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)
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!