Cutting

Oh, we have been and still are busy lately!  Planning for homeschooling and using in part the Montessori method does take... loads of... time.

For the last week, I have been printing and cutting, and cutting some more.  And of course, E, that has already been interested for a while in cutting is more then happy to follow along.

I have set up a special cutting tray for him that  have put in his reach. I fill a new stack of paper cutting pieces almost everyday now.  (I use this file)

I have showed him that cutting should only happen while sitting at the table. He carries his tray, sits, and then happily cuts away.

There are many scissors on the maker for young children. In my opinion, you want to avoid the ones that springs open after the child has pressed the handles.  Re-opening the scissors is a tedious task to learn, but it is very rewarding for the child, and is very good for fine motor skills, which leads to good handwriting.

For a young child you want scissors

• that do cut well.  Scissors that are dull or not sharp enough are frustrating to about anybody that uses them, so imagine a young child learning on top of it. 
• that have rounded tips
• that are sized for a child's hand
• that are not too heavy, but yet rest well in the hand
• and soft handles is helpful for little fingers.

The scissors that E is using are my sister's old school scissors.  They are not small enough for my taste, but E clearly seems to be a lefty, and so is my sister.  So it is the best pair that I have found so far for left handed child.  I am still on the lookout for a good left handed child size scissors, so stay tuned for a post on that when I finally find something I am happy with.

Cutting at this age requires all of the child's attention, so having everything prepared before hand and layout the same way really helps the child focus on the actual task of cutting.

Do you know of any good left handed scissors for children?  If so, leave me a comment!

practical life for the toddler - spreading

This is an activity that happened all by itself one morning, after I received the set of spreaders from Michael Olaf.  And since then, it is part of E's breakfast ritual to spread his own toast with whatever he wants.  There is no way we are going to be able to sneak this one past him, he demands it very strongly whether times permits or not.  The joy of the Montessori children!

I think it is a very easy activity to set up, and also very rewarding for the child.
Here is how we are doing it:

E sets his place with his plate and spreader.

Then he helps me put *just* the right amount of the spreadable item (here is organic peanut butter) in a separate bowl.  I think this is the key step in organizing this activity.
We are still only using things that are easily spreadable, organic peanut butter is more runny then regular one, so E has no problem with it.

He brings the bowl at the table and spread his toast (remember, the important part is not the result but the process!)

This part takes the longest.  I give him all the time he wants  to spread as he wishes (and trust me it was hard at first not to help him spread evenly!) as long as he is doing this purposefully.

And when he decides that he is done, he gives the spreading bowl back

I told you, the process, not the result :)

These spreaders from Michael Olaf are really well made.  The size is perfect.  But they MUST NOT remain in water, and they do need a bit of maintenance for the wooden part (of course, which can be done by the child )

they are stored here:

always readily available for E to use.

(sorry about the glass just in front of the pitcher, E must have put his glass back behind my back without me realizing!  I just caught this right now!)

The spreaders are in the 2nd stainless steal container.  As you can see, they are really tiny. (the big fork at the left is an IKEA fork for children, and the smaller ones are from Michael Olaf too)



E a commencé à beurrer ses rôties depuis quelques jours déjà.  L'activité s'est proposée de elle même, après que nous ayons reçu les couteaux à tartiner de chez M.Olaf.  Depuis ce temps là, tartiner sa propre rôtie est un rituel qu'il n'oublie pas, qu'on ait le temps ou pas!


Je crois que c'est une activité très facile à organiser, mais également très enrichissante pour l'enfant.
Voici notre façon de fonctionner.


E met sa place avec son assiette et son couteau.
Ensuite nous préparons le bol de la tartinade, en y mettant la quantité à peu près exacte pour une rôtie.  Je crois que ceci est le point tournant du succès de l'activité.
Il apporte le bol à table et se met au travail.
Je le laisse aller, tant et aussi longtemps qu'il tartine avec concentration (et parfois c'est dur de ne pas intervenir pour tartiner plus uniformément!!!)
Lorsqu'il a terminé, il le signal en me donnant le bol à tartinade.


