Squirting Water

Everly LOVES to squirt water from a "squirter".  It was driving me nuts having wet couches, floors etc... so finally in desperation I grabbed two bowls.  She really seemed to enjoy aiming the water into the bowls.  I also let her take it outside and squirt whatever she wants.  This one is good for strengthening the muscles in the hands.

Water Transfer

This one was OK.  It would be a lot better with real eye droppers, but mine have gone missing.  Everly needed help getting the syringe to work (it is tough even for me), but she really enjoyed filling up the flowers with the coloured water.  We got this ice cube tray at Ikea for $1.  I also use it to put tempra paint in.  As she gets older I am hoping we can use this activity more to see how combining colours makes new colours.  We have also done this one with a big turkey baster... again not ideal, but she really does love the turkey baster!

Big & Teeny... shapes and colours

I couldn't resist posting this picture. This was taken at my mom's house.  As usual Everly was full of her usual antics. :P

I always read over at MDC how children learn without being taught.  Just by working thing like, colours & shapes into your everyday conversation can be enough.  There are times when I feel like I am not doing enough, but then something will happen to take the pressure off.  I noticed a couple of weeks ago that Everly was starting to refer to some things as "teeny".  I didn't think much of it.  Then it dawned on me that she might really get the difference between big and little.  I started asking her some easy questions like "what is bigger a flower or a tree".  I kept making the questions harder.  It amazed me that she could distinguish slight differences in sizes.  My husband was skeptical but she can easily say which person is bigger.  My husband and I are only 3 inches difference in height with similar builds and she knew he was bigger.  I also wondered what she would do with someone tall and slim, versus someone shorter and rounder.  She always picked the person that was truly bigger, not just taller. 

This has really inspired me to make sure I refer to thing by their size, shape and colour etc.  I have found the best way to help her learn colours is painting.  I let her pick the colour of paper she works on and ask her what colour she would like more of, etc... she seems on the verge of really knowing the colours.  For the most part she can point to the right colour if you ask but she can't always think of the name on her own.  

We have also been painting shapes on the sidewalk with water.  I was also surprised that she seems to be starting to grasp shapes.  These things really don't interest her but she loves having me paint the shapes and she doesn't mind a couple of questions like "which one is the triangle".

Fine Motor Skills are Fun

 One night I stayed up late writing down activities from the Chasing Cheerio's blog.  One was using an eyedropper to transfer coloured water into a watercolour tray. 

The next day my neighbour brought me over a little pink icecube tray.  I was so excited because it was exactly what I needed for this!  Unfortunately I couldn't find the eyedroppers I bought months ago, so Everly had to use a medicine dispenser.  

She really liked this, but needed my help since the medicine dispenser was stiff.  I can't wait to find the eyedroppers so she can try this again. 

Painting with water outside/ mud pies

All you need is a paintbrush, some water, and a sidewalk, rock, fence etc... I took Everly outside on Saturday morning armed with a couple of paintbrushes and a cup of water.  She loved this immediately.  Then our neighbour came out - she is 4.  The two of them had so much fun painting trees, lamp posts, and the sidewalk.  Another neighbour who is 7 showed up with her paintbrush and joined in the fun.  I honestly think this kept them busy for at least 1.5 hours if not 2!  Later in the afternoon they went at it again.

They also had fun digging in some dirt by a tree.  They made a huge muddy mess, and had a blast.  I will be sad when the dirt gets covered with grass.

I love how much we are getting outside now that it is finally warm.  I think we spent almost the entire day on Saturday outside. 

Matching Game & Letter Awareness

Pooks has been obsessed with "Bof" (both) lately.  So I thought it would make sense to get one of those memory card games and just use it for matching.  Mastermind didn't have any!!  So I ended up getting two decks of "Go Fish" animal/ letter cards for $6.  She get so excited to play this.  The challenge for her is to stick with it.  She can match them up no problem but gets distracted.  This is how she has been with most of her new games/ activities.   As she gets more into it I will add more of the cards.  For now 10 is enough.  I love that as she gets older these cards can grow with her.  There are also lower case letters with baby animals in each deck.

I got these cards because I liked that they had animals which we have been talking a lot about since we have been to the Zoo 6 times in 5 weeks!  Also she is very aware of letters now.  She is always pointing them out excitedly when we are out.  

Getting more structured

I have never been one to impose schedules on Pookie.   It took a full year before we really started to set up routines for bedtime, and morning routines.  For a while now our Mon, Wed, Fri (tue/ thurs I work) mornings involve an outing - to the pool, indoor playground or a free play centre.  This has worked out really well!  Our afternoons have been totally unstructured, so I have decided to make sure we do a few structured activities each afternoon.   She has been enjoying doing these things.  They seem to put her in a good mood and she is happier doing her own imaginative, creative play.  I also feel good at the end of the day.

1./  Arts & Crafts - it can be simple pen drawings or more elaborate projects

2./ Circle Time - we started doing this last week and she loves it.  We lay down a rug first (she loves getting it out and putting it down), and then we sing some songs like "I'm a little teapot" "Grand old duke of york" etc... we also hop around like bunnies, stretch like cats, jump like frogs etc...  She gets so excited we have been only able to do part of each song, so the whole thing takes about 5 minutes. :P

3./ Montessori inspired activity - like playing with beans, puzzles etc.  Lately she hasn't been into this kind of thing, and has been opting for dramatic play with her dolls, kitchen etc.  I just offer it and if she isn't interested that's fine.

4./ Dancing - we throw on some tunes and dance, or just run around and jump off stuff.

5./ Playdough

I am not really into baking.  I like doing it, just not eating it.  I find if I bake muffins etc.  we just eat them all so fast and opt for them instead of healthier options.  My mom on the other hand likes to bake and has been doing it with Pooks.  I am glad she gets to do this activity.  Maybe when she gets a bit older I will be more motivated. 

Yogurt Painting

This morning we let Daddy sleep in so I decided to give yogurt painting a try.  I just put it on tin foil and added some food colouring.  It was a HUGE hit!   Pooks didn't really like getting her hands dirty so we switched to a paint brush and baster.  I showed her how you could use your finger to write in it.  We did lots of letter E's since she loves "EEEEE".   I think she stuck with it for about 20 minutes and then she was done.  We will definitely do it again. 

Learning Colours

I am trying my best to work colours into our every day life, so Pookie will learn them.  She just isn't that interested to be honest.  Although today I pointed out her undies were blue and she said "bluuu" quite a few times.  Later when we were drawing she picked up the blue crayon and said "Undeeeee".   It was quite exciting because it was the first time she seemed to really make that kind of observation on her own.  When she said it I agreed that the crayon was blue and quickly grabbed all the blue things I could for her to look at.

Then I had this great idea.  I just bought her some wooden letters for the fridge.  They come in four colours, so i coloured 4 pieces of paper each in one of the colours and I showed her how to put all the reds on the red paper etc.  She did this at the play centre a couple months ago but putting coloured bears in their corresponding bowl.  Today she was NOT into it.  Oh well... maybe another day!