Miscellaneous Activities and Adventures!

Before I blog about Tyler's introduction to the Pink Tower yesterday, I'm forcing myself to finally get this miscellaneous blog out there! These are some of the random, mostly non-Montessori things that we've been up to lately that may be of interest.

Experimenting with an air-filled balloon on a windy day. I tied yarn to the balloon and tied that to an old baby link so it was easy for Tyler to hold onto. He really enjoyed this! We then tied it down with a pinwheel and observed both the pinwheel and balloon's movements.

I introduced this puzzle from Kid-O a couple months ago but he had no interest. He found it a while ago and has surprised me by completing it several times. I figured once a piece fit, even if it was too small, he may place a few incorrectly and be satisfied. I believe due to the cylinder work, he understands self-correction, each piece having a correct place, and has the focus needed to often work until the puzzle is completed.

We used pencils in the parmesan cheese container after the pipe cleaners became boring, an idea given to me by one of my readers (thank you!). We also used dollar store Easter egg picks which Tyler especially enjoyed.

I found small, decorative woodchips in the clearance section of Walmart which Tyler enjoyed putting into containers last month, along with his puffballs. They circular chips varied in size from less than pea-sized to grape size and he had to figure out which may fit, or not fit, in each different sized container openings. It was also fun to dump them back out of course!

Tyler has been using a child-sized trowel and garden hand-rake (both metal and purchased at Hobby Lobby) in a pile of woodchips from a ground tree stump that he enjoys playing in. He enjoyed scooping the woodchips and transferring them into containers. I would let him dig around in the garden if I weren't so paranoid about black widows! This and his sandbox will have to do until we move back North someday...

I showed Tyler how to place his stuffed animals on a blanket and pull them around the house. After a while, this always leads to Tyler wanting a ride himself. Very fun!

Some new favorite toys around our home have been Matchbox cars, a larger car, Matchbox airplanes and a mini-slinky.

We visited our city zoo for the first time since Tyler's birthday last August. Knowing how much Ty enjoys making connections between books and real-life objects, we brought along some books with zoo animals as well as his safari animal figures so that he could match them. His favorite animals are giraffes and he was especially in awe of them!

We also visited our Museum and Science Center for the first time and had a blast! Tyler especially enjoyed the kid's area with water play, building materials and hands-on objects. I was surprised how many of the adult interactive activities intrigued him as well.

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