the start of something good: The Boy Needs a Job

So toddlers are busy little people. Anyone that has ever been around them has probably figured that out within like 15 minutes. And I think Dax is even busier than most (he's sort of like his daddy... yikes). He is so inquisitive that he just has to be going all the time... or he might miss something. He tries to figure out how things work and once he gets his mind on something there's no changing it! Well in the past week I realized that he was really seeking out task oriented activities. He's cut back from just playing with his cars or balls or climbing up his slide, and has started really sitting down and completing "task". Also, if he starts getting fussy or into things he shouldn't, I can give him a "job" and it instantly turns his mood around and gets his mind off of whatever he was previously doing. This tells me that he's bored just playing with his toys. He needs a challenge. The boy needs a job.

So with that in mind... I made a few new activities for Dax this week. Take a peek....

Activity 1 (Thanks to pinterst!): Pushing puffy balls through holes you cut in the lid of a tub. This is great fine motor work and Dax loves it! The first time I presented it to him I put the balls half way in the holes and let him push it in the rest of the way. But the next time he did them all on his own. Keep an eye on your little one though because the balls are a choking hazard.

Activity 2: Popsicle sticks and cups/tubes. While rummaging through my art supplies, I found a baggy of popsicle sticks.... and I already had random tubes out for Dax to play with. He loves putting the sticks in each of the tubes/cups and then dumping them out and starting all over. He also loves transferring from one container to another. He started out doing only one stick at a time, and quickly realized that would a little work he could do a handful. More great fine motor skills, eye hand coordination, work on pouring, and cause & effect.

And Activity 3: Pouring and scooping rice. Dax has been helping us feed the dogs lately. We use measuring cups to pour the dogs food into their bowls and he just really loves it. Well the other night he helped daddy.... but then decided that he didn't want to stop, he just wanted to keep scooping and pouring, daddy didn't want him to (because it's nasty stinky dog food and the dogs would puke if they ate all the food Dax was trying to give them) so needless to say, our strong willed, determined, task oriented little boy was not happy. I got out a couple bowls, different sized measuring spoons and cups, and rice and let the boy get to work on pouring and scooping. This was great practice with working his wrist. It was also a great sensory experience because he was able to dig his fingers into the rice and see how it felt. He also did some pretty good problem solving because he couldn't quite figure out how to turn his wrist to empty the scoops so he figured out that if he just shook it really hard the rice would fly out. This was a messy activity but since we did it on the tile we were able to just sweep it up when he was done and save it for another time.