Les couteaux qu'il utilisent sont géniaux! Ils sont juste de la bonne grandeur et facile à manipuler.  Ils ont besoin d'entretien particulier par contre, rien que l'enfant ne peut pas faire seul.
Ils sont rangé dans ses tablettes de cuisine (voir image plus haut), et donc toujours à sa portée.
(je suis désolée, sur cette dernière photos E a rang son verre sur la tablette devant son pichet juste avant que je prenne la photo à mon insu.  Je viens tout juste de m'en rendre compte, dans un éclat de rire :)  )

Practical life for the toddler - emptying the dishwasher

Emptying the dishwasher is a relatively new activity for E.

He started this out by just joining us when we were all working at emptying it one night.

I love this practical life activity, because it not only promotes fine motor skills and gross motor skills, is a fine sorting activity (plates goes with plates and so on) but it is a lovely opportunity to develop language skills.  (this is a plate.  Can you bring the plate to the cupboard... and so on)

While E usually engages in this activity to help out just like his brother and sister, at some point, I see him switch to another mode, his activity becoming this concentrated work M. Montessori often talks about.  At this point, he gets out a pile of plates (or glasses or else) and he just piles and unpile them many times in a row.  He does this until he has repeated the activity enough and just go onto something else.

this is an easy enough activity for a child that has:

• previously learn how to hold plates, glasses and other kitchen utensils (which is not something that is hard to learn starting at 15 months, the age of the inner force)
• that is able to pile objects one on top of the other 
• that can sort object with a little guidance

and the best part is that it doesn't require anything to do it.

Have fun!

Vider le lave-vaisselle est une activité relativement récente pour E.  Tout ceci a commencé un soir qu'il désirait coopérer avec nous dans le nettoyage de la cuisine.

J'adore cette activité de vie pratique parce qu'elle ne permet pas seulement la pratique de la motricité fine (et également globale), c'est une activité de tri intéressante, et permet un jeu de langage enrichissant pour l'enfant.

En générale, E débute cette activité lorsque vient le temps de vider (ou remplir) le lave-vaisselle.  Mais à un certain point durant notre travail, je le vois changer dans un mode différent.  Il accroche sur une partie de l'activité, et la répète plusieurs fois, démontrant le niveau de concentration intense qui est souvent mentionné dans les écrits de M. Montessori.  Il répète l'activité des tonnes de fois, jusqu'à ce que son besoin interne soit comblé, et il arrête spontanément.

C'est une activité relativement facile à reproduire chez un enfant qui a précédemment manipulé de la vaisselle, qui est capable de faire du tri avec un peu d'aide au besoin, et qui est capable d'empiler des assiettes et verres.

Practical life with a toddler - Spooning

In our home, practical life activities are ones that happens spontaneously, at any moment, usually following an activity that my little ones were incorporated in, or saw me doing.

Most of E's practical life activities happens just like that.  Out of the blue, he demonstrates an interest in something we are doing or something he sees. The activity is then built for him.  Nothing is preprepared, we just make it simple

 This spooning activity was a very spontaneous one that occurred just after I had been doing dishes.  The ladle was drying on the rack and so the bowls.  He climb up his stool, got the bowls, and asked me for water.  I had no idea what he wanted water for.

This went on for a long while, asking me once in a while for more water as he was emptying his bowl.

I love practical life activities.   They don't have to be complicated, nor planned. Just following the current interest of the child is enough.  And at this age, I feel they are the activities that engages the child best.  Everything is there for success:  movement, real work, with a purpose, imitation.  Perfect!


Les activités de vie pratique ne sont pas organisés ici.  Ils surviennent quand l'enfant ressent un désir de pratiquer quelque chose.


La majorité des activités de vie pratique de E ne sont pas déjà prêtes ou même planifiées. J'organise le materiel nécessaire quand je vois qu'un intérêt vient de surgir.


Cette activité de transfert, c'est E qui se l'est organisé lui-même.  Je venais tout juste de terminer la vaisselle.  Il y avait sur le rack de séchage des bols, et la louche.  Il a mis les bols dans l'évier, et m'a demandé de l'eau.  Sur le fait, je ne savais pas trop pourquoi.


L'activité s'est déroulée pendant un long lapse de temps.  


J'adore la simplicité de ces activités, qui pourtant engage le mieux mes enfants,  et pour une période de temps beaucoup plus longue que n'importe quelle autre activité.

Closer look at the hand washing station

Thanks for your comments on the handwashing post.  I am happy that it has inspired many of you to give it a go!

As promised I wanted to show you the hand washing station that E is using.  Hopefully, that information can be helpful to people that are almost ready to give it a try.

