Tot School- Vacation Style

~Smiley is currently 18 months old~

We have been in vacation mode around here for the past three weeks. My family from Europe has been staying with us and then we spent one week at the beach. We had a wonderful time together. Here is my long post about our tot school activities over the past three weeks.

ART...

Art was a big component of the past three weeks. Smiley spent much time coloring with crayons, pencils, and pens. He's getting more and more proficient and seems to really enjoy it :)

Stickers are still a big favorite as well :)

Numbers...
Smiley enjoyed playing with this Numbers puzzle that we got from Target. He does well recognizing & naming the numbers 1-3 and occasionally recognizes additional numbers as well. He really liked putting the puzzle pieces into the puzzle as well.

Mechanics...
Smiley continues to be obsessed with anything mechanical. He loves screwdrivers, hammers etc. We bought him this car from Toys R Us and Smiley loved putting it together with daddy.

Fine Motor Skills...

We did a lot of fine motor skill activities over the past three weeks. Smiley was exposed to Legos for the first time (the small ones, not the duplo kind) and LOVED them. So we went out and bought him a small box of Legos. He enjoys stacking them into big towers :)

Here he is playing with Legos for the first time at an Aquarium we went to.

They make a great toy to bring to restaurants!

Ocean Theme...

Given that we spent a week at the ocean, I am going to do an Ocean theme over the next few weeks as part of our tot school. This is our first real theme. We will see how it goes :)

The past week was real-life exposure to the ocean, particularly the beach. I think "beach" is Smiley's new favorite word. He absolutely loved playing in the sand and water.

Playing with his Tia (my sister).

Playing with his Nena (my mom).

Making ice cream cones :)

As part of our ocean theme we also visited an aquarium. It was very hands-on and Smiley had a great time!

Smiley loved looking at all the fish with daddy...

Looking at a school of fish with mommy and his tia.

Touching star fish and other sea creatures...

On several other days, we took nice walks along the ocean, to look at all the animals, including sea lions, fish, seaguls, and pelicans.

Looking at the sea lions with his Nonno (my dad)...

Life School...

Of course there was lots of life school in the past three weeks as well.

Smiley enjoyed spending much time with his godfather, whom he absolutely ADORES!

Spending time with his cousin...

The resort we stayed at had many ponds with hundreds of ducks. Smiley is obsessed with ducks, so that was perfect! The gift shop sold duck food, so we spent much time feeding the ducks every single day :)

Of course, much quality time was spent in the pool as well :)

Toddler Bed...

We had a big transition a couple of days ago as well. We moved Smiley from his crib into his toddler bed (since we will soon need the crib for our new arrival). The transition couldn't have gone any smoother. We had no problem at all. Smiley has been doing just great with it. I am so relieved, as I was a bit nervous since Smiley is still pretty young. However, he is absolutely in love with his big boy bed (which is what he calls it). YEY!

If you would like to read more tot school posts, please visit Carisa's blog at 1plus1plus1equals1.