At long last, Silas is starting to get interested in doing things. He's only 2-1/2, so it's not like he's behind or anything. My older two were just so engaged in activities by this time that I've been frustrated, not sure how to entertain the toddler all morning long!
Finally, two weeks, ago, he asked for a dot marker, and happily sat at the table for nearly half an hour. That was my cue to pull up the ABC Jesus Loves Me two-year-old curriculum and plan a few activities! My days already feel pretty full right now, so we're just doing one shape and color activity (combined) each week. I didn't manage to post last week's, so here are the two we've done so far:
Red Circle
I cannot overstate how simple I am keeping things. Print the ABCJLM circle page from week one. (Or just draw a circle on a piece of paper. Who's going to care?!) I chose to write the word "RED" in the middle, because Silas knows most of his letters and likes to point them out. Give the kid a red crayon and let him go to town. For the rest of the week, point out circles whenever you remember.
Finally, two weeks, ago, he asked for a dot marker, and happily sat at the table for nearly half an hour. That was my cue to pull up the ABC Jesus Loves Me two-year-old curriculum and plan a few activities! My days already feel pretty full right now, so we're just doing one shape and color activity (combined) each week. I didn't manage to post last week's, so here are the two we've done so far:
Red Circle
I cannot overstate how simple I am keeping things. Print the ABCJLM circle page from week one. (Or just draw a circle on a piece of paper. Who's going to care?!) I chose to write the word "RED" in the middle, because Silas knows most of his letters and likes to point them out. Give the kid a red crayon and let him go to town. For the rest of the week, point out circles whenever you remember.
Photo credit: Levi.
Blue Line
Okay, I spent an extra five minutes for this one, gluing dry spaghetti to a piece of paper to make 3-D lines (idea from week two). (It didn't occur to me until afterwards that I should have outsourced this preparation to Levi.) For most of this, Silas sat in my lap, and I held a little container of blue paint. I only left him alone to snap the picture. About halfway through, I rotated the paper so he could practice painting both vertical and horizontal lines.
Notice the paint on the window? Wipes right off.
You'll notice that we do a lot of toddler activities on a vertical surface -- usually the glass door, because glass is easier to clean than painted wall. People who write intelligent-sounding blogs about toddler and preschool development all seem to agree that writing/painting/coloring on a vertical surface is better for improving motor control. I have no further scientific evidence to back that up, but we do it anyway. If nothing else, it's a nice variety! Plus, I think boys in particular are more apt to do activities like this when they're not expected to sit down to do them. Just my opinion. :)
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