13/10/2008

Unplug Your Kids

I've subscribed to 'Unplug Your Kids' for a little while now, despite the fact that Asher at just over 2 years old is a bit young (and I am a bit lazy) for much crafty stuff. We don't really watch much TV with him around - at the moment he's getting an hour or so about once a month but I generally feel like I need a bit of a kick to do anything like a 'project' or 'activity' with him. This week however I thought about their current 'smooth' theme a lot - every time we played with playdough (which was often - he's loving it at the moment) we talked about it's texture, and when we were eating, enjoying our walks, cooking and generally going about our days I've been talking about smooth vs. rough. To have an 'activity' to include I decided that this afternoon when we had some free time we would spend some time playing with, and exploring the texture of, a bunch of smooth stones that we have at home.

To get Asher interested I asked him to wash the stones, and because it was such a nice warm day I filled up his water play table, put a bunch of suds in it (baby wash!) and gave him a scrubbing brush, a cleaning cloth and a whisk (to get the suds happening) as well as the stones. He had a great time whisking, pouring water from one container to another and seemed only peripherally interested in the pebbles. He did notice that some were smoother than others (some are polished stones, some came from a beach) and that they are shiny and dark when wet and more dull when dry. He also climbed onto the table and sat in the water as soon as I ducked inside, grinning at me when I came out and telling me that the water was cold. The simple fact that he knew I was taking photos and didn't harass me for the camera was proof that he was more involved in what he was doing than I've seen him for a while.

So, although our 'project' was not an unqualified success in terms of learning about 'smooth' it was a very pleasant way to spend a hot afternoon. If you are interested in crafty stuff to do with kids (My kid preferably - come and do crafty stuff with my kid! I will make you a lovely gin and tonic! Promise!) I'd recommend visiting a proper kids craft sites, such as the justifiably popular The Crafty Crow or the fantastic Australian Kids Craft Weekly that offers really do-able stuff that's often appropriate for younger kids.

The other thing we now know is that the water table will take the weight of my two-year-old, water and a bunch of lovely pebbles and that Asher will 'smile for the camera' if he's in the right mood. The resulting photos, however, are a bit scary!

4 comments:

This Girl loves to Talk said...

Ohh I am sure your day was a success.. there are a few moms with young babies doing unplug your kids..for me it is easy with my 2 year old as she wants to do EVERYTHING her sisters do...

your son looks like he had so much fun.. wish I thought of this for "smooth"

Gottfredsen said...

Sounds like a succesful day to me. It looked like he had tons of fun. That is what is important. Great Job.

Michie said...

Looks great to me. It is the process that is important, not the product. He looks like he was really enjoying the process!

Anonymous said...

It looks like he had fun. I love it when people carry the theme on throughout a week like you did. I am sure Asher learned a lot and had fun doing it. Thanks for joining in this week!

Please don't worry about not doing anything "fancy." It is often hard for me to stay too simple with my ideas because my kids range in age from 8 down to 2 and the older ones get bored with really simple activities. Since my two year-old usually has a good time playing with the materials even if her end result isn't what was planned :), I figure that is fine for us.

A lot of people do join in with toddlers, and I am always interested seeing what people come up with for them. However, if you are interested, there is a blogger who just started an Unplugged Project type of themed project geared specifically for toddlers (Toddler Theme Thursday). I think it is Teaching Tinytots - teachingtinytots.blogspot.com).

Check it out and see if it gives you the push you (and most of us!) need!