I frequently get questions about what to do with toddlers (or younger school aged children who are done with their school and bugging the older kids who are hard at work).
Check out this web post:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/activities-that-will-keep-your-kids-busy-all-sum
I am all for cheap, easy and what we have around the house.
Enjoy!
Showing posts with label Play. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Play. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Friday, November 1, 2013
The Transmogrifier has been used at my house
"Words fail me."
© Universal Press Syndicate
The transmogrifier has been used at my house. Somehow, my eight year old blond precocious boy has transformed and is carrying a stuffed tiger, wearing a red and blue striped shirt and spiking his hair. Really. I'm not kidding. And you can imagine the things he is doing. Hobbes even came to church with us and I had to hold his paw during the "Our Father."
He's taken to playing Calvin ball.
That's the problem with a homeschool education. I think they sometimes go a little far. He is convinced he's Calvin and is refusing to respond to his own name. What's worse is he has decided that school is a waste of time because it's just a cruel way of making him remember stuff that doesn't matter to him. He wants to go off and hunt more tigers in the woods and build robots out of cardboard boxes.
What's a mom to do? Let him be Calvin for a little while. I can't complain. He has read and reread every single comic in the COMPLETE CALVIN AND HOBBES 4 Volume set over and over again, repeatedly. I will let him be Calvin for a while and then I can use the Transmogrifier to become Miss Wormwood a little later. Where DID I put that green dress with purple polka-dots?
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Sensory Diet - Keeping Toddlers (and Everyone Else) Happy
It's important for toddlers and preschoolers to touch and feel many different textures. It's part of what occupational therapists call a "Sensory Diet." One part of my kids' sensory diet is "GLURCH." Glurch is a weird substance who's name is derived from the first three letters of each of its components: 1 part glue:1 part liquid starch. Just pour glue into a cup or bowl. Add an equal amount of liquid starch. Stir. Then, you might have to get in there with your hands to knead. Store it in an air tight container.
I was cleaning out a craft cabinet in which I found several very old containers of pearlized and gel glue from five years ago. I really didn't expect it to be usable, but it was just fine. Apparently I had closed the containers tightly when I stored them. The result, several batches of glurch that my younger kids call "slime."
First, we have pearlized green glue turned into green slime that looks like, well, a bodily fluid that comes from the nose, which is the boys' favorite.
I also found red and pink gel glue that became lava slime. The plastic dinosaurs find it much more pleasant than real lava.
The last thing we tried was a combination of clear glitter glue and blue gel glue. It's more blue than clear and the glitter makes it really shimmery. The girls seem to like that one the best.
We especially like to keep this around on days when the older kids need mom and the little people need to be distracted and entertained. This works splendidly.
And, it's great for covering toys and finding them, wadding up and blowing into with a straw to blow "bubbles" and letting settle down your arm, just for the eek effect.
It's also a great science experiment, if you want to explain the science behind polymers. Here's a nice description compliments of www.science-class.net:
We also let them make and play with OOBLECK which is 1 part cornstarch to 1 part water. You can add food color as you like. Adjust the proportions and you have sidewalk paint when you add more water.
Oh, and don't be surprised if your older kids get in on the fun. My 12 year old daughter can't stay way from either substance!
First, we have pearlized green glue turned into green slime that looks like, well, a bodily fluid that comes from the nose, which is the boys' favorite.
I also found red and pink gel glue that became lava slime. The plastic dinosaurs find it much more pleasant than real lava.
The last thing we tried was a combination of clear glitter glue and blue gel glue. It's more blue than clear and the glitter makes it really shimmery. The girls seem to like that one the best.
And, it's great for covering toys and finding them, wadding up and blowing into with a straw to blow "bubbles" and letting settle down your arm, just for the eek effect.
It's also a great science experiment, if you want to explain the science behind polymers. Here's a nice description compliments of www.science-class.net:
A POLYMER is unique because it has qualities of both a solid and a liquid. It can take the shape of its containers like a liquid does, yet you can hold it in your hand and pick it up like a solid. Solid molecules are tight together, liquid molecules spread out and break apart (drops) POLYMER molecules CHAIN themselves together (they can stretch and bend like chains) and that makes them special. Jell-O, rubber bands, plastic soda bottles, sneaker soles, even gum are all forms of polymers.
We also let them make and play with OOBLECK which is 1 part cornstarch to 1 part water. You can add food color as you like. Adjust the proportions and you have sidewalk paint when you add more water.
Oh, and don't be surprised if your older kids get in on the fun. My 12 year old daughter can't stay way from either substance!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Sesquipedalian
With the homeschool Spelling Bee coming up in two weeks, we are doing a lot of spelling enrichment at our house. Even though this game does not contain words from our Spelling Bee, it is still one of our favorites!
