Over the past few weeks, a number of bugs have been going around our house and have left all of us just feeling exhausted. Jonathan has been taking 3 hour naps at home and asking to go to bed early. And we've been right behind him!! That plus the cold weather and a snow day has meant that we've had to improvise and be creative to stay entertained in the house all day. Here are some pics from our exploits...
I cut up an old sweet potato to make stamps- the triangle and square were easy, the circle took more work. Jonathan loved banging them from the paint pan onto the paper and was very excited to point out the shapes and then count them ( as in "one, two, free, six triangles!").
Then, during snack time, I realized that his chex-mix contained bits of circles, squares, and triangles. So I pulled out the his paintings and he matched the corresponding snack shapes with his paintings.
Yesterday I got this idea from another blog and mixed together a bunch of almost empty pantry wares- a few tablespoons each of a bunch of kinds of rice and lentils and barley. Then I collected some various plastic containers and scoops and put it all in a 9x13 pan. This was the jackpot. It kept Jonathan raptly entertained for over an hour. (though it did require some major sweeping later)
Making play-dough is on our list next!
My other friend's child has a bean tray (like a medium sized rubbermaid) that they keep ready all the time. She's been playing with it for over a year at least. She just turned 3 last month. When she was younger, she scooped and sorted like Jonathan, and now she "cooks" the beans in her little kitchen and serves them to her guests for tea. They keep it on the floor, so there's less scattering of beans when they fall.
ReplyDeleteLooks so fun. It always feels good to do homespun activities. Here's another blog I like: http://www.icanteachmychild.com/
ReplyDeleteAllison- we tried the pan on he floor trick this afternoon and it worked beautifully!! Way easier to clean up and he wasn't as prone to wandering around the house with a spoon full of rice to dump as I had been afraid of.
ReplyDeleteErin- that is another blog I like as well! There are so many good mommy ideas out there!!