Sweet Pea is 39 months old.
From: I found this fast and fun idea at What Do We Do All Day?
Material:
- Large sheet of paper. (We used a big roll of butcher paper from Sam’s Club.)
- Washable markers.
Procedure:
- Make sure you are on a hard washable surface. Vinyl is good. Carpet is bad.
- Draw about 10 dots on the piece of paper either randomly or in the shape of something.
- Label the dots with the numbers 1-10 (or even higher).
- Give your tot a marker and ask him to find the number “1″ on the piece of paper.
- Next have him find the number “2″.
- Instruct your tot to draw a line between the number “1″ and the number “2″.
- Help your tot find the number “3″ and draw a line to it.
- Continue helping your tot draw a line to the next higher number until all of the numbers have been connected.
Observations: Sweet Pea really enjoyed this, although she needed quite a bit of help with the order of the higher numbers.
This was quick to set up and I could easily create another one while Sweet Pea waited. We probably only spent about 15 minutes on it total, although I think I’ll bring it out again soon.
Notes from the Trenches: The blogger who originally suggested this idea did not like creating representational pictures (i.e. Elmo) with the dot-to-dot, and I started off by making them random, but to maintain Sweet Pea’s interest I quickly starting putting the dots into shapes. I found that Sweet Pea liked this activity much more when I made a connect-the-dots picture that she could recognize.
Rating: 3 Stars * (Fun, Easy, Frugal)
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I love all of your ideas! I have just added your button to my Tot School site!
I found your blog while I was looking around the Totally Tots: Cute Tots posts. I will be following your blog. I really like the look of the butcher paper connect the dots. Now I just need to see where I can find some paper around here. My one daughter is close to your daughters age (she is 42 months old) and we implement some Montessori. If you have the chance I invite you to visit my blog.
Blessings
I just found your blog from 1+1+1=1 and am so excited! My daughter is the same age as yours and we’re preparing to start tot school next week. I love finding great ideas and you are a plethora of them! I can’t wait to look through more
Thanks!
Michelle
Great blog! I love your ideas!
Great beginning Dot to dot activity! Even without the numbers – for a child with significant challenges (such as severe autism) just big dots alone and/or colorful dot stickers would work too. Once they get the idea of connecting dots you can always add in numbers
Sometimes its fun to see what shapes come out just by connecting random dots! Glad to find your blog
Tara,
I would never have thought to make a dot-to-dot without numbers, but what a super idea!