I think what I like the most about it is that my non-speller loves it too. Here's why - the dictionary that comes with the game is divided into fun sections and most of the words are hilarious. The kids can't resist these:
1) Fancy Words for Regular Things
2) Tongue Tang
lers and Ticklers
3) Idiotic Insults and Captivating Compliments
4) Parts, Farts and Functions
5) Astonishing Actions
6) Wacky Wordplay
It has drawn in my non-speller because, while he is not a speller, he loves silly words, too. I'll give you a few examples:
coprolite: -n, fossilized dung
omphaloskepsis: -n, contemplation of one's belly button
alektorophobia: -n, the fear of chickens
Believe it or not, I've found the dictionary that goes with this game in the oddest of places (like the magazine rack in the bathroom and in the back seat of the van.) I think that's testament enough to how captivating it is to kids. I'll add a few words, every now and again, for you to impress your kids with and see if they don't like these silly words, too.
p.s. sesquipedalian: -n, one who uses long words
I think what I like the most about it is that my non-speller loves it too. Here's why - the dictionary that comes with the game is divided into fun sections and most of the words are hilarious. The kids can't resist these:
1) Fancy Words for Regular Things
2) Tongue Tang
lers and Ticklers
3) Idiotic Insults and Captivating Compliments
4) Parts, Farts and Functions
5) Astonishing Actions
6) Wacky Wordplay
It has drawn in my non-speller because, while he is not a speller, he loves silly words, too. I'll give you a few examples:
coprolite: -n, fossilized dung
omphaloskepsis: -n, contemplation of one's belly button
alektorophobia: -n, the fear of chickens
Believe it or not, I've found the dictionary that goes with this game in the oddest of places (like the magazine rack in the bathroom and in the back seat of the van.) I think that's testament enough to how captivating it is to kids. I'll add a few words, every now and again, for you to impress your kids with and see if they don't like these silly words, too.
p.s. sesquipedalian: -n, one who uses long words
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Cooperative Fun Learning
Here's a fun way to keep two age groups busy...
First - the back story. My 3 year old son is superhero obsessed. So much so that my pediatrician jokingly asked me if he owns more than one shirt. The 3 year old was wearing his Superman Underoo shirt, AGAIN. I explained, that no, he has four Superman Underoo shirts along with two batman Underoo shirts and two Spiderman Underoo shirts. Most of them are hand-me-downs from his older brothers, but some are new. Literally, that is all he would wear if I let him. We've come to an agreement that he CAN'T wear a superhero shirt to church, but otherwise he can wear them. He's now fond of wearing the Superman shirt under a button-down shirt so he can be just like Superman OR wear a turtleneck under the Superman Underoo.
My 11 year old daughter loves to draw. One day, I needed both of them busy and SHE came up with this idea. She drew a picture of random Batman images, including Robin, words in bubble letters like Zap and Pow all while the 3 year old told her what he wanted on the picture he wanted to paint. She outlined them in Sharpie marker, then she colored them in with watercolor pastels. She gave the picture to the 3 year old with a brush and water and he had a custom Superhero coloring page.
You could make a coloring book as a gift, if you are looking for a way for the older kids to gift the little ones. You could also use watercolor colored pencils. I've even heard you could make dots using washable markers. What a nice way to get a big kid helping a little one!
This kept them busy for a good hour, with the big 11 year old helping all the way.
First - the back story. My 3 year old son is superhero obsessed. So much so that my pediatrician jokingly asked me if he owns more than one shirt. The 3 year old was wearing his Superman Underoo shirt, AGAIN. I explained, that no, he has four Superman Underoo shirts along with two batman Underoo shirts and two Spiderman Underoo shirts. Most of them are hand-me-downs from his older brothers, but some are new. Literally, that is all he would wear if I let him. We've come to an agreement that he CAN'T wear a superhero shirt to church, but otherwise he can wear them. He's now fond of wearing the Superman shirt under a button-down shirt so he can be just like Superman OR wear a turtleneck under the Superman Underoo.
My 11 year old daughter loves to draw. One day, I needed both of them busy and SHE came up with this idea. She drew a picture of random Batman images, including Robin, words in bubble letters like Zap and Pow all while the 3 year old told her what he wanted on the picture he wanted to paint. She outlined them in Sharpie marker, then she colored them in with watercolor pastels. She gave the picture to the 3 year old with a brush and water and he had a custom Superhero coloring page.
You could make a coloring book as a gift, if you are looking for a way for the older kids to gift the little ones. You could also use watercolor colored pencils. I've even heard you could make dots using washable markers. What a nice way to get a big kid helping a little one!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
All the rage this Summer...
I found out about this on a Yahoo! group about Latin Centered Curriciulum. Minimus is a Latin program written by Barbara Bell from England. My kids are absolutely loving it. We have two student guides and one CD. The girls pair up and the oldest boy sit and listen to the CD and read the book. It's a bit of a graphical novel (read Comic Book) about a mouse that lives in Roman Briton with a Roman family. The story is based on historical artifacts found at a settlement called Vindolanda. So, it's not only Latin, but a small unit study on Roman History in Britain.
