Today was the First Day:))

I have written down my plans for the first week on a personal calendar, I set time for each activity, wrote its name and a brief description for it. Don't worry, this doesn't mean that I am going to interrupt the fun because the set time was up or something, it simply helps me get more organized (which I need not to get overwhelmed with the ideas). It also helps me recognize which activities were a big hit and which need to be postponed, see which activities were skipped and do them some other time.

Today, we did the ABC letter box (I like to call it the ABC letter soup), ABC letter space rocks, some flashcards, feed the ants activity and created the "Astronaut" . For the ABC letter soup, I provided Sarah with a magnifying glass for two reasons: the first is that the letters are small and I don't want her to get bored quickly and the second reason is that the magnifying glass itself was a hit for her, it added to the fun element. However, she lost interest after only 10 minutes:) For the ABC letter space rocks, I colored the targeted letter (rock) with gold and had an M&M on its back so when she finds the correct letter, the M&M will be her treat. She was so happy with that one. The biggest hit of the day was "feed the ants activity", she made me repeat it twice. She can recognize numbers (1-5) very well. I still need to work on our calendar, I have seen so many calendars in other blogs but I don't think they suit us because they are very advanced and Sarah is still 2.5 and I need to take it slow on her. She watched a small movie about astronauts to know what we are talking about and also a video about alligators and ants (the ones that were on the flashcards). She also helped me in cooking today and she was very very excited and she loves helping me in tidying the beds, rooms and helping with little sister so today by all means was a success. We also played some music and danced, played hide and seek and read 3 big story books, both girls were so excited when mommy was reading out loud and acting:)

Here are some pictures:

I learnt an easier way to color the noodles/pasta / rice. I found it on Notimeforflashcards.com simply dissolve the food color in vinegar before adding the food and then add and shake:)

The rest of the things were mostly printed out and cut. Tomorrow, we'll have our first sensory tub and it is about shapes. here's a visual sequence of how it was created:

This is the plastic box that came with the colors...

I drew the shapes required on the foam sheets and cut them...

I added the gems and stones first and then scattered the shapes ...

To add extra fun element, i scattered some wiggly eyes (circles) and glittery stars...

Well, I can't post this and forget pictures about my other sweet baby: