As I type this, my husband and my toddler are playing one of his (Levi's) favorite games: "the die game," as he calls it. It began as a solo activity one morning while Levi was typing letters on the computer: he spotted two dice on the computer desk and began rolling it repeatedly next to the computer, typing each number he rolled after he rolled it. (Isaac had played with dice with him before, so he'd already learned to recognize each side as containing a number of dots.)
On a whim a few weeks ago (and as a means of pulling him away from the computer when he wasn't particularly inclined to do so), and I grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen and the die, sat down on the floor, and invited him to take turns rolling the die with me. We made a line for Levi and a line for Mommy on the paper, and I wrote down each number as we rolled the die.
It's not so much a "game," as it has no winner (and no definite ending point, I soon realized!), but it has improved his ability to take turns. Now that he has the sides of the die memorized, it's not even counting practice, but I suppose there's still some value in talking about the numbers. As a special treat, Isaac even let Levi try to draw the numbers himself tonight -- which probably means I'll have to do the same when we play again in the future. :) (Just to be clear, Levi can make very few of the letters legibly -- 0 and 1 are fine, 2 and 3 and 6 occasionally happen on accident, but 4 and 5 are way beyond his grasp.)
On a whim a few weeks ago (and as a means of pulling him away from the computer when he wasn't particularly inclined to do so), and I grabbed a scrap of paper and a pen and the die, sat down on the floor, and invited him to take turns rolling the die with me. We made a line for Levi and a line for Mommy on the paper, and I wrote down each number as we rolled the die.
It's not so much a "game," as it has no winner (and no definite ending point, I soon realized!), but it has improved his ability to take turns. Now that he has the sides of the die memorized, it's not even counting practice, but I suppose there's still some value in talking about the numbers. As a special treat, Isaac even let Levi try to draw the numbers himself tonight -- which probably means I'll have to do the same when we play again in the future. :) (Just to be clear, Levi can make very few of the letters legibly -- 0 and 1 are fine, 2 and 3 and 6 occasionally happen on accident, but 4 and 5 are way beyond his grasp.)
My little lefty. :)
Wow- that Levi is definitely amazing! Does he seem to care more about numbers than letters?
ReplyDeleteIs it amazing? I didn't mean to brag. :)
ReplyDeleteI think he has more fun with numbers, because he recognizes patterns so easily and there are so many possible combinations. But he still asks me regularly what letter various words start with and likes to "spell" things with his magnet letters.