Cutting cord

I noticed earlier this year that our 5 year old isn't terrific at cutting.  He isn't interested in art and craftiness like his older sister, so he typically doesn't choose projects that encourage him to practice his cutting.  He is also a lefty, so that makes things a little tougher.  When I realized he was a pretty terrible cutter, I made sure we had plenty of left-handed scissors and started looking for ways to invite him to cut...in a way he'd find interesting and useful for his world!

He currently loves any type of string or rope, so I got out some red cord, his scissors and an art tray and he spent some time hacking the cord up.  Then he wanted to try the wire cutters from his tool box, so he headed out to the garage to get them.  They didn't work super well, so then he wanted to use MY wire cutters, which are much sharper and worked pretty well!

All this to say, he spent about 20 minutes engaged in cutting and was highly motivated to participate in it...and he practiced his scissoring skills!  I was working on my own project at the table, so I chatted with him, helped him hold his scissors correctly, and gave a few suggestions, but mostly he worked independently on this task.

I have more "cutting for boys" ideas I will hopefully post in the upcoming weeks!

@MamaSchool....the daily things.

At MamaSchool we look for the learning in the little things...the daily things that happen over and over again, but leave openings for little hands and hearts and minds to grow.

Lunch is one of these times.  Learning to set the table properly.  Taking time to add beauty through the dishes and linens we use.  Handling breakable dishes carefully and learning what to do when one of them accidentally breaks.  Learning to pour tea independently.  Using a knife to spread peanut butter and jam (fine motor!).  These are all niches for learning to occur.  Sure, it might take a little longer to teach a small person to carry our good pottery plates instead of tossing out some plastic ones.  Of course I could have made that sandwich WAY quicker and FAR less messy.  But these are the moments in our day that MamaSchool is most beautiful....when Mama takes a breath and steps back and lets him do things himself...or takes a breath and steps up to show him one more time how to do it carefully and correctly and with his very best effort.  

And no, lunch doesn't always happen this way.  Sometimes I do make his food and it is on plastic...and that is life and that is okay....But we try hard to slow our days enough that being 4, and all the lovliness that involves, can unfold....as he learns to gracefully and kindly and lovingly navigate this world around him.  And me?  I am still learning those lessons too.  So it's MamaSchool for us both!  

A boy and his knives....toddler play with playdough and knives.

 Beck LOVES working with knives these days.  He knows they are something so "grown up" so of course he wants to learn how to use them!  Playdough is a great time for cutting practice.  He gets a chunk of playdough and a selection of knives.  Spreaders, plastic knives, veggie cutters, and butter knives were selected this particular time.  Pizza cutters are also fun.  Playdough and safe knives allow opportunities for him to master the mechanics of cutting and also develop the wrist strength and control and grasping strength to cut effectively.  

I also let him cut fruit and veggies with a paring knife when I am sitting with him at the table.  We start with hand-over-hand and then when he is ready I let him cut on his own, well supervised.

Hammering nails into playdough=happy boy!

Car play area for toddler

 Little Man needed a place for his car/truck/vehicle play.  So we recently worked to set him up a little spot!  A felt road with yellow felt lane markers, a box garage (I have a little sign that says "Beck's Garage" to modge podge on it someday soon....), our montessori box (above) that is supposed to hold wooden balls--but all kids who live at/visit my house really love to put cars in it--so we're going with that right now!

 And you know I am not a fan of tubs/baskets of toys typically.  So of course I recommend putting out just a few vehicles at a time.  I needed a way to display/organize them, so Matt whipped up this super simple shelf using scraps in the garage in 5 minutes.  It is not AT ALL fancy, but just something to hold a couple cars!

 And I set out some blocks and a piece of scrapwood for building a ramp.  Great science lessons learned while having fun here!

 Here's the whole area.  Nothing fancy, but definitely does the trick of providing him a play place with his wheeled loves!