Too simple. So simple. I thought about NOT posting but these activities are the best, I decided. Simple. Easy. Accessible.
It has been a difficult few days with a stomach virus hitting our home hard (everyone in the family was down). So, at times I was desperate to entertain our nearly one year old, W, with as little effort as possible because 1) I was not well and 2) I needed to clean up our home after the tornado struck down. Honestly, I tried Sesame Street but he wasn’t into watching it, which I was secretly very happy to observe. Instead, he’d rather explore the world around him, albeit a small world these past few days.
Lately, W has been modeling us more and more. Everything from drinking and eating to brushing teeth and hair. It is awesome to watch him figure out these every day motions. Today, I was eating chicken broth from a soup bowl on the floor. He was curiously watching me. As I finished up the bowl, he reached out for the bowl and spoon. I gave it to him.
He started to motion scooping into the bowl and bringing the spoon up to his mouth. So, I quickly rummaged through my “catch all” activity supplies cupboard in search of any random items I may have thrown in there that would be appropriate for him. I saw egg carton that I had ripped up for a future sensory tub base. Ah ha! Perfect. So I gave him the bag of carton scraps and he dumped some into the bowl.
How great! I looked at the bowl, though, and thought, how boring. I knew there must be some safe and easy way to give a little life to this bowl of soup! So, I opened the cupboard again and grabbed a bag of trusty pom poms. Colorful, soft and of all shapes and sizes. I handed them to him. He was delighted with the contents of his soup.
…and he continued to eat his soup with pure joy! He explored with sound by hitting the spoon on the bowl, the rug and the floor. He explored texture by feeling with his little hands the carton and the pom poms.
So there are a lot of wonderful developmental outcomes to this simple, spur of the moment activity: practical life, sensory and fine motor skills. The best outcome though? I was able to clean up the living room and begin the kitchen! Pure joy all around!
Thanks for visiting…and happy New Year to you all.
Lots of love,
Marnie