Mr Clean

A has been talking about having a job. He keeps telling me that its Dads job to make money and Mums job to look after him..... then asking "and me? Whats mine job?" I told him that his job was to be a little boy and to have lots of fun, he looked at me like I had lost my marbles and said "no Mum, whats mine joooooooob?"

I found an old spray bottle and cleaned it out really well. I then put a solution of water, vinegar and baking soda into it. I leave the bottle along with a cloth under the sink and its his job to clean the table after he has finished eating. He insists on doing the whole table and spends AGES playing with the spray. He feels so very grown up and makes a real meal out of putting the bottle and cloth back away again. Its obvious that he really enjoys feeling like he contributes to the family.

No pressure of course, if he never wants to do it again then I wont be bothered in the slightest. So far though he has been doing it after every meal for the last three days.

I cannot believe he is only two!

Using Tongs

We try and get our project ideas from A as much as possible. Well today he was racing around the house with the kitchen tongs so I suggested he try and build some towers using only the tongs. He spent ages stacking them up and taking them back down again, all with such precision. Great for hand eye coordination and he was really having to work with his hands to get the tongs moving correctly. He also came up with the idea of putting the blocks in different containers.

Dominoes Towers

Its been awhile since my last post, its been busy with my birthday and family. We have been doing our projects though and as always been having fun. I guess its good in a way because I now have a bit of a backlog of posts so that will mean I dont run out if we have a few quiet days!

A found the dominoes the other day and started building some rather impressive towers. I was surprised how steady his hand has become even in the last couple of weeks. He did his first tower and then made another until he had a few and then he called it his 'city'. WE also talked about the dots on the dominoes and how each piece had different numbers of dots. We did some simple multiplication by talking about the dots on either side of the line and how if we 'added them together' we got a different bigger number. He got the idea pretty quickly and can now do the smaller numbers pretty quickly in his head..... He seems to have a mathematical mind which is fantastic, if a little daunting as I am NOT known for my prowess with numbers. I guess if he gets into numbers in a big way we will have to look into a mentor of some description, although lets not get ahead of ourselves. :-)

Ice.

I filled a large pot with ice cubes - including a few with food coloring added. I let A play with the ice for a bit and we talked about how the ice would melt a little and then stick together. He was talking about how cold it was and noticed that the pot was getting cold too. I then gave him a jug of warm water to pour in so we could watch the ice melting.

A tried swirling the water and noticed that the ice would melt faster if it was moving around in the water. He had a spoon as well and played until the ice was getting small, I then added some new ice so he could see the size difference.

I introduced a journal today as well. I was not sure how this would be received so its not something that 'has' to be done, but I thought that now he is drawing pictures it would be a fun way to talk about what we have just done and get in a little extra learning if the conversation headed that way. Its also going to be a great way to keep a record of what we do and also watch his progress and understanding.

He loved the idea and we got a chance to talk about how the ice had melted, temperatures and change. We talked about how the water was turned into ice and then back into water when it melted.

So I asked A if he wanted to draw a picture of what he had just done and he drew some ice and some water pouring over the top. I intend to do this every project we do, I am sure there will be times that he doesnt want to draw and thats no problem. I will date the entry and do a quick summary of what we did.

Should be interesting.

Birthday Cards & Hexagons

Its my birthday next week so A and Dad made a card for me for A to give next week. I caught a glimpse of the work in progress. DH (Dear Husband) took photos of the project for me and caught a rather interesting development in A's understanding of shapes (and drawing skills)

DH just let A loose with some pens, paper, crayons, pencils, stickers and glue. About half way through DH asked where A would like to place one of the little buttons and A said "just there on the hexagon" and sure enough A had actually drawn a hexagon complete with six sides (two of the points are under the top button)! OK, so the number of sides I would assume was a fluke, but I am still blown away.

He can draw circles, straight lines and squiggly lines with purpose but up till now we have had no success with any other shapes as angles seem to be a bit more difficult to pull off.

I have not seen the end product of my card yet and am looking forward to it. There is nothing cooler than getting something made with such love from someone so small. I am so proud of him

Growing Fast!

