Back to Basics: Classic Toy #7

My son has a doll. That's right. He only has one, and it's fairly boyish-looking as far as dolls go; but, no matter how you dress it, it's still a doll. The way I see it, Baby Bear's doll isn't really all that different than the Little People figurines he plays with. I think dolls are a great classic toy because they are an important part of developing imaginative play skills. Since receiving his doll, Baby Bear has begun to pretend more. He hugs, feeds, and plays with his doll as well as other people and animal toys. He is also learning more about interacting with babies when I play with him and the doll, which will come in handy at baby/toddler play dates with my moms group. A little imaginative play that also encourages good social skills is good for both boys and girls.

Hugging the baby

Sharing his juice

Giving the baby a ride "on" his trike ;)

Back to Basics: Classic Toy #6

With the increase of time spent indoors due to weather, I have decided to continue blogging about some of our favorite classic toys. My favorite classic toys are those that require some thinking skills, improve basic physical development, and can be done alone by a child or together with a parent or sibling. Puzzles definitely meet all these requirements!

Puzzles are great because there is such a variety to choose from based on interest and developmental level. For example, Baby Bear has a couple of Melissa & Doug puzzles that he loves. One involves matching shapes and colors, and the other is about matching vehicles. Matching is the key word here. Baby Bear has other non-matching puzzles that he can do with help, but these two are his favorites because he can also do them on his own. All he has to do is find the picture in the puzzle that looks the same as the piece in his hand and then manipulate it to fit in the space.

For older kids, you can increase the complexity by doing a puzzle that has more pieces, a puzzle with pieces that look somewhat alike, or a 3D puzzle. Preschool and lower-elementary age kids might also like creating their own puzzles. One simple way to do this is by lining up 5-10 craft sticks, taping them together on one side, having the child draw a picture on the other side, and then removing the tape. This adds an element of creativity that may appeal to kids who otherwise don't enjoy doing puzzles. The classic puzzle has come a long way!

Recycling Blocks

As our unseasonably warm January weather draws to a close, I find myself busy trying to come up with new ways to entertain Baby Bear indoors. Today, I went for the recycling. Even though Christmas was more than two weeks ago, we still have an abnormally large number of boxes sitting in our recycling pile. I taped some of the boxes shut, and Baby Bear and I had fun using them as giant blocks!

We could have spent some time wrapping the boxes in leftover wrapping paper or painting them, but that seemed wasteful and defeated the purpose of recycling. Perhaps if we planned on keeping them around for a while this would have been another fun activity.

The boxes varied in size, so Baby Bear and I had fun experimenting with stacking them in different ways. It was like a baby physics lesson. :)

Baby Bear helped stack a little...

...but mostly, he had fun knocking down Mama Bear's towers. ;)

Interlocking Foam Mats

You know those interlocking foam puzzle mats? Well we have three sets of these. We have a set of lower-case alphabet tiles, upper-case alphabet tiles, and solid tiles. For a while, these floor mats made up the floor for Baby Bear's play room to create a softer, safer play space. Now that Baby Bear is more stable on his feet, energetic, and interactive, our family enjoys exploring the possibilities for playing with these tiles. They have become a family favorite!

Baby Bear crawling through a tunnel Papa Bear made with some foam mat pieces

I made two "islands" and connected them with a "bridge." Baby Bear loves running from island to island, and using the bridge has improved his balance dramatically. He was able to take a few steps on the balance beam at the children's gym he attends on his very first try. I attribute that to this activity.

Making blocks out of the foam tiles is always a hit. Sometimes we use the letters from words to make the blocks. One time, while using the letters from Baby Bear's name, he started calling out two of the letters from his name (randomly, but still... he knew the letter names!). Baby bear also has fun filling these with small toys. Occasionally, we will leave off the sixth side to make boxes rather than a blocks.

Another family favorite is using the tiles to build forts. We have come up with numerous fort designs, and now Baby Bear even gets involved in the 3D construction process. Of course, his favorite part is still knocking the fort down when we are done playing. :)

Pipe Cleaners & Pom-Poms Discovery Box

OK, so this wasn't intended to be a discovery box. It just sort of... happened. Baby Bear and I were coloring when all of a sudden he pointed to the top of Papa Bear's and my desks and started fussing that he wanted something. The top of the desks is where most of my boxes of craft supplies sit. So, I pointed to these boxes one by one, and when my finger landed on the box containing pipe cleaners and pom-poms, Baby Bear gave a satisfied smile. I pulled the box down, and we played with its contents for a long, long time. :)

We spent some time gathering pipe cleaners of the same color. I also grabbed an empty paper towel roll, and we experimented with placing the items in and through the roll.

After a while, Baby Bear wanted to throw a couple boxes of crayons into the mix. So, we spent some time sorting by item. Then, Baby Bear decided to sort the crayons by color, too. He carried around a handful of green crayons for a while. I was amazed at how he found every green crayon in the pile even though they differed in shade. As it turns out, random, colorful craft supplies make a pretty good discovery box.

Sticker Scenes

Baby Bear absolutely LOVES stickers! He loves to stick them to things as well as peel them back off, which has been wonderful for helping develop his fine motor skills. We have a wall in the center of our kitchen that makes up the back of some cupboards. This wall was plain and boring and a good height for Baby Bear, so I turned it into a sticker wall. Usually, Papa Bear, Baby Bear, and I just put stickers up randomly and take them back down. We decided to do things a little differently one day, though, and we used some dinosaur stickers to make a sort of landscape. Besides using fine motor skills, this activity was also great for helping Baby Bear learn to use his imagination.

Choosing another sticker for the dinosaur scene

The scene

Papa Bear created his own separate scene

Happy New Year!

We three bears are finally back from our holiday travels, and life has resumed as normal. I'm hoping to get a new post up within a few days! I hope everyone had a very safe and merry holiday season!
~Sonya (Mama Bear)