Easy Sorting/Matching Game

When my mom was visiting, she picked up this container of beads for the kids from Hobby Lobby.  It has beads of all shapes, colors, sizes, etc. including a bunch of animals!

We have had more fun with these beads than I ever imagined we would!!!  Stringing them, sorting them, gluing them, picking them up with tweezers, etc.  We're always coming up with new uses for them!  One day, they were busy painting and I was cleaning stuff up and saw this huge stack of ice cube trays sitting on top of the fridge and voila...

Instant matching game!

I thought I'd help make it easier on the kids and put one of each pair of beads in the ice cube tray and then give them a container with just the other ones in...so all they had to do was put it in the right spot.

Liliana LOVED this and did great at it!  
Micah disgustedly retorted, "Come on mom, this isn't even challenging for me!"  Well okay then.

So then I went with the whole, just put a handful of beads out and they can find their own matches.  That kept Micah entertained for a lot longer.  Until.......

Of course she did!  What the heck was I thinking leaving the entire container open and within reach?!?!  Picking everything up pretty much killed the rest of our activity time.  But the lesson learned (other than putting the beads up high) is that ice cube trays make GREAT matching/sorting containers.  You could use them with all kinds of materials...a nature theme (match the rocks, sticks, shells, etc.), food (make pairs of raspberries, blueberries, etc.), fun foam shapes, legos, coins......lots of possibilities.  Another idea would be to put numbers in the top row and then have them count the matching number of beads into the spot below it.  Ice cube trays...who knew???

(easy and free) Make Your Own Toy

This post is quick and easy because this activity is too!

•Find a bunch of a small object laying around your house, they should all be about the same size. Could be paper clips, beads, pennies, milk caps, etc.

•Find a plastic container with a lid. Think margarine tubs, cool whip containers, drink cups from fast food, etc.

•Cut a hole in the lid slightly smaller than your object, so the object can go through, but they have to push it a bit instead of it just falling through.

•Line the hole with masking tape so they don't cut themselves.

Voila!

So the concept here is that they push the object into the container. (Great for refining fine motor skills and eye/hand coordination) But Liliana found lots of other ways to play with it too. She counted while she put them in. She started using different body parts like her chin or her elbow to push them through. It took me less than a minute and no money to make and she played with it for over a half hour on three different occasions. Micah also liked it, but he pretended that the bead things were bad guys and he had to put them in jail.

One other tip- whenever I give the kids something new that may not have super kid appeal at first...like a yogurt container with beads for instance :-), instead of giving it directly to them, I take it myself to the table and start playing with it without acknowledging their presence. If they ask me what it is I say, "MY new toy!" Instantly, it is cooler than any toy at Target and they must. have. a. turn. NOW!

Micah Industries

Micah has become quite the little entrepreneur. It started when Micah realized he had birthday money in his piggy bank from 2 birthdays ago. As soon as he knew he had it, it started burning a hole in his pocket. He HAD to spend it RIGHT AWAY! So we spent a long time talking about the value of a dollar and why it's important to think through our purchases.

Here are some things we did to help him grasp the concept of money:

•I put a bunch of change in the middle of the table and would hold up one coin, say the name and have him find all the matching ones. Then I would tell him how much it was worth. We played that game for a long time.

•Then, I would ask him to find me certain coins without holding up a match for him. Like "find me a quarter, or find me one that is worth 5 cents."

•Next, I gave him a variety of change and opened up the candy jar. I'd hold up a candy and say "This candy costs 8 cents, do you have 8 cents?" And if he could figure out the moneys, then he got to buy it and eat it.

•Then I ran through some scenarios with him using props, like "If we go to an arcade, you'll use up all of these quarters and get to play for just a few minutes and get a little tiny toy like this. Or you could go to the store and use these moneys right here and buy a cooler toy like this one. Or you could save your allowance for 3 more weeks, and you'd have enough moneys to buy a super awesome toy like this one. What do you think is the best choice?"

He caught on really quick and has been making some very wise financial choices lately. My favorite thing is that he always asks me, "What would you do if you were me, Mom?" I feel so blessed that he wants his mom's opinion on the decisions he's making (I'll enjoy it while it lasts!)

Which brings us to...Micah Industries.

He realized that he has lots of grandparents around here and that they'll pay him big moneys to do chores. So he set to work:

•Recruiting sales- "Grandpa...can I please wash your car? (pauses for a moment) "And then you can pay me for it!!!!"

•Hiring employees- "Daddy, how 'bout you help me wash the car and then we'll be done even faster."

•Admiring his hard work- "Whoa...this car looks like a Hot Wheels one now!"

•And collecting his payment- "Grandpa...do I have to do the inside too, or can I get my moneys right now?"

He had a lot of fun operating his "business" and it was a great lesson in work ethic and the value of a dollar.

Now he's waiting for us to drive into town so he can buy some Lego Star Wars sets...they're on sale this week, so he's excited that he can get more for his money. That's my boy- shopping the sales!!!