Pom Pom Muffins

Letting the Bug play and explore without structure sounds great but it leaves me feeling guilty and often leaves him crabby and asking to watch TV... So when I stumbled across the concept of invitations to play, I knew we had to try!

I set up 3 simple activities and showed them to the Bug and he gravitated to the Pom poms!

I helped him sort them and we talked about the colors (I used fall colors since we've been focused on fall!) 

Then he just explored. He felt the Pom poms, moved them from muffin cup to muffin cup, and pulled the cake liners apart! 

We will be doing more invitations to play and tot trays based on the Bug's interests! Stay tuned!

Shape Collage!

The Bug and I have been working hard on settling into a fall routine as new activities start again!

He's extremely into art lately so we've been doing lots of painting! I drew shapes on his easel and he's been painting, tracing, and coloring in the shapes so this week we're further exploring shapes!

The Bug spent lots of time looking through and talking about the shapes he was pulling out.

He also peeled them off the sticky paper. It was a great simple activity that lasted much longer than I expected!

Let the Children Play

One thing I have struggled with as a stay at home mom with only one kiddo is how to balance teaching and learning with play. I truly believe that we expect way too much from our kids at a young age- they're in playgroups and activities every minute that they're not in school and we as parents are stretched to the max running them from one activity to the next. 

But I'm at home all day with one toddler. He doesn't have classmates exposing him to different ways of doing things and while he does get socialization through playgroups and such, he's with me most of the time. 

So I try to show him a variety of things then let him explore. I play with him for 15-30 minutes then go do housework while he plays. He knows how to turn on the tv now... That's a skill right?

We go places- he LOVES going to the petting farm to see the animals!

Playgrounds and splash pads are things we got to explore much more this summer! We also take classes- I joined a mommy fitness group so the Bug gets some socializing at playgroups and I get to stay in shape! The Bug took swim lessons last winter and is taking gymnastics this fall! We go to Storytime at the library too!

At home, we started a biweekly lesson. I come up with a theme and pick out different activities- 3 sensory bins, 1 fine motor, 1 gross motor, 1 loose parts, 1 pretend play, and a basket of books. Not all the activities fit with the theme- it's a general way of introducing shapes, body parts, and things of that nature. The Bug has free reign in his art nook though I do try to come up with some activities that fit with the theme such as this shapes collage

So, play and explore. The Bug is learning so much despite my fears and I have the memories to prove it! He doesn't need drills or apps or toys to help him learn- he needs parents who read to him, play with him, and explore the world with him! Let the children play!!!