18 months- On the shelves

Okay I have to admit I've been totally slacking the last about 5 weeks.  We got out of our great routine and I kind of lost enthusiasm on making up activities.  In fairness though I have been working on another exciting project which I will blog more about after Christmas.

Poor LJ he actually asks me for work and says "roll,roll, roll".  Then I feel all guilty because he is desperate to do things.

These are some of the things he has been doing.

 

Matching.

This is great for vocabulary and matching.  I hold all the cards in my hand and give him one at a time.  He says what it is and then (hopefully) places it on the table.  Once all the cards are laid out I hand him the matching one which he has to find.  This is very easy for him now.  They are kept in a little wooden box and he loves to take them out and put them back in as well.

 

Simply posting little hearts through a slot.  Always fun.

 

Color tablet box one.  I made these out of paint samples using the three primary colors to start.  Once again the box is a big hit!  It's funny when I did this activity with L years ago she was so gentle with the cards.  LJs cards are all bent and twisted : )  I present a color and name it and then give it to LJ to place on the mat and say the name.  Once they are down I give him the other one to match.

 Sorting colored beads.  Once again only using the primary colors. 

 I filled this glass money jar with water and put a shot glass at the bottom.  Together we took turns putting coins into the slot and watching them sink to the bottom.  I also enjoyed trying to get them into the shot glass, however I don't think LJ even realised it was in there. 

 

 Thanks to Itty Bitty Love inspiration I sucked it up and got out the lentils to scoop and funnel.  I have to say I was way more enthusiastic about this one than LJ was.  Maybe we'll try it again in a month or so.

 

...and one of my all time favourite works.  First drop fluffy pipe cleaners into a maple syrup bottle.

 

 Then try to fish them out.  Very carefully!

 Oooh the concentration!!!

 

LJ just can't get enough of doing his work and I am the only one that is holding him back at this point.  In the new year I am going to try to get back into that good routine we had going in the fall.

Games

L has reached an age where she really enjoys playing games.  Here are a few that have been keeping her entertained.

Digging for objects I've hidden in some sand in her pail and then matching them with the correct word.  (yes I accidentally put hen down twice!) I got the idea for this one from Montessori for Learning.

 Counting the garden.  Always fun.  I drew small pictures of different things in our garden and then we went around together.  L counted and I wrote down the number beside the picture.

 The rhyming game.  I saw this on The Activity Mom and knew I could quickly whip up one of my own.  I used pictures, words that L can read and larger words that I had to read.  The object of the game is when you get a card that rhymes you put a penny on the happy face.  When it doesn't rhyme you put one on the sad face.  We play until all of the faces are covered.  At first L didn't really get this but by the second time she was understanding and enjoying!

 Go Fish.  We just started playing this last week and L can't get enough of it.  She always asks "can we play goldfish?"  I used the number cards from a game we have called Phase 10.  At the moment we are using four cards of each number from one to seven and each player gets five cards to start.   You get rid of any pairs and then ask another player if they have a card that matches one of yours.  If they don't they say "go fish" and you have to pick a card from the ones in the middle.  The first player to get rid of all of their cards wins.  This game is so fantastic for number recognition and I could imagine making up your own number cards in the shape of fish!

What I like best about all of these games is you can whip them up in very little time and they cost virtually nothing to make!

Finally some Christmas activities

It's taken us a while but it's finally beginning to look like Christmas around here. My mom made L this beautiful advent calendar last year and she is so excited about it. The pockets are tiny so I've been putting in things like stickers, raisins, tiny oranges, stamps and little reindeer clothes pegs that she uses (with help) to hang up Christmas cards. We also have a tiny snowman snow globe for the 24th.

I made up this Christmas tree matching activity where she needs to use a magnifying glass to match the teeny tiny Christmas tree with it's big partner. I got a little over zealous when shrinking the trees and they are really tiny! I thought the magnifying glass would be more powerful.

I put this large die in her advent calender and made up this activity to go along with it. The Christmas pictures all have numbers on them and when she rolls a number she has to put an almond on the corresponding picture. When we did this yesterday she had no interest in it at all. Hmmm we'll try again another day hopefully with more success.

I saw this idea over at Sunrise Learning Lab and modified it a bit for L. I stuck on the Christmas trees ahead of time and cut out the stars. It was great for talking about big and little and the top where the stars go and underneath where the presents go. We put dots of glue on the trees together and then she stuck things on. When she was done she said, "It needs a Santa." Luckily I was able to find one of her advent Santa stickers. I really like how it turned out.

What we've been doing

These are some of the things we were up to before I dropped the camera...



Family body tracing. We all really got into this and after doing our hands and feet moved on to heads and then full bodies! Obviously it was too exciting for me as I dropped the camera a few minutes after I took this picture.



Ice excavation. Idea courtesy of Chasing Cheerios.

L used spoons, forks, a spray bottle and a cup and bucket of warm water. It was such a hit that I refroze it right away and did another container for when her friend came to visit.

I bought some emergency vehicle stickers when I was at the craft store and stuck them onto some 2p coins. L takes them out and matches them. I'm also trying to introduce the memory game which she ends up playing her own version of.