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mooreboyz
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| Posted: March 10 2009 at 4:51am | IP Logged
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I always enjoy finding out what others are up to. I try to put out a couple new things each week, but each month or 2 I do a change of theme.
Jan/Feb my 4 year old had a tools/woodworking and human body theme.
March and April we're focusing on easy science experiments, money, and study of animals.
On his shelves are:
magnetic/nonmagnetic tray
does it float? activity which I combined with a practical life dish washing activity...I have a small wash tub on the shelf with 2 containers inside, one with things to float and one with play dishes, soap, washcloth
ice game from
here
color mixing using beakers and pipettes to feel sciency
animal identification cards
animal tracks matching cards
food chain activity I made...put sun in center, plants around it (corn, grain, tree, carrot), plant eaters next (giraffe, bunny, deer, mouse), and then meat eaters (wolf, lion, cat, eagle)
land/sea/air matching using animal ident. cards
animal sorting with toys by mammal/fish/bird/rep/amphib
animal sounds bingo
penny polishing
cash register (it is a toy, but has various games by level from "insert a quarter" to "insert .89"
pencil sharpening
and then just his normal math and language which is always out
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Jackie
7 boys - 1, 4, 7, 10, 13, 15, 17 years
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Maryan
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| Posted: March 10 2009 at 7:18am | IP Logged
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Those are fun!! My Michael loves his:
Handwriting Without Tears basket
Didax Basic Skills puzzles (I break them up into small groups in baskets)
Animal Groups puzzle
Botany and Zoology puzzles
Color mixing
Right Start abacus cards (he and 5 yo play memory)
Knobbed Cylinders
Knobless Cylinders with Lori's extensions
He really really likes puzzles
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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
A Lee in the Woudes
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mooreboyz
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| Posted: March 10 2009 at 1:08pm | IP Logged
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puzzles are big here too. There are days he'll get on a kick and do all of them he can find filling the entire floor. I remember his bros doing this too. I think it is just great.
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Jackie
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SusanJ
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| Posted: March 10 2009 at 1:44pm | IP Logged
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I hope it doesn't hijack this thread to ask a related question I've had on my mind for awhile:
How does your 4yo play?
My ds is 4 (October birthday). He has spina bifida and is paraplegic. So he can't walk but he is of normal intelligence--maybe even above average. Very verbal, very imaginative, uncanny math abilities, interest in learning to read, long attention span, very social. But he can't get around and get into stuff and explore and unpack toy shelves and stuff very easily. A lot of what he plays with is stuff that we sort of present to him or he makes up an elaborate imaginative game with whatever simple thing is in reach.
We do whatever we can, of course, to give him maximum mobility and accessibility in our home but since he is our oldest I'm not even sure what a "normal" 4yo does. I know that a lot is personality dependent and that "normal" has a wide range and a lot of variety. But watching his 2.5 yo sister is very eye opening. Her play skills and preferences are SO different from anything he did, or could do, at that age. It is encouraging to see above, for example, that puzzles are big with 4yos. We have puzzles but my son can't get them and it didn't occur to me that those would be a great activity for him at his age. And he can totally do a puzzle if we give him a good surface to use.
So, I hope I've been clear, and I'd love to hear more about what your 4yo likes and how he/she plays when given time for free independent play.
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Maryan
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| Posted: March 10 2009 at 3:17pm | IP Logged
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Susan,
Here's some other things along those lines that my 4 yo. loves. I set these things on his shelf to make them look attractive, so then he "picks" them. He totally has engineer type preferences -- puzzles and building things.
Wedgits and designer cards
Lincoln Logs
He's started doing K'nex with help
He had matching cards of animals and trucks which he loves
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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
A Lee in the Woudes
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AndieF
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| Posted: March 10 2009 at 4:37pm | IP Logged
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Well, in addition to having a 4 year old, I also teach preschool out of my home, and so I have four other 3 and 4 year olds most mornings. I use mostly Montessori, but I have a whole free art shelf that sees a lot of action too.
My four year olds are into puzzles, especially the map puzzles, but all of them really. They also enjoy wikki stix for creating letters, metal insets and other writing activities. Most of them are using the movable alphabet to spell simple words, although only one is spelling without the word there. They are into counting and pattern activities. Right now, we are working on the human body for science. Most of them enjoy blocks, legos, etc. anything that involves building. Most of the students are girls, although my 4 year old is a boy, but they all are really into building.
But mostly, they are into art. Cutting, gluing, dot paint, stapling, markers, etc.
Andie
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mooreboyz
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| Posted: March 10 2009 at 4:45pm | IP Logged
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When my 4 yr old plays and this was the same with all my other sons it involves a lot of fantasy...super hero action figures, knights and castles, play mobile sets, etc.. He'll play with the toys, pretend to fight bad guys by kicking, jumping and flying, and lately he and his 7 yr old bro are getting Marvel Superhero encyclopedias from the library, read about them, discuss whose powers are best and then have pretend battles.
