Archive for October, 2008
Encouraging Sorting Activities
Oct
I was recently visiting with my next door neighbor as we watched the kids play. She has a two-year-old daughter and like many mothers of toddlers is on the look-out for activities that will keep her daughter busy. My friend knows I use containers filled with rice or beans to help keep my children busy. We got to talking about how to make this type of activity work for toddlers. The trick is to use sorting objects that are not going to be choking hazards. Frankly, I kind of avoided this activity until my kids’ compulsion to taste everything they touched subsided. It was later than you think.
Also, although this seems odd, I wouldn’t recommend using beans in the container if the activity is for toddlers. Maybe it’s just my toddlers, but beans can get lodged in orifices. Rice is a lot less likely to get stuck somewhere unpleasant. In any case, here’s some sorting objects that might work for your kids.
Good objects to start out with would be the large-sized Legos (like these Ultimate LEGO DUPLO Building Set). These Legos can be sorted by color or by size. This can also be a good way to support learning colors. Obviously, any other large-sized block will work. These Legos were just really popular with Dylan and Anya.
I would also suggest trying some silverware in the rice. Again, it’s big enough to not be a choking hazard. Also, the differences between forks, spoons, and butter knives are apparent enough that sorting will be relatively straightforward for a beginner. As your toddler gets better at sorting you can add in the two different sizes of spoons. My kids got experienced enough with this that by the time they were three, I had them unload the silverware from the dishwasher for me and put it away. I’d pull out all the unsafe utensils, set the silverware basket on the counter, scoot a chair up to the drawer, and let them be mommy’s helper. It was great! They are a lot less enthusiastic about it now, but it was good while it lasted.
Other things that may work depending on your toddler:
- Assortment of large, unshelled tree nuts (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, etc.)
- Barrettes or hair bows
- Straws (sort by color or cut up and then sort by length)
- Large pompom balls
- Other small toys like matchbox cars or action figures
Do you have any other suggestions on helping toddlers learn about sorting and practice fine motor skills? What’s working for your kids?
Tags: fine motor skills, math, sensory activities, sorting, toddler
Out with the Girls
Oct
I get to guest post
on one of my favorite blogs!
Find me here today:
Segullah Blog
Puzzles
Oct
We just spent the evening at Grandma’s house putting together one of my favorite puzzles from my own childhood. My family had several of the 300-piece 2 by 3 foot sized Disney movie poster puzzles. We did the Jungle Book one on the kitchen table. It was fun to work together as a family on a project, visit with grandparents, hear about our great-grandparents, and share brownies when our work was done. It’s interesting to see how the two kids each participate in this kind of a project.
Anya is still too young for this big of a puzzle, so she helped me make brownies while everyone else started out. Once we got the brownies in the oven, Anya hovered around the table “helping” each of us in turn. She found pieces that seemed to match what we were working on. If we told her two pieces fit together, she would fiddle when them until she figured out how they fit. She lasted about 20 or 30 minutes this way, and then grandma brought out the crayons and markers and coloring books for her.
Dylan is much more persistent. He worked on the puzzle with us the entire time, but he definitely was getting bored at the end. The promise of a brownie kept him with it though. He was good at picking out all the pieces that went with Baloo and the bananas. He would stay with a piece, turning it and matching up colors until he found a place it fit. He understands the concepts of putting the edge pieces together first and using the picture on the box as a guide for the whole puzzle. And, using his dad’s iPhone, here’s his proud picture of our Sunday night project.
This is the sort of night that provides all kinds of educational benefits but no one even noticed. Lots of laughing, talking, and lovely brownies. A night well spent!
Tags: anya, dylan, fine motor skills, math, puzzles, social skills
Book Review: How Will We Get to the Beach
Oct
How Will We Get to the Beach by Brigitte Luciani, illustrated by Eve Tharlet
This book may be a little more difficult to track down than last week’s book. My local library does not have this book, and I was not able to locate it on Scholastic’s website. But I did notice that it is available both new and used from Amazon. And also in Spanish. And also in paperback. All sorts of options there. Onward to the activities!
Real Mom Activity
Memory Tray Game: This is a simple memory and guessing exercise you can do with children of any age. All you need is some sort of tray like a cookie sheet and an assortment of objects. If you just wanted to use the table that would work too. Basically, you spread the items out, let your kids look at them and touch them for a minute or so, have everyone close their eyes, and then take one thing away. Then, they open their eyes and guess what you took. You can easily scale the difficulty of the game by having more or fewer items, by lengthening or shortening the time they explore the items, by changing or not changing the items every round, and by taking away more or fewer objects.
Supermom Mom Activity
Retelling the Story: Books with strong plot patterns are good choices to have children retell creatively. So get together the paper and crayons and markers and staples and stuff you’ll need to make a book. If you need more suggestions, I did a post on book writing that might help you. Then, help your kids think of 5 items and a place they’d like to take them. Brainstorm different modes of transportation together. Now it’s time to write the story again. Depending on the age of your child, you can write the story or caption the pictures she draws. If your child is older and interested, have him both illustrate and write a new story. Oh, and don’t forget to hide a ladybug on each page!
If you do this activity with your children, be sure to give them some sort of outlet to display their creativity. An authentic audience will nearly always help kids engage more deeply and creatively in their work. We would definitely like to see what your kids come up with, so share with us if you can. You can send us a link to your blog or email me a .pdf file to post. My kids are out of school for a few days next week, so I’m planning this activity for one of those days. I’ll report back on how things go.
Lacing Cards
Oct
So as I’m contemplating writing some commentary to go along with this video, it kind of seems that the movie has said it all. I’m thinking that anything I put here is likely to be really redundant or really stupid. I suppose I could have a really great night and it could be redundant and stupid. So, watch the video and tell me if you think of something I missed. And do you like these commentary things after the video? Thumbs up or thumbs down?
Tags: fine motor skills, preschool, toddler