I haven't used it as a text book. I simply put the books and CD out on our school table, which is in our family room, and the kids found it on their own. They are noticing on their own the differences in pronunciation from Prima Latina and pointing them out to me. We talked about Ecclesiastical and Classical pronunciation.
My seven year old will be using Song School Latin next year and now I am struggling with which pronunciation to use. Song School Latin has both on the CD. For those of you who have taught Latin before, what have you used? I could use some help here.
I will now, most definitely be getting Minimus Secondus, if not for a Latin text, then just to leave out again for the kids to find and enjoy on their own.
I haven't used it as a text book. I simply put the books and CD out on our school table, which is in our family room, and the kids found it on their own. They are noticing on their own the differences in pronunciation from Prima Latina and pointing them out to me. We talked about Ecclesiastical and Classical pronunciation.
My seven year old will be using Song School Latin next year and now I am struggling with which pronunciation to use. Song School Latin has both on the CD. For those of you who have taught Latin before, what have you used? I could use some help here.
I will now, most definitely be getting Minimus Secondus, if not for a Latin text, then just to leave out again for the kids to find and enjoy on their own.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Worth Passing On to those with Preschoolers
I belong to a Yahoo! Group about Catholic Homeschooling. Someone sent this list of 60 things for Preschoolers to do on their own and said to feel free to distribute it! It's wonderful. Now, you may not have all the toys she mentions, but she has links! Enjoy.
For what it's worth, I've compiled my list of 60 activities for my preschooler to do independently while I'm doing lessons with my other children. (If you're not homeschooling but still have a preschooler at home, this may help you get some "just for you" time...)
My preschooler will be encouraged to participate with our lessons as she wants to or is capable (like listening to stories during Language Arts or History; she can certainly "do art" but I'm not going to force it and hopefully these activities will keep her occupied and out of trouble.
Feel free to pass this on to anyone else whom you think may find this helpful.
Preschooler Ideas for Younger Siblings - 3 and up
Since I'm using all the provided curriculum boxes for the kids (from K12), I decided to take the biggest box --the one that the art clay, plaster of Paris, etc. came in, and designate it my three year old's "school box". This way her school box is just like her siblings'. This box will ONLY be used at school time, and will only be used at the table. You can take any box and decorate it and make it the "special" box...brought out only at certain times and each time having something different in it.
Inside will be her own pencil box that will have a set of markers, (crayola washable, naturally) a pair of Fiskars kid scissors, a box of crayons, a pencil, a pen, and a glue stick. Each day I will put some papers in there for her to either color, cut up, paste things on, or practice writing (simple mazes and such for her to follow, etc.)
Each week I'll put one or two interesting books that she will enjoy looking at. There will also be one or two "special activities" that will change from day to day, made up of (mostly) educational toys and stuff that I currently have on hand but has been "put away" for a while.... Each day there'll be something different to do, either loose in the box or in a zipper top Ziploc bag (the kind with the slider zipper is easier for the kids to manipulate than the traditional ones).
The idea of this box is for her to entertain herself with little or no guidance from me while I work with her older siblings. She will more than likely be participating with us during some lessons (she likes to play "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" with the phonics tiles, LOL) .
Here are some ideas for the activities. Some will be in a zippered bag, some won't. I have 60 activities, so that I'll have enough for 2 per day per month. At the end of the month I'll start over again. The key to the success of these is to keep them a surprise and limit access to them so that the novelty does NOT wear off. Some seemingly obvious things, like legos and matchbox cars are missing from this list because they play with them almost every day. I got the ideas for many of these activities from various websites with preschoolers in mind. I do not have these in any particular order. Obviously they need to be mixed up so there aren't a whole slew of similar activities piggy backing day in and day out......Also, I'm not going to insult your intelligence by reminding you about choking hazards, which some of these activities may contain...use your common sense based upon your child, and you'll be fine!...
1. sock match...several pairs of colorful infant socks that she's outgrown in the bag to match up or just play with. If I know her she'll have them on her hands and feet for half an hour.
2. dominoes...to build with and do who knows what with...
3. Discovery Toys Tinyville Magnets (these are magnets in shapes like people, vehicles, animals, buildings, cloud, stars, moon, etc...) and the magnetic white board
4. Play Doh, with geometric shaped cookie cutters
5. Play Doh with farm animal cookie cutters
6. Paint in a bag...put two colors of paint in a doubled Ziploc bag, seal it with clear tape, and let her squish them to mix the colors. There will be a couple of different color combinations
7. More magnets --from a magnet kit...lots of different plane figures and a magnetic base to build upon
8. Blues Clues Cards there are nine sets of four cards, three "clues" that go with one card. Got these at a dollar store that was going out of business...got them for 50 cents! :-)
9. Mixies cards (11 sets of three different cards that form a picture...these came from somebody's birthday party favor bag)
10. Puzzle Pairs (Discovery Toys two piece puzzles of things that go together, like a sock and foot, sink and soap, etc)
11. Memory...for The Preschooler I'll probably only give her 24 cards at a time as opposed to the full set of 72; this way I can get 3 activities from one memory game and she won't be overwhelmed!
