Lately I've been thinking about daycare, day homes, preschool, play school. It's all a bit overwhelming for me to even think about it because the truth of the matter is, is that I'm not sure if I am ready to send Noah off onto that next stage of his life.
I know that he's old enough for it and I know that he would probably enjoy himself to be with other kids his age, but at the same time, I feel deep down in my heart that right now he is getting everything he needs at home with me and I am loving this time we have together.
So for now I think Noah will be staying at home with me and I will be staying at home with him, but I know that if he is going to be at home that we have to start moving towards some more educational and exploratory activities for him, stuff that he might get to do at a preschool for example.
So the other day while brainstorming activity ideas with my mother over the phone we decided that water play might be something fun for him to try out. I gave it some thought as to how this would work out (we have a very small place for him to play) and I decided that he could use the powder room sink to play at.
I pulled up some chairs for him to stand on and for me to sit at, filled the sink with soapy water and gave him a few kitchen utensils to play with and boy did he play! He had so much fun and I just enjoyed watching him laugh and shriek while he poured and splashed the water.
It was so amazing to see him at play, discovering something new and exploring through his senses that I started to take note in my mind and see if I could come up with a few other sensory activities.
So to add to our list here are few activities that I think may go over well with Noah and that we will try out over the next few weeks....
- sand/sensory box- only we will use dried lentils and beans
- more water play and I will add a small drop of food colouring to the water for some fun colour
- more nature walks
- home made play dough
Noah is still pretty young (14months) but I am excited to introduce him to more activities where he can learn and expand his growing sense of exploration.
If any of you have any good resources or ideas that you would like to share, I'd love to hear all about them.
Thanks!
xox
Looks like you're doing a great job. I needed to see a smiling face this morning and look what I got! Total happiness!
ReplyDeleteHow great!!! Noah is adorable! Hugs! xo
ReplyDeleteThat's so adorable, he seems very happy indeed what fun. - Carrie
ReplyDeleteI always find toddlerhood a little more difficult to 'entertain' activity wise. They're not yet at structured play level (I love that my older boys will sit down at a board game with me now), it's all about exploration for toddlers. Exploring what their body will do (how high they can climb, how they can squish the play dough, how fast they can run), exploring new sights and sounds and how things feel. They love music and rhyme and repetition. We've probably sung 'Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes' twenty times today, lol. Playing pretend with dress up clothes is big here, for my toddler and my big kids. We did a cool toddler art project at the gallery recently, letting them chose from colored tissue paper (like you would stuff a giftbag with), tear pieces, and press the pieces onto a piece of sticky paper. Then we covered their art with another piece of clear sticky paper to 'laminate'.
ReplyDeleteOh gosh, Gretchen LOVES to play in the kitchen sink with the exact same measuring cups (at least they look the same from here!!)
ReplyDeletei love hearing about how noah is growing :)
ReplyDeleteand i think it's beautiful that you both are home together.
Have you read Soule Mama's book? I think you'd like it a lot. She has lots of great home made ideas and I think they'd be right up your alley. I'm sure you've either heard of it or have read it but in case you didn't head over to her blog and you can find out more. I have The Creative Family one. www.soulemama.com
ReplyDeleteSuch wonderful ideas! I also love really open-ended art experiences. Finger paints made with foods (pudding with a bit of food coloring) are also fun!
ReplyDeleteJack loves water play too. We do gloopy glue with pom poms on paper. It's nothing special but he loves sticking them to the paper with globs of glue. Finger painting, play doh, sand.
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