Toy Rotation Challenge: Accepted

My boys have been blessed with very VERY generous family and friends.  I mean, these kids are so cute, how can you NOT spoil them.  But the simple truth is that lots of toys means lots of mess, and (surprise, surprise!) lots of toys results in very little actual playing.  hmmm.

I have been seeing pins about toy rotations, and at first didn't think it would work for us, but desperate times... you know:  Big mess, whiny kids, fighting kids, missing pieces to just about every toy.

After doing some more pinterest research I came up with several categories for their toys:

1. Pretend Play (play sets): things like the Little People Animal Sounds Zoo, Airport, Barn, Vtech garage and the Imaginext Batcave.  I will put out one of these at a time.
2. Pretend Play (role play): various tool kits, doctor kit, conductor hat and train whistle.  Again, these will be available one at a time.  We also have a bin of masks and hats and dress up stuff, that won't be included in a rotation but it is in a closet for whenever the mood strikes.
3. Trains: we have collected quite a few metal die cast Thomas Take and Play trains as well as wooden trains and tracks, so I've decided he really only needs one type of train at a time.
4. Large Trucks: small trucks and cars will stay out for him, but the larger construction trucks, farm vehicles and firetrucks will be available only a few at a time (not so many that it defeats the purpose, but enough so there's no fighting over them).
5. Thinking Toys: things like shape sorters, the wood puzzle train, stacking rings, etc. etc. that promote problem solving and fine motor skill work.  I will choose a few of these with each toy change.
6. Musical Toys:  there is no real  need for the boys to have every single drum, bell, shaker, stick, etc that we have come to own.  A few at a time is plenty for making beautiful music, and rotating allows for them to discover different sounds and combinations of sounds as "new" instruments come out.
7. Moving Toys: this category is for their balls, collapsable tunnel, giant bowling set, ball poppers, etc. that get them up and moving.  Depending on the amount of movement for each one, I will put out one or two at a time.
8. Alway-Out Toys:  as I mentioned before, cars will be out permanently since these boys love them.  We also have a kitchen set up and food toys that will stay out.  

Money is tight in a one income household, and priorities are priorities, so I tried to use as many cardboard boxes and storage containers that were around the house already.  I plan on investing in nicer storage bins little by little.  I also didn't want to start buying until I knew better how I would pull this off and what I would need.

I was pretty overwhelmed.  It is about 90% done, but since our playroom is in the basement and it's been pretty cold here (and also, I haven't gotten a complete handle on the toys that came in for Christmas), our upstairs had been pretty invaded by toys that still need to be brought down and sorted.  I also have to go through the stuffed animals and random toys, and all the younger baby toys.  

Changing the toys weekly seems like its too often, but monthly seems like too long to wait... so right now I'm thinking every other week will be a new set up of toys.  But I think I will let the boys' level of interest be my guide.

Here's what things looked like during the sort:

While I'm at it with the play room makeover, I decided to separate the room into two sides: play side and school side.  School side is still being organized, but...

... here is play side, with it's currently available toys:

 

 And this is the current state of my closet toy storage:

Putting the FUN in UN-Schooling

Hello there strangers.

It's been quite a while since I've been on here, (and I'm sure the only one upset about that has been me).  Well, that's not to say we have given up on the idea of home schooling.  It is to say that we seem to have become... UNschoolers! (just so you know... in my head I heard "Bum Bum Bummm" with that proclamation.  You know... a clue has been discovered, shattering news has been received...cue the orchestra... "Bum Bum Bummmmm").

While Montessori method speaks to my soul in wonderful ways, the reality is that I am much more of a "wing-it" type person.  I did so well planning lessons and activities for a little while and then time just got away from me... totally blaming my kids here, it's my right to throw around that excuse as I see fit.

I got a little (a lot) upset with myself and decided to go back to the journal entry I penned upon making the decision to homeschool.  I had set goals for the boys, as well as myself, to reach within the year.  The boys have met just about all their goals and it is only about 6 months that have passed.  My own goals were for better time management, planning and organizational skills, so that is a major fail.

I had always thought of unschooling as a lazy excuse for homeschooling.  But guess what... it has worked for us quite well.  My kids are at "sponge age," soaking up absolutely any and everything right now.  We have taken advantage of situations as they arise to practice counting and numeral recognition, compare, contrast, explore, deduce, and reason... even the alphabet has been given a shot recently (stubbornness and a speech delay/articulation issue seem to have slowed that subject down).

