Tot School Tuesday: Leap Day and Everything Green Sensory Bin

LEAP DAY

We had lots of fun celebrating Leap Day with some Froggie activities.  We recited some poems and rhymes I had found on the internet about frogs, and read a couple of frog books.  Two of our favorite frog-themed books are "Down by the Cool of the Pool" by Tony Mitton and "The Icky Sticky Frog" by Dawn Bentley.  Thanks to my mom, we have an extensive collection of puppets that we like to read our books with, including (of course!) a frog :o)

We also made some frog puppets of our own using green paper bags and some construction paper cut out to look like eyes, a tongue, and legs.

We practiced leaping, hopping, and jumping...

And when we had used up all of our energy (or rather when Mommy had used up all of hers!), we settled down and tried to get some plastic frogs that I had found in the closet to leap into the "pond".

We finished by coloring a leap year printable.

MARCH SENSORY BIN: EVERYTHING GREEN

Each month I try to put together a new sensory bin for the school room.  These are great for creative play and independent learning.  For March, I decided to create a sensory bin out of whatever small green items I could find around the house.  I used green split peas as the base for the bin and added things like a small ball, pom poms, plastic animals and bugs, feathers, beads, dice, and pipe cleaners.  I took pictures of several of the items in the sensory bin and made an i-spy sheet for the girls.  I am always eager to see what the girls with do with the items in their box, and they never fail to impress me.  "M" made up a game where she would roll the dice and add that many beads to a green pipe cleaner. 

For lots of Sensory Bin ideas and inspiration, check out Counting Coconuts.