Recently L mentioned that she has ran out of activities for her 21 month little girl. She has tried painting, dough, crayons, bought her new pretend play toys (which I believe have kept her busy for a while).
Most moms I know of are giving their little ones lots of art and craft activities. I think it is fantastic that they are leading the pathway for creative development for their child. However, I will use a methodological approach to focus on the growth of the whole child. This approach will be suited for toddlers below 3 years and can include developmental norms in the areas of physical, language and communication, cognitive, social and emotional growth.
Before I plan for new activities for Kyle, I completed 5 separate observation assessments of Kyle in different settings; meal time, solitary play, parallel play, outdoor play and dough play. From there compare the assessment with development norms of a 17 month old child and then evaluate it to determine his needs, interests and abilities. From there, I will plan for a balance of experiences to support, enhance and foster the developmental areas. Movement needs to be a fundamental area for this programme, it is probably one of the best ways to keep his ‘octopus’ hands and legs occupied. As for the music bit, he has to be content with my not so great voice without music accompaniment, while I wait for P85 to arrive in Oct (I am dying of anticipation).
After this, I will embark on a multi-sensory approach for his alphabet experience. However, I am not certain that he is developmentally ready for this, will try out the letter ‘S’ first and its related activities to see if there is any potential interest. Most likely have to be prepared to arm myself for more activities, in case of any sign of a lack of interest. Regardless, there will be no flash cards for him, at his age, there is no way flash cards are going to work for an active, super-inquisitive toddler.
This is the start of Kyle’s home school, it’s time to start on my own kid and not be too occupied by other people’s kids. Looks like I am going to be even busier now vs those few months back when I was a FTWM.