I have used a part of our play kitchen to safely hold the wash basin.  It works, E loves it, and associate handwashing with a sink.

He was showed how to pour water in the basin (with assistance), to use soap to wash his hands, and then rinse in the basin.  His favorite part?  Putting the dirty water in the bucket.  Yes, he loves to pour!
The hand brush comes from Michael Olaf, and is perfect for hand scrubbing if needs be.

Stored under are material for dishwashing that we will be starting soon.  E is allowed to explore the material right now, so he'll already be familiar when we start.

How did you set up hand washing in your home with a toddler/preschooler?

Tel que promis, je vous montre un peu plus en détail le coin de nettoyage que j'ai aménagé pour E.


Sur le dessus du meuble, j'y ai mis tout ce qui est nécessaire pour que E puisse se laver les mains de façon indépendante:  un plat pour se laver, un savon, une brosse à main, un pichet qu'il utilise avec un peu d'aide, et une serviette pour s'essuyer les mains.


À l'intérieur du meuble, se trouve le matériel nécessaire pour des activités de nettoyage.  Un bassin d'eau en plastique, diverses brosses (dont une à légumes) et un sceau pour disposer de l'eau sale.


E adore ce coin, qui lui permet beaucoup plus d'aisance dans ses mouvements que lorsqu'il est sur un banc.


Et vous?  Comment avez vous aménagez votre environnement pour faciliter ces tâches de nettoyage?

Practical life with a Montessori toddler - Hand washing

Hand washing is E's new thing.

I try as much as I can to make sure the activities that are done here, are done in their proper place. My oldests washes their hands in the tiny bathroom that is just right by the kitchen.  But as much as I tried to set an adapted environment for E to follow along, I quickly noticed that it just didn't work.

So I set up that station in the kitchen to facilitate the task until he gets just a little bigger.

Hand washing is a fine practical life activity, because it requires many skills, most of which E has been practicing a lot lately.  Pouring, rubbing, lifting and carrying a container of liquid...  I feel washing his hands is the culminating point of all of this work, and a meaningful tasks he loves to carry out. (and feels proud accomplishing!)

This sequence went really fast, it all happened in about 2 minutes.  I didn't have much time to help him.  As soon as I gave him the pitcher, he was on his way.  I was able to help him pull off his sleeve right before the last picture.  I was amazed to see him pour the water on his own in the basin (that is his first time doing so!).

And after a good wash, he finished by emptying the basin in the bucket.

as you can see in the right lower corner, he did drop a little water on the floor

and so with a towel, he managed to clean his spill.

Tomorrow, I'll show you his hand washing station  in more details.
(and if you look at his feet, you should have a fairly good idea of what other practical life activity I'll be talking next. )

How do you manage hand washing with your toddler?  I'd love to have more ideas on how to facilitate transition to the real sink too!


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Se laver les mains. 
C'est une tâche que E adore.  


Je tente toujours, autant que possible, de faire faire les activités de vie pratique dans les endroits logiques en fonction de l'activité.  Mais après maintes tentatives, je ne suis toutjours pas parvenu à organiser un environnement  facilitant cette tâche dans la salle de bain, endroit où les 2 autres font cette tâche.


J'ai donc décidé d'organiser un coin nettoyage dans la cuisine, et je dois avouer que ça été reçu avec succès.


J'adore le lavage des mains comme activité de vie pratique parce qu'elle englobe plusieurs étapes et donc plusieurs manoeuvres qui doivent être maitrisées par l'enfant pour réussir son travail.  E travaille sur plusieurs de ces étapes depuis longtemps déjà, et je crois que si cette activité est un succès, c'est parce qu'elle est apparu juste au bon moment.




Lors que j'ai photographié la séquence vue plus haut, tout est allée tellement vite, que je n'ai pas eu le temps d'intervenir d'aucune façon.  Normalement, E m'attend pour vider l'eau dans le plat, mais cette fois-ci, j'imagine qu'il était prêt à tenter le coup lui-même, et avec succès je dois avouer!  


Une fois le lavage des mains terminée, il a jeter l'eau dans la chaudière, et comme il en a renversé un peu sur le plancher, il a sorti la serviette pour le ramasser. L'acte n'était pas parfait, mais il savait comment la compléter!


