I can’t believe how much Little Ox #1 has improved already and it is only the second week!
I was a little overwhelmed when starting this unit because there was so much information and so many cute ideas!
It warms my heart when he runs out of his room ready to do his chores and find out what he is learning about that week or what activity we are doing that day. If you have read our homeschool schedule post, you know that we try not to do too much at once!
Monday (craft day):
We had daddy Ox home with us so we all made a jellyfish! Even little Ox #2! This was probably J’s favorite crafts/activity for the week! He loved getting to put on the silly eyeballs and cutting the tentacles all by himself! We found this wonderful little craft from Allison at her wonderful blog here!
Tuesday: Library Day! (Reading and puzzles!)
He loves going to the library and I love that we have a designated day during the week to do it! It is like a treasure hunt, looking through the stacks and bins of books to find anything that has to do with our theme that week!
J’s favorite book this week was “Can you tell a dolphin from a porpoise?”
He loved learning about them and figuring out which one was which!
Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles! This is his favorite part of the week. That boy could do puzzles all day long and he is SO good at them! If I can’t find a premade puzzle for him to print off, I will print out a bunch of free clip art from TeachersPayTeachers.com, laminate them, and cut them in half!
Sometimes on Tuesday’s we will also do a fun hand’s on activity (usually a sensory bin or activity). I really wanted to do this awesome oceans foam bin with him, but we ran out of time and didn’t get to it this day.
Wednesday: Tracing Day
We take this day to practice gluing, tracing, cutting, and all of the basics!
We usually find fun tracing activities like these from Easy Peasy and Fun!
Because we ran out of time to do our sensory bin, I made a fun “game” for him with four colored dots. He took all his ocean animal bath toys and matched them with the colored dots. He LOVED it! He still asks me to take it out so he can find toys to match on it.
Here are some cute ocean animal toys you can use for younger ones!
Thursday: Game Day!
Thursday and Friday are the fun days! I try to plan games for this day that have to do with that week’s theme! If it was a short game, I will find another one or we will work on worksheets that we didn’t finish on Wednesday! (On any down time, it is also a good idea to open up those library books! We read them all on Tuesday’s but we will open them sporadically throughout the week!)
We chose this Ocean Animal Movement Game this week! I wish I had a picture because it was so much fun! We laid them around the living room and he had to do each animal movement from one card to the other. It was so much fun!
Friday: Theme Snack + Fun Videos!
I love looking for cute little educational videos about the theme and if I keep them short and educational – it balances well with a busy toddler! Another way we make this day fun is by adding a theme snack or meal!
This week’s theme meal was so simple!
We made “starfish” sandwiches, had goldfish crackers, and I cut octopus tomatoes!
(NOTE: If you cut your child’s food into fun shapes – they will eat almost anything! 😉 ) Here are some fun ones!
I hope I was able to provide some inspiration for your tot school or preschool Oceans Theme! Have fun and happy homeschooling!
Thanks for all the great ideas!!