Those that know me well know that I really push that sensory-open ended art during the toddler/preschool years. T. is 3 years old and has had what I describe as "sensory issues". :-) He never liked to get his hands dirty...actually, still doesn't for the most part. Forget any type of messy art...or sensory. And really, the sensory tubs/pool does not keep his interest for long...even with "clean" materials. Do you know what he really likes? Academics. Huh?! Yes, that's what he likes and thrives on. So that is throwing me for a little loop this year as most "academic" type tasks usually requires some assistance when you are talking about a 3 year old. But, we'll get it figured out! Here are some of the activities we did this past week...
Matching numbers to pumpkin seeds. Ha! This was on a whim. I didn't think he really could count sets past 3 so I put only 5 pumpkins down because then the shape would help him "self-correct" but no, I put down the 5 and he tells me, "all of them". So I went ahead and so that meant there were 2 or 3 of the same shapes. Oh my goodness! I was impressed! He did them all. He couldn't really count the 9 and 10 correctly but the shapes then helped him but the rest he did on his own. So, now I'm curious, was it just guessing or not...so now we'll explore that this next week. :-) And by the way, this was right up his alley of "fun". Ha!
He's really into pumpkins since we went to the neighbors and picked pumpkins. We have such kind neighbors! Matching has always come easy for him but again, this is right up his alley as "fun".
Measuring scarecrows. :-) The time he somewhat shocked me here was that he was getting to the 4th scarecrow and noticed the pattern 1 crow tall, 2 crows tall, 3 crows tall and he looked at me and pointed to the 4th scarecrow and said, "This 4 birds."!
1:1 correspondence. We'll do this again with different types of tweezers and the pumpkin erasers in a bowl vs. a bag. I just hadn't planned for him to do this right at the moment but he saw it and wanted too and I didn't have the few moments it took to really prepare it how I would have liked to. But he was happy!
Another favorite of his. I do not put this under "sensory". This is fine motor and he loves all sorts of tasks like this. Very orderly...definitely appeals to his personality.
Matching numbers..again "fun" for him. He actually recognized them all but the 4 (which I don't use that font for 4 typically and 6, 9...understandably.
Shapes are one area that he really hasn't grasped the names of. He knows circle but more often than not calls is an "O". Everything else usually ends up as a "triangle" as his first guess. So we'll do more of that as time goes on.
Definitely another "academic" type activity. Matching letters to spell words, these were fall theme words.
Oh boy, I think I have my work cut out for me. The nice thing is that our schooling at home routine is starting to settle into a very nice routine...not as overwhelming. We are figuring out when we need to do what...so usually I have the time to at least slide over to him and review what he did so we can get some growth out of the activities. :-) Have I mentioned that he loves "school" and when I don't set trays out for him...we all go a bit crazy...I learned my lesson!
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