This is the view of the tree in my front yard. We're possibly going to lose my favorite branch. Connell and I have spent hours peeking out the window, watching the bird feeders dangling from that branch. When he was brand new and fussy, we spent even more hours standing in the sunny window, watching the shadows cast by its leaves. I'm trying not to begrudge Mother Nature, but please, lady, just leave my branch, okay? We won't even discuss the lilac situation. To continue to fight the mid-winter blues, I've decided to have a little gathering of playgroup friends in a few weeks. We're going to throw Dr. Seuss a birthday party. Selfishly, it gives me something to think about while we're trapped in the house by the evil weather. The trick will be figuring out what activities the 'under two' crowd can handle in our limited space. I decided to start with a simple Cat in the Hat craft and do a bit of a beta test.
Instructions: Using red card stock, I cut out a rectangle to make the hat. White card stock worked for the stripes. Construction paper circles made the face and whiskers. Leftover foam heart stickers worked for the nose and beads (
I found the key was to talk him through the activity. He wanted to touch the glue, which was fine. He enjoyed sliding the "stripes" around a bit. We talked about "stick". When we put the face together, we talked about nose and eyes.
It's fun to find ways to work new language into fine motor skills. At this point, he will focus on things like this for anywhere from 3 - 5 minutes, so I find having everything handy and ready to go helps. Eye contact, reassurances ("Good job!"), and encouragement ("Keep trying!") keep him engaged. And his smiles keep winter from driving me completely insane.
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