How it goes

So our attempt at a routine has been successful in some aspects, and not a complete failure in others.   One of our successes is that Mandie is starting to have a better concept of days of the week, she can also use her chart to tell us what we are going to be doing that day.  It has also been a good way of giving her something to look forward to, because as we put her to bed we remind her of what the activity is for  the next day and she doesn't even fight going to sleep.

Where we haven't done as well is in pre-planning projects and following through with ideas.  I knew we would have a hard time with this part, but I don't thing we have done horrible.  Either way she has had fun and done something related to the activity for each day.  We can work on the rest. 

One way to help with the pre-planning projects, especially when you are super busy with a work project that is sucking all your time, is craft kits.  I feel like it's cheating in a way, but Mandie loves them just as much as the kits I take the time to make.  So in the end we still accomplish the same thing, and I can grab it from her craft box and she doesn't have to miss a day because I didn't have time to put something together.  (I do have a goal of setting up several projects so they are ready to go - but that is still a work in progress.)

This is a Crayola Kit I found on sale at the toy store and not only does it come with everything I need right in the box, but it was fun, easy and SUPER CUTE.

It said it was for ages 3+ but it was easy to modify the steps so that she could do it.  I traced her hand and cut out all of the pieces.  Then I let her glue things into place.  For the tissue paper spots on the giraffe I drew on the circles and put dabs of glue down and let her crinkle the paper and stick it in place.  She loved sticking the green tissue paper on to make the tree.  (I just noticed now that the piece we put down as grass looks a little like poop...it still turned out cute.)

This kit came with several handprint projects, so I look forward to doing more with her.  I'll make sure to pre-cut the shapes though, because she quickly grew tired of waiting as I cut around each bump of the giraffe's mane. 

Our science project was amazing so that will get a post of its own!

Circles

I love crafts, and apparently so does my two year old.  She is even willing to clean up her play area, and eat vegetables to earn craft time.  I have decided to take advantage of this and make craft time also learning time.

Our routine goes as follows:

With her safely gated in the living room, I set everything up so that there is not too much running around for miscellaneous items.  This is because I know that if I step away from the craft table my daughter will manage to glue herself, or one of our pets to something or each other.

Then I have her step just into the room and put on her "listening ears".  To test the functionality of her listening ears, we do a toddler version of Simon Says - which is basically where I just tell her to point at parts of her body to see if she is listening.  (BTW she has phalanges and sternum down.)  If she passes this test she gets to go to her craft table.

Last week we did shapes, so for circles I had a circle cut out of a nice colorful piece of paper.   Then on a white sheet of paper I drew a larger circle and wrote the word circle at the top.

Armed with a glue stick, she glued the pretty circle onto the page inside the circle I had drawn.  We talked about the shape, and things that were shaped like circles.  Then came her favorite part.  Using a toilet paper tube and a plate of different colored paint, she got to "stamp" circles onto the sheet.  She loved it so much I gave her a second plain sheet to do more.  

Stamping circles is serious work!

 We did the "okay, two more then we are done" and there was no fussing when the project was over.  We followed it up with squares, triangles and rectangles on other days that week - and I made sure to review her previous projects before starting the new ones. 

She loved the projects, but I  was worried that it had been too simple - then the other day she was playing a game and she pointed to the O and said "Circle Mama!".  So now I am happy with the results.  It has made her a better listener, given her a creative outlet, and she is learning.  Happy Mama and happy kid.