Toddler Tuesday

I figured Pita Pocket deserved his own category.  ;)  I'm not sure yet if this will be a weekly or just every other week kind of thing, but I thought there might be interest for some of you in the pre-Montessori lessons that I'm beginning to do with Pita Pocket.  Our focus will be on motor skills (both gross and fine), sensorial activities, and practical life activities.  I am choosing not to expose Pita Pocket to numbers and letters at this point simply because he's 21 months old.  At this age, learning about spatial relationships, exploring the world around him, learning to do things independently, etc. are MUCH more important and relevant than ABCs and 123s.  If you follow along with David Gettman's periods for Montessori lessons, you'll notice that the first few periods stress sensorial and practical life activities over language activities, and math doesn't even come into play at all during the first two periods.  Right now my main goal is just to expose Pita Pocket to fun learning activities that will ready him to begin "formal" Montessori lessons once he's around age 3.

Last week we got out our peg board so that he could work on making towers.  For some reason he got the deer-in-the-headlights look when I first brought out the camera:

 

Thankfully he quickly lost his inhibitions about being filmed:

 

 Pita Pocket also worked on opening and closing different shapes of boxes that I found on sale at Hobby Lobby.  I put a small plastic animal in each of them for him to find.  He *really* enjoyed this activity despite his big brother's overly enthusiastic "help" at times:

 
 
In case you're wondering, that weird looking tube thingy in the background is a ball chute that I put together for Pita.  It's just a shipping tube taped to the wall.  We have a container of ping pong balls that can be dropped down the tube and into the basket at the bottom.  Both of the boys really like this - we've even had a few matchbox cars go down the tube too!

 
 
Pita Pocket also worked at poking colored craft sticks through a slit in the top of an old oatmeal canister.  He really had to concentrate as the slit was very small, and I named the color of each stick for him as he put it through:

 

As always, thanks for reading!

Comments

[Arwen]

I like this Toddler Tuesday idea. Cool stuff.

[Mari-Ann]

Oh I'm so glad you're doing this! Can't wait to see what else you come up with.
I'm a big fan of Gettman's book, but I can't help but teach the ABC's & 123's, along with the other stuff... it's a compulsion! :)

[Christy]

Fun, but better watch out for him opening other containers! *grin* I agree that sensorial really is a strong focus for the younger kids.

[Kylie]

Oh yes love this idea, I have a 16 month old so will be reading earnestly. :)

[One hook wonder]

Thanks! :)

[One hook wonder]

You should definately keep doing what works for you! For the record, some of my reluctance to intro letters/numbers also comes (I'm thinking) from the strong Waldorf influence we've had going on around here till recently. Waldorf follows a much more delayed academics approach.

[One hook wonder]

He can actually open up several of our spice containers. The Mister found him happily dumping cinnamon all over the kitchen floor a few weeks ago!

[One hook wonder]

Thanks Kylie!

[julie]

Thanks for Toddler Tuesday. Hope you keep posting it. It's great to get some toddler ideas. My daughter (27 months) picked up letters on her own, so I pursued it a bit due to her interest.

[One hook wonder]

Julie, Montessori is all about following the child, so it sounds like you're doing just that! I do hope everyone understands that just because I've chosen not to intro letters/numbers yet I disagree with anyone who has. If Pita Pocket were interested I would *definately* work on them with him. :)