(Sorry the picture's not really in focus.  But you still get the idea.)

The next day, we played the Throwing Game.  I used masking tape to mark off different shapes on Boo's bedroom floor, intending that we would throw beanbags/soft toys into them.  But Boo just wanted to put Jessie, Mike, and Buzz in their own shapes.  On the plus side, though, I left the shapes on her floor, and often she'll just walk across them reciting, "Diamond, rectangle, triangle, square" and then go on with whatever she was doing.  So, even though the game was a bust, Boo is still learning her shapes.

We also did the Picture Game.  I cut out shapes from colored paper and stuck tape on the back.  Boo stuck her new "stickers" all over a sheet of butcher paper and colored everything.  It's up on our freezer, too.

Another game Boo LOVED that I didn't take any pictures of was the Finding Game.  I cut diamonds and circles out of copy paper (and Boo colored them, of course) and then we went outside and "hunted" for the shapes.  Never underestimate how much fun two year olds have finding things in obvious places.  We played several rounds of this game.  (I had Boo tell me what shape she found each time, so we were reinforcing the shape names.) 

And lastly, we made sugar cookies and cut circles, hearts, and stars out (because those were the most applicable cookie cutters I have).  Boo got to learn about shapes, since that was the theme of the week, but she also got to learn about rolling out dough and cutting out cookies--good life skills.  :)

I was going to share more, but I don't want this to be the post that never ends.  I'll just leave you with one picture of us enjoying my favorite season of the year.  

Ah, I love spring.

Hope you all are enjoying your St. Patrick's Day!