Hello Toddler 1 Families,
This month has quickly come and gone, but we had so much fun! We were able to enjoy some activities that were planned for us by two of our interns, Kennadi and Christia. They both took into consideration the interests of the children and found books and songs that were emergent to the children. Animals, dinosaurs, and music and movement were very common! Here are some areas we focused on this month:
Fine Motor
We engaged the children in many different activities to work on building up the small muscles in their hands and wrists. One of the favorites that the children enjoyed was Rescuing the Dinosaurs. In an aluminum cupcake tin, we placed some small dinosaurs and trapped them in their spots using tape. Some children picked at the edges of the tape, while others simply grabbed the dinosaurs and pulled as hard as they could to try to free them. We also brought in some animal twist toys. The children were given the animal’s body and had to twist on smaller pieces of the body. The children needed assistance getting the body on but were able to twist the pieces all the way on after receiving some help.
Outdoor and Gross Motor Play
Similar to fine motor, gross motor is the children’s development of their muscles covering bigger areas of their body. For example, this includes arms, legs, and whole body movements. The children all have great amounts of energy during the day. In the classroom, we use dancing, push toys and our climber as ways for them to get out some of their energy. On the playground we have access to more space so the children are able to run and use our outdoor equipment to do so. They enjoy sitting and pushing themselves in our cars and bikes and use them daily!
This month we also took a longer distance walk! From time to time we have been practicing holding rings while we take walks. The children have done pretty well with them, we’re practicing more on walking at the pace of others and not pulling or walking ahead of others. By doing this, it also encourages the children to walk on their own, rather than being carried during walks. On our walk, we made a stop at ‘Huskie Hill’ as the CDFC likes to call it. This is the bus turn around outside DuSable Hall. The children were able to walk to the top of the hill and visit the huskie statue. It was wet from the rain, but the children still ‘pet’ it and some even gave it kisses!
Block Building
As always, building a tower and knocking it down by either pushing or kicking it is still very relevant in our classroom. As the month progressed, the children played longer with the blocks, stacking them on top of each other without knocking the down. By stacking blocks, they are practicing their fine motor skills to grasp the blocks, their gross motor skills by controlling the movements they make in their arms, and also they are focusing on their balance in the placement of the blocks. Some of these stacks got pretty tall!
Reminders:
- Please remember to sign your child in and out every day on our clipboard that is on top of the cubbies.
- We are in need of some new family pictures! If you haven’t brought a new one this semester, please email or bring one to school. We add these to our personal area so the children can see their families throughout the day.
- As we enter fall and cooler weather approaches, please bring warmer clothes for your children’s extra clothes bin. A light jacket can also be brought to wear outside if it is a little chilly.
We look forward to yet another fun month in Toddler 1 and can’t wait to see what October has in store for us!
Ana, Ecila, and Krysten
