Post-irishmomusa

Hi guys,

Sorry it has been so long since my last blog post. Things have been a bit crazy around our house. I am working a lot more so I have less time for blogging but I will try to balance better. I have been meaning to get this one out for awhile now so apologies for delay! The purpose of this blog post is to give you some ideas of things to do at home with your toddler. Even if you have small, limited space like we do, you can really optimize it and turn it into a nice, educational and fun place for your little ones. A little bit of organizing can really go a long way. See above picture how we placed Harry's shelf right behind our sofa in the living room! He can be working away behind us in the evenings yet still be part of the room. I also suggest to hide most toys/activities and only take out a few at a time, then rotate. That way you will avoid the confusion for them as to what to do which can be overwhelming for our little ones. They will really appreciate their toys much more if you do this. I also do same with books. I will do a whole other posts on books and language next.

Anyway I will get right into it. Below you will see some activities that I have prepared for Harry to make his environment more engaging and attractive at home.

The shelves I use are the simple IKEA Kallax shelf units in white as these are the perfect height on their side for Harry to access things easily. Also, they are already divided so it is easier to see each individual activity clearly on the shelf.

The materials themselves I usually buy from Alison's Montessori store online here. A lot of the materials I put together myself from the kitchen or from Home Goods! I always look in the sale section for the bargains! Have a look at the pictures below and see how focused Harry is as he engages in the work itself. All of these are sensorial and practical life activities that help refine the senses, improve fine & gross motor skills as well as his coordination, concentration, independence and self-esteem.

Sorting & matching pasta bows by colour help refining visual sense.

Dressing frames from Alison's Montessori - Buttoning. I have a few different ones; velcro fastening and large button hole fastening as well as this snap button frame. They are great quality and come in all colors! I have pink, blue and green.

This is a really nice and simple, easy-to-prepare activity. It is just Spaghetti pasta sticks broken and inserted into salt shaker holes. Harry loves this and spends some time focused and engaged with it. Super cheap and easy to do. Bides me some time so I can sit and have a coffee! I love observing him concentrating on little activities that I have prepared for him! Focused Harry comes out of his trance a much more peaceful and happy little boy as he has a sense of job satisfaction afterwards. At this age, children are drawn towards placing things in small spaces...like sliding your money or phone through the floorboards! These activities below help satisfy that urge so that mammy's phone and dollar notes are safe! haha! Harry loves pushing my phone down the side of the bed and pushing my earrings through the sink hole these days, hence why I have prepared these activities.

This is good for hand-eye co-ordination. Harry has mastered this so doesn't really engage with it anymore but for a younger child this would be perfect! I need to add a challenge to it maybe by having him use a spoon or thongs to carry eggs.

Below is Harry's kitchen space where we have his practical life water activities as well as food prep area. Harry pours his own glass of water for drinking, squeezes his own orange for fresh orange juice in the morning and spreads butter independently on his little waters biscuits for snack time. ( Butter gets all over the place but there is a napkin there for him to wipe up after which he loves doing!) Other activities are a spooning activity where he practices spooning pasta from one dish to another without spilling and also transfers water with a sponge from one bowl to another. Harry is fascinated how the sponge soaks up all the water and then can be squeezed out to another bowl! This is also great for his wrist control and fine motor development for later writing. Each activity is prepared with a small towel (facecloth) beside so that Harry can wipe up any spills himself.

Spooning pasta - building hand eye coordination, concentration and independence

Harry squeezing his own orange juice for drinking. His favourite morning activity. Followed by him saying 'more, more!"

transferring water with sponge! I added some food color to the water so that he wouldn't be tempted to drink from it. It didn't stop him from trying it!

Below is Harry's kitchen where he does some role-play activities such as sweeping the floor with his brush, making tea for mummy with his little cups and washes his hands with soap and water using nail brush too occasionally. This kitchen is from IKEA. I will link it here and I find it so good! He loves his little space here and likes to switch on and off the stove which actually lights up and looks so true to life! I also got his cups and crockery from IKEA too and it is all real and breakable. This teaches Harry to be careful and respectful when handling cups and plates and sets him in the real world where if he doesn't handle carefully, things will break. So far he has just broken one cup! Lesson learned I guess! Harry loves playing with water so hand washing or dish washing is a great opportunity to have a little splash with water outside of bath time.

Harry's kitchen and hand washing station

Harry is also learning to care for his environment at home. He enjoys watering his plants or 'trees' as he calls them and polishes their leaves too with a tiny sponge. Sometimes he likes to carry his 'trees' around by their leaves placing them in random places around the apartment, hence why below plant looks a bit lobsided!!

Since we live in a high-rise with lots of windows, to keep Harry distracted from opening them, I prepared a window washing activity for him to enjoy. Now more often than not they look worse after he has splashed and washed them but at least it keeps him busy and working with a sense of purpose in the house.

Child sized squidgy from Amazon and Basket is from Home Goods

Harry also takes care of his sunglasses and Daddy's watch by polishing them and dusting them with dust cloth. See below picture of setup.

For Harry's Art space, we use the fridge as his stand where he can easily paint with his watercolours and then leave to dry. It is simple and easy to clean too which is great for mummy! We also have crayons for him to use freely with A4 paper in cut in half. As well as this, we use chalk outside at playground and then use clay at home too, making molds and rolling with rolling pin. These are really good exercises for his pincer grip and fine & gross motor. Next we will add a drying rack with pegs where he can hang his own artwork. First he will need to practice and master using pegs.

Hope you enjoyed seeing what Harry is upto these days and hopefully it helps to give you some ideas of what to do at home with your toddler too. Please share if you think somebody would get use out of this blog post and thank you so much for your time reading it!

Have a great day!

Alison xoxo