Demain, je vous montrerai en détail la station que j'ai monté pour lui.  


(et si vous regardez bien ses pieds, vous aurez une bonne idée d'une des prochaines activité de vie pratique que je vais présenter...)


Et vous?  Comment avez-vous organiser le lavage de mains pour votre bambin?

Pratical life with a Montessori toddler

E has changed a lot lately.  I can see he is going through a quick phase of development ever since he started walking back in September.  It is amazing how freeing his hands has enabled him to grow, to learn, to mature.  The hand really is the medium through which the brain learns.  I think it is safe to say that E is well into toddlerhood.

I love this period.  I have always did, but more so since I got acquainted with practical life activities for toddlers.  These are the activities through which I have seen/ am seeing my toddlers grow and flourish.  I have seen them learn, and concentrate like never before.  I have seen and I am seeing now the pride in their face, and that is priceless to me.  It is worth every bit of effort and time that I put into this with them.

For the next few weeks, I'll be talking about practical life with my toddler a lot.  Why?  Because this is what is going on here.  Even the oldest are taking part of this, this is how seriously we are taking this :)


E a beaucoup changé dernièrement.  Il progresse très rapidement dans tout, depuis qu'il a commencé à marcher en septembre passé.  M. Montessori dit que la main est l'outil du cerveau pour apprendre, et je dois avouer que depuis qu'il a libéré ses mains, ses apprentissages sont exponentiels.


J'adore cette période.  je l'ai toujours aimé.  Mais je l'aime d'autant plus depuis que j'ai connu les activités de vie pratique.  Ce sont les activités qui font le plus de sens pour l,enfant de cet âge.  Elles lui permettent de réellement se construire, de prendre part à la vie de la maison.  Ce sont les activités qui emmène le plus de fierté chez mes enfants.


Dans les prochaines semaines je vais beaucoup traiter de ce sujet, puisque c'est le thème en vigueur présentement chez nous.  Même les plus vieux mettent la main à la pâte et sont soucieux d'aider E dans son développement.

Multi-age household and the importance of real life experiences

First off, thank you for your kind words and support following my last post. I am happy to have taken the decision to keep on going, I certainly hope you'll stay along with me!

I was mentioning in my last post, how my ways with X are also tainting the way I do with E and M.   I just wanted to go a little deeper on that.

A few days after leaving for the holidays, I fell onto this blog post, that I wanted to share with you.  I think it describes, better then I ever could, the difference between using the Montessori method and the Montessori philosophy at home.  As you have all figured out at this point I am sure, I am all for the latter, which was not my first opinion on the topic.  I started out using the Montessori method, only to realize that this was not how it was meant to be for us.  But to go from point A to point B took me time: time to see for myself, to learn to understand.  And I think the reason while I don't feel the Montessori method can really be applied at home is the exact reason E and M are being pushed away from it:  the multi age group.

Hard core Montessorian will tell you that the multi age group is paramount in the Montessori method.  IN regards to our family, I have come to understand that they are right.  (with that being said, I see loads of Montessori blogger using the Montessori method at home and being totally successful at it.  Different family, different experience...)
Now that I have many children, and that the age range is quite important between them (all of my 3 children are in a different Montessori age span), I can see how my last 2 are looking up to my oldest.  Their actions, and their interest are very much modulated by his.  And I know that in a Montessori classroom, success lies on this too: the oldest are demonstrating the way to go to the youngest, and they are also arousing their curiosity, pushing them to go further in a particular material.

Contrarily to the common belief, children are very interested in becoming better.  They want to be precise, they want to be capable and they are willing to go out of their way  to replicate the best they can what adults do.  Looking up to an older person is essential to pick up the subtleties necessary to achieve the desired perfection, and what model is more interesting to follow then a beloved big brother?

After weeks of searching an answer, I have finally understood why the use of tray has died here.  The beginning of the end for trays started at the moment I introduced real life activities to X, feeling that he was getting out of the 3-6 period, and more into the 6-9 one.  M has been flat out refusing anything of what I thought was Montessori at first, only to understand that it was the trays.  Trays have no link to a particular living experience, which is what *my* children seem to crave.  She has been enticed by the "real life part" of X's activity, only to want some for her.  And of course, it didn't take time for E to follow along.

cleaning up after the holidays.   E worked with the vacuum cleaner for probably more then 45 minutes.  He inspected it to make sense of it, tried it on various surfaces, to finally imitate us almost to perfection while cleaning under the couch.
 Sorry about the basket mess behind E, we are renovating the living room...finally!

