Group Tot School!!

We had our first group tot school today! I found the idea over at The Shafer Family.

(though I couldn't imagine taking in 20 families at a time!!!) 

We had five pairs of kids and mamas.  It was perfect.  I went with a farm theme.  We had five outside activities and five inside activities.  Here are they are!

Sensory Bin: find the pairs of teeny tiny animals and put them into the basket
(Inspired by Playing House in Maryland .)

Decorate a plastic cup and plant flower seeds

(this station also came with a take-home sheet for kids to track the progress of their plant and keep track of how many days they water it and keep it in the sun.  From Homemade Preschool .)

Egg Sorting:

Kids balance an egg onto a spoon and walk across the grass to the two bins.  They choose which bin their egg goes in, big or small.

Cow Roll and Color:

Roll the die, count the dots and color the corresponding spot.  From Making Learning Fun .)

Do-A-Dot page:

Kids cover each dot with a Do-A-Dot marker.  From Making Learning Fun.)

Animal Matching:

Sort animals by number of feet.  Match animal figurines to picture cards, letter cards and word cards.  (this is something I made on my own)

Puzzles and song:

I had a few puzzles that went along with the "Five Little Ducks" song.

Feed the Pig game:

Choose a card, read the number and feed the pig that number of kernels.  From Our Country Road .)

Seed sorting:

Observe seeds with magnifying glass.  Sort into three bowls.  Found at PreKinders .)

Cutting wooden fruits, vegetables and bread:

(Melissa and Doug set)

We even had toys (inside and outside) for the little siblings!

We ended our tot school with an Old McDonald song where each child was able to pull an animal from a paper bag.  You can find that printable here.  We also had a snack that one of our friends provided.

I was really pleased with how smoothly it went.  The kids were very engaged, and everyone was very respectful of the materials and put each tray back the way they found it.   The kids and Mamas seemed to enjoy themselves.  A even enjoyed playing with the materials after everyone was gone.  An additional perk is that I now have tot trays for the week!  We're looking forward to the next group tot school!