purposeful play

Everything I try and do these days has a purpose. I am trying to be intentional with how I structure my day and interact with my children. We are working hard at learning to play. The boys are at a loss for how to play with traditional toys (very normal for adopted children). As I said before, if I want to get some school work done with the girls, I have to have something to keep the boys entertained. So...back to the tot trays.

Building with the locking cubes. At first...no one was interested in these. Then I gave some ideas. Try and measure things with them. How many blocks does it take to measure things.
Tyce even measured himself. I think he used all the cubes.
These balls come out every day. Tate loves to put them into the container. I mixed it up with adding a long tube to drop them into.

Here is a game where you have to find the matching cards and gather them together. Not exactly like the instructions tell you how to play, but I modify everything so Tyce can use it. He then had to use clothes pins to group them. Fine motor and sorting.

I gave the boys these tubes (which were meant to be used for a small soccer goal) and had them make designs with them. I'll post later with all the fun things we came up with. These kids can get creative.

more tot fun (AKA how I keep the little ones busy)

Here is Tate enjoying a big box of animals. We LOVE these Schleich animals. I thought they would make a fun tot tray.

This Rush Hour Jr. game is one of our favorites. Even though Tyce can't play the game, he is able to follow the card and set up the cars to match.
Tyce is learning to use scissors. It seems to be struggle for him so we are trying some creative things to cut. Here he is cutting up a string of beads.

More fine motor and letter learning. Putting gem stickers on letters.

Tiny Tots !!!

We are back into school after a small break this spring. A new challenge for us is having little ones take over our schooling space. So...instead of getting frustrated, we have decided to embrace these early learners.

I found some inspiration for having something for our tiny tots to do. I spent some time online coming up with creative and inspiring ideas for fine motor activities. This is all very new to the boys.

The idea is to have some organized activities for them to work with while I teach the girls. It has taken a little bit of getting used to our new routine, but it works well.I ordered a few basic supplies and we were set to go. I just needed a little boost to get my creative teacher juices flowing.

Here is Tyce sorting texture rings. He is using plastic tongs.


Here is Tate pushing beads into a can. Great fine motor skill builder.


Even the big kids like to work with hands on learning. Tissy is working on a phonics game.



This set of geometric shaped blocks are sure fun. I had no idea what I would do with them until they arrived from Oriental Trading. So far...they are tons of fun.

I love how these small balls fit into these paint trays.



Let's just say...I am just getting started. These activities are fun to put out onto the table and watch the kids (both big and little) explore. It seems to keep them entertained for a while.



Then...after a bit...Tate is done and he runs off to play.