Whole Child Development
Photo courtesy of hworks.
The advent of writing is a momentous time in any child’s life. It is important to realize that the process preparing a child to write begins very early in life; long before she puts pencil to paper. I view the development of writing as having three major components: 1. Fine motor control, 2. Understanding that print carries meaning, and 3. An increased awareness of the alphabetic principle, leading to more conventional spelling.
Shaving cream is wonderful! What child can resist plunging ten wriggling fingers into that fantastic, foamy stuff?
Looking for a sensory activity that will get your kids’ attention? Spray some shaving cream into your sensory bin. The sight and sound of that alone will get them running!
Tell me I’m not the only mother with a two year old who thinks the best thing to do with five boxes of puzzles is to put them all into one bucket together. Luckily for me, I learned at a university lab preschool, that it is very handy to number the backs of your puzzle pieces to help out in just such a situation. Each time I get a new puzzle, I write a number on the box and then write that number on the back of each piece. Then, say when I find two random puzzle pieces mysteriously stuffed into the only VCR left in our house, I can quickly determine which boxes to return them to. Now if only fixing the VCR was that easy!
It’s colorful, cheap, and a little bit slimy. What’s not to love? Goopy goop, is pretty much colorful paste. Get a few of the plastic bottles they sell for hair dye. Fill them about 1/2 full of flour. Add water and food coloring or water color powder. Adjust the flour to water ratio if necessary so that the goop is thin enough to be easily squeezed out, but thick enough that you can basically write with the stream that comes out. I used it in my sensory bin and included some paint brushes for mixing colors.
This activity increases fine motor control and strength, both key for future writers. It also is a great opportunity for creativity and sensory development.
Do you ever run into this problem? You have a child who has been slaving away on a block project and is devastated when it’s time to clean up? Here are a couple of ideas for handling that situation.
Take a picture, it’ll last longer. Keep a digital camera handy and snap a few shots. Tell Little Jimmy you will email the picture so that he can look at it on his computer at home, and show it to his parents. Kids quickly shift gears into photo-op mode, when they contemplate the idea of having a picture magically appear on their computer! Sending the pictures home also goes a long way in communicating with the parents about what their child has been doing at school. Add a note such as, “Jimmy was so proud of this structure, I just had to send a picture so he could tell you about it himself. He worked on it for 15 minutes and showed an eye for detail and symmetry.” When Jimmy gets to show off this picture at home, it reinforces the home-school connection, encourages use of language skills as he describes what he did, and it is a huge boost to his self-esteem.
Content Copyrighted (2008-2019), Amanda Morgan, All Rights Reserved