12. Animal Lotto..she can match up all the animals on the boards...
13. Spirit "jigsaw" puzzle...I printed out a horse picture colored to look like Spirit and am gluing it to felt, then cutting it out in simple shapes for her to put together. I will probably put a couple more like this in
there too.
14. Pattern blocks (mine are from K12; easily obtained from curriculum suppliers for a few bucks)
15. Wooden Geometric Solids...these will keep her occupied for at least a half hour; as with above, easily obtained from suppliers, often for under $10 for a nice set of 12 hardwood blocks
16. Math linking cubes- these are the multi link cubes, not unifix cubes. The multi link cubes are connectable all the way around, unlike unifix cubes that only connect one way.
17. Lincoln Logs
18. dry rice with a funnel, measuring cup, measuring spoon, and containers
19. Lacing beads with shoe laces (the long heavy duty ones from ds's old workboots work really well)
20. Giant pegboard and rubber bands
21.Rubber stamps with farm animals
22. Rubber stamps with numbers
23. Discovery Toys Playful Patterns
24. Discover Toys AB Seas alphabet fishing game
25. Discovery Toys Itsy Bitsy Spider Game
26 Discovery Toys Bright Builders (being a former consultant has its advantages!)
27. Stickers! Lots of STICKERS. Draw shapes on a piece of paper and give lots of tiny stickers to fill in the shapes with. You could also write the child's name on there to put stickers on each letter...so the name shows up in stickers. the smaller the sticker the better as it takes more time to fill them in.
28. Animal cards...you know those "clubs" where you get wildlife cards? Well I picked up half a set at a yardsale and the kids love looking at the pictures...that should keep her busy for 20 minutes
29. Mr and Mrs Potato Head Not sure if it's educational, but it should keep her busy for a half hour, hopefully. LOL
30. Bucket of Goop (three parts cornstarch to one part water) in a small empty oxyclean bucket with a scoop, funnel, graduated cylinder from K12, and another container to pour the goop into. Messy and fun but easy to clean up.
31. Watercolor paints I miss those old "Paint with water" books where all you had to do was have a paintbrush and water. The new ones come with a set of watercolors attached, but in this case, I'd really like the books with the pictures already "colored" and you just swipe it with a wet brush to "paint." Maybe lacking in creativity, but hey. After painting one picture The Preschooler will probably have the paint set ruined by not rinsing out the brush...my idea here is for her do to something WITHOUT guidance from me...oh well...
32. Lacing cards. Using the shoe laces from the lacing beads. I'll cut out shapes from light weight cardboard and cover with contact paper before punching holes in it. Someone else suggested using old bleach bottles but
I'm afraid that cutting them up will ruin my scissors. LOL
33. Felt shapes and felt board...using cookie cutters and other things as patterns, I'll make some little people and geometric shapes for her to play with. I'll cover a piece of sturdy cardboard with felt.
Bananas for the Monkeys Original Author Unknown: Cut five monkey shapes out of brown felt and fifteen banana shapes out of yellow felt. Number the monkeys from 1 to 5 and place them on flannel board. Have the children identify the number on each monkey and place that many bananas in front of it.
34. Puppets in a Bag --yarn, facial features already cut out, a brown lunch sack, and some glue...a puppet kit!
35. Glue, Yarn, and shapes...sorry, no creative name for this. I'll draw some shapes on construction paper and give her a small (the tiny size) bottle of Elmer's glue to squeeze onto the lines I drew (helps build small
motor coordination) and then she can put the yarn on the shapes. Other times, do this with her name, or a house, or something similar. I buy the tiny bottles once, then get the more economical bigger bottles to refill
with later as needed. I don't even buy Elmer's half the time.
36. Collage in a bag...rip out some magazine pages with interesting pictures for her to cut out and paste on a piece of paper...maybe following a certain theme...like one time have it all healthy foods...another time, families and kids, animals, flowers, etc.
37. Bean Sort - Since she's pretty much beyond sticking a bean up her nose and requiring dh to remove it with needle nose pliers, I figure this is now a safe activity for her to do with only moderate supervision. (yes
that's what happened and I got rid of our "Don't Spill The Beans Game" after dd and I were traumatized by this.dd was much more mortified by the sight of her daddy heading toward the preschooler's nose with those pliers...I didn't look. :) ) Lots of different beans in a bucket for her to measure, pour, sort, and throw on the floor for me to vacuum up.
