January 6th, 2012 31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Six} Choosing a good learning environment Posted by Melitsa in 31 days, Memes, play activities

Sometimes little things become bigger things and derail us from what we orginally set out to do.

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My youngest brings me a paintbrush and declares he wants to paint. Brilliant I know how much he loves it. Bonus I’m in the kitchen  right now so we’ll be together. This is looking great. I go to clear the table, wipe it down. Notice the floor under the table. Sweep. Empty the bin outside. Attend to pot. Notice the paintbrush abandonded on the floor. Oh yes! Go for some large butcher paper. … even I could sense my distraction.

The LO had long since run off to do something else. What I realised: When I multi task I’m (really) easily distracted.  Be more focussed ( with a goal and actionable statements) and organized. It’s part of the reason I love 52 bites at a time; a chance to work on a single manageable project completely. I’m learning and doing.

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I took myself off to a coffee shop to do some writing. I figured I wouldn’t be distracted by the call of home to clean, tidy, fix, prepare, answer the phone and generally multi-task. Unfortunately going over lunchtime and a particularly excited and growing group of teens also disctracted. You know how you end up shouting in a nightclub (Think way back now!) you get louder and louder as they turn the music up. This was my situation but I wanted quiet or low level hum.

Distraction is a problem. Whether it’s your home, your environment or your work we have children who need to function in a good learning environment.

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If only I had all the paint supplies to hand ( I do now) . The LO would have been painting pretty quickly.

If only I had started earlier or stopped during the lunchtime session I may have been more productive.

It’s easy to get caught up in doing all the little things so you can finally have sometime with the kids and the little things become big things and then no time.

Learning how to master a learning environment takes time , observation, reading and a lot of trial and error. It’s also something that needs attention and revision based on your children’s stages, the season and what we decide as a family is our focus.

Instead of stabbing in the dark or retreating to a dark corner try something new this year. Focus on some new learning styles. Learn some, try some, reflect some on the impact on your childs learning.

My wish for you is that you don’t get stuck in a learning rut. Playtime will have purpose. It’s not about how much time you play but you’ll see your everyday interactions as play as you’ve planned it.

New grooves to try

( There are plenty more to try…..)

Waldorf and Steiner play:

Raising Playful Tots show 30: Steiner Waldorf play with Janni Nicol

Raising Playful Tots show 36: Waldorf Education with Janni Nicol

Montessori:

A fabulous practical blog detailing Montessori activities along with a huge list of other Montessori blogs. Try the left sidebar for the list of blogs and dive into what did we do all day .

Simplify your life to enjoy:

Playful Learning: Develop Your Child’s Sense of Joy and Wonder

Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and More Secure Kids

The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections

Not just cute:: Resolve: Get Organized

How we run our homes; set up systems and allocate our time and energy makes a difference to how we raise our children.

What can you do right now, that came to mind as you read this post, about your learning environment at home? 

 

Click here to read the rest of the posts in the series, 31 Days to a more Playful Tot.

 

January 1st, 2012 31 Days to a More Playful Tot – An Introduction Posted by Melitsa in 31 days, Memes, play activities

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day One} Take stock and just play

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Two} Everyday Interactions

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Three} Set the scene with your voice

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Four} Exploring the world

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Five} Less is more

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Six} Choosing a good learning environment

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Seven} Sounds, words and actions

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Eight} Real living

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Nine} Nurturing Curiosity

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Ten} The Power of Questions

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Eleven} Know Your Mind

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twelve} Cheerleader and Coach

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Thirteen} Accept and reject

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Fourteen} Gratitude, Actions and Words

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Fifteen} Let’s get social

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Sixteen} Time for a visit

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Seventeen} Critical thinking

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Eighteen} Be Inspired!

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Nineteen} Choosing (appropriate) activities

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twenty} More Process not product

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twenty one} Knowing where they are

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twenty two} 7 words that help shorten an outburst

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twenty Three} Problem solving

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twenty four} Goodness for your ears

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twenty Five} Asking the children

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twenty five} Quick 5 minute activities

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twenty seven} Books to read to discover play

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twenty Eight} Books to read to discover play 2

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Twenty Nine} Saying yes

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Thirty} Keep unstructured play flexible

31 days to a more Playful Tot {Day Thirty One} Creating a playspace

In my series, 31 Days to a more Playful Tot, we will explore many things, from nurturing curiosity to living in the real world. My idea is to cover a  wide variety of topics — as many as I can think of that affect my own children’s playfulness and impact my motivation for play as a parent.

{Warning}
I’m writing from the heart. Sometimes the posts will be longer and some bitesized. You won’t have a beautiful clean house at the end of this 31 day series, and organized home or perfectly behaved children who’ll love to play every second of the day.

What you’ll get though I hope will be helpful reminders, lots of nod your head moments , more focus and ideas . Plus a feeling that we all are on the same journey together to raising a more playful tot with life throwing us lots of detours along the way.

My reasons for writing these posts

• the interaction of the community. We’re not alone. Someone’s been there before us and has an alternative to our struggles. I love hearing the different ways we – raise playful tots.
• I’ve wanted to write this series for a while and have lots of ideas and condensing them down has been really hard.
• Discipline of writing for this length of time (Ek!)
• documenting what I’ve learnt with my three little boys and the meandering journey we are on.

