This week we set up another center! As I’ve previously mentioned, my oldest, Vincent is terrified of flying bugs. I mean scream bloody murder for 2 hours fall to the ground scared. The worst of all is bees. Like most kiddos, Vincent gets the most from visual learning. So this week we are going to try our hand at learning about the bee. (Cross our fingers it helps). This center though, just has some great summer/spring time vibes so would be a great learning opportunity for any toddler this time of year!
Pretend Play
This week we have two different areas that focus on pretend play! Pretend play is SO important in toddlers. This is where children learn social and emotional roles, AKA how to function in everyday life. My children struggle with pretend play and in an attempt to build some of their language and problem solving I am attempting to add more to our daily routine.
The hive inspector activity will help with critical thinking, following directions and simply hand writing skills when they check the boxes! The box is the box my eggs from Sam’s club came in and the “hives” are the egg cartons! A little spray paint and wallah. I found this plastic sleeve for the hive inspector checklist at the dollar store! It saves on my laminating paper and is easily erasable so we can perform this activity again and again.
Vincent has began adding and LOVES it. So this week I am going to attempt to teach him about money. This is the first time I’ve ever introduced money so I made the jars pretty simple at $1, $2 and $3, so if your kids are more advanced you can always make it more challenging by adding some change!
Here the boys will pretend to be the cashier as I purchase the honey. I’ll have Vincent add up how much I owe and “plug it in” to the cash register. (If you have a plastic one it would work great here! I just found this cheap cardboard one at target this week ($3!)). We could also switch roles and have the boys purchase the honey so they have to count out their own money. So many options with this fun activity.
All the items seen were purchased at the dollar store. For the jar I just dropped some yellow paint in the bottom and turned them upside down and now they look like they are filled with honey!
Color Sorting
Color sorting seems to be one of Max’s favorite activities this week so I incorporated it twice!
The “bee farm” will help with fine motor skills! Some of the same muscles used to operate the tweezers are needed to operate scissors (a skill Vincent still hasn’t mastered) so we are going to work pretty heavily with those this week. Maxwell is nowhere near this skill yet so for him we will strictly work on sorting the bees to match their colors. I typically choose two colors, hold them up by my eyes and say “find the green bee,” he then locates the green bee and puts it in the correct location. We do this until all the bees are in their home!
The next activity is also working on color sorting. Each flower has a corresponding card that says “help the bee pollinate the ___ flower.” This will help Vincent to read, follow directions and of course reinforce his knowledge of colors. I am also hoping that having to pick up and move the bee from flower to flower will help with his fear. If he does well with moving the bee I plan on playing the “buzzzz” in the background because the sound seems to be what he struggles with the most. My thinking is if he can deal with some of these emotions, little by little, in a controlled environment, then we can get to the source of his fear and actually be able to function outside again. Fingers crossed. It also reminds the boys of one of the bees jobs, pollination!
Books
Math
This has been Vincent’s favorite activity this week! So I just found a way to incorporate it. I found this die, the bee tin and the pencils at dollar tree. The bees were leftovers from the sensory bin and bottle. They were purchased off of Amazon. I think I got 100 bees for $5!
The die has numbers 1-6 written on it. Vincent throws it up in the air, calls out the number it lands on and we write it down. We do this twice to come up with an equation. He knows simple math like 3+1 by heart but even the equation pictured above is too much right now. So we then use the bees and pencils to count out the answer. For example 2 bees+3 pencils=5! The visual representation helps him to understand the equation better.
Pre-academic Skills
We continue to work on scissor cutting. These scissors were purchased on Amazon. They are spring loaded and only require the pushing motion instead of the typical pulling apart motion that is required by your everyday scissors. A good starter if your kiddo isn’t quiet ready for everyday scissors. We will also work on identifying the life cycle of a bee and rhyming. We can use these cards in one of two ways. We can match the rhyming words or we can ask “what rhymes with ___?” While we hold us the cards.
Sensory Activities
The play dough tray consists of cotton tips, eyes, black pipe cleaners and of course yellow play dough. This is so the boys can construct a bee with play dough. The boys struggle with playing with the texture so having things they can stick into the play dough still exposes them to the texture , but at a less invasive level so they can gradually become comfortable with the feeling.
This sensory box consists of black beans, honey combs cereal, black pipe cleaners, yellow Pom Pom balls and plastic bees. We love sensory bins while mom is getting breakfast and lunch ready!
The sensory bottle has black pipe cleaners, yellow Pom Pom balls and plastic bees. I tried clear glue instead of baby oil this time. I was not a fan. The objects don’t move as well as they do with baby oil, which is something my kids really enjoy. But was worth a try! Topped off with gold glitter and yellow food coloring.
Supporting Autism Mamas 