We have played with many of the activities over the last few months. Especially on the plane trip to Oregon for Christmas and during sacrament meeting at church. There are still many that she is too young for but we can adapt most of them to grow with her. None of them are mind-blowing but sometimes with kids it is the simple things that keep them entertained I have a few pictures from over the months and then when Brooke picked out the box full of activity bags tonight to play with I decided to take some more.
Velcro Sticks: Brooke enjoyed pulling these apart. She isn't to a point yet where she can make shapes herself but within the last few weeks she has become very interested in colors so we will have to bring these back out to practice colors with too.
Pipe Cleaner color sorter. This actually was originally a water bottle with colored holes to match the colored pipe cleaners with. At the time, Brooke didn't know her colors at all and just had fun manipulating the sticks to get them in the holes. We ended up making our own version with an old parmesean cheese container because it was a little more sturdy. This one came on the plane with us and was even a hit with the random kid friends Brooke made at the airport.
Pom-Pom Stuff it. Probably Brooke's favorite activity right off the bat. It was even with this one that we realized she had a fondness for the color purple. She horded all the purples in one had while stuffing the rest into the container. This one was originally in large formula container. After realizing Brooke could stuff the balls into the hole for what felt like hours I decided to get some smaller puff balls and stuck them in the same cheese container pictured above for the plane. Both sets of puff balls are a big hit. Brooke's new obsession with them is to roll them down her slide, blow them off the end, or stick them thru any small hole she can find (including the holes in the stairs to her slide).
Magnetic Fishing Game: She can't quite fish yet but we've had fun playing the with "fishies" and picking out colors. She also loves to chase the fish around, trying to grab it, while I hold the fishing pole.
Relaxation bottles: Brooke likes to shake these but doesn't really care to watch them settle yet. The idea is that a kid will calm down while watching all the glitter settle. Mostly I think they are just pretty to look at.
There was also a bottle made for shaking. It has color beads inside. Probably best suited for a younger kid, but Brooke played with it for a bit. We will try it again when she gets older and can search for colors inside.
Memory game: this was one of the games Brooke pulled out tonight. I asked her where the specific colors were and she handed me the cards. I showed her that each card had a match and then set them all out again. To my surprise she then looked and picked up a match! She was so proud of herself. She went thru the whole thing and matched all the cards (there are only 6). As she gets older we can turn the cards over as well as practice shapes, colors, and counting. But I was really impressed with her matching ability tonight! It is so fun watching her learn new concepts!
Threading Cards: Brooke hasn't tried this one and I don't think she would be able to yet. The idea is to thread the string thru holes in each shape. It is a start to sewing skills and I'm excited for Brooke to use these later.
Texture cards: these cards still interest Brooke although they would definately be suitable for younger kids too. We practice different descriptive words (bumpy, smooth, soft, shiny etc) with them and she likes to feel the differences.
Clothesline game: This is another preschool activity that I'm excited to use one day. There are clothing shapes, a cup to wash them in and a string with clothes pins to hang them to dry on.
I don't have a pictures of one of Brooke's favorite activities. It is a pipe cleaner with pieces of straw. She works really hard to slide the straw onto the pipe cleaner and then pulls it off again. The activity bag came with a string also for when she has better fine motor skills. There are a number of colors of straw pieces and I can imagine her making bracelets with different patterns and colors when she gets older.
I also missed getting a picture of the Pipe Cleaner counting activity. It has 5 pipe cleaners labeled 1-5 and then beads that slide on. Brooke is not old enough to count them appropriately yet but she liked to use her fingers to slide them on and off.
Also not pictured was a bag full of laminated church pictures (family praying, temple, Joseph Smith etc). That one is in our Church bag and Brooke loves looking at the different pictures while sitting semi-quietly during sacrament meeting.
And lastly, there was an awesome sewing activity for the older kids. An embroidery hoop with a plastic needle. It had this plastic material with holes in it to sew thru so it was reusable. Great idea!
I think that covers them all!! It was a great swap and gave me some new ideas of things to try with Brooke, both now and as she gets older.
1 comment:
Nice work, momma! Those are awesome.
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