I know it has been a REALLY long time since I posted on here, but things just kept happening, and I kept getting more overwhelmed with all the stuff I was missing out on posting, and now the list is so long, and I don't know if we'll ever catch up completely. So instead, I am going to share something fun we've been doing for a while. My girl is a great helper. She loves to help with the shopping and such. To make sure that I could actually get the things I needed to has been a bit of a challenge. She doesn't just sit quietly in the cart, but wants to be in on the action. So, we started playing scavenger hunt. I took out a small paper from my purse and wrote some things that I knew she could find, including one color, a number, a letter and a shape. She could hold her list and look for the items. When we found one, she'd get really excited, and have me cross it off the list. Sometimes she wanted to be the one to decide what goes on the list. She usually names the things right around us, and we don't get to move very far in the store. When we are downtown we include things like looking for a bear or a whale, since lots of stores use those for displays. Once the list is finished, we, of course, have to write another one on the back side. My girl LOVES this fun game! We have done loads and loads in the last several months. Then we (thankfully) found a variation. We play "I spy with my big eye...", and take turns finding things. I don't think my girl gets it entirely yet, since she describes the thing and then immediately tells me what it is, but it is a bit easier than the pre-written scavenger hunts, since this can last much longer and be a bit more spontaneous. We play this new game all the time, and my girl will throw in her other favorite, the "what rhymes with..." game. She has really gotten this rhyming stuff down, and makes up rhymes and words all the time. We play this at the store, but her favorite way to use this game is as a diversionary tactic at nap time. She is struggling against laying down for nap time, and I let her know that she doesn't have to sleep, but she does need to relax and have some quiet time laying down. So, she says, "Can we talk? Good, let's play the rhyme game." And off she goes. We rhyme for a bit, and she relaxes, and before she knows it, we're so relaxed and quietly 'thinking' that she falls asleep!
On the whole, I love these little games, as they show me the skills she has mastered from the things we learn at home, and they distract her at the store, and they provide amusement for other shoppers. When my girl finds one of her things, she loudly proclaims, "I FOUND ONE MAMA!!! Over there!", drags me over to see it, and insists I cross it off the list immediately. When I compliment her for her skills, "You sure know your shapes!", she responds with cute things like, "Yep, I sure do! And I sure know my letters and numbers and colors!", or my other favorite, "I'm sure smart!" I love that she has a sense of accomplishment from displaying her knowledge. And I enjoy this kind of scavenger hunt way more than I enjoy the outdoor/nature type ones.
Sometimes I'm a little concerned about our ability to find some of her requests. Like this last week, we agreed that we could have a special treat and do a scavenger hunt at the airport. She LOVES the airport. It is a magical place to visit, and she requests to go there often (usually as a fun outing with her Daddy, so I can get a project done at home in solitude). We have a small airport, where we find several bears, an eagle, a fish, and fun things likes stairs, escalators, and an elevator. We can also find lots of shapes and letters. This last week, she wanted to find the letter z. I admit, I was a bit concerned about the lack of certain letters in the world, but wrote it on her list anyways. I thought about making it a picture taking scavenger hunt, but figured it wasn't going to look great at the airport...so we didn't get pictures. But we did have a lovely 45 minutes of wandering around the airport....and we found TWO places with the letter z. One on the sign going through security where they explain about having a Ziploc bag, and only 3 oz. bottles, and the other at the rental car desks...we have a Hertz place! Hooray for the airport. We also enjoyed the gumball machine. My girl explained that we needed some money, and then we could watch the ball go around (another fun thing her Daddy introduced her to). We got a red one, carried it around in her pocket, and then deposited it in the 'cool round thing' with the trash from our snack as we left the airport. It was a good time, and my girl is already requesting that we repeat this exciting adventure. I admit, I know what we'll be doing for at least part of our 5 hour layover in Seattle in a few weeks.....although I know I get worn out before she does, it is wonderful to make some fun memories together, and I'm sure will make the traveling into an exciting adventure!
On the whole, I love these little games, as they show me the skills she has mastered from the things we learn at home, and they distract her at the store, and they provide amusement for other shoppers. When my girl finds one of her things, she loudly proclaims, "I FOUND ONE MAMA!!! Over there!", drags me over to see it, and insists I cross it off the list immediately. When I compliment her for her skills, "You sure know your shapes!", she responds with cute things like, "Yep, I sure do! And I sure know my letters and numbers and colors!", or my other favorite, "I'm sure smart!" I love that she has a sense of accomplishment from displaying her knowledge. And I enjoy this kind of scavenger hunt way more than I enjoy the outdoor/nature type ones.
Sometimes I'm a little concerned about our ability to find some of her requests. Like this last week, we agreed that we could have a special treat and do a scavenger hunt at the airport. She LOVES the airport. It is a magical place to visit, and she requests to go there often (usually as a fun outing with her Daddy, so I can get a project done at home in solitude). We have a small airport, where we find several bears, an eagle, a fish, and fun things likes stairs, escalators, and an elevator. We can also find lots of shapes and letters. This last week, she wanted to find the letter z. I admit, I was a bit concerned about the lack of certain letters in the world, but wrote it on her list anyways. I thought about making it a picture taking scavenger hunt, but figured it wasn't going to look great at the airport...so we didn't get pictures. But we did have a lovely 45 minutes of wandering around the airport....and we found TWO places with the letter z. One on the sign going through security where they explain about having a Ziploc bag, and only 3 oz. bottles, and the other at the rental car desks...we have a Hertz place! Hooray for the airport. We also enjoyed the gumball machine. My girl explained that we needed some money, and then we could watch the ball go around (another fun thing her Daddy introduced her to). We got a red one, carried it around in her pocket, and then deposited it in the 'cool round thing' with the trash from our snack as we left the airport. It was a good time, and my girl is already requesting that we repeat this exciting adventure. I admit, I know what we'll be doing for at least part of our 5 hour layover in Seattle in a few weeks.....although I know I get worn out before she does, it is wonderful to make some fun memories together, and I'm sure will make the traveling into an exciting adventure!
