I'M STARVING!
anyways...
Today was a typical Monday, meaning the kids were in a "entertain me otherwise I will make your life miserable" mood. Since there were 4 of them, each wanting to be entertained, I had a situation.
Enter the balls. You know, ball pit balls. You can get a big ole bag of them at Target for less than $15. Worth every penny and this is why.
Today the balls were fun to roll around in. This counts as "physical education" as it got them up and moving. Before they got bored, I took them away (just long enough to change diapers).
Then they came back out, with a pail as we worked on colors, in English and Spanish. (I need the red balls, Bring me the red balls, please. When they brought a ball to drop in the bucket we said "Yay~ROJO! RED!") Woohoo for foreign language, hehehe! Again, before they had time to get bored, I whisked them away.
Snack time, everyone to the trough...umm, I mean table.
After snacks, the balls once again made and appearance.
Counting! Counts as math for my little bitty crew. We counted to ten with one color, then would start over with another. And another. And another. There are 4 colors so we did this several times. Until I was bored and my arms hurt from dropping the balls. :-)
Finally just a few mintues (maybe 10) of free for all.
Additional thoughts on this are,
I pulled a few out specifically for Amelia's use. I numbered some yellow ones, (1-one-uno). I did this on 10 balls. Might do 10-20 on the orange, depending on her interest.
I used some red ones to write letters on. Blue ones for additional vowels. Figured we could use them for reading and building words.
Will also use them to do some simple addition with her tomorrow.
Might also try to do a "trail" to have them follow. As they get older we can make it interesting, having different colors going different ways and teaching them to follow instructions.
Writing simple words and have the kids use them to build stories.
The key to making the balls work is to make them special...in other words, limit the kids time. Each of the above mentioned activities should not last longer than 15 minutes. I actually prefer 10 but in the event your kid is a genius and soaking it up then of course, stretch it out. I say this because then they are always wanting more, so it stays a "treat" not a means of placating them.
These balls were all the kids needed today. Well, other than some food and a few fresh diapers.
1 comment:
Sounds like they had fun!!
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