And this is where I am extrapolating.  But there is one principle that I have never stopped using and that will keep guiding my steps into this path: follow the child.



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I am still working on the look of the blog.  Please accept my apologies while it keeps changing back and forth. Thanks for your understanding.

All sorts of merry times

December has been a month of creativity.  Of making, doing, crafting, cooking, in other words of pure fun.

Everybody joined in even the littelest one, at the level of his capabilities

the rolls of paper, the glue, pens and pencils, and all sorts of seasonal items, mostly found in our backyard were parts of various crafts, recipes, gifts and so on.

New traditions were created, and old ones came back very welcomed by the oldest who were able to participate further into the fun

while the new participant was mostly doing what he does best: exploring with all his senses this new activity

 During all this month, no trays were set, no planned activities were scheduled, my little loved ones just enjoyed and lived the moment as it went on.  They just took it all in, with all their beings.

and they are just thrilled about it.  

In the end of it all, isn't that just what matters?

To all of you in this season of celebration, I wish you love, time and happiness, 3 things that I feel are the most important. Whether you celebrate Christmas, New years, Hannuka, or other celebrations, may you have the time to feel this thrill I see my children having, and may you realize it's importance.

Thank you for presence in this blog.  Thank you for all the nice comments I have been receiving lately, without having the time to address a proper response (semester is finally over yipee!).  Thank you for being there and reading, for your inspirations, for your guidance.  

Merry Christmas!  And a wonderful new year.  

See you back in 2012 :)

Dressing basket

Over the last few days, I have started to see the signs.  Signs that I am starting to know well, and most of all the importance of not missing them.  For this can be a either nightmare, or a source of great pride for a child.

As for everything else, Maria Montessori defined a sensitive period for dressing up.  And the interest in this is usually sooner then what we would anticipate, thus it is often missed, leading to endless battles over dressing up. (reminds you of anything?)  But if taken in time, and most of all, if given the appropriate amount of time and consideration, dressing up can become a fun, and most of all rewarding task for the young child.

Yes, it does demand patience, and a lot of it.  Dressing up requires a lot of little fine tuned movement that the child acquire slowly.  But rushing the process will only make matters worst...(I'm talking with experience here...), even if letting your child putting on his mittens seems painfully slow.  Yes, it is important to let the child do himself, and no, it is not always possible and convenient to wait for the child to have successfully accomplished his task.

What I have started over the years to help out is a dressing basket.  It contains piece of clothing that the child is interested in trying to put on by himself.  This way, he can practice dressing up at other occasions then when everybody is in a hurry, and it leads to wonderful moments of cooperation between the child and the parent.

This is our current dressing basket:

It contains the things that E is interested in, : shoes, scarfs and mittens, plus one more item that I am suspecting might be of interest soon - a shirt.
I use piece of clothing that are easy to put on, that don't have bells and whistles, and that fits the child, without being too big or too small.
For instance, the pink scarf is one that has no fringe, that is not too long, and so allows E to manipulate easily.  Same for the shirt, it is a short sleeve shirt, that is a size bigger to make it easier to put it on, without it being too big for the child to manipulate.  Shoes are untied (obviously) and completely opened up to help E learn to fit his feet in in.  I would have like to have velcro shoes, but I wanted them to be a little bigger then what he needs, and the only ones I had were laced shoes.

Do I let my child try to dress up on his own when we leave?  Yes, when time permits.  Which is most of the time.  But I  plan ahead.  I start getting ready way before time to allow plenty of dressing time for my child.  Is this always possible?  No. But I try to make it happen as much as I can.

Dressing up can be a struggle for everybody.  But if it is approched with respect for the child, for his abilities, in the right period of time, it an become a great source of pride and accomplishment, a lot sooner then we'd think.

Activities for my 14 months old

Here is what has been set up this month for E, 14 months old:

Gross motor:

Walking \ Marcher


This has been this month's big thing.  And we can see how life and his development is really changing because of his walking.  We try to have him walk as much as we can.  He loves it!

Sweeping / Balayer

Walking has definitely set him to do practical life activities.  He really wants to take part of our family life, just like the olders.  You'll probably see a lot of those in the next months.