He also loves all the practical life stuff...cutting foods, helping cook anything, hammering activities. Kids truly love purposeful work.
He also has always loved to make music. So, he has his own lapharp and various other instruments that he plays and sings with. My 3 older take piano lessons and he's waiting to this. I will probably start teaching him a bit soon. Music is pretty big around here.
He's really into math like your son also and I recently bought him his own workbook. I didn't want to because I have been teaching him mainly with Montessori activites, but he really likes having a big boy book.
Hope this gives you some ideas.
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pmeilaen
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Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early, circle time, and lots of free play and nature
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Philothea
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Legos, Matchbox Cars and practicing writing are the big things around here with my June '04 kid. Books-wise, we're on a bit of a farm animals kick because we just got chickens, and I've got astronomy stuff in my cart at Amazon because he loves the night sky and we've had some warm evenings lately that would be great for using his telescope. He's also liking books about Church and loves to practice his prayers. He can now recite the Hail Mary and Our Father and loves to do it just to prove he can do it all by himself.
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Mackfam
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| Posted: March 11 2009 at 3:14pm | IP Logged
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SusanJ wrote:
I'd love to hear more about what your 4yo likes and how he/she plays when given time for free independent play. |
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I have some ideas Susan...the following are the hot toys for 4yo boys here!
**A basket or tray of hot wheels cars - he could roll them around on the tray in his lap, or bring them to a table.
**Lincoln Logs
**Legos - my John Paul is just starting to really enjoy the regular sized legos, but duplos would work here. A nice collection of regular legos would fit in a basket on a tray and he could get that out when he had an opportunity.
**Playmobil! These are great investment toys!
**Anything train - especially Thomas the Tank Engine!
**Things you can take apart and put back together - a collection of jars and lids, bolts and nuts.
**Cooking toys. We keep this selection fairly simple and of very good quality, but they see action on a daily basis. Plan Toys makes a neat set of wooden veggies you can "cut" apart
**Puzzles
**Scooping rice from one bowl to another or pouring rice from a pitcher to a bowl
**Using a dropper to transfer water (with food coloring) from bottle to bowl and back again - huge hit!
**Scissors and paper or old magazines and catalogs
**A basket of books set out to coordinate with a theme - trains, cars, animals, spring, alphabet. My son loves looking through books just set out for him!
I think your son could play with most anything that a 4yo generally gravitates toward. Maybe just think in terms of setting things out in baskets or trays - Montessori style - so that items are available and he can grab the basket or tray off a shelf and go to a table to investigate.
HTH! 
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SusanJ
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| Posted: March 11 2009 at 8:32pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for the ideas, everyone! This is all really encouraging, actually, because it sounds like my 4yo does pretty much everything you are all saying (with the exception of puzzles--I think I'll get some of those). But I'm being reminded of a few things we haven't pulled out in awhile. We have tons of great baskets most of which have acquired a collection of fairly junky useless toys. I need to get those cleared out and set them up more purposefully for ds to access. My 2yo daughter finds her own stuff fairly easily!
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Philothea
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| Posted: March 12 2009 at 7:07pm | IP Logged
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Oh, Playmobil for sure. Don't know how I forgot about that.
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Jody
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| Posted: March 18 2009 at 7:36pm | IP Logged
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Here are a few more ideas:
-pattern blocks w/ pattern cards
-stringing colorful beads w/ pattern cards
-head/torso/feet animal cards match
-animal ident. cards jungle/desert/lake
-crayon rubbings of coins (put the coin under a piece of paper and rub a crayon across it to see the imprint)
-Feel and find money (Gather coins. two pennies, two nickles etc.. and put one of each type of coin in a drawstring bag. Then show your 4 year old a coin and let him feel around inside the bag to find the match.
-bingo coin game
peace,
Jody
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Erin
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Mackfam wrote:
**Scooping rice from one bowl to another or pouring rice from a pitcher to a bowl |
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I've been pouring over this old thread for ideas (amongst others).
Question: Once the child pours rice/beans into the bowl from the jug, does he then pour from bowl back into jug?
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mooreboyz
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| Posted: May 22 2010 at 8:55am | IP Logged
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Erin,
Generally pouring from the bowl back to the jug wouldn't be part of this lesson. It would be a mess. After they get the hang of the rice you move to water. I have them pour from a small pitcher to a votive glass (like for candles). Then, as an extension, you could show him how to use a funnel to get the water back into the jug perhaps. My first step in the pouring series is actually pouring dried beans from one votive to another and back again. Then I move to rice. Then I will move to water in a pitcher with a measured amount that will not go over the votive. Then water in a pitcher that is too much for the votive, but I put a rubber band around the votive to signal when they should stop pouring. With all of these they learn from their messes. Show them how to clean up when they spill beans, water, etc.
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Jackie
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: What's on your 4 yr old's shelves?