A is growing so fast its amazing. I sometimes cant help but wonder where my little baby has gone. Today we had a great learning opportunity as A wanted to make his own lunch. He wanted a sandwich and he wanted to make it "all by mine self". We do a lot of cooking together so A does know his way around the kitchen so I grabbed a chopping board and let him find everything he needed and take it to the bench. I really didnt want to take away from his excitement so just stood by ready to help if asked. He decided that he wanted a Marmite sandwich, he needed some help to take off the lid as it was a bit tight. He then put the knife in and started to spread the marmite. He got frustrated very quickly as the bread kept tearing so I showed him how to lay his knife in its side to spread a bit easier. He then put the two pieces of bread together and cut his sandwich in half. He was SO PROUD of his sandwich that he wanted to call Dad at work to tell him all about it.

Playdoh Mosaic

I have been holding onto our old playdoh just knowing that I would come across a use for it! And I am glad I did. All of those old crusty bits that have hair and sand on them turned into a lovely picture for the playroom wall.

I wrote A's name in big block letters, told him what I was wanting to do, handed over the glue and the playdoh pieces and it kept him amused for AGES. He was so proud of himself.

Glitter!!!

We had some fun with glitter! I love glitter, but it does make a bit of a mess so I have to be in the mood for pulling it out. It was a great distraction for a grumpy two year old with his molars coming in! I simply got glue and let A go to town on a piece of paper. I also drew some pictures although most of them got mushed around in the name of science. We sprinkled it on, dumped it on, painted it on.... well really we just made a lot of a mess!!! When we were done I picked up the drop cloth and emptied it in his water table just to add a bit of spice for the afternoon.

Enjoy your sparkly mess!!!

Arts and Crafts

We have been doing a lot of A&C things the last couple of days. A mix of giving A the materials and letting him go to town and actually making something. We have played with glitter and glue, paper and scissors, paper and glue. We have made some pretty cool things. Snowflakes for the window, valentines for Dad, pictures. I got most of the ideas from http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/

First off we made a Valentines for Dad. A insisted on giving it to him straight away it was fun and he kept saying "ooooh, Dad is just going to love it!"

First I cut big heart out of thick paper. Then we tore little bits of colored paper up and scrunched them up. Glued them to the heart and viola! A lovely (and easy) valentine that a toddler can do most of on their own.

Colours and Shapes

We used the computer today and with the 'paint' application we drew pictures and shapes. A chose the shapes that he wanted me to draw and then the color that he would like. We also got the chance to talk about opposites and introduce some different shapes like a right triangle and pentagon. We have done a bit of drawing today too. He is really into drawing people at the moment. The picture above is of a man thinking about a rabbit...... in case you didnt know. :-)

Drawing

A drew his first 'scene' today. We have had lots of individual people, trees, animals and other items, but they have always been standing alone. Today A drew a picture of "people taking a swim". His people have heads, faces, hair, legs, arms and big smiles "because they are happy swimming" apparently the picture is of no one in particular, "just people"

I find it interesting looking at his artwork as it says a lot about his personality. He isnt much of a color user, unless painting. No matter how many colors he has at his disposal. He pretty much went straight into drawing representational drawings after a brief time scribbling. He loves drawing now but when he was really little he wasnt too interested or only liked us to draw pictures for him. This seems to be his way of tackling new things. He watches and waits until he can do it to his satisfaction. A bit of a perfectionist.

Toy Room

We made the decision of setting up a room just for the toys and have the children sleep in the same room (although at this stage G is bedsharing with us). We thought that for one it will help keep the rest of the house clean and two it will be a good place to set up games/projects that dont have to be taken down. As well as being a great place to display art work. Its proving to be a great place to just hang out as a family and A is kept busy with lots to do.

I am still setting it up and we dont have it like we want it yet. But the plan is to do it in a Montessori inspired way. I want to have 'stations' where the same kind of toys are all together. So you would have all the musical instruments together, art supplies, building materials, puzzles, nature etc. Now I by no means intend to follow through on Montessori principles and expect each station to be used independently from the next. I do however like the idea of A & G being able to find everything in its rightful place and for things to have a category. I guess thats just how my brain works. If however A wants to build a city with his blocks and then use his pretend play animals to live in that city while using the pens and crayons as trees than the more power to him. :-)
The one thing that we will be keeping separate are the instruments though. A & G will have full access to the instruments when ever they feel the need to make music, they will be expected to pack them away when they are finished though. To me an instrument is more than a toy and deserves respect due to its delicate nature. Not only do the cost a lot of money but they can lose condition and tone through neglect. I still want music to be fun, but with the respect that it deserves. I feel the same way about books. All of A's books are in his bedroom on a book shelf or next to his bed which he reads when he is falling asleep. Ever since he was very little he has been allowed full access to his books but they have never been allowed to be used as toys (of course baby board books are a bit different).

