I knew being a stay at home mom was going to be a challenge. I think to some degree I anticipated the discipline battles, the refereeing of two little ones who fight over toys, and the endless piles of laundry. What I didn't anticipate though was becoming a preschool teacher. I don't know how this important function as a mom was completely off my radar but it was. What in the world did I think I was going to be doing all day at home with the kiddos anyway?! :)
God has really been burdening me to slow down. To not book my weeks up so full with play dates (even though they are great fun in moderation). To stop and consider my time, and to realize my first priorities are to Him and to my family. One way that I really want to pour into our kids during this season is to be better at intentionally working on developmental activities with them. The thought of being responsible for my kids education, even at the tiny ages they are now was really overwhelming to me at first. What the heck do I know about preschool education?! Let me tell you- virtually nothing! Since the kids have been in occupational therapy I've been learning so much about the importance of being intentional about doing age specific activities with them to aid in their development. Not only are these activities good for their little brains but they're wonderful for establishing loving bonds.
I wanted to post a few finds here that we've been enjoying lately not to make you think we have our act together in our household. We don't!! Far from it. Most days we just free play and I attempt to get something on the table for dinner. I'm learning that being intentional with fun activities doesn't take as much time as you would think. I don't know what I'm doing with our kids most of the time. By God's grace though, I'm striving to learn how to meet their needs in creative ways and He's been kind to hook me up with some fun resources lately to do so.
#1- My friend Kristen introduced me to http://www.productiveparenting.com/ which is a fabulous website that is full of age-specific ideas of activities to do with kids from birth to four years old. What I love about this website is the FREE membership which allows you to get age-specific activities emailed to you as many times a week as you'd like. Currently, I'm signed up to get 3 activities a week to work on with my kids. These activities literally take little to no prep time and the majority of them are with materials that I already have on hand in the house. It takes me two minutes to read the email, a few to gather the materials, and maybe 10-15 minutes to actually implement the activity. Today's activity had me gather a bunch of different jars/containers with lids. The kids practiced taking the lids off and on the jars and matching them with the correct container. I found most of these containers out in my recycle bin and the kids had fun playing with them throughout the day.
#2- "Slow and Steady Get Me Ready" is a book I purchased recently after seeing a thread of discussion about age-related developmental activities amongst a group of friends on facebook. I really love this book. It's so comprehensive and full of wonderful ideas. The activities are a little more complex at times than the simple ones that Productive Parenting emails to me but I like having the extra resource on hand to thumb through. Again, this has activities from birth up to age four.
#3-The Busy Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers are excellent little books with lots of fun ideas for little ones. My sister Vicki who is a Special Education Preschool teacher got these for me and they have been fun to flip through. I am looking forward to having these on hand, especially during the winter months when getting out of the house will be less appealing.
Do you have fun ideas of things to do with toddlers? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
God has really been burdening me to slow down. To not book my weeks up so full with play dates (even though they are great fun in moderation). To stop and consider my time, and to realize my first priorities are to Him and to my family. One way that I really want to pour into our kids during this season is to be better at intentionally working on developmental activities with them. The thought of being responsible for my kids education, even at the tiny ages they are now was really overwhelming to me at first. What the heck do I know about preschool education?! Let me tell you- virtually nothing! Since the kids have been in occupational therapy I've been learning so much about the importance of being intentional about doing age specific activities with them to aid in their development. Not only are these activities good for their little brains but they're wonderful for establishing loving bonds.
I wanted to post a few finds here that we've been enjoying lately not to make you think we have our act together in our household. We don't!! Far from it. Most days we just free play and I attempt to get something on the table for dinner. I'm learning that being intentional with fun activities doesn't take as much time as you would think. I don't know what I'm doing with our kids most of the time. By God's grace though, I'm striving to learn how to meet their needs in creative ways and He's been kind to hook me up with some fun resources lately to do so.
#1- My friend Kristen introduced me to http://www.productiveparenting.com/ which is a fabulous website that is full of age-specific ideas of activities to do with kids from birth to four years old. What I love about this website is the FREE membership which allows you to get age-specific activities emailed to you as many times a week as you'd like. Currently, I'm signed up to get 3 activities a week to work on with my kids. These activities literally take little to no prep time and the majority of them are with materials that I already have on hand in the house. It takes me two minutes to read the email, a few to gather the materials, and maybe 10-15 minutes to actually implement the activity. Today's activity had me gather a bunch of different jars/containers with lids. The kids practiced taking the lids off and on the jars and matching them with the correct container. I found most of these containers out in my recycle bin and the kids had fun playing with them throughout the day.
#2- "Slow and Steady Get Me Ready" is a book I purchased recently after seeing a thread of discussion about age-related developmental activities amongst a group of friends on facebook. I really love this book. It's so comprehensive and full of wonderful ideas. The activities are a little more complex at times than the simple ones that Productive Parenting emails to me but I like having the extra resource on hand to thumb through. Again, this has activities from birth up to age four.
#3-The Busy Books for Toddlers and Preschoolers are excellent little books with lots of fun ideas for little ones. My sister Vicki who is a Special Education Preschool teacher got these for me and they have been fun to flip through. I am looking forward to having these on hand, especially during the winter months when getting out of the house will be less appealing.
Do you have fun ideas of things to do with toddlers? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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