Jesus Book Basket

Another of our Lent activities is a "Jesus" book basket. All of our books about Jesus have been rounded up and housed in this basket for us to read during the next month. We've also been finding the various stories in Q's many children's Bibles.

Pin Poking Work

A new item out for Quinn is some pin poking work. I used a piece of cardboard to make a little wedge. The wedge shape is important (see photo below) so that they don't poke the pin through the cardboard and onto their lap or table. If you don't use the wedge shape, have them lay the cardboard on a folded towel or carpet. Or if you happen to have some corkboard, that'd be perfect, too!

Pin poking uses the pincer grasp, encourages very fine motor control in the fingers, wrist and arm, fosters hand-eye coordination, and encourages writing skills.

I usually offer letters for the child to "trace" by poking holes all around the line.
I first introduced this to Quinn by a shamrock outline, since we were talking about St. Patrick's Day.

It isn't necessary to have more than one pin, I just offer three to give some choice. I also teach that only one pin can be out at a time and they always have to return to their designated "home" that I have clearly marked at the top.

Younger children may just enjoy random poking on a sheet of construction paper (under supervision of course) or even consider providing them with a piece of paper with dots all over it and see if they can poke all the dots.

For older kids, don't outline anything, just give them a blank sheet and let them write words or create a picture.

Once the poking is done you of course have to tape the creation in a bright window so you can see the sunlight filtering in the holes!

I have also had great fun with older elementary students by using the cards to "poke" the star constellations onto black cardstock.

Baby Picture Cards

Beck has a basket of laminated photos of babies (cut from magazines) and I added a couple bird cards this month to go with our spring "theme." We'll talk to him briefly about birds when he looks at the cards...tweet for him, too, of course!

Baby Spring Literacy Basket

This simple basket has Beck's items for spring. Song and fingerplay cards (details here) and corresponding manipulatives--ducks, rabbit and lamb. These were just rounded up from our toy collection. We can sing the song/recite the finger play and hold/manipulate the item!

Birds

We changed over to some "springy" work in the playroom. I have put out these little birds the past two years and Q wasn't too enamored with them, but this year she is having a blast with them! So it goes to show that repeat offerings of toys/work may show varying degrees of interest at different ages.

The birds are those little "mushroom birds" from Hobby Lobby. I actually think I got them at the dollar store. I love that they require gentleness when handling them....you know my soapbox about teaching children how to handle delicate items and allowing them practice with them......
The three bottlebrush birds are actually Christmas ornaments that were hanging on our branch in the playroom. The feathers were Q's own additon, she pulled them off a collage she had made at school because she wanted them with her birds.

The little birdhouse below came from the Walmart craft section a few years back. I sewed the little birds out of felt with a ribbon for little fingers to put in and out of the birdhouse. (The regular birds fit inside great but are a real bugger to get out....so only these "ribboned" birds are allowed to live in the birdhouse). She liked it as a toddler, but she still loves it now! I didn't think she'd like these birds since they don't look as real, but she does!

I also put out some simple bird cards I happened to have. They are notecards with a photo of a bird on the front and the name and a couple facts on the back. I can read them to her and also quiz her on the different bird types. Great science and literacy.

Cake

I love THIS tutorial to make cardboard/cardstock cake slices! I printed some off on cardstock and we had fun decorating them when a friend was over a couple weeks back. My Q is VERY into birthday parties, so she loves playing with her cake....and especially that the candles can come out! We fully intended to add a felt flame, but it just hasn't happened yet...
I eventually want to make enough of a set that there will be a whole cake's worth. Maybe add velcro on the sides like a Melissa and Doug cake. Great for dramatic play, and I love the simplicity of them!

Bakery Dramatic Play

Pretend play, dramatic play, imaginary play....all the same thing but I use the words interchangeably.

Anyhow we are really enjoying the works of Beatrix Potter right now, specifically The Tale of Peter Rabbit. One of the greatest benefits of reading aloud to Quinn is that she is exposed to concepts and vocabulary that are outside her regular experiences. Peter Rabbit has so many new concepts we are having fun exploring together! One of them was "baker." Old Mrs. Rabbit heads off to the baker's to buy a loaf of brown bread and 5 current rolls. Quinn isn't really familiar with the concept of a baker(y) because we buy our bread on the bread isle at HEB or I make it. So I talked with her about a baker and a bakery. I decided to extend it a little further and I pulled together a "bakery" tote. I raided several other play sets--the slicable sandwich bread is from a sandwich kit. Luckily all the pieces velcro-ed together, so she can cut them apart! The felt crossant is from a breakfast set, and the big loaf is one my sister got her with some other play foods at Hobby Lobby (or Michaels). I put these breads with a knife in a little tote and she loves to pretend she's going to the bakers. She also has some felt cupcakes she sometimes adds in, too.

I encourage you to extend concepts you are teaching to your children through dramatic play--often just pulling together some play props will encourage them to further explore the topic. And this is true for any age---from older infants to elementary students! It also encourages them to use new vocabulary in their play and assimilate these words and concepts into the framework of their minds.

I also encourage you to think outside the box with your children's toys. Just because items came together in a set doesn't mean they have to stay that way, or be used for the purpose they came with. I am constantly trying to find ways for getting more use out of the toys we have by "shopping the toy cupboard" in our playroom and pulling together different items.