Lacing Cards

My son loves his birthday cards almost as much as the presents that go with them. This project helped me recycle them and the finished products made a great activity for car rides.

Master Skill: Small Motor Skills

Materials: Old postcards or birthday cards, shoelaces or yarn, hole punch, glue stick

Method: Cut the front half off of the birthday card. If desired, cut out the main picture, leaving at least a half inch border around it. Use a glue stick to glue the two halves of the card together so that the front of the card is facing out on one side and the inside of the card is facing out ont he other. Using a hole punch, make a series of holes not more than an inch apart around the picture. Tie the yarn or shoelace to one hole. (If using yarn, make a "needle" by taping one end) Show your child how to thread the yarn through each hole.

Safety reminder: Keep yarn, rope, or strings longer than 6 inches away from babies and young toddlers. Supervise use of any rope, yarn, or string with older toddlers and young children.

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Obstacle Course

Major Skill: Large Motor Skills

Set up a short obstacle course for your child and demonstrate each obstacle. Assist younger children through the course. Use a watch to time older children and challenge them to beat their previous times. Older children can also make up their own courses.

Sample Obstacle Course:

Obstacle #1: Balance Beam
Place a 2x4 board directly on the ground. Children must walk across the broad side without falling off. Check first for nails or screws that may be protruding from the board.
Obstacle #2: Tunnel
Set up a row of lawn chairs that children must crawl through.
Obstacle #3: Ladder Walk
Place a wooden ladder on the ground. Children must step in each opening.
Obstacle #4:Your Choice
Please leave your obstacle ideas as comments. I'd love to hear them!

So Very Busy

My little boy is more than busy. He's even more than very busy. When I describe him, he is so very busy. In the course of a couple of minutes he will push his race cars in between the cushions of the couch, throw the throw pillows off of the couch, run to the window to see what the cat is doing then tell me all about it, jump down the hallway yelling "jumping, jumping," and then run back at a full sprint with a book he pulled off of his bookshelf and push it against my leg saying "Book, pwease." Whew! What a lot of living my son packs into a couple of minutes.

This blog is for my son, and for me. I want to help him live out his zest for life and encourage his love of learning during his toddler and preschool years.