I post alot of pictures of the fun, special activities we do with Peter, so I thought I would try to take some time each week to share some of the more "boring" stuff we do . . .
This is the "school" area in our apartment. Peter loves to spend time pulling the numbers and shapes off the wall. He is not at an age yet where he can identify much, except the red square, but I take time to describe each piece he pulls off (and then try, with limited success, to keep him from eating the tape off the back!). The clear boxes below serve several purposes. Each box contains a different "sensory" experience. From top left, we have:
*shredded paper - he likes to pull each individual shred apart and examine it. This is more of a tactile experience, but also allows him to develop some fine motor skills
*green fabrics - we usually use all three fabric boxes at a time. He likes to pull out each piece individually, wear it as a scarf and then throw it . . . once all the swatches are on the ground, we try to sort them (in all honesty, I do most of the sorting, but he does help out from time to time)
*silk flowers - theses are a favorite . . . after taking each flower out individually, Peter likes to fling them in the air to see how far they will "float" . . . after several weeks now, he is finally starting to be good about putting them back in the box
*blue fabrics - see green fabrics, above
*Pom Poms - we can do several sorting activities with these . . . Peter is quite good at sorting them by size . . . and, at trying to eat them :)
*Flower sponges - these "flowers" are yellow with green centers . . . Peter enjoys the tactile experience of squishing them and tries to pull out the centers (without success as they are glued in - insert evil Mommy laugh here!)
*Dry Pasta - this box is almost more fun closed than opened . . . Peter loves to shake, shake, shake the box . . . when he does open it, he really examines each piece . . . in the future, we will work on sorting by color and may add more shapes
*Orange fabrics - see green fabrics
*Tulle - Peter's absolute favorite box . . . tons of tulle circles . . . he likes to pull them out individually (sometimes when the box is still closed), put them on his head and my head, rub them between his fingers, etc . . . another future sorting activity here
*Laminated alphabet - we go through these when he is in a quiet mode . . . I name the letter and then trace it with his finger
*Blocks - another fun, take out of the box activity, followed by clapping them together, destroying Mommy's towers, and putting them back in the box
I have a few more boxes I want to add (cookie cutters, goo, etc . . . ) I am always careful to "help" him put away one box before opening another (in the hopes that someday he will clean up after himself :)