The recurring conversations this winter have been: "So cold, so cold! Wawa turn ice," and "Warm outside, snow melt wawa... make mud," where wawa=water.  Not a bad grasp on the properties of water, right?  That's just one example of lessons on the fly.

So since I've last logged on and posted Big Boy continues to do EXCELLENT in school skills at Gymboree Play and Music of North Haven (like them on Facebook!), and he has been doing great with his speech therapy through Yale-New Haven Children's Hospital.  Both Big Boy and Little Man are enjoying their Music Together classes through Musical Folk and pretend to teach their own music classes at home.

This past week I've been better about having some slightly more planned activities and the boys both had a blast.  And thanks to the PhotoGrid and Instagram apps on my phone... I am able to share with you what the last few days looked like!  We have had so much fun!

Sugar Trays

to explore texture, develop early writing and literacy skills.

IPad

Educational and age appropriate apps can be such amazing tools for discovery and developing fine motor skills (getting things to move on that screen can be tricky for little fingers).

Letter Matching/Sorting

Introducing the alphabet a few letters at a time.

Hopskotch

Combining movement with counting and numeral recognition to promote gross motor and math skills.

Pom Poms

Endless fun has been found transferring these from bowl to bowl or bowl to water bottle.  The boys used spoons, a tweezer and plain ol' fingers to move these poms to where they need to go.  

(We also made it through a church service thanks to these fluffy little miracles!)

Baking

Using real food ingredients to practice scooping pouring and mixing.

Using imagination to create "recipes," (but not even Mom who loves them dearly will eat their "cookies").

Bubble Painting

with a tray of baking soda and colored vinegar.  Using a dropper and a spoon to develop fine motor skills.  Pretty sure the explanation of solids, liquid and gas went over his head, but I threw it out there all the same.  

Field Trip - Planetarium

To celebrate Daddy's birthday and to cap off our Space Unit, we took a trip to the Discovery Museum and Planetarium in Bridgeport, CT.

There was lots to see and touch.  By no means the best museum I've been to... but the kids were entertained.

Excited already... and we're still in the parking lot!

Astronauts Little Man and Big Boy.

 

Driving the Lunar Rover.

Building Moon bases.

Playing with light and reflections.

Playing with colors.

This would be the boys first planetarium experience... and my first since high school (oh so long ago!). They did pretty well.  Not scared of the room or the dark like another little girl (screaming right next to us.  Poor girl.  But I think she did end up enjoying the show).  Having to stay quiet and still was the hardest part- the show was too long by only a few a minutes.  It was a movie called "The Little Star who Could".  One day we'll be back to see some actual constellations and star maps under the planetarium... but this was perfect for now.

Speech Therapy - Rocket Game

Big Boy has started speech therapy!

The focus on right now is to encourage him to use phrases and sounds, and later on to correct the sounds.  For example- E, his speech therapist at Yale's Pediatric Outpatient Rehabilitation Center in New Haven, started the session with a Mr. Potato Head toy.  To put Mr. Potato Head together she would offer him to pieces and give him the option of which he wanted.  The goal was to make him say "I want ____" instead of just "hat...ear...eyes...etc."

I used this technique in just about all of our play...actually, with just about all of our interactions... with pretty good results.

Big Boy tends to drop the end sound of his words.  A normal process in language development, but he needs to move past that now, so his "homework" for the week focused on this.  I was given a fish bowl coloring sheet to take home so he could practice some words: book, pop, boot, boat, toot, peep, mop, beam, boom, pom. The instructions were to have him say the words several times, then color the fish... say the words, then cut the fish... say the words and paste them in their fishbowl.  Not all at once, but spread out through out a few days.

We didn't even get through coloring the fish.  The kid doesn't sit still.  Any more than the three fish I pressured him to do would have ended in a meltdown.  I never want to FORCE him to work on anything (although I am definitely seeing a need to enforce some restrictions on jumping from activity to activity), so I was upset with the idea that I was MAKING him do this.  Learning under duress just isn't learning.  But speech therapy is different than our totschool art projects... so maybe I should force him?  I gave in and stopped for the day...I needed to think about it.

Thank the Heavens for Pinterest!  I found THIS POST and decided to give it a shot.  I printed out rocket ship clip art, laminated them and put a piece of velcro on the back, tacked a piece of black felt to the wall, and added some felt stars and a moon.  Using a dry erase marker I wrote Big Boy's words for the week on each rocket.

