when we went to the byu art museum last time my mom visited we noticed they have free art activities for toddlers. i signed up for every thursday in july only to discover they actually book out pretty far in advance, so i signed up for thursdays in august. after all that we are registered for just the last thursday in august. popular class! and then i got an email about a cancellation in july, so we got to go!
it was shapes and patterns day. having 10+ toddlers running around while trying to teach concepts was a bit flustering for me, but i really liked the concepts they were trying to get across, so it at least inspired me to do some more home instruction. the leaders first talked about shapes: circles, squares, and rectangles, and then talked about how the shapes make patterns when put together: polka-dots, checkerboards, and stripes, respectively. we then went to an exhibit to do a pattern "i spy" in the paintings, and do a hands-on activity with paper packets they provided us. after the exhibit we went up to the art room for more hands-on fun. i caught a photo of the 2 minutes pace was focused on the painting activity...and then he saw blocks and wanted to play with those. thank heavens the instructors understood 2 year old toddler boys and their block stacking needs!
after that class, and after my mom's prompting, i decided it was time to up our at-home play into more constructive/learning play. so now we have theme days, with activities, projects, and games all centered around the theme. "lesson prep" has definitely kept me on my toes, but it has definitely been rewarding to watch pace grow and learn, apply what he's learning, and play more productively in his free time.
there are so many resources and ideas online--coming up with ideas isn't an issue at all--it's whittling down the ideas to simple activities!
letter "a" day:
alligator outfit
alligator paper bag puppet (cutting, gluing, and painting)
letter a tracing
letter a squirting
boat day:
made paper boats to float in water
looked at different boat parts--sail, anchor, rudder
made our own anchor
played boat with the laundry basket and the anchor
sang row, row, row your boat (max got in on the action, too, and now rows his own boat on demand!)
example of productive play:
on "brazil day" i was getting dinner ready to put on the table and pace started pounding his placemat with his fork prongs. "what in the world are you doing?!" i asked pace. pace looked up at me and said, "making map, mama! look! roadways, car wash, soccer field, our house, 'tilda's house!" earlier in the day we had looked at a map to see where we live, and where brazil is located. we also looked through books of what people do in brazil (soccer among them) and made pao de queijo. david introduced pace to roald dahl's "matilda", and pace is convinced her house is across the street from our house.
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