Let´s play!

Max´ interests at the age of  about 30 months

Special ways to play and to promote your child best are in everybody´s mind these days. So types of teaching like Montessori or Waldorf is everywhere. It´s so present that it´s hard for parents not to be inspired and to try to integrate this in the children´s world.

At present I´m very much seeking out the best, most interesting and of course feasible kinds of games. To keep my toddler busy and employed and to promote him as good as possible. Max is an incredibly clever boy and is totally keen on everything new. His willingness to learn and explore are wonderful!

So I try to integrate several teaching philosophies because I think that there is not just a single one that works for every child. I hope my children will have the greatest benefit being exposed to many kinds of teaching.

• Fine motory skills

Sometimes the kitchen is a workbench as well. He is screwing and unscrewing there... unfortunalely his toys too, like one of his musical instruments here:

Max has a basket containing very teeny tiny stuff and dangerous things like screws or nails. For a long time now he is totally in love with these things. So I was nearly forced to allow him to play with them and of course to observe him exactly.

On this picture my son is busy in the playpen because he is not allowed to be on the floor with this box when Lina is crawling around. He was working in there for nearly an hour.

Certainly there are activities as well he is not very keen on. Here I tried to make a necklace with him. Max got a plastic needle and had to put a cord through wodden cubes with letters on them. He liked the needle a lot but was not patient at all to thread all cubes. But that´s okay for me. He is never forced to finish a game... we just try it later again.

• Puzzles

Max got a lovely puzzle at his 2nd birthday for learning the clock. Putting it together is great fun for him. And in addition he is practising the numbers and already quite good at reading them.

He really likes the puzzle with the vehicles most. It´s a two pieces puzzle and not a challenge any more but nevertheless Max is happy every time presenting the matching pieces.

Playing with puzzles is not the favorite activity at present but the preferences change quickly. His fine motory skills are remarkable and when there is no challenge for him he is not interested. I already tried out puzzles with more pieces but they are still too difficult.

• Fishing and other games

Games which have rules to follow he doesn´t like yet. So I let him play however he likes to because I think maybe he is still too young to understand guidelines!?

Max got this fishing game from omi... with magnets on to catch the fishes. He liked it but wasn´t really extensively interested. My boy prefered to take away the pieces and to disassemble the box.

• Gardening

Spending time outside is definitely one of  Max´ favorite things. He is allowed to do nearly everything there. From watering the lawn and flowers to cutting the trees and bushes. In my opinion character is developing best in the garden. Sure... to require responsibility to maintain the plants and to teach him that the plants´ survival depends on his care, he is too young. But when he is observing us for a long time, one day he will certainly know what to do and how.

• Play-Doh

Using the fun dough means increasing fine motory skills, creativity, imagination... it´s kind of self expression as well... and it brings advantages for the little hand muscles by rolling, pulling, pushing and modelling. Muscles later needed for the writing abilities.

Playing with the dough is a possibility to bring Max down when he was jumping around or was just freaking out. Then he is sitting by my side, telling me what he wants to see. He has got a wonderful way to express himself, has got funny ideas and is extremly patient while I´m doing this with him.

Although it´s meant for children over three years he never had the idea to eat it. Even not when he is squishing or rolling it on his own.

Using the play-doh was recommended to us by an aunt who is working with little ones. I told her about the fact that my cleanly son totally refuses touching dirt or something soiling his hands. Thereby he should learn to touch different materials, dirt can be removed and he should learn... soiled fingers can involve fun!

By the way: he loves this game with omi Irmi most because she is incredibly creative... he realized her talent at once!

• Animals

Max likes to classify his animals into groups where they are from... for example Africa, Asia, from the sea, the farm or which ones are pets. Another time we try to name them both in german and english. Another time he is just loading them into his tractor and driving around or matching them to pictures in a book or he is imitating the animals´ sounds.

Playing with them shows up so many possibilities... he really loves them.

• Tools

Of course he prefers playing with the real tools. This day opi and papa were finishing something on the roof and our boy was totally flashed by this gorgeous stuff. He was taking a closer look at each of them and trying out everything.

I think giving him the feeling of  being capable is the best for building up his self-confidence. To have trust into his skills makes a proud little person out of him.

• Stickers

My sweetie likes books you can put stickers in. This is an activity taking a while. He has got one about the sea, the mountains and one with english vocabularies. This one he prefers.

• Wooden balls

This timeI wanted to create some balls for my darlings. Max was eagerly helping but was quickly overwhelmed by the long cords. But he had great fun to observe mama and playing with the result!

• Baking soda and vinegar

"Drop vinegar tinted with food coloring onto a pan filled with baking soda. Sheer minutes of colorful fizzy fun!"

I tried this out and Max had indeed so much fun with the sounds the soda made and the wonderful colours he could mix together himself. He was so proud to be able to work completely on his own... mama just being an observer... 

Hope you got some ideas to keep your toddler busy and interested in new kinds of toys. At present I´m creating science bottles... I... sure... got this thought through Pinterest.

So please feel free to check out this coming side being effected the next time!

Just a lovely wisdom:

*Teach children limits with love or the world will teach them without it.*