A wide mouthed jar
a bean
a toilet paper roll
a wet paper towel
a week of sunlight
and voila!
Bean Sprouting Fun
Three Simple Activities Young Children Absolutely Love
Creating complex activities to entertain and educate your child can be time consuming, expensive, and disappointing, especially when they don’t like what you’ve created. But there are a few activities that I’ve used with children over the years that are always a big hit, cost very little, take almost no preparation, and consume young children in hours of play and exploration.
Too good to be true? No way! We’re talking about the magic of water play here, and when it comes to activities like these, simpler really is better. So here are my top three activities with zero prep time, minimal or no clean up, and an enormous capacity to engage the creative mind of a child.
Three Keys to Transforming Whining
Photo by Suzette Hibble www.thebayareaphotographer.com
Oh boy, my daughter was sick with a week-long stomach flu, and as a result, whining has emerged. Here we go on the whining toddler ride! I find whining to be one of the most annoying and challenging things young children do to express their needs. Tantrums are easier for me than whining. That’s probably because I’ve done so much whining myself! In fact, if I’m really honest, I STILL whine when I’m exceptionally tired, sick, or otherwise infirmed.
Your Work/My Work
In the Montessori classrooms I’ve worked in, there are usually twenty-four children between three and six years old and just two adults. Each child has free choice of hundreds of possible activities in the classroom, and in order to maintain peace and order, we HAVE to create some rules and boundaries.
One of the rules is that we respect one another’s work. We don’t touch each other’s work, we don’t walk on someone else’s work rug, and we don’t clean up after each other. Each person is responsible for getting out, completing, and putting away their own work.
Inexpensive Book Display
Inexpensive Book Display- I’ve never liked using this for files in my office, so now I use it as a small book shelf and display in the bathroom.
My daughter looks at books happily while I shower because they are so nicely displayed!
Compared to front displaying bookcases, this is a very inexpensive option that still engages interest by featuring the covers of picture books.