The Preschooler: Day 1 ...Bugs and Bean Bags

 I have been giving thought to the questions about how I keep our youngest child busy while I work on school  with the older children.  Many excellent posts have already been written on this topic and I am not sure I have anything all that unique to offer.  I think I will just let you follow us around a bit this week. I'll try to hit some highlights of our day in the "keeping the preschooler busy in a meaningful way" department!  My general thought on the subject is this:

                              The activity must be good for his mind, body, or soul.

We do not want to "get our preschoolers out of our way" so we can get on to more important matters.  So many foundational concepts and patterns are forming during these important years! And besides, these little ones are so fun and time is so fleeting, why would we ever want to do such a thing as shove them aside?! We want their days to be filled with rich times of imagination and learning. Whether they are playing alone, with siblings, or spending time alongside their parents, they need to be growing, creating, observing, and exploring. Many times these activities just happen naturally.  Keep your eyes open for what they are finding interesting and go with it! That is how our day started out...

Spring in full glory here, and we are finding lots of caterpillars around the yard.  Last night we put one in our bug jar. Thunderbolt was given the job of watching our temporary pet during some of our morning lessons. Whenever I came to a stopping point I would ask how our little friend was doing, if he seemed to be enjoying the leaves we had given him, if he had climbed on the stick yet, and so on. My very talkative, active boy spent a good deal of the morning being quiet and gazing into the bug jar. He could have been watching TV, but instead he was watching nature! After a while (and a change of clothes due to a spilled drink!), I could see it was time for something new.  He had been still for a while, so now it was time for something active... beanbags!

 My dad made this bean bag game for us one Christmas.  It is wonderful for times when you need an active indoor game. If you can't make something like this, just get out your laundry baskets, coffee cans, or whatever else you have, and make up you own game! Bean bags and rice packs are excellent sewing projects for your young seamstresses, but you can also just twist old socks into balls, or toss small stuffed animals. Hand eye coordination, lots of bending and throwing actions, learning to cooperate with siblings and take turns...great fun and very worthwhile!

I hope to be back tomorrow with a few highlights of our preschooler's day....in the meantime, enjoy your little ones!

This post is lined to Far Above Rubies and Raising Homemakers.  Enjoy seeing what other homemakers are doing this week!