For our first attempt I tried to do just what Linda from Little Family Fun did with her son.  But my Big Boy just can't focus.  I liked this activity because it requires movement, and my kid just can's be still.  But he was spinning in circles and throwing himself on the floor and just didn't care to play with me.  Somehow we pushed through.  I wouldn't let him play instruments or trains until he finished his rockets.  He finished, no tears, no tantrum... but I couldn't say he enjoyed it.

We tried again in the evening with daddy.  He did a little better.  I had been giving him a choice between rockets- "do you want pom, or boot?"  Interest was lost about halfway through.  Then I had him make the choice for OTHER people- "Which does mommy want?" or "Which one do you think Maureen would like?"  and it renewed his willingness to play.

The next day he wanted to do puzzles.  So I let him choose which puzzle he would do.  Then I held onto all the pieces.  Gave him a rocket word, THEN after each rocket I would give him a few pieces of his puzzle.  We must have gone through his words 3 or 4 times!

I propped up my camera to catch some video.  I have to apologize though, this is the camera I use for stills.  It is not a video camera, though it has that feature.  For whatever reason, whenever I capture video on it there is always a weird whirring and clicking sound, and it always goes in and out of focus. But still, I love this video.

I'm so proud of him.

And since then he is more willing to do the rockets with or without the puzzles.

Yesterday he said, "Mommy! I want more cereal," and I nearly cried.  Today he said, "Me piece fall down," when he some of his puzzle fell on the floor... and I nearly cried.  Then I tripped over a toy and he said "Mommy...careful," and I'm pretty sure my eyes welled up.  (I would like to mention that I've only been called Mommy for a little over a month now...it still gets me).

I am very excited for his continued progress.  My boy can do ANYTHING!

Week 4 - Space

We had a BLAST this week!  It was space week here and we were not at all short on crafts and activities.  It was a pretty crazy week, but overall Big Boy did well with his lessons, and Little Man has discovered some wonderful new (to him) developmental toys.

Originally, the plan was for this week's unit to be apples... but on Sunday night while I was trying to get ahead with my preparations I introduced to Big Boy the materials I had put together for the space unit.  We had such a great time with the match game I made that we decided to go ahead and do the space week now.

Monday

Monday was great!  Daddy had a day off of work, and once Little Man was napping he was able to join in on Big Boy's lesson.  

We started with a letter "S" craft.

"S" is for STAR.

For this activity you will need to print images to copy, black paper, colored chalk, glue, glitter, stars (stickers, or in our case sequin shapes)

I put together a mini flip book for him featuring three different images captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.  After looking at the pictures together we created our own versions of them.  He got as far as the Sagittarius Star Cloud and Orion Nebula.  When we got to the interacting galaxies picture he was done with the activity... I was not.  It was way to fun making these pretty space pictures!  So the art on the blue construction paper is all me... aren't I talented?

 

    

After spending the afternoon out and about, the boys napped in the car in the driveway... so Big Boy's bedtime got pushed back a bit.  Just long enough for a science experiment with daddy.

This  very simple activity was a huge hit.  Daddy has been wanting to get more involved so I picked up a book of physics experiments from the dollar aisle in Target for him to be in charge of.  The explanations for the experiments are too advanced for Big Boy, but the activities themselves are all so fun and simple.

Plastic bottles, water, food coloring, vegetable oil.

We added glitter (space dust) and stars to fit our unit theme for the week.

Tuesday

I knew right away Tuesday would be a challenging day.  You just cannot count on the attention span or mood of a two year old!

He HATED the activity I had for the phases of the moon.  It was a picture matching activity (I admit... a little difficult) with numbers drawn on the moons to encourage counting and numeral recognition.  It was a bust.  It was beyond him, BUT I think in the future he may have more success with it.  

The activity ended up going somewhere very different.  

I sang "Hey Diddle Diddle" to him, using a nursery rhyme book to follow along.  Then we got a toy cow to jump over one of the moons from the matching activity.  

That got old fast, so we found other things that could jump over the moon.  The book became a ramp we used to launch trucks and trains over the moon.  I got a few giggles out of him for that.

He let me tell him about stars in the sky that form shapes called "Constellations" while he laced through some images I printed, cut, laminated and hole punched.