Scrubbing the table/ nettoyer la table à la brosse


He can do that for really long periods of time.  But that really needs constant supervision.

Whole hand transfert / transfert avec la main


Aside from walking, I think this is the thing he is working the most at the moment.  Transfering, putting in, putting out and so on.  All of it using the whole hand for now.

This is one of the shoebox activity I have set him up.  I got the idea here, and I love it.  It is perfect for those stages when carrying is not perfected, and yet, it allows to have an activity set up Montessori way.  I've been running after shoeboxes for a while now, I have tons of ideas in mind with those.  I think my problem will be a lack of shoebox rather then ideas...

Whole hand tranfert again...


THis activity is satisfying to him because of the "klunk" the spools make when they hit the steel buckets.

One on one association - Eggs filling / association 1 à 1 , remplir un contenant d'oeuf


THis is one he called for after doing it with REAL eggs...  I got him a wooden set instead...

Throwing / Lancer


We have entered the throwing phase.  Of course, it started at the table, and just like I did when he started to drop food I created an activity in which throwing is acceptable.  I'm not entirely satisfied on the quantity of things on there, but I wanted to carefully select what I put in there not to have trouble later on.  I'll probably be felting balls this weekend to add in.  Any other suggestions??

Fine motor skills


Opening and closing containers / ouvrir et refermer des contenants


This is something I have introduced only a few days ago.  I wanted to start really simple as this is new to him.  So far so good.  I'll be adding to the basket as he masters what is in there.  I have a few things on the top of my mind that will be interesting to add.

Drawing / Dessiner


Honnestly, this one has really taken me by surprise.  This kids LOVES to draw.  When I don't know where he is, for sure, he is sitting at his table drawing.  I have added a basket near the table with a book to draw in.  This is really becoming a keepsake.  I'll post something on drawing soon.

Language:


Basket of farm animals / Panier d'animaux de la fermer

I created this basket for 2 reasons.  One, for naming.  He gets the animal out, we name, and do the sound.  A sure hit every time.  But I also wanted to introduce the concept of mats to work on.  So we are showing him to first open the mat, and then put the animals on it.  Right now, this in itself, is a game to him, but I'll increase the number of baskets with mats as time goes, and hopefully, that will do the trick

Books / Livres


This is something we never get tired of.  Some days, I feel like just reading would be all my pre school children really need (well, and moving of course!!!)
Loads of books on autumn and insects.


Sensorial


Animal sounds  /Sons des animaux


I'll take about this one more extensively really shortly.  This is one of my fav, and I think E's too!

Fabric basket / Boite de tissus

This fabric contains the same fabric that E has in his texture book, just in a free form.  I've started, a few days ago, to compare with him the fabric and the book.  Eventually, I'll like to make a matching activity with that.

Music basket / Panier de music

I'll also be blogging about this soon

All of this readily available to him in many corners of our home


Cultural:


Autumn baskets / Panier d'automne


as seen here

14 months old activity: cleaning the table

I got my lego table in, now that autumn seems to really have settled around here.  I want to use it for E inside.

But once it got inside, I realized how it needed to be cleaned up.  And since E's been demonstrating signs of interest in cleaning for a while, I thought it was a perfect match

And it was!

I think this goes to show how it is not important that everything is perfect.  The right activity at the right timing is a lot more important then the perfect setting at the wrong time.  Would I have waited for the perfect fitting bowl to go in there, I probably would have missed a great window of opportunity for meaningful work and concentration.

I love how concentrated he was and was impressed at how careful his movements were while he was scrubbing away.

To set up a cleaning table you need:

A low table that can be scrubbed on
a tiny brush (the one E has comes from Micheal Olaf, and the size is perfect)
a shallow bowl for water
a towel

How did I do it?

I placed the bowl of water in the table and told E we were going to wash it.
I took the brush, wetted it in the bowl, and gently scrubbed the table saying "I am scrubbing the table".
Then I used the towel to wipe clean the table

After that I handed him the brush, asked him if he wanted to scrub with me and he just started to scrub away!

The gravity table

Meet an old lego table that we received last summer. My kids are not fans of legos, and my husband could not understand my interest in such a table when it was offered to us. But I just saw the potential of this, a table with a central hole? There is just something to do with this for sure.

