Scooping and squishing and drinking (and more), oh my!

This week, in addition to spending as much time outside as possible, we tried to squeeze in a little bit of learning/practicing of different skills each day.

First, some sensory play.  Some blue hair gel with some glitter - gives a weird gel feeling.  Eventually, they could use these bags to practice writing numbers and letters as shown here, but for now its all about the feeling of it.  Logan wasn't sure at first, but Ellis enjoyed pushing and squeezing the bag.

Then Ellis thought it would be fun to step on it and feel it with his feet. I actually think he liked this even more!

Next, pom poms.  I originally used the pom poms for the fine motor activity with the holes in the lid of a cannister, as shown here, but there really are a ton of activities to do with them.  For their age, they really enjoy grabbing them, poking them, putting them in things, taking them out, etc.  So, I grabbed a few bowls and a muffin tin, along with a few kitchen utensils and let them have at it.

An awkward picture, but here is Logan looking for his pom pom that
he threw under the couch after I told him  not to throw them!  

Logan enjoyed filling his scoop up with pom poms and dumping them into the bowl.

Once they started getting a little bored with this, and could get my hands on the pom poms without them grabbing them from me, I showed them how to sort them by color as I said the color of each one I had.  Hopefully over time of repeating this, they will sort them all on their own!

Next was drinking from a cup.  Ever since we went camping and gave the boys some water and juice from what we were drinking, they always want to drink from our glass.  They also like to fill up the play cups with water from their water table and drink that when we are outside too.  When I went to Ikea a few weeks ago, I grabbed some small kids plastic cups.  Obviously it will be a while before they will transition to these, but why not let them practice, right?  Especially when we are outside so often, its perfect to give them a chance to get used to it.  Not too bad for the first time, after a little bit of choking from drinking too much at a time, of course!  

Ellis likes drinking from the cups at the water table instead of the drinking cups

Yup, he drank too much at once!

Logan's turn drinking from a drinking cup.

Oops, a little too much for you too!

Now for some scooping fun!  Supplies = bowls, beans, and spoons.  The boys grabbed some ice cube trays that were out downstairs too and used those - heck, why not?  Anyone doing an activity like this MUST watch their kids carefully.  Especially since both boys love black beans, I had to make sure they weren't putting any in their mouth.

Ellis actually got a few beans on his spoon a couple times, but his wrist wasn't still enough to keep them on the spoon.  Logan pretty much gave up on the spoon and used his hands to transfer beans to the ice cube trays.  Hey, whatever works Logan!  

Last but not least, some more fine motor practice with a new busy bag activity.  Today was our second exchange and I'd have to say that I'm WAY excited with this round of activities.  Not to say that the first round wasn't good, but after a quick look through the bags I got, I can't wait to try these.  My first goal is to organize the two rounds of activities and make a list of them so I don't forget what we have as they get old enough to try them.  I might actually link them all up with the skills they go with and research to see when that skill could be introduced.  Of course every child is different, but just as a starting point.  Okay, no more organization talk.  As I was looking through the activities after dinner, I pulled out one that Nicole made - it was a Pool Noodle Counting activity.  Both boys were on the couch and immediately jumped down to see what I had - the pool noodle pieces definitely caught their eye.  I showed them how to put the pieces on the rope and then they quickly took over.  Clearly, the numbers don't mean anything to them right now, but I love the fact that so many of these activities can be scaffolded to their ability.  So many of them teach so many skills that they can be used over and over for different skill practice!  Have I said how excited I am about this round of activities?  

They were so proud of getting them on there, and the noodle pieces are just their size.  So much fun!  I can't wait to report on the other activities as we delve into them more!  

Ahh..I think that's our week in review, educationally, that is!