Here's a game I came up with just using things I scrounged up around the house. Craig calls it "clips and cardboard"... very creative, I think. It's a sort of matching game with colors and numbers, plus a little fine-motor skills with the clothespins. (Note: clothespins are still a bit tricky - watch out for pinched fingers on occasion.) His job is to clip the appropriate pin onto the appropriate spot. Duh.
This was a big hit and he came back to it several times.
Done! I was very impressed. He did this with no problem.
He even requested it the next day and worked quietly while I emptied the dishwasher. P.S. - he's sitting in the dog's bed. :)
Here's another idea I snagged from the blogosphere: a game called "Which is different?" I used strips of cardstock and lined up a series of interesting stickers with one that doesn't match. He had to pick that one out. These were pretty simple once he got the concept.
I made several sets - these are a little trickier just because they're smaller stickers and all the same shape.
I explained it like this: "This is Mickey (pointing to each, one at a time)... this is Mickey, this is Mickey. But this one is different... this one is Goofy!" After repeating that explanation with several cards, he understood that four were the same and I wanted him to find the one that was different on each card.
The Dora ones were (of course) his favorite.
I really wanted to attempt another sorting game, so I set up those lacing beads in the divided tray.
I walked away to answer the phone and when I came back, he was almost finished without any explanation of what I wanted him to do. Hooray! Maybe sorting isn't horrible after all.
Showing daddy how to do it.
In the evening on Tuesday, I set up a craft tray for decorating shamrocks. I cut out the shamrocks and told Will what they were. They I gave him a sheet of stickers, a green "pip squeak" marker (love those!), and some green glitter glue in an old jar lid to "paint" on with a q-tip.
Showing him quickly how to "paint".
Those stickers were the foil kind and a little stubborn to come off the sheet.
Our finished work. Can you tell which are Will's and which are mommy's?
Now our mirror is once again decorated for St. Patricks Day!
On Thursday, I introduced another new fun concept: Transferring. This is a big one for hand-eye coordination and fine-motor skills. I gathered a tray for a couple different ways of doing it using tongs, a long ice cream spoon, a few dishes and some sparkly pom poms.
First he used the spoon to transfer each pom pom, one at a time, to the other bowl.
Then we tried the tongs (which he loved but were a little difficult at first) to transfer one pom pom into each hole of the ice cube tray in any random order. Side note: he normally does everything with his left hand, but with the tongs he often tried to use both hands or even switch to his right!
Then I counted out the exact number of green and purple and asked him to put all purple in one row and all green in the other. Before I even used the word, Will said to me "mommy, look at that green pattern and purple pattern!"
Next, I filled one bowl with all colors and asked him to only transfer the pink "balls".
He loved using the tongs and sparkly pom poms. He's asked for them several times since. I think I'm going to get them out again tomorrow morning.Another file folder game! On Friday night I decided to show him this new game. I think it's pretty self-explanatory.
First we talked about lots of things that were hot and cold. When I asked him for an example of something that was cold, he said snow. And for hot, he said the oven. I went outside and got a cup full of snow (which is quickly melting this weekend - yeah!) and also filled a cup full of ice, both of which he picked up and felt with his bare hands. 
The only thing "hot" I could think of to let him feel was my hair dryer and I just turned it on low/warm and told him to stick his hand in front of it for a second without touching the metal.
He liked this game, but it wasn't his favorite.
...and for dessert, he ate some cold sherbet. :)
I saw and idea online to make a "parking lot" for matchbox cars to play a game of number recognition. He already knows all these numbers (1-10), and there are really no rules. But we just played a little bit with parking the cars in a called out number and then having them drive over to another numbered spot. I used poster board for the "lot".
I took an old deck of cards (we have way too many) and cut in half all the club suited cards (since they look like shamrocks for St. Patricks Day) and then we played a matching game using each half.
This idea is so cool - another from the world wide web of Tot School bloggers. It's called an I Spy jar. You take an old Mason jar (thanks Marilyn!) and fill it with rice and a handful of interesting objects that the child would like to "spy". I picked three little rubber frogs, an Ohio State golf ball, two golf tees, an old key, and a bright orange pom pom. (The fuller the rice content, the harder it is to find the objects obviously.)
Then when you turn it, you can "spy" all the different objects.
I love it!
Will liked it too... though I wonder how long it'll be till he demands his frogs back. ;)
I have a handful of "games" (activities) for us to play tomorrow morning that I think he's going to like. And I also made up another poster board about feelings (remember my post of these pictures awhile back?) that we're going to use when we read our feelings book again. I still need to label each picture with the name of the "feeling". And I'm thinking up a game to talk about feelings too.
First we talked about lots of things that were hot and cold. When I asked him for an example of something that was cold, he said snow. And for hot, he said the oven. I went outside and got a cup full of snow (which is quickly melting this weekend - yeah!) and also filled a cup full of ice, both of which he picked up and felt with his bare hands. 
The only thing "hot" I could think of to let him feel was my hair dryer and I just turned it on low/warm and told him to stick his hand in front of it for a second without touching the metal.
He liked this game, but it wasn't his favorite.
...and for dessert, he ate some cold sherbet. :)
I saw and idea online to make a "parking lot" for matchbox cars to play a game of number recognition. He already knows all these numbers (1-10), and there are really no rules. But we just played a little bit with parking the cars in a called out number and then having them drive over to another numbered spot. I used poster board for the "lot".
I took an old deck of cards (we have way too many) and cut in half all the club suited cards (since they look like shamrocks for St. Patricks Day) and then we played a matching game using each half.
This idea is so cool - another from the world wide web of Tot School bloggers. It's called an I Spy jar. You take an old Mason jar (thanks Marilyn!) and fill it with rice and a handful of interesting objects that the child would like to "spy". I picked three little rubber frogs, an Ohio State golf ball, two golf tees, an old key, and a bright orange pom pom. (The fuller the rice content, the harder it is to find the objects obviously.)
Then when you turn it, you can "spy" all the different objects.
I love it!
Will liked it too... though I wonder how long it'll be till he demands his frogs back. ;)
I have a handful of "games" (activities) for us to play tomorrow morning that I think he's going to like. And I also made up another poster board about feelings (remember my post of these pictures awhile back?) that we're going to use when we read our feelings book again. I still need to label each picture with the name of the "feeling". And I'm thinking up a game to talk about feelings too.
