Tot School [Tuesday] Volume 3

Color was the name of the game this week! I dug down into my creative genes, and craft room boxes, thanks to a library book I had picked up by Jeff Johnson, Everyday Early Learning. His premise of 'work with what you've got' appealed to the frugal side of me, and resulted in two new additions to our Tot School manipulatives.

First up? The straws.

I'm a huge straw fan. No big icy splash in ones' face as they attempt that final gulp from the bottom of the cup! Nope. A straw finishes off a drink quite nicely and neatly, thenkyewverymuch!

It was during a delicious draught of ice cold, refreshing water that the light bulb came on for me. That bag of colorful straws could be put to good use in our Tot School bag-o-tricks! I jumped up, grabbed a handful of color, and began splicing each straw into segments, resulting in a bunch of string-through-me-wannabes!

So tickled pink with my ingenuity, [no color pun intended!] I purposed immediately to blog about it. Alas, somewhere between creating the post and my surf-the-web-for-ideas window, I discovered I was not the first to produce such a toy. Nor would I be the last. Oh well. Keller was intrigued anyway. HE'D never seen such a thing before! :D

The next task at hand was directly from Jeff's cranium: a felt book for identifying colors.

Simple in design, sturdy for 18 month old hands, and compelling in sensory realm, I got right to work creating my own. A stack of colored felt, edged together with the sewing machine, then, a strip of binding to cover the outside edge, and voila`!

A color book! A perfect companion to Carisa's approach to color identification, I watched with anticipation as Keller entered the room where the book lay, ready for his discovery.

Let me be the first to note: He loves this book! He will 'read' it over and over; bring it to me, for my declaration of colors as I turn pages with him . . . even Keeton showed great interest in it the days he spent with us this week.

(I lamented for a moment, again, that I had not accomplished such a simple learning tool for my olders, and then promptly forgave myself. After all, I hadn't even begun to touch the internet and all the ideas it holds when they were in their formative years.) :D

The moral of this week's Tot School story?

• Don't be afraid to create something out of nothing. The fancier the toy, the less stimulating it is in many cases. Stretch your child's imagination by stretching yours!

Make a toy from scratch this week, and watch the minds blossom!