the practical side of fun learning

Today I took tweedle dee and tweedle dum to Super Amart ( bad move really, but I had to. Super Amart is a huge home wares shop full of jump-on-me beds, sit-on-me chairs... you know the one) to find a new stool for our bench. I have two the are fought over on a daily basis so it was time to get another one.

On arriving back home, I was keen to try out my skills at chair building ( dont laugh, I suck at putting things together) and sent them scurrying to find something else to do. Jared came back 30 seconds later with his tool kit, ready to help. It was then that I realised what a great activity this would be for him to be involved but also all the learny stuff he would get out of it!

And so we began....

( all the learny stuff Ive highlighted so you can see just how much was done in such a short activity)

First things first, we had to open the box ( problem solving) and he ran to find scissors to cut the box open.

We then had to make sure all the parts were there and lay them out.

I then gave him the instructions to have a look at ( map reading, essential for man skills seeing as his mothers suck so badly) and to work out. All the instructions were in pictures so it was pretty easy for him to work some of it out.

We then had to sort the screws into large and small ( sorting and classifying) and we started with putting Step one together.

He had a big of a bang to "help" the pieces stay together ( pretend play, Role play).

We then used the Allan key to get the screws in place ( fine motor skills, hand eye co ordination) ( and for me, perseverance and brute strength)

We kept going, step by step, a quick hammer, a short burst of a drill, and slowly but surely, we had a stool :)

Amahli put the final plugs in the holes ( fine motor and hand eye coordination) and we tested out our awesomeness. ( Self esteem, acknowledging self and sense of accomplishment).

Its funny that something so simple was able to teach and show them so many things, without it being a real in your face learning experience.

I was pretty proud of myself as well! Ok, so it wasnt EXACTLY perfect, but it proves I can do it too :)

Hubbin just had to "tweak " it a little bit ;)

easy math beginnings

We did a whole heap of incidental mathsy things today. No really on purpose, it just kinda happened.
Its amazing how easy it easy to encourage their thinking a little further in play without them feeling pressure to " learn".
So heres what we did :)

The day started with both of them building with the duplo. I came over and we talked about how the tower was shorter and Jared was taller.

Amahli was intrigued to work out how she could get the tower higher without it falling over...

He then continued to build until the tower was taller and he was shorter.

I asked him to guess what would happen when it was as tall as mum, he responded " I think it will crash down!" He was right :) ( almost hit the tv, but phew, just missed)


We then measured our feet in blocks. Amahlis feet is long, Jareds are longer, mine are the longest. We worked out that Amahlis foot is only two blocks shorter than Jareds!

He then used the measuring system to measure the dog, the table, and a whole heap of cars and had a great time trying to guess if he had the right amount or not. Next week I'll introduce a tape measure :)

Amahli went on to sorting and classifying without me even realising it, with her animals. She also counted each group of animals and commented on " too many dinosaurs" and "not many mice" whilst I sat there and watched her teach herself. Yup, Im already behind with this one.

You dont have to have all the toys and educational stuff to create easy learning environments. You just have to be "in" there and the learning, discovering and 'working it out" just comes :)