38. Eyedropper, small container of water, and a mini ice cube tray or Styrofoam egg carton. If you're feeling adventurous, use colored water to make it interesting. Demonstrate how to use the eyedropper both to fill and
empty the cups... Would also work well with mini muffin tins, I suppose...
39. Colored Pasta - color your own pasta, using wheels or any other pasta that has large openings (easy to lace.) Use small amount of rubbing alcohol and several drops of food coloring in an airtight container or Ziploc. Leave the pasta in for a few minutes ; shaking it up or stirring a few times. Take it out to dry in a single layer. . then provide laces to string them up. You could provide some color or shape patterns on cards to duplicate.
40. Penny Count (source: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/3446/keeplittleones.html) I will make a more compact version on a single sheet of paper, and use circles the same size as the counting tokens (bingo chips)...match the colors and number amounts! But I thought the whole idea was pretty neat:
Make a poster board showing "cells" of numbers. Example: Draw a square, write "1" in it. Draw or tape down "1" penny in the square. Do the same with each square...up to ten or twenty...your choice. I'd start with 10 first and then draw two more squares at a time up to twenty as child gets better at this skill.
2) Give your child a basket or plastic container of pennies and have him match up pennies that you have put down with the picture in each square. (Ex. In the "2" cell, he would put below your example 1, 2 pennies in a
one-to-one correspondence. Check him when he is done by having him count each cell with you. Repetition is what teaches counting!
3) Eventually "test" your child by showing him only a number "3" printed on a index card and have him lay down 3 pennies and say "3". You might even write the word "three" along with the number "3" back in step one so that the child is learning a sight vocabulary word along with the printed "3". You would only do this if your child already knows the alphabet though. Then you could hold up a card that says "three" and see if he can lay the correct pennies down when seeing the word too.
41. Super ball or small car and a paper towel or Christmas paper tube. If you feel creative you could make a marble run of sorts with a couple tubes (see www.familyfun.com) I probably won't...she'll be happy enough with this. Why get more complicated than you need to? I could also let her color it with markers if she wanted.
42. Magnet and paperclips, washers, a nail, etc.
43. A large (big enough to climb in) box. 'Nuff said.
44. A giant piece of paper (or PAVCS posterboard) to color on...whatever desired...just give the paper and markers and you're set.
45. Lots of colored pom poms and tweezers to sort them out...look for tweezers that will be easy for little hands to manipulate, like the ones that come with the game Bed Bugs...heck, look for the Bed Bugs game. LOL
46. Treasure Hunt: large pot or box filled with corn meal, oat meal, rice, etc, with small "treasures" hidden inside...individually wrapped candy, coins, Barbie shoes, game pieces, etc. Make a picture checklist with all the items to find!
47. Colored Straws and scissors: nothing more to say. LOL straws are good for scissor practice because one snip and you have instant results. Provide Elmer's glue and paper and it's time to make a mosaic!
48. Discovery Toys Busy Bugs This can be duplicated with any manipulative, but I just got the game off eBay for $10. Might be able to find something similar in a homeschool catalog... kind of like the penny poster above, just using something different to play with and put the "problems" on index cards instead of the poster. You could use stuff around the house like coins, counters, buttons, pasta...make up index cards with patterns to duplicate/put simple problems on there: show items with number and number word under it, or do a simple problem like 2+2= etc...... This activity will be accompanied by a couple bug books and hopefully a neat bug video from the library!
49. Sticks, chunks of moss, rocks, leaves...with small rubber animals or dinosaurs...add some sand in a 9x13 baking pan...don't worry about sand on the floor...that's what vacuum cleaners are for!!!!! On a nice day do all your school work outside...heck, let the older kid SKIP schoolwork to do this outside... :-)
50. Magnetic Treasure Hunt: like the treasure hunt (#46) above, only this time use metal items and a magnet to attract them! Be sure your magnet isn't too strong or your kid will get several treasures at once!
51. Memory 2 see activity 11
53 Memory 3 see activity 11
54. Checkers and a small purse/canvas bag.... Checkers are cool cause they stack. If you can get more than two dozen, that's even better. Dollar stores often have checker games.
55. Chess pieces. Get a cheap chess/checkers game or two at the dollar store. Rachel likes to play with the pieces like they're alive. :-)
56. Magnetic Marbles I picked these up at a dollar store. Amazing the things you find at these places! I know that they'll be interesting for at least fifteen to twenty minutes...maybe more.
57. Popsicle sticks and Elmer's glue. Bob the builder at your service! Real cool if you have colored sticks...or just color them with markers when done. This is great for eye hand coordination and small motor building. You could put the glue in a small plastic cup or on a paper plate and have child apply it with a cotton swab to avoid "excessive" glue....
58. Rubber Stamps with letters
59. Viewmaster and reels --I'm trying to collect educational rather than twaddle reels (cartoon characters = twaddle). I want to find reels of animals and places that are real.
