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Fishing, Biking, and Lacing


I started this post when Silas was three weeks old.  We've been just a little bit busy since then (and still are). Regardless, considerably after the fact, here I present to you three activities that were perfect in ability level (a bit challenging, but not so much as to be frustrating) for my then-35-month-old.

Fishing
At that time, we were reading about Jesus calling his disciples to become "fishers of men" in our morning Bible time, so I thought we should do some sort of fishing activity.  People all over the blogging world have great ideas about attaching string to a dowel rod, tying a magnet to the end of the string, creating cute little fish with magnets in their mouths to fish for, etc.  I am 1) not that crafty, 2) not that blessed with extra time, and 3) not that concerned with having my activities be cute.  In lieu of those three things, I hooked a paper clip onto a piece of string and threw our letter and number magnets in a laundry basket.  The paper clip was only just barely strong enough to lift the magnets, so it really did take a steady hand and some concentration to "fish" successfully.



Biking
At my request, Levi's birthday present from my parents was a tricycle.  (Actually, it has four wheels, but it's in the shape of a trike.  And anyway, he calls it his "bike," so we're just not being picky about the number of wheels.)  My mom scored this great Radio Flyer trike for $7 at a garage sale, and they brought it down a few weeks before his birthday.  He was able to pedal it by the end of the afternoon, but it wasn't until a few weeks later that he really took off.  Now, he and Owen chase each other around the house and the deck on their respective bikes, and take great pleasure in "parking" them in the living room at night!

Checking out the pedals.  (Yes, he's still in jammies.  Don't judge.)

Daddy helping.

An action shot: riding across the living room.  
(For the first few days, having sandals on helped him pedal hard enough.)

Lacing
At another garage sale, my mom picked up a little lacing activity set.  I'd mentioned to her that lacing was one of the things listed on lists of developmentally-appropriate activities for pre-schoolers, and this just happened to be a lucky find.  (She has really great garage sales in her area.)  We've only used it a few times, but Levi always enjoys working on it, and it's just hard enough for him to remember which holes to go through in which direction that I feel like he's being challenged (in a good way, not in a way that causes a meltdown or a refusal to try).

Concentration.

The set contains six birds and three laces.  Bonus: they fit perfectly in a large zippered pencil bag, making them compact and easy to take along as a "busy bag!"


Any other three-year-olds out there learning to do new things??
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