As I've blogged about a couple times, I am really trying to spend more time playing with Ira (and Ruby too - but she's easier to play with.) I'm finding though, that it seems like part of Ira asking me to play with him more is that perhaps he's feeling "understimulated."
Obviously, we have plenty of toys - most of which involve pretend play and using your imagination (read: we don't have/do video games.) And we consciously made the choice to not send him to preschool for a variety of reasons. But I think that he's kind of bored with playing sometimes, and would like something to stimulate his ever-growing brain. He already reads for close to 2 hours every day (during my sanity-saver - his quiet time) and he comes out of quiet time brimming with facts from the books he reads. So finally the teacher in me comes out and I begin to think that he is craving some more "formal" learning-type things.
Now truly, there is a lot of learning going on at our house - I just like to keep it very informal. We look things up on the computer (pictures, facts, videos) fairly often and learning is just built into a lot of the things we do (cooking, etc.) (I fall in the constructivist style of teaching for the most part - especially at home.) But I don't often sit down with him and do anything formal (I figured I'd just save that for school.) So I think I need to do that more often with him. I've found some stuff online about trucks (dot to dots, hidden pictures, Spanish words, etc.) and he's really been liking that so far - especially the hidden picture things. But I would WELCOME any suggestions from my readers of easy crafts/activities that you do with your kids.
4 comments:
The Little Hands books have lots of good crafts. We love the Sea Life one. Most of the crafts are pretty easy and use stuff you probably have around the house. We've also been having a lot of fun with Old Testament Days, a history book with lots of crafts related to the Old Testament (of course). I know the Big Library has those.
If Ira likes science, there are Little Einstein kits. We have a bunch for our science course. I haven't used any yet, but I've heard good things about them. Or you could get a book like Super Science Concoctions. I don't know if the library has it, but it's full of easy science-type activities, most of which use what you already have on hand.
Teaching Montessori in the Home (Preschool Years) has a bunch of ideas, too. Also - board games and card games. They are full of learning opportunities and you probably have a bunch of them lying around.
Story-writing. I don't do this myself, but only because I don't take the time. Sit at the computer and let Ira narrate stories for you. Then print them out and let him illustrate them. I bet they'd be awesome.
Hm, I'm sure I could think of other things, but my kids need some supervision.
Michelle, how old is Ira? It sounds like he may be gifted. I know there are a myriad of books out there on how to educate or stimulate the gifted child. Maybe you could research that at the library. My kids love those Brain Teaser games and chess is a great way to use the brain. Also music is an excellent stimulant...perhaps his aunt could give him lessons or start him on a recorder??? I like a series of cds called "The Mozart Effect" it has different cds for different times and activities, such as for learning or relaxing..etc. There are lots of beautiful "coffee table" books with loads of gorgeous art, we use a liturgical art program from Catholic Heritage Curricula that introduces a piece of fine art each month. I feel that art is very important in balancing the mind. As far as math goes, do you have any manipulatives?? My kids LOVE those, like pattern blocks and geo boards. Poetry is also a wonderful addition and kids love to memorize them and can do so easily, "A Children's Garden of Verses" is a great resource. Also have you considered a foreign language, they have so many on cds now.
Just a few thoughts...I could go on and on...sorry!!
If you're looking for another website. www.starfall.com has some preschool age phonetics
i still can't believe ira is reading-that is incredible!
maybe art projects-ben loves to paint. although, i too feel like i have a hard time keeping up with ben. we hadn't planned to send him to preschool, but since he won't go to kindergarten until he's 6 because of his july birthday, i'm having second thoughts about next year. i just don't have the energy to keep him engaged.
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