The last few days have been a little nuts around here as we’ve tried to regroup not as a family unit, but also begin homeschooling again. I re-introduced the clothespins activity (where she empties a jar of clothespins and puts them back in…a favorite of hers), as well as some new activities.
Late last week, Lorelei and and I took a walk outside and picked up some of the colorful fallen leaves. Inside, we practiced our *tearing* skills. Many of the Montessori curriculum recommend tearing paper, but at 18 months I’m thinking that’s not a medium I want her to get too used to tearing. She’s too young to totally grasp why she can tear paper A but not the stack of papers on the coffee table – and, we have LOTS of paper around here. Using a black marker, Lorelei drew her “trees” and the “trunk/stems” with a bit of help. She helped use some Elmers glue and then she placed the torn leaves on her trees. Fall trees, real leaves.
We’ve been practicing a lot with primary colors. I’ve pulled out the books, toys in vibrant colors, and have been trying to use colors to describe almost anything we can. Lorelei has just begun repeating colors like “blue” and “re(d),” although she doesn’t necessarily seem to understand (yet!) that the ball in her hand is red or blue. We’ve also been practicing naming animals and imitating the sounds they make. We’ve made visiting live animals, as well as looking at them in books a huge part of our days. I feel it’s hugely important for real life experiences, as well as learning from a picture book. She can easily identify a “kitty” and has demonstrated well that she can easily hold a small kitten and gently pet it. She can identify and imitate a dog, and has no trouble with playing and sharing toys and petting it – although, all bets are off if they start licking her (she retreats). Cows, pigs, sheep, and ducks are not as easy for her to identify as she tends to call anything larger than a cow, a dog! BUT, she does seem to know them when she seems them and can also imitate the sounds they make. She LOVES animals.
She’s shown that she somewhat understands the concept of counting to 3 by using buttons on a shirt, although she has still not yet begun to vocalize it (which is fine).
Clipping clothespins onto box edges and jar edges is still a great challenge we’ve not yet mastered, although she has become quite skilled in taking apart the clothespins (I really need to get some plastic ones).
We’ve also been practicing coloring with crayons on paper, and she seems to enjoy that for limited periods of time. She’s still working on her fine motor skills, so she hasn’t completely gotten the hang of that yet.
Today, I introduced 2 new activities: playdough and using a sponge to transfer water. Unfortunately, I tried to introduce the sponge and water activity while I was trying to do dishes, so I don’t think I spent enough time with her on this one. The playdough, however was a hit!
Here’s the recipe for the playdough I made:
1 c. flour
1/2 cup salt
1 T. cooking oil
1 T. cream of tartar
1 c. water
1 packet of your choice of koolaid
Mix all of the following together and THEN (after it’s mixed) add to medium heat (on the stove). Stir and stir and stir. You don’t want to leave it. The liquid will begin to clump where it is most in contact with the pot, and begin to draw up and away. Keep stirring it until you have a large clump. It should look really doughy, and once it does turn off the heat and remove your pan. Spoon your concoction onto the counter and knead it until it’s completely smooth throughout (like store bought playdough). It’ll be a little warm, so be aware of that. Next, put it in a sealed container or resealable bag (think ziploc) to let it cool.
Instead of/in addition to koolaid, you can also add liquid food coloring, powdered food coloring, glitter, scents, etc.
Our playdough was actually “grape” but turned out blue! And, if your kidling tries to eat this, no worries. It’s nontoxic (do you see the ingredients?)
Welcome back!
