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.