60. Farm Animals and Barn. Our barn was being abused (read: animals left all over the house) plus we really don't have shelf space for the barn to be out all the time. So I'll bring it out from time to time...maybe when nothing else is working and the Preschooler is being a real pill.
One thing I am going to try not to worry about is "THE MESS" with some of these activities. Messes happen. Elmer's, crayola markers, and watercolors wash off. Sand and rice vacuums up. (You'll note I didn't put finger paints or tempera paint activities here...#1, that's not recommended without supervision...because tempera stains...and #2...well, tempera stains. LOL I've chosen things that will have a moderate clean up factor, if any. I may even let the Preschooler use the vacuum hose to clean up any spills...the other two will probably fight her for the "privilege". LOL And when they're old enough to actually handle the vacuum, it's no longer "fun" for them and they don't want to do it!
For what it's worth, I've compiled my list of 60 activities for my preschooler to do independently while I'm doing lessons with my other children. (If you're not homeschooling but still have a preschooler at home, this may help you get some "just for you" time...)
My preschooler will be encouraged to participate with our lessons as she wants to or is capable (like listening to stories during Language Arts or History; she can certainly "do art" but I'm not going to force it and hopefully these activities will keep her occupied and out of trouble.
Feel free to pass this on to anyone else whom you think may find this helpful.
Preschooler Ideas for Younger Siblings - 3 and up
Since I'm using all the provided curriculum boxes for the kids (from K12), I decided to take the biggest box --the one that the art clay, plaster of Paris, etc. came in, and designate it my three year old's "school box". This way her school box is just like her siblings'. This box will ONLY be used at school time, and will only be used at the table. You can take any box and decorate it and make it the "special" box...brought out only at certain times and each time having something different in it.
Inside will be her own pencil box that will have a set of markers, (crayola washable, naturally) a pair of Fiskars kid scissors, a box of crayons, a pencil, a pen, and a glue stick. Each day I will put some papers in there for her to either color, cut up, paste things on, or practice writing (simple mazes and such for her to follow, etc.)
Each week I'll put one or two interesting books that she will enjoy looking at. There will also be one or two "special activities" that will change from day to day, made up of (mostly) educational toys and stuff that I currently have on hand but has been "put away" for a while.... Each day there'll be something different to do, either loose in the box or in a zipper top Ziploc bag (the kind with the slider zipper is easier for the kids to manipulate than the traditional ones).
The idea of this box is for her to entertain herself with little or no guidance from me while I work with her older siblings. She will more than likely be participating with us during some lessons (she likes to play "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" with the phonics tiles, LOL) .
Here are some ideas for the activities. Some will be in a zippered bag, some won't. I have 60 activities, so that I'll have enough for 2 per day per month. At the end of the month I'll start over again. The key to the success of these is to keep them a surprise and limit access to them so that the novelty does NOT wear off. Some seemingly obvious things, like legos and matchbox cars are missing from this list because they play with them almost every day. I got the ideas for many of these activities from various websites with preschoolers in mind. I do not have these in any particular order. Obviously they need to be mixed up so there aren't a whole slew of similar activities piggy backing day in and day out......Also, I'm not going to insult your intelligence by reminding you about choking hazards, which some of these activities may contain...use your common sense based upon your child, and you'll be fine!...
1. sock match...several pairs of colorful infant socks that she's outgrown in the bag to match up or just play with. If I know her she'll have them on her hands and feet for half an hour.
2. dominoes...to build with and do who knows what with...
3. Discovery Toys Tinyville Magnets (these are magnets in shapes like people, vehicles, animals, buildings, cloud, stars, moon, etc...) and the magnetic white board
4. Play Doh, with geometric shaped cookie cutters
5. Play Doh with farm animal cookie cutters
6. Paint in a bag...put two colors of paint in a doubled Ziploc bag, seal it with clear tape, and let her squish them to mix the colors. There will be a couple of different color combinations
7. More magnets --from a magnet kit...lots of different plane figures and a magnetic base to build upon
8. Blues Clues Cards there are nine sets of four cards, three "clues" that go with one card. Got these at a dollar store that was going out of business...got them for 50 cents! :-)
9. Mixies cards (11 sets of three different cards that form a picture...these came from somebody's birthday party favor bag)
10. Puzzle Pairs (Discovery Toys two piece puzzles of things that go together, like a sock and foot, sink and soap, etc)
11. Memory...for The Preschooler I'll probably only give her 24 cards at a time as opposed to the full set of 72; this way I can get 3 activities from one memory game and she won't be overwhelmed!
12. Animal Lotto..she can match up all the animals on the boards...
13. Spirit "jigsaw" puzzle...I printed out a horse picture colored to look like Spirit and am gluing it to felt, then cutting it out in simple shapes for her to put together. I will probably put a couple more like this in
there too.
