tongs and buttons

This morning we wake to a strange glow about the place... half of Australia seems to be covered in red dust! quite a strange sight, although Port Macquarie seemed to be more yellowy than the shocking red of sydney but it still made for an inside day today. Hmmmm.... view of the ocean from the lighthouse

Entertaining kids inside can often be a real challenge... how to expel boundless energy without destroying your house and sanity can be a real tester! This morning I told them that we wouldnt be going outside and that I had some things for them to do inside instead.

We started with some cutting ( still leftover from yesterday) which Jared is really into at the moment. To challenge him a bit I drew lines on the strips of cardboard for him to try and cut along. He didnt want to do it at first but once he realised he could actually do it he was so excited and cut through heaps of them :)
I love setting up activities for my kids that are open ended: that dont really have a set way of doing the activity. I have found so often that their ideas are better than mine and they in turn stretch their imaginations. I also enjoy stretching their skills in a way that they enjoy without it seeming like work. So I set them up with a tray and three different types of tongs, and a whole heap of buttons. The idea was that they would use the tongs to sort out the buttons into whatever groups they wanted. different sized tongs helps with practising and strengthening fine motor skills and fine muscles ( needed for writing later). Jumeirah set to work sorting out her buttons into ones she liked. Jared took awhile to work the tongs and got a bit frustrated but after a little while he found a set of tongs that he was able to manipulate and he set to work too. They spent ages playing here together.



We then ventured to the shops ( bad idea, dust and lungs dont mix that well) and bought a cheap bag of marbles to play with this arvo, and we changed the buttons to marbles which was easier to pick up with tongs and we picked our favourites and gave them names :)

Amahli, who I thought was still a baby ( ok so shes nearly 1 but still...), has been amazing me lately with her own abilities and I am having to find more challenging things for her to do too. This morning I set up the duplo board with some block towers on it. She quickly set to pulling them off and placing each block into the bucket beside her. She must have repeated this activity countless times through the day and was very systematic in pulling them off and placing each one away. Bright little button :)



And to end this very indoor day we ruined some packing boxes but had a great time being pirates sailing the seas. ARRGHH!