easy monday mornings

One of my favorite things to do on Mondays is to set up an easy independent activity for the kids. It helps me ease into the week and since Mondays are also my main house cleaning day it buys me some time when the kids aren't all up in my business. And as an introvert I do enjoy when they're not all up in my business.

This works best when it's not an entirely new activity, but with some new portion. Also best are sensory activities. It is rare that I can set up an art activity with them and expect them to run with it without some extended presence or direction on my part.

One of our favorites is a round cake pan half full of baking soda and a few bowls of colored vinegar. They've done this activity several times over the years, but maybe this time I'll only put out eye droppers, or only spoons and forks, or a few plastic trees/animals, or the magnifying glasses. The basics are the same, it's just the tools that will change. The very best part of kids is watching how a simple change in the set up will entirely change how they interact with their environment. That and the free hugs.

Today, though, we've got a bunch of muddy plastic eggs from our easter egg hunt yesterday -- photos to come as soon as I can upload them.

So, I set up a washing station for them. Because I have them wash stuff all the time the new aspect of this is the eggs. Also because we do this frequently I know they already know the rules.

Here are the keys to making this successful (read: mama doesn't have to yell about water everywhere)

• space for both kids, but not next to each other. we learned last week that cheetahs will only eat in a star formation so that there's no fighting over portions. kids are just like cheetahs. 
• roasting pan 1/4 full of warm soapy water
• oilcloth drop cloth to protect the floor
• two cleaning cloths
• two towels
• everything on a tray
• extra clothes, because obviously

The best ever is to set this up outside, but even though the weather is getting better it's not warm enough for water outside. 

Either way, 1/2 an hour later they're still playing and cleaning. 

We'll take a break in a bit and let everything dry and then they can put them all back together! 

little works

I've talked before about Guthrie going to a Montessori preschool and how try to incorporate some Montessori practices into our home life. It is high time her little brother got in on the action.

Laithe used his new small dinosaurs as utensils (because, duh, why wouldn't you?) so they were yogurty/applesaucey and also gross after breakfast. Dinosaur bathtime was needed. I'll be honest my first instinct was to do it myself- I mean I had to wash the dishes anyways, but my second instinct was better: He could do it just fine. And he would love it.

I set him up with the oval high-sided tray, a largish, shallow tupperware container half filled with soapy water, and a towel to dry. A small brush would have been a bonus, but well, it was post-breakfast and the coffee hadn't filtered all the way to my brain.

My second instinct was right: he loved it. Added bonus? It kept him busy for a good 30 minutes.I had time to clean the dining room, sweep the floors have another cup of coffee and get some knitting done. Win-win.



Tonight we were watching Tintin and Laithe was getting cranky and stealing the tweezers out of the manicure kit I was using and proceeding to try and amputate my toe with them. Again, my first instinct of taking it away from him and attempting to get him busy with something else wasn't cutting it.

So, I grabbed the old cottage cheese container with the hole in the lid which holds his puff balls* and a bowl and a pair of kid chopsticks. (sorry for the crappy photo quality. it was dark and i was using my ipod)He spent the next 20 minutes or so transferring the puff balls from one container to the other with the chopsticks, then an additional 10 minutes doing it with his hands, taking the lid off and on, shaking the container, then he added in a dinosaur and car and they all played nicely together and then the movie was over and we all went to bed.

It's that little voice in the back of my head that says, 'the easy way out is 1. less effective, 2. doesn't teach him a dang thing, and 3. not even that easy,' that I find so irritating. With some months-ago preparation it is easier and faster to set up something such as this than it is to find something on Netflix and hope it loads in a timely manner.

The issue is that it's not my first instinct, it takes some effort on my part. The additional issue is that when you put out this kind of activity you need to do a little teaching the first couple times, and set some solid boundaries and sometimes, after a 10 hour day working with grieving families I'm just really not up for it. I'm up for using the remote and I'm just fine with that. Other times though, I need to listen to that other voice because the pay offs are totally worth it.

Anyways, I didn't mean to get all preachy with myself there. Those were some really nice minutes with my son - watching him work so intently. I want to do it more often.





*so literally, I washed an old cottage cheese container, cut a 1 inch square(ish) in the lid and filled about 1/3 of the way with pom-poms and felt balls so Laithe could take them in and out. Guthrie was ever so satisfied with this too when I did it with her.** Something about the puff disappearing and whoa- then they're totally there when you open the lid. It's pretty satisfying to dump them all out too. I usually keep this activity in easy reach for a few weeks and then put up for a few weeks. Toy rotation is the best.

**Although she had a totally cute scrapbook paper covered container with a perfectly round hole to shove her puffs through. First child: here's your thing of beauty, I totally worked on it for an hour. Second child: Here. I washed it. Mostly. Those few chunks of cheese left in the lid crevice? Think of them as a sensory activity. Two activities in one - lucky!

cleaning seashells

We've had friends and family close to the seashore these past weeks and they have sent us shells! They're beautiful and just what we need during this cold month where outside time is so limited.
A friend at work shared an activity she did with her boys when they were young and in Montessori school and I tucked it away for one of those bitter cold days.

One of the things that I love about Montessori is the philosophy of a prepared environment. I have to say I've totally lapsed on that since Laithe has been born, but winter is a good time to get back into it. We've got a book shelf in the dining room that is supposed to serve as our version of the prepared environment.

So, this activity is on her shelf right now.

I gathered a bar of soap and a toothbrush (a new one). A bowl of water, towel and basket of shells. And one of our trays. I could write a whole post about the benefit of trays! And I demonstrated the activity in about 5 steps. I used to have to demonstrate a few times, now just once or maybe twice does it.Guthrie went to work scrubbing the sea shells and didn't say a word for about 30 minutes. I eventually told her she needed to put it away and move on to something else as her hands were chapped to begin with. Today she asked to get it out again and I only had to remind her about one aspect of the activity- the rest she remembered on her own. I love how her independence is growing. Sometimes she's my little whirlwind, but it's fun to watch that intensity get focused on a project. Don't you love how she sticks out her tongue!