Sometimes I will draw a big letter for M to fill in with stickers/beans/pasta. I let him use the stick glue, but I use the Elmer's. Usually I put glue in a small area, and then he decorates but sometimes we collaborate!
Sometimes we make faces and other designs.
Or decorate the rocks we find. M has excellent fine motor skills and can handle little items very well. If something does end up being difficult, then I ask him to choose the supplies and location where he wants them placed.
This morning we read a book that we made yesterday about M being a special creation of God. Then I got out a photo album, and we talked about the great qualities that God gave him. Next we made a picture of him...I only drew the head and put the glue in the right spots, M then put everything in its place.
I drew another oval for Daddy's head, put some glue on top and at smile, and just let M go to town.
For this next picture (of me!) I walked him through the drawing...like asking him how many eyes I have and where they are on my face...and then asking where the eyes should go on the paper face. I also asked him what color hair/eyes/lips I have before choosing our markers.
Here we started putting some penguin stickers on a paper and talking about how, even though they were different colors, they are all still penguins. This reminded me that we had a new library book about penguins, so we looked at the different types of penguins and noted their differences. Then I grabbed a calendar of kids from different countries and pointed out the differences between the kids...but talked about how they are all still kids and all special creations of God.
Finally we made stick people for each person in our family and had them dance and jump together.
Then I needed a nap!
12 comments:
You are very creative...I am jealous!!
I love these kinds of post. Hope you don't mind that I'll be copying all of your cute ideas! Love the lessons that you are teaching M.
I'm sure this is not news to you, but M. is well ahead of the curve. Many kids his age can't place facial features half as well as he. I'm thinking you have a future ahead of you as a homeschooling mom. You certainly have the creativity and M.. with his astounding intelligence, seems like he'd thrive.
@ Judy...ACK! I always say that I hope God doesn't want me to homeschool. I am so very disorganized, no schedule, i never know what day/date it is, I have math nightmares, and the thought of it just makes me squeamish.
I think that I play with M the way that I learn. For ex, I can't read my camera manual to save my life, but if I watch someone do it, takes notes of my own, and then walk myself back through my notes, I'm golden. Sooooo, for ex, we read the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom...then I found it on youtube as a song so we watched it in video...then we made a coconut tree out of construction paper, taped it to the side of his slide, and then made his magnetic letters "climb" up the tree and then fall down the slide. I try to make connections all the time.
So I don;t think I am creative as much as I just do things the way that I would need to learn them! And I think that means NO HOMESCHOOLING!
What a fun and creative day!
I love it all! Way to go! You are keeping it age appropriate without boxing in his advanced skills....you are making it hands on....lots of textures....colors galore...sticky hands, cuz kids love that!.....and most of all FUN for the both of you!!
Thanks for sharing that!!
:) Lisa
What a creative/entertaining mama you are! You can also (since your little M loves math!) do some sorting exercises with those muffin tins. Let M sort the pasta and beans by size, color or shape. Or, you can have him sort the pom-poms by color or size! You can also let him use tongs to pick up the pom-poms and it's a great way to learn sorting, colors, big/little AND work on his fine motor and pre-writing skills!
@J...yes, we do sort, but then they quickly get mixed back up...i guess that part if more fun! we also do patterns...which i wasn;t really trying to tach him patterns, i just did it to entertain myself, but he caught on!
such fun...I can't wait for Claire to be old enough(ok I can, but you know what I mean) to be able to do crafts and not eat them...something I saw another mom do w/craft supplies, was decorate a kaboodle for each kid and fill it w/all sorts of crafty goodness.
You are such an awesome mommie. I don't know how the heck you have time to do this...my only saving grace is Yu-Lin goes to daycare and they do that with him there..otherwise, poor guy wouldn't get any of that. Keep up the great work. By the way, I would like to follow your private blog if possible. Sorry been out of commission for awhile, but I love seeing how M is growing up. Take Care. Kristie
i love how intentional you are with M and how you connect things all the time for him to learn! i feel good if i can grab the crayons and coloring books and let the kids color for half an hour! :) actually, we do a lot of crafts here, but i never feel like i take it beyond the craft itself...you inspire me! i especially love how you always incorporate talking about kids from all over the world and that M seems to "get it". thanks for being encouragement!
oh, by the way, you do realize i am very unorganized and not very scheduled and i am planning to homeschool, right?! come on and join me - we can start a new homeschool revolution!!
Super creative!! I've checked in on your blog from time to time but don't think I've ever left a comment. If I'm not mistaken, I think we've met before...at an adoption fellowship get-together prior to your adoption!
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