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| Jonathan is 25 Months |
We had a busy, social week! We had a couple playdates, which we always enjoy. On the days we weren't out and about, we also began to focus on the lowercase letter b. This week we looked at bears, bananas, and buses.
Bible
We focused on John 6:48 I am the bread of life from the Songs for Saplings CD. You can print out resources from the Totally Tots website. I am always so amazed and encouraged to hear Jonathan singing along! He had a lot of fun banging the cymbals along with this song.
Books
This week, we read several books. Here were our favorites (click on the title to see the post):
- Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.
- Banana! by Ed Vere
- The Wheels on the Bus by Ed Zelinsky
- The Seals on the Bus by Lenny Hort
Math
We worked more on counting. We counted some bananas I printed and laminated and we also used our counting bears:
Games & Fine Motor Skills
We did a Heads & Tails puzzle along with Brown Bear, Brown Bear that I printed from 1+1+1=1's Brown Bear tot pack.
We also worked on our Melissa & Doug Basic Skills Board- a puzzle that Jonathan enjoyed, but he's still not very proficient at all the clothing items.
And we did our Melissa & Doug Upper & Lowercase Alphabet Puzzle. Jonathan's pretty good now at recognizing the lowercase letters a and b!
Music/Pretend Play
We did more bear hunts this week-- along with lots and lots of renditions of the Wheels on the Bus!
We reenacted Brown Bear Brown Bear using the templates on DLTK kids. We listened to the audio book read by Gwyneth Paltrow.
And we reenacted the Seals on the Bus using the fun template from Making Learning Fun. Jonathan had fun matching the laminated animal card to the animals in the book.
Art
We did yet more Do-A-Dot pages for B is for Brown Bear, and B is for Bus. Jonathan loves these!
We worked on using a glue stick as we glued paper fruit (bananas) into a fruit basket:
This was the first time Jonathan used a glue stick. He did well when I helped him turn the pieces over- he patted them on the paper very gently. Afterwards he just liked spreading the purple glue- it didn't matter which side of the paper- he just liked spreading the glue. I guess he just enjoyed the process!
Social
As I mentioned, we had a couple of playdates this week. It's great practice on sharing. Jonathan has began a "mine" stage-- every toy is his. He may not be playing with it, but if a friend shows interest, suddenly the toy is mine. He obviously still has a lot to learn about sharing-- it won't be long before Gracie is trying to play with his toys.
So-- question for other moms:
how do you help your tots learn to share? How do you address the heart issue behind not sharing while still understanding that your child is young and it's a hard concept to grasp?
This post is linked up to Tot School at 1+1+1=1 and What My Child is Reading at Mouse Learns, Mouse Grows.
9 comments:
What a great week! :-)
Fun week! I love the Heads/Tails puzzles, too! I hope you get some good advice and encouragement on the sharing issue. It will come! Loving reminders, immediate praise when he does share, and lots of positive encouragement will go a long way. He'll get there!
Some ideas on sharing . . . if there are specific toys that he doesn't like to share, talk about that ahead of time. Our friends are coming over to play, are there some special toys that you'd rather put away so we don't have to share them? I know at various stages, and with various friends, my girls have had things that are too special and or things that they are afraid rougher friends might break/mess up. Just as I can graciously refuse to loan a book, special serving dish, or whatever to a friend, so our children should have the right to choose not to share certain things.
I also think sometimes, in our efforts to teach sharing, we take things to far. If another child wants a toy my child is playing with, I will kindly say to the other child "Little Bit is playing with that right now, you can have a turn when she is done".
Which brings us to your actual question. I do the same thing when my child wants a toy that another child has picked up. No Little Bit, Jane is playing with that right now, you can have a turn later, when she is done. It isn't always accepted, sometimes we have to take a break and calm down if we don't like having to wait. But such is life. If she melts down I just take her off to the side and talk her through it.
I love the step your son has! Great week!
I like how your post is organized. My son just turned one, but as he gets older, I would love to have a letter of the week and have activities that match that letter.
Thanks for sharing!
How fun! We really like Brown Bear Brown Bear around here. My 4 year old likes to "read" it to my 27 month old.
I'll share some ideas on sharing, but I'm definitely not any sort of expert because it's still something we have to address on a daily basis. Sugar Plum (27 months) usually screams at her sisters if they have something she wants. When that happens, I tell her firmly that she needs to ask kindly (use the sign for or say, "please").
If her sisters want something that she has and she starts screaming at them, I use the sign for "share" and tell her that she needs to share with her sisters and treat them they way she wants to be treated. It usually works, but if not we practice doing it right.
{I use sign language so that when we are out in a place where we have to be quiet I can use it then and she'll know what it means.}
Hey girl! :) Sorry it's taken so long to get to you...finally online during vacation! :)
When I have the little one I watch and Marlee, I try to have them tell each other that the other one can have a turn when they are done. Then I usually set a timer for a minute or two minutes and when the timer is done they have to let the other one have it.
I also like to redirect the child who wants the toy to something else. I was reading in Parents or some magazine like that that sharing is hard for even 3-4 year olds, so I guess the biggest key is to (try) not to get frustrated, and also to just know it's going to be a while before he gets it. :) Hope that helps!!!
Have a great day! I'll be back more to comment on other stuff when I get back next week!
Oh I was going to ask you...where did you get your do-a-dots? Did you have to order them online or can you find them on at a store?
Thank you everyone for the encouragement! I think next time I'll use the idea of putting a "special" toy aside- it always seems like the same toys get fought over. And I love the idea of using sign language to encourage him to share in public!
@Lessons for the Boys-- thanks our step is called "the Learning Tower" it's a Montessori tool that my mom bought for Jonathan because he loves to observe and "help" in the kitchen.
@Brandi- you can buy the Do a Dot markers at Amazon, but I bought mine at Michaels using one of their weekly coupons to get them 40% off. They are such a big hit with Jonathan!
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