14. Pattern blocks (mine are from K12; easily obtained from curriculum suppliers for a few bucks)
15. Wooden Geometric Solids...these will keep her occupied for at least a half hour; as with above, easily obtained from suppliers, often for under $10 for a nice set of 12 hardwood blocks
16. Math linking cubes- these are the multi link cubes, not unifix cubes. The multi link cubes are connectable all the way around, unlike unifix cubes that only connect one way.
17. Lincoln Logs
18. dry rice with a funnel, measuring cup, measuring spoon, and containers
19. Lacing beads with shoe laces (the long heavy duty ones from ds's old workboots work really well)
20. Giant pegboard and rubber bands
21.Rubber stamps with farm animals
22. Rubber stamps with numbers
23. Discovery Toys Playful Patterns
24. Discover Toys AB Seas alphabet fishing game
25. Discovery Toys Itsy Bitsy Spider Game
26 Discovery Toys Bright Builders (being a former consultant has its advantages!)
27. Stickers! Lots of STICKERS. Draw shapes on a piece of paper and give lots of tiny stickers to fill in the shapes with. You could also write the child's name on there to put stickers on each letter...so the name shows up in stickers. the smaller the sticker the better as it takes more time to fill them in.
28. Animal cards...you know those "clubs" where you get wildlife cards? Well I picked up half a set at a yardsale and the kids love looking at the pictures...that should keep her busy for 20 minutes
29. Mr and Mrs Potato Head Not sure if it's educational, but it should keep her busy for a half hour, hopefully. LOL
30. Bucket of Goop (three parts cornstarch to one part water) in a small empty oxyclean bucket with a scoop, funnel, graduated cylinder from K12, and another container to pour the goop into. Messy and fun but easy to clean up.
31. Watercolor paints I miss those old "Paint with water" books where all you had to do was have a paintbrush and water. The new ones come with a set of watercolors attached, but in this case, I'd really like the books with the pictures already "colored" and you just swipe it with a wet brush to "paint." Maybe lacking in creativity, but hey. After painting one picture The Preschooler will probably have the paint set ruined by not rinsing out the brush...my idea here is for her do to something WITHOUT guidance from me...oh well...
32. Lacing cards. Using the shoe laces from the lacing beads. I'll cut out shapes from light weight cardboard and cover with contact paper before punching holes in it. Someone else suggested using old bleach bottles but
I'm afraid that cutting them up will ruin my scissors. LOL
33. Felt shapes and felt board...using cookie cutters and other things as patterns, I'll make some little people and geometric shapes for her to play with. I'll cover a piece of sturdy cardboard with felt.
Bananas for the Monkeys Original Author Unknown: Cut five monkey shapes out of brown felt and fifteen banana shapes out of yellow felt. Number the monkeys from 1 to 5 and place them on flannel board. Have the children identify the number on each monkey and place that many bananas in front of it.
34. Puppets in a Bag --yarn, facial features already cut out, a brown lunch sack, and some glue...a puppet kit!
35. Glue, Yarn, and shapes...sorry, no creative name for this. I'll draw some shapes on construction paper and give her a small (the tiny size) bottle of Elmer's glue to squeeze onto the lines I drew (helps build small
motor coordination) and then she can put the yarn on the shapes. Other times, do this with her name, or a house, or something similar. I buy the tiny bottles once, then get the more economical bigger bottles to refill
with later as needed. I don't even buy Elmer's half the time.
36. Collage in a bag...rip out some magazine pages with interesting pictures for her to cut out and paste on a piece of paper...maybe following a certain theme...like one time have it all healthy foods...another time, families and kids, animals, flowers, etc.
37. Bean Sort - Since she's pretty much beyond sticking a bean up her nose and requiring dh to remove it with needle nose pliers, I figure this is now a safe activity for her to do with only moderate supervision. (yes
that's what happened and I got rid of our "Don't Spill The Beans Game" after dd and I were traumatized by this.dd was much more mortified by the sight of her daddy heading toward the preschooler's nose with those pliers...I didn't look. :) ) Lots of different beans in a bucket for her to measure, pour, sort, and throw on the floor for me to vacuum up.
38. Eyedropper, small container of water, and a mini ice cube tray or Styrofoam egg carton. If you're feeling adventurous, use colored water to make it interesting. Demonstrate how to use the eyedropper both to fill and
empty the cups... Would also work well with mini muffin tins, I suppose...
39. Colored Pasta - color your own pasta, using wheels or any other pasta that has large openings (easy to lace.) Use small amount of rubbing alcohol and several drops of food coloring in an airtight container or Ziploc. Leave the pasta in for a few minutes ; shaking it up or stirring a few times. Take it out to dry in a single layer. . then provide laces to string them up. You could provide some color or shape patterns on cards to duplicate.
