Wanting him to be in the same room as me {instead of playing on the computer}, I recruit his help.
Me: Noah, can you find your underwear and count how many pairs you have?
Noah: You said underwear. {He laughs}. Ok. But first.... You like my new hat Mommy? Do I look cool? {He laughs uncontrollably. Winks his eye, snaps a finger, and bobs his head back and forth}.
Me: You are soo funny Noah! Let me get my camera. {I snap this just before he pulls it off}.
So how many pairs did you find? Let's sort them. First tell me how many you have, and then how many Ava has. And then tell me, who has more? {I fold the remainder of the laundry while watching him}.
Noah: 6. I have 6. And Ava has {he counts} 6 too! Wow. How did that happen? They are the same!
Me: That's pretty cool. {Um... let's see what else we can do.} Oh Noah, can you please help me find all the yellow napkins? I think they are buried under here.
Noah: Yeah. One... two... three...four, five... This is like a treasure hunt. I can't believe it. Five! Is there any more? {he keeps digging}
Me: Well there should be 6 yellow napkins. {He pulls out the last one}. Let me show you how to fold them. First you make a big square like this. {I demonstrate}. Then take two of these corners and fold over.... like this - wait a sec. What shape is the napkin now?
Noah: A rectangle!
Me: That's right. Now watch. I fold take these two corners here - and fold over to the other side. Look what happens. Now what shape is it?
Noah: A square!
Me: And if I fold it again, its a {I'm interrupted}.
Noah: No. No. Let me do it. I know, I know. First you make it flat. Oh. There's not enough room. {He picks up the napkin, sits up and starts over again}. Okay, okay. I got it.
Noah: Then you make a rectangle. {He makes a serious face. Holds the corners with his fingers...} Then you make a square. Like this? No, wait. I can do it. {He repeats this over again to himself}. Then you make another rectangle. Like this Mommy?
Me: That's right Buddy. You got it. Now do the same thing to the other... five!
Noah: {He takes his time, and repeats, "rectangle. square" to himself until he finishes}. I did it! I did it! This is my luckiest day ever! {literally squealing}. Watch how I do it.... {he unfolds one and shows me}. I can't believe I can really do this! {squeal}.
Who knew you could folding laundry could be this much fun to a 4 year old? And learn at the same time... We practiced counting, sorting, which was "more or less", matching, and making shapes. This "laundry game" turned out to be a hands-on experience {which to me, is much more fun than any workbook exercise we've been doing thus far}.
I may not have dinner napkins that are perfectly matched on all corners - but what I do have is a very proud little boy.
I'm sure there are many more learning opportunities that stem from the "every day" - what are some of yours?
We also do the laundry game! Our usually involves folding towels, stuffing diapers, and finding lost socks. :) Also, Mari helps with dinner prep, so she learns to count food items and measure. We also teach her new definitions of dicing, slicing, and chopping, all the while, attempting to spell out each new item. It's good stuff!
ReplyDeleteWhere do you find your workbooks?
Thanks for sharing! Stuffing diapers? How does that work? Do I even want to know? Maybe Mari can show me - LOL! Dinner prep - that's a good one. We need to do more of that. Our kitchen is a little tight (not enough counter space) otherwise I'd have the kids measuring too (love that!). Teaching them the definitions of each - that's a good idea. To this day, when I reference a cookbook and a cooking term is used, I have no idea and have to google exactly what kind of "cutting" I'm supposed to do - ha!
ReplyDeleteWorkbooks - Half Price Books (Northwest HWY) has a large selection of books - from math, writing, to even gluing and pasting activities. Another great resource is Mardels. They have aisles dedicated to age-appropriate educational tools... we got quite a bit of our books from there, as well as activity and curriculum books to inspire mama...