Let's Build it! {Tot Packs and Puzzles}

One of my favourite things about blogging is the wealth of wonderful ideas shared by other like-minded Moms. I also love finding free resources and today I am going to share a few great spots to find Tot Packs.(These packs are also called  File Folder Games or Lapbooks.) What are they? In a nutshell, the idea is to take a flat cardboard folder or file and to glue a variety of activities, centered around a particular theme, on the inside of it. You can really create a pack about any subject under the sun! My apologies for not having a photo of the pack we created, but if you visit any of the sites below, there are lots of pictures available.

First stop is Carisa from 1+1+1=1. Carisa creates wonderful free printables for homeschooling Moms, including Tot (and Preschool) Packs. In her packs, she might include colouring pages, shadow matching, sequencing, patterns, and alphabet and numeracy activities.  Carisa has created a Handy Manny Pack and a Big Machines Pack, both perfect to include in our "Let's Build It!" mini theme. To print out both of these, click here.

In my search for more packs, I also found a fantastic Tools Tot Pack at Our Little Monkeys. I printed out the puzzle pieces (see photo)  and decided to stick them onto some Mega Bloks. I wish I could say that this was my idea, but it is simply my version of lego puzzles created by Jenea at I can teach my child. (Great idea, don't you think?)

If you like these packs, be sure to also check out these from Homeschool Creations. A big thank you to Carisa, Dawn and Jolanthe for creating these wonderful resources and sharing them.

This was the last of my Let's Build It! theme posts. Knowing my little boy though, I'm sure that this will not be the last about construction related and tool time activities. :)

Till next time...

Let's Build It! {Handy Manny}

Our set of Handy Manny tools has come in rather handy (couldn't resist) in the creation of some other toys and games. For starters I enjoyed creating these bath time tools (top photo) from craft foam. Simply trace around any set of tools and then stick on some googly eyes!

Next up is an easy matching game. Trace around the tools onto a piece of cardboard and ask your little one to match them. Quick and easy.

No photos to go with this game, but have you ever asked your kiddos to pretend to be a (power) tool or construction vehicle? Jump up and down like a jack hammer; stand and twist your body from side to side like a screwdriver; use your arm and hand to cut like a saw... Or pretend to be a forklift truck and pick up some cushions; be an excavator and use your arm like a bucket to pick something up and swing it around...you get the idea. We love this game...especially when I'm the construction vehicle in question and Little One is the rubble that needs to be moved!

A fun version of this pretend game would be to make some picture cards of the Handy Manny tools and then let the kiddos take turns picking a card and acting out the tool represented on it. I may just do this sometime and share it with you.

If you missed our Tool Time Fun post, where we put our play tools to good use, be sure to check it out.

Handy Manny can be found at the Disney Junior website here.

Let's Build it! {Tool Time Fun}

When I read this post over at TinkerLAB (a blog written by a Momma called Rachelle), I got very excited, because I knew it would be a great hit with Little One. I had some polystyrene saved and went off to purchase golf tees. I then offered it (with the box of play tools) to both boys. They had a ball...for about 45 minutes! Not many new toys get that much attention. 

It was fun to see what they did. My older son hammered just about every golf tee into the polystyrene block, whereas my little one was more interested in pushing the tees in with his fingers and also sawing the polystyrene with his hand saw. 

Little One has enjoyed playing with this a few more times. Once I notice boredom with an activity setting in, I usually pack it away for awhile and then reintroduce again later. If you don't have polystyrene available, you could let the kiddos hammer the tees into firm soil in the garden (like Rachelle did), or the side of a cardboard box would also work nicely.

Be sure to check out TinkerLAB for many more wonderful activities.