40. Penny Count (source: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/3446/keeplittleones.html) I will make a more compact version on a single sheet of paper, and use circles the same size as the counting tokens (bingo chips)...match the colors and number amounts! But I thought the whole idea was pretty neat:
Make a poster board showing "cells" of numbers. Example: Draw a square, write "1" in it. Draw or tape down "1" penny in the square. Do the same with each square...up to ten or twenty...your choice. I'd start with 10 first and then draw two more squares at a time up to twenty as child gets better at this skill.
2) Give your child a basket or plastic container of pennies and have him match up pennies that you have put down with the picture in each square. (Ex. In the "2" cell, he would put below your example 1, 2 pennies in a
one-to-one correspondence. Check him when he is done by having him count each cell with you. Repetition is what teaches counting!
3) Eventually "test" your child by showing him only a number "3" printed on a index card and have him lay down 3 pennies and say "3". You might even write the word "three" along with the number "3" back in step one so that the child is learning a sight vocabulary word along with the printed "3". You would only do this if your child already knows the alphabet though. Then you could hold up a card that says "three" and see if he can lay the correct pennies down when seeing the word too.
41. Super ball or small car and a paper towel or Christmas paper tube. If you feel creative you could make a marble run of sorts with a couple tubes (see www.familyfun.com) I probably won't...she'll be happy enough with this. Why get more complicated than you need to? I could also let her color it with markers if she wanted.
42. Magnet and paperclips, washers, a nail, etc.
43. A large (big enough to climb in) box. 'Nuff said.
44. A giant piece of paper (or PAVCS posterboard) to color on...whatever desired...just give the paper and markers and you're set.
45. Lots of colored pom poms and tweezers to sort them out...look for tweezers that will be easy for little hands to manipulate, like the ones that come with the game Bed Bugs...heck, look for the Bed Bugs game. LOL
46. Treasure Hunt: large pot or box filled with corn meal, oat meal, rice, etc, with small "treasures" hidden inside...individually wrapped candy, coins, Barbie shoes, game pieces, etc. Make a picture checklist with all the items to find!
47. Colored Straws and scissors: nothing more to say. LOL straws are good for scissor practice because one snip and you have instant results. Provide Elmer's glue and paper and it's time to make a mosaic!
48. Discovery Toys Busy Bugs This can be duplicated with any manipulative, but I just got the game off eBay for $10. Might be able to find something similar in a homeschool catalog... kind of like the penny poster above, just using something different to play with and put the "problems" on index cards instead of the poster. You could use stuff around the house like coins, counters, buttons, pasta...make up index cards with patterns to duplicate/put simple problems on there: show items with number and number word under it, or do a simple problem like 2+2= etc...... This activity will be accompanied by a couple bug books and hopefully a neat bug video from the library!
49. Sticks, chunks of moss, rocks, leaves...with small rubber animals or dinosaurs...add some sand in a 9x13 baking pan...don't worry about sand on the floor...that's what vacuum cleaners are for!!!!! On a nice day do all your school work outside...heck, let the older kid SKIP schoolwork to do this outside... :-)
50. Magnetic Treasure Hunt: like the treasure hunt (#46) above, only this time use metal items and a magnet to attract them! Be sure your magnet isn't too strong or your kid will get several treasures at once!
51. Memory 2 see activity 11
53 Memory 3 see activity 11
54. Checkers and a small purse/canvas bag.... Checkers are cool cause they stack. If you can get more than two dozen, that's even better. Dollar stores often have checker games.
55. Chess pieces. Get a cheap chess/checkers game or two at the dollar store. Rachel likes to play with the pieces like they're alive. :-)
56. Magnetic Marbles I picked these up at a dollar store. Amazing the things you find at these places! I know that they'll be interesting for at least fifteen to twenty minutes...maybe more.
57. Popsicle sticks and Elmer's glue. Bob the builder at your service! Real cool if you have colored sticks...or just color them with markers when done. This is great for eye hand coordination and small motor building. You could put the glue in a small plastic cup or on a paper plate and have child apply it with a cotton swab to avoid "excessive" glue....
58. Rubber Stamps with letters
59. Viewmaster and reels --I'm trying to collect educational rather than twaddle reels (cartoon characters = twaddle). I want to find reels of animals and places that are real.
60. Farm Animals and Barn. Our barn was being abused (read: animals left all over the house) plus we really don't have shelf space for the barn to be out all the time. So I'll bring it out from time to time...maybe when nothing else is working and the Preschooler is being a real pill.
One thing I am going to try not to worry about is "THE MESS" with some of these activities. Messes happen. Elmer's, crayola markers, and watercolors wash off. Sand and rice vacuums up. (You'll note I didn't put finger paints or tempera paint activities here...#1, that's not recommended without supervision...because tempera stains...and #2...well, tempera stains. LOL I've chosen things that will have a moderate clean up factor, if any. I may even let the Preschooler use the vacuum hose to clean up any spills...the other two will probably fight her for the "privilege". LOL And when they're old enough to actually handle the vacuum, it's no longer "fun" for them and they don't want to do it!
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