He enjoyed making himself into an astronaut.  I was preparing this craft for Wednesday, but when he saw me cutting out the suit, boots, and helmet he insisted on doing it.  A good thing too, because we got NOTHING done on Wednesday! Ugh what a bad day Wednesday turned out to be!

Big Boy had his first session of speech therapy on Tuesday.  His therapist, E, used Mr. Potato Head to get him to say "please".  It worked great.  He went from "dee" to "pee" in just a few tries.  And from needing a prompt to say it to saying it on his own in just a few more tries.  (side note- Daddy and Big Boy came back from running errands at Walmart tonight with a Mr. Potato Head... good job Daddy!).

They played more games together, and I got a lot out of watching her interact with him.  I used a few of her techniques at home this week and have been pretty happy with them.  Big Boy got his first homework assignment (I guess we both did, going into this I knew that the success of therapy rested on my own involvement and dedication to it).

Thursday

Big Boy went to his school skills class at Gymboree.  He loves his teacher (and so do I)!

After lunch we worked on some of his words that E assigned him.  His inability to focus had me seriously doubting wether I could do this homeschool thing.  But then I picture him being forced to sit still... oh dear.  That would be torture for him.  He definitely needs to incorporate movement into his learning.  And while I went in to home learning thinking I wouldn't force anything on him, I am beginning to think that I may need to be just slightly more rigid in getting him to focus on one thing at a time.  At this age anyway, I see the importance of providing more structure and limitations.  Then again... we have just had an off the walls kind of week.

We made some Alien Art while Little Man napped.

I cut shapes from my Cricut and gave him crayons, stickers, pom poms, pipe cleaners and googley eyes to create his own alien.  Of course he insisted I do one also.

He let me read I Like Stars by Margaret Wise Brown to him, but he didn't stick around for the very simple activity that went along with it.  His Mega Bloks were calling him.  So I did it by myself.  I thought maybe he would join me once he observed what I was doing (which is what happens a lot of the time), plus... I have fun with the artsy stuff, why shouldn't I play too?

It's a very simple book, so a very simple craft will do.  The book is great for learning colors (which is something Big Boy has mastered, but still it's good to reinforce), and it also introduces other concepts like far, quiet, bright, etc.  Big Boy loves to play with stickers.  Just randomly placing them on paper is great fun to him.  He has trouble removing the stickers from their sheets though, so this would have been a good opportunity to practice that  bit of coordination and problem solving (bending the sheet while peeling the sticker); which is something he did do during our Alien craft, so I wasn't going to push this on him.

Friday

Today Big Boy did AWESOME working on his therapy homework!  I modified the activity to suit his learning style and it really paid off.  We must have run through all his words three times!

He played with lots and lots of puzzles.  No more peg puzzles.  Please! He has moved on to jigsaw puzzles.  Yeah... he is so good at them that it scares me!

We read Today is the Birthday of the World by Linda Heller.  I love this book.  So sweet.  We made a birthday card for Daddy and a paper plate Earth to go with this book.

While he glued the pieces of paper down we talked about the Earth being made of water and land, and which color paper represented which.  We talked about life on Earth- I exclaimed that I live on Earth, and asked him who else did... he rattled off names of family members and friends, and then we named different animals that live on Earth too.

Little Man's Week

My baby is 11 months old this week.  He is at the age the Big Boy was when we decided to have another baby.  I can't imagine doing that now.  While Big Boy seemed so old, Little Man is still such a baby!  With that thought I revisited pictures of Big Boy at 11 months and was overwhelmed by guilt.  Big Boy was walking, drinking from a straw, given utensils, playing with more toys...doing lots of things that Little Man isn't.  I know I shouldn't compare the two kids, but I'm comparing the difference in opportunities I have given each one.  Big Boy had all of my attention (and he still takes up most of it!), no sibling knocking him down, free run of the condo we were living in at the time.... things have definitely been different for Little Man.  To give him credit...he has been clapping for MONTHS, which is something his brother had just started doing at 11 months, he can climb stairs like a pro, and he seems more "verbal" than Big Boy was.

With that realization is the realization that Little Man needs to be given his own opportunities to learn and discover.  He just loved these toys I introduced to him.  He even surprised me with his level of interaction with the toys.

There were ups and downs throughout the week, but the week ended on a high note.  Daddy's hard work was recognized by his employer, and we celebrated Daddy's birthday with Spiderman cake!

HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!