So, yes still more to do. I want to build shelves and get some more boxes and containers to keep everything. At the moment most of the toys are in the ottoman all just thrown in there, and of course they never get played with because you cant find things. I also would love to set up an art room where art work can be left to come back to.

Toddler Civil Engineering & Music

Due to being sick the last couple of days we havent done much at all... but that is alright. Children do their best learning through play, and with this in mind its easy to just sit back and watch what they come up with themselves.

Its summer, and HOT so we have been either hibernating inside or doing lots of playing with water and the sand pit. I added food coloring to the water as well as some dish soap, just to make it a bit more interesting. A used egg beaters to make the bubbles and spent ages mixing the colors until it was all just brown. He has also spent time digging in his sandpit, hiding toys, making towers and channels for his cars to drive down.

We have also spent a bit of time in the play room out of the heat. A is interested in building "cities" at the moment. Its also a mission to build a tower as tall as he is.

We have reintroduced music too. We started learning the Ukulele and then got busy with other things, so we talked about what the parts of the instrument were called and how to treat an instrument with respect. I was very impressed that he had remembered what most of the parts were called. It has been a few months.

Red Light, Green Light

Its been a busy day with a playdate and visit from Nana, so havent done too much in the way of projects. We played a great game of Red Light, Green Light though. A has recently realized that cars have to stop when the light is red and go on green. We have had lots of discussions while out walking about how to cross with the 'green man' and that seems all fine and dandy, but the idea of the cars having to stop too seems to intrigue him. So while he was walking around I just said "red light!" he said "what are you saying to me Mum?" and I said, "The light is red, you have to STOP!". He LOVED the game and we played it for quite a while this afternoon. I can tell that its going to be a favorite.

Unschooling

I think at this point its probably prudent to explain what I am doing with our 'school' and my philosophy on learning in general.

I plan on unschooling A & G. I wont attempt to explain it fully as I think it really means something different to different families. In essence though unschooling to me is learning through experiences and being motivated by interests rather than a predetermined age or stage in life.

Technically what I am showing on this blog probably wouldnt be classed as unschooling. Because I am setting up activities and talking specifically about what A is getting out of each game, lesson, activity (whatever you want to call them) its me guiding and A following. I however have taken my cues from him in the sense that these games are what he LOVES doing and at such a young age he isnt really able to resource his own materials. I asked him what he wanted to do this morning and he said "shapes", now what he was referring to was a puzzle of shapes that he has so I asked if he would like to play with some big shapes and create a game with them. He said yes. So essentially he lead me in the direction of playing the game that we did. If he had not been interested then we would not have played. When he is a bit older and has more interests we will be following his lead a lot more.

G may be a whole different kettle of fish and not enjoy these kind of games at all.... and that is fine! She may want to play endless games of pretend and not want or be interested in her shapes and colors until she is a bit older..... fine. If this is the case she will still be learning, just learning different things.

I guess this is my whole philosophy. Let them lead you. And I guess we fall under the unschooling umbrella because we dont plan on doing 'lessons' as such.

If you are interested in learning more about unschooling check out the web. There is heaps of info out there by people a lot more eloquent than I am.... A great book if you are interested is 'How Children Learn' By John Holt.

Shapes

We had a ball today with shapes. I drew some BIG shapes on the ground outside and then called "Jump in the Triangle!" "Sit in the square" "Touch your nose in the heart". A raced around laughing away as he played this simple 'Simon Says' game. Then I had to perform various tasks as well of course! By swapping A got to be the 'boss' which is so important for confidence and verbal skills and by doing it himself he was recognizing shapes as well as movements and body parts. A great learning experience all round.

We might come back to it this a bit later on today incorporate G by getting A to tell me which shape to put her in. A is busy in the sand box at the moment busily burying his toys and then finding them again. :-)