Wednesday, January 31, 2007

New Activities for a Brain Child

I have been struggling to come up with ideas to keep Liam's brain busy. I needed some activities that he could handle on his own. His puzzles keep him occupied for 2 minutes, then he comes and gets me to help him get all the pieces in. He actually does this with most of his toys. Plays by himself for a few minutes, then comes over to get me involved. I understand that need, but sometimes I've to get work done... I can't always be torn away the second he asks for it.

So I sent an email to a dear blogger friend of mine. She has a goal to be a Waldorf teacher some day. She is extremely intelligent and has a beautiful and bright daughter that is a few months older than Liam. DING! The light bulb went off that she could give me some insight on what floats a toddler's boat in the "toy" department.

I was not disappointed! My wonderful friend sent me a HUGE laundry list of ideas! I was elated! She made my month!

It was going to be awhile for me to find myself at the dollar store to get supplies for some of the activities she suggested, but I had some stuff on hand to suffice until I could go buy more treasures.

I made a piggy bank out of an old jelly jar. We actually inherited this jelly jar from Ian's grandma who had recycled it (she had made us yummy jalapeƱo jelly). I just took a fat knife and made a big enough slit for pennies to fit into the lid. Yesterday and today Liam has doted on this "toy" for quite some time. He does ask for a little help here and there, but it's mainly for me to empty the full jar of pennies so he can start again. (Yes, I am lucky he doesn't pop these copper candies into his mouth... he has learned what is "too small" and doesn't stick anything tiny into his mouth... he actually hands me any shard of anything he finds on the floor!)



Then tonight after dinner, we found an additional accessory for the piggy bank. A cupcake pan to sort the pennies! Genius, right! He really thought this was novel!



And the kicker for today was yet another appendage for a current toy. The Pound-a-ball. We are down to one ball and one golf ball for this toy. I have no idea where the other 3 balls rolled off to. So as Ian was leaving for Scouts tonight, I asked if he had a stash of golf balls. He had a 30-pack! And they came in a mesh drawstring bag too! So Liam had so much fun unloading most of the golf balls into his Pound-a-ball maze! And then he had even more fun rolling them all over the family room!



After this activity we went upstairs to get his pajamas on. I noticed his basket was out of diapers, so Liam helped me get the new package out and he stocked the basket full of all the diapers. One by one.

He better sleep good tonight. He's been really busy today!

14 comments:

Nicole said...

I love that piggy bank idea. I think Jude would even love that. Too cool. Thanks for the cute ideas!!

Terri@SteelMagnolia said...

I would love to say "I don't believe you" ... but... I can't do it! LOL
Hee Hee... (Go to Flawed and Disorderly/Girl in Her Underwear to see why)

Nicole knows!! *wink wink*

But...
anyhoo...
I love these little ides...
Thanks girl!
I now have your blog in my favs...
I'll be back.

longdistancegrandma said...

Be sure to send those ideas to Heidi. Next time she is alone for a week she can keep busy making 'brain toys' for Sierra. I could use the ideas too for my clients. You are the best mom in the world. Liam is of course the smartest boy.

Danell said...

Great ideas, Gina. Thanks for passing them along. One thing my mom did for me and now Emma loves it too, is to cut a new kitchen sponge into pieces. Then take an old butter container or something similar and cut an X in the lid. Emma loves squishing the pieces through it.

Grandma Dixie said...

What fun ideas for Liam, isn't it funny how the smallest things can bring such joy to our little ones. Liam is lucky that he has such bright parents. Back in the days when I was in nursery they had a book that gave us ideas for these kind of fun toys and the great thing was most of the stuff you have around the house. You can tell Liam is a bright little boy just look in those eyes.

Anonymous said...

gina--those are such fun, unique ideas. i would LOVE to get a copy of the list you got. thanks for sharing!

Kim's Life said...

Great idea's. See Liam is a smart little cookie. Must take after his mum. ;)

www.stepherz.com said...

What awesome ideas! I think Bella might doing something similar to this, only with counting. She's just learning to count now. Thanks for the ideas!

Jen said...

I love the ideas! I found your blog through a link of a link. Anyways, another great thing is to put a bouncy ball in an empty milk carton or 2-liter pop bottle. A roll of wrapping paper from the dollar store is great entertainment for my Meg. She loves to dance on it, and then we use the tube to put on an angle and throw toys in and watch them slide down. It makes me wonder why I bother to buy toys!

Daisy said...

Does your friend have a list for a busy 2 year old girl? I would love to see all the activities she gave you. I need all the help with 2 active kids. Oh and thanks for reading my blog.

Angel Baby said...

Thanks for marketing! So sweet...

And I'm glad some ideas are working for you!

Anonymous said...

When E&A get older I am going to remember this blog and ask you for the list of ideas that your friend had. SO SMART!

Anonymous said...

Heya i am for the primary time here. I came across this board and I to find It truly useful & it helped me
out a lot. I'm hoping to present something again and aid others like you aided me.

Look at my webpage; dragon City Cheat engine

Anonymous said...

You actually make it appear so easy with your presentation but I to find this matter to
be actually something that I feel I'd by no means understand. It sort of feels too complex and extremely extensive for me. I'm taking
a look forward to your next submit, I'll try to get the hold of it!

My web-site :: Psn code generator