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| This is our "Colors" Basket |
So, even though I have an infant, I'm still trying to provide planned learning experiences for our two-year-old. Now, I have to say that I don't keep up with new material for him but, hey, it just gives him the chance to really get to know a subject. And, given that he is two, I don't really expect much knowledge retention from him. I just want to get him comfortable with learning new things. My hope with it is to foster in him a love of learning. Anyway, I've recently begun doing themes where I fill a basket with all sorts of items I think might be interesting for him on the subject. I keep it in his room in an accessible spot so he can dig into it whenever he wants. So far I switch subjects out every month or so but, I really don't have much structure and it ends up being whenever I get around to it...
Today I want to tell you about our basket on colors. We have been working on colors in every day life for a while now and I figure it will take us quite a while to really learn them. When I introduced our color basket Eli knew the names of colors but often just guessed when asked what color an item was. He still does sometimes and everything is blue or an item is three different colors at once. But after a month of using the basket he has learned his colors pretty well (most of the time).
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| Eli likes to read books every morning |
Since one of his favorite things is to look at books, I decided that one thing I had to do was get some books on color. I picked up a handful at the library, and also sorted through some out from our family collection. One of his favorite books from infancy has been Boynton's Blue Hat Green hat. One of the new books I recently picked up is Lemons are not Red which is a beautiful book focusing on just colors. Eli also likes Little Blue Truck which doesn't really have anything to do with color identification except that the truck is blue. I figured it would be more fun for him to have some books with plot mixed in with books that just identify colors. So I have a pretty good mix for him.
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| "Sorting" |
Our color basket also has a mini basket with different items for sorting. It contains a few little toys and cups to sort with in each color. I also included bouncy balls in each color for counting (not that it did much good), and I put in blue beads with a blue pipe cleaner for stringing to practice fine motor skills. I put a big green puff ball and little green puff ball in to compare sizes. And I included some colored chip clips to pick up puff balls as well (more fine motor development). I also, placed a Hotwheel car of each color in since they are one of his favorite things to play with these days. He hasn't really developed to the sorting stage yet, but I thought I'd give it a try. When I started, I found out he isn't really interested in sorting AT ALL. But he does like to look at the items and especially likes to put the cars into the cups. Except the blue car, that one belongs on the floor. For now, I just identify the color of the item he has picked up, or I ask him. Then I leave him to play as he sees fit. (My purpose is to let him explore colors and I won't force him to play the way I intended when putting the basket together... even IF the bossy sister side of me feels he should do things differently.) By the third week he did surprise me by sorting the cars into the right colored cups, so I guess there is hope he will learn sorting.
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| Counting Beads |
Another thing I stumbled upon was at Freehomeschooldeals.com. They have tons of free learning activities with printables for home school parents. The particular pack I found for color ties in with the book Mouse Paint written by Ellen Stoll Wash. You can get it
here if you are interested. There is a lot available in this theme, but I decided to just take the color matching game since I am focusing on just colors right now. But I may come back to get the writing/fine motor and shape activities, and cutting practice. I printed out the matching game which included a picture of a mouse, jar of paint, and a puddle in each color. I then laminated them so that they could stand up to toddler use. Once again, Eli hasn't reached the sorting and matching stage yet. But he liked looking at them and lining them up in a row. These are something I see him playing with in the future when he develops a little more, but in the mean time, it ties in well with the book and I guess they are nice to line up. (Lining things up is a favorite activity of my two year old right now). As an aside, the book Mouse Paint is one that Eli insists on reading every morning and I would recommend it as a color learning book. It's a library book that I think we will have to look into purchasing.
Another color matching item I'm planning on adding to the basket is felt popsicles (I found the directions
here). These little guys are just another fun little matching activity. I think these are kind of self explanatory. You match the Popsicle stick with the right color felt Popsicle. I think they are really cute and they will be great in the play kitchen long after my kids learn their colors.
The final item I included in the basket is the game we gave Eli for his second birthday. Eli calls it the BIG Puffball game, but it is really called
ThinkFun Roll and Play Board Game This is an excellent game for learning colors (and many other things like counting, emotions, animal sounds and physical activities). I have Eli throw the "dice" which is a giant stuffed block with a color on each side. And whatever color lands up we pull out a card of the corresponding color and then do what the card says. Each color has a theme. Red is physical activities like: hop up and down, sing a song, dance... The green cards have a picture of an animal and you have to make the sound the animal makes. Blue is finding an item that is a specific color (each card has a different color). Orange is counting, but it tries to keep it specific to engaging the body like: count 5 fingers, or pat your head three times. Purple is body parts but it also engages the body: tap your knee, nod your head, etc. And finally, yellow is facial expressions/feelings where you make an angry face, or happy face. Eli loves this game and it is nice for engaging a little one with movement while learning, which is handy when stuck inside with a little boy. It is a game you could make at home as well. You would just have to place a colored sticker on each side of a dice and come up with activities and put them on colored construction paper.
I also have been coloring and doing watercolors with him which I didn't put in the basket since he can get into the basket whenever he wants and I'm not a fan of having crayon on my furniture and walls. But if he were older I would have included crayons and coloring pages for him as well. I'm also reading the story of Joseph and his colorful coat as a scripture tie-in to our color theme. So, that is the "Color" basket I made for Eli. He seems to be enjoying it. And honestly, I am too. :)
Today we had a birthday party! I thought it would be fun to do a little pretend cake with Elijah today and this is what I came up with: I started with a cookie sheet and play-dough. We have a cookie sheet specifically set aside for play which we shaped our dough onto. We made a nice big circle (I'm really focusing on shapes lately). Then I put magnet letters around it to spell his name. He isn't old enough to really know letters yet, but I suppose it's never to early to start learning your name. Then we stuck two golf tees into our circle "cake" and put two puff balls on top of them to make candles. We, mostly I, sang the happy birthday song and I had Eli "blow out the candles" (blow the puff balls off the tees). He thought the whole thing was marvelous.We then just explored the golf tees with the play-dough and then pressed the letters into it as well. Eli also had to "blow out the candles" a few more times too.
