Typical Fun

We've been stuck inside a lot lately, because it's been a colder than average April. I've had to come up with fun indoor activities for his busy little self.  These are some of the favorites:

- Drawing and stickers. He can't really do much in the way of crafts yet, but he loves when we draw together.
- Activity books. Alex has a few 'touch and feel' books and a few 'find it' books. He loves to go over the large, busy pictures looking for the things I'll say I've spotted. I've also taken to making my own 'Find it' pictures in Photoshop Elements or with stickers/colored pencils - filling up a page with his favorite images
- Letters and Numbers. Alex loves to go over his alphabet magnets and his alphabet blocks naming numbers and letters. This activity occupies him long enough to surprise me. I'll add to challenges by spelling out simple words or making two digit numbers.
- Song time. Alex loves, loves LOVES to sing his favorite songs with me. I'll often take his stuffed animals and place them in a circle like what happens at 'Babytime' at the library. Then I'll sing nursery rhyme songs with him (using his song playing toys for recall on the songs).
- Multimedia learning with Baby Einstein. I have the whole collection of the Baby Einstein DVDs, but I'll also do this with his other favorite videos. I break out books, toys or other items that are featured in the DVD and go over them with him while they're shown on the DVD.
- Pretend play. I make up stories about pirates, dragons, dinosaurs or trains and trucks and play them out with his toys or stuffed animals. He'll bring the story down to his level of complexity, but he still loves this.
- Story time. I ask Alex to pick a book to read and I'll read the story and go over the pictures the way he likes to. I'll do this with two books at a sitting. (Usually his attention span limit). Alex's favorite books are those I had printed at scrapbook sites. They're stories/poems I wrote about photos of himself. If you don't do digital scrap, you can still do it with pictures of Charlie from a single day's adventure or a season.
- Building time. One of his favorite activities is to actually watch me build things with his blocks. We'll take out his cars/trains and drive them around the buildings. Of course he also loves knocking them down.

Most often I'll have to go through each of these per day, because Alex is just itchin' to get outside. As soon as the weather is warmer, I know that most of our time will be spent outdoors.

April 16, 2009