Saturday, April 25, 2009

Marbles, Chopsticks, Rocks, and More

Spray Bottle, Marbles, Chopsticks, and a 24-month-old
The older kids like to fill the bottle with marbles (24-month-old gives up after 5 marbles or so), and the 24-month-old likes to add chopsticks. I rather like the presentation factor.



Fastening Mommy's Watch
Upon request from the almost-5-year old, he was allowed to have my watch and the little watch pillow to practice fastening and unfastening a watch. He has an amazing amount of patience for these tasks.



Ice Trays and Cotton Balls
A kitty ice tray has become a great tool for practicing all kinds of fine motor skills. The ice try was filled with cotton balls and the 24-month-old was removing the cotton balls with tweezers and then refilling the ice tray upon completion. The same day, the 24-month-old also practiced filling our usual ice trays with a 2-cup measure of water. These acivities are popular with the 7-year-old and the almost-5-year-old as well.



Easter Egg Tray and Pinto Beans
I think this Easter egg tray is so cute, but it has not been as popular as I would have thought for the kids. I placed 12 pinto beans on the little pink tray and I demonstrated with my pincher fingers putting one bean per hole. My 24-month-old only enjoyed this as long as I was at her side, and the minute I turned to help the older children, she began dumping both the pink tray and the bunny tray on the floor and everywhere else (effective strike). On previous strikes, I have removed the offending item, but this time I tried once more and stayed with her until she completed the task. Upon seeing that each hole had a bean and that she had used all the beans from the floor and her lap, she seemed quite pleased with herself.



Rock Bath
A dear relative who loves to shop asked my 7-year-old what she could bring her from the country of Oman. And my sweet child asked for rocks. :) So here are her beloved rocks receiving their first American bath.



The Rock! His work is perfect,
For all His ways are just;
A God of faithfulness and without injustice,
Righteous and upright is He.

Deuteronomy 32:4

3 comments:

Mandy said...

YEARS ago I bought an easter egg tray much like yours and have used it for similar activities. The kids really enjoy just putting plastic eggs in each spot. It's funny how something so mundane is such entertainment to the wee ones!

SurvivingByGrace said...

I'd love to hear additional ideas for the egg trays - especially from my artsy friend!

Heather said...

My kids still love rocks! As do I. :) A cool activity for the older ones is to look for fossils in limestone or identify rock types either after a rain or or after spritzing gravel with the hose. My kids will spend hours searching for brachiopods in our (and their grandparets') limestone gravel driveways. They then bring them home and add them to our random bowls of rocks around the house--which they later use for various sorting and identifying activities--currently our wooden chess board is covered in a pattern of colored and white rocks, which Esther spent half an hour or so doing one afternoon and which everyone enjoys too much to put away.