What I expect from you:

•  I hope you join in; post your ideas; comment.
• I hope you read and not skim + share.
• I hope you enjoy.
• Most of all I hope you take these action steps and make them part of your play life from this moment on.

You won’t want to miss a post — follow me on Facebook ::

So glad you will be joining me in this 31 day journey!
Please share the love — grab my button!

     

November 2nd, 2011 Cultural Exchange Posted by Melitsa in Education, Homemade, Memes, Podcast, Sites to visit, Thought of the week

Melissa over at Chasing Cheerios mentioned a Cultural Exchange  just before the Summer. It sounded a great idea.

The idea was to send a packgae out that represented your country to a group of people. Melissa coordinated the whole thing. We were in a group of 6 people. 6 packages- how difficult would that be?

Naturally life gets busy during the summer. My husband was back after a year deployment so life was hectic. The kids also spent a large portion with Grandparents. I didn’t want to send activities for them to do. Hanging out with the Grandparents was all that was required.

So September rolls around and back to school. Again super busy. The boys and I worked really  hard on finding UK things and what they wanted.

This is what we selected for our package. Each one was a little different.

• ELC money in Euros and Sterling
• Twining fruit Tea. (We’re big fruit tea drinkers but we were thinking of the kids- no caffeine!)
• Mini chocolate digestives ( I had to buy a second packet the first packets got…er..um eaten)
• Love hearts and traditional sweets
• keyring with a tourist attraction from the UK/London. Here we have the traditional phone box. Not many of these around.
• Make a flag activity
• Information pack about the K including recipes
• Drawn picture of a Beefeater costume.

Imagine that duplicated 6 times. It was an interesting time at the post office sending these off.

Next the wait…….

So far we’ve received one from Arizonia and one from Japan.

The boys are beyond excited to open them up. We unpacked them at Dinnertime.

If you get the chance to participate in an exchange….do!

There are lots of physical swaps online. I spoke about the International Postcard Swap  on the podcast recently.

Have you participated in any swaps? Share the links below

 

April 26th, 2011 DIY kids play stove Posted by Melitsa in Homemade, language, Memes, Outdoor play, play activities, pretend play, Sites to visit, Thought of the week

Meet our latest kitchen addition.

The one benefit of having lots of boxes from a move is the endless fun you can have with them.

I’ve been on the lookout for a kitchen set for a long time but everything I’ve seen didn’t fit for one reason or another. We’ve never been shy about our creations even if they don’t look the greatest I’ve never been shy to share them. Some will laugh and point the finger and I hope you are inspired to do better then. The best thing about these types of project is how we all get involved. It’s not about how perfect it looks but how functional.

Two brothers

This is how the minds of two brothers think for their little brother one Easter holiday….with a little help from mum.

Small empty box wrapped in white paper

Kids:We don’t want to see that writing and maybe we can paint it

Me: Thank goodness as I kept meaning to get a better covering for it.

Kids: We need bits on the top……[looking around the room] How would I draw a circle?

Me: Introduces a cereal bowl.

Kids: off to find paper. Problem 1- no paper in the size for 4 burners so improvise with white ( we’ll colour it) and red card – probably left over from St George’s day craft.

squabble over who will do what…….

Brother runs off with paper ….

Discussion about distracting the LO and working together. MO decides to play or distract his brother while the BG can quickly finish the colouring and cutting.

Peace …… negotiation complete

me: How do you turn it on then?

Kids: run off. MO comes back with lid from a bottle. Puts it on the box. Lots of different bottle tops tried. Some from things in use………….

A little while later, the DIY stove is fully functional with Chef MO cooking up a feast and Chef LO lining up the ingredients.

There were more steps inbetween these.  Lots of excitement, diversions, breaks for snacks etc But over the course of one morning it was completed.

This picture was taken at bedtime as activity is too fast and furious during sessions. The beauty of this stove is………

portable

homely

precious

full of memories

lovingly made

Designed and mostly made by brothers for their brother

played with by all.

Don’t be put off with making your own play activities or encouraging your children to do so.

If you’re looking for a comprehensive list of DIY projects check out childhood 101.

Sorry ….. I have to go………..been invited around for some tea and a baked bean tin?

This post is part of the meme We Play: Pop on over and view the other players

April 19th, 2011 Tissue Box prepositions Posted by Melitsa in Education, language, Memes, play activities

Cars. Cars. Cars.

The LO loves vehicles.

Using what he loves in a fun a playful way took a new turn this week with the    Tissue Box Challenge

We raided our junk box ( aka recycling bag) and using some other familiar (borrowed) items to make a new truck for him using a tissue box.

This is what he saw when he came down from his nap, thanks to his older brothers who put the finishing touches like a window and changed the little man from a robber to who we have there now.

He pushed it up and down which gave us the idea of prepositions.

As he naturally pushed it under the coffee table we all yelled “UNDER the table” and he got the hang of it and would put it in place for us to say ” ON the sofa”.

Can you guess which ones?

Hint: If you place the cursor over the photo you’ll see

We did a few more over things like flowers but he was happier to see how well the flowers splayed out and how well the truck stuck to on the flowers than over…………

The tissue box was transformed again in hours and parts used elsewhere. Now they had the bug for making it went on for most of the day.