Here's what I have available for S who is now 3.
- Play-dough and lots of things to cut and shape it with.
- Sticker books.
- Scissors and scrap paper he can cut up...and a glue stick so he can make a collage with it.
- Color Wonder books, paper and markers.
- Colorful straws cut into 1 inch "beads" to string onto shoelaces.
- White paper and random stickers.
- His own "math book" to scribble in.
- Paintbrushes, construction paper and water to paint with.
- Legos.
- Crayons and coloring pages.
- Felt shapes to arrange on a flannelboard.
- Markers to use on the whiteboard.
- Laundry piles to jump in.
- A sandbox in the secure backyard.
I do something very similar, but find that my oldest, and only school-aged boy, is more interested in what the little ones are doing. He wants to play with the "fun stuff", too. I now just generally try to save most of schooling for naptimes so it's just 1:1, but sometimes that doesn't always work. Do you ever run into this... where the older ones want to do the "fun stuff" instead? Any suggestions? Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteThanks for popping in!
ReplyDeleteFunny. The day I posted that my 3 year old was "working" a new airplane sticker book that my 7 year old couldn't tear himself away from. So, when the 7 year old was done with the stuff I wanted to work through with him, he eagerly moved toward helping his little bro do the sticker book.
There was learning involved in that (as well as good social lessons going on) so I didn't fight it. I guess that would be the key. If you can work the "fun stuff" into your lesson somehow or make it the motivation to move through the lesson, then it works for everyone.
Does that make sense? (better yet, is that realistic?)