And so came the first idea came after seeing E test the consistency of gravity by dropping food beside his chair, and looking at it fall. I felt the need to redirect this activity for the sake of my floor, my own sanity, and the obvious necessity for E to do it, and this is where the table comes into play

I just need a few items to drop, the table, and a basket to receive, my best find is still an old laundry basket.

As for the items to throw, I have been using pretty much anything, blocks, stuff toys, stuffed blocks, nature things of all kinds that cannot break.

The table is just the right height for him to lean on it, and be able to look in the hole, to his great satisfaction! So he drops whatever he wants in there, and looks at it in the basket through the hole.

After I showed E to pull the basket, and retrieve whatever item he wants to drop back.

Needless to say it is a winner

AND

the dropping at the table has noticeably diminished.

L'an passée, on m'a donné une table de légo de seconde main. Quoique les légos ne soient pas un très grand hit ici, j'étais complètement emballée envers cette table à la grande surprise de mon conjoint, qui ne comprenait pas mon enthousiame évident. Une table basse avec un trou en plein centre? C'est certain qu'il y a quelquechose à faire avec ça.

Et le premier quelquechose m'est apparut comme évident lorsque j'ai vu E tester la gravité pendant un repas. Il prenanit un morceau de sa nourriture, se penchait au dessus de sa chaise, le laissait tomber, et regardait ce qui arriverait. J'ai tout de suite compris que je devais rediriger ce comportement, le plus tôt sera le mieux.

voir image 1

J'ai donc trouvé des objets, qui pouvaient être laissé tombé dans le trou de la table, ainsi qu'un panier pour les lancer dedans, j'ai fini par prendre un vieux panier à linge. Pour ce qui est des choses à échapper, j'ai utilisé un peu n'importe quoi, et je crois que ça rend l'activité intéressante.

voir image 2

La table est just la bonne hauteur, pour qu'il puisse rejoindre le trou, et également regarder dedans. Alors après qu'il y ai échapper un objet, il se penche par en avant, et le regarde par le trou. Lorsque tout les objets ont été lancés, il tire le panier pour ramasser les objets qu'il désire refaire tomber.

voir image 3

C'est un succès , il adore

ET

il jette beaucoup moins sa nourriture par terre

que dire de plus!

Kitchen organization part 3 - E's space

E's newly acquired independence is one of the biggest factor that motivated me to do this move. I realized that our old setup was not safe for him since he had easy access to glasses, and breakable plates and bowls.

But what really got me going is the fact that I realized that he was sometimes thirsty, but failed to ask (or to make us understand that he needed a drink). And so came the idea of having a spot just for him. At first, I thought about giving him the entire drawer that was devoted to my 2 oldest. But because of the very nature of a drawer, he couldn't see his sippy, and was asking for a drink, rather then go for himself. I wanted to find a way to display his things, so he could see them easily if he needed them. And so came the idea of the shelving.

My objectives here were to have him be able to help himself for a snack and a drink, and put his plates and utensils within his reach so that when he is able to walk, he can star helping us set the table with his own thing.

E's shelf now reside under our kitchen counter. This was a lost space. And as you can see, it is really near his independence chair and our kitchen table. At the same time it is just at the entrance of the kitchen, so I am really happy with this emplacement. (the kitchen is behind me in the photo)

1. étagères sous le comptoir

On the shelves I added the bare minimum. His bowls, and utensils on the first shelve, his sippy cup on the second and a soon to be ready pile of little cloth to clean the table. Finally on the third row, there are his snack bowl, and a spot lest empty to put a basket for carrying once E starts to walk.

2. Contenu des tablettes

A word on snack bowls and sippies:

E learned to use a sippy a few weeks ago, when we left for our trip. He had never used one before. And he still doesn't use one 99% of the time. The only time he does is when he drinks on his own. The sippy will dissapear as soon as he is able to pour himself a drink. But at the table, he drink using the gin glasses shown here

Snack bowls: There are 2 of them. The one with the handle contains cereals. There is a lid on the top that is slit many times to retain (well as much as it can) the food within the container. It does work to minimize spills. But again, I only put cereals in there. The second container is a bowl with a snap lid that is rather easy to open and close. I showed him how to open and close it before I left it on the shelf. I usually put finger size bites of veggies and things that can be there for a few hours at a time. When it is empty, (I normally) don't leave it there.

L'indépendance que E démontre et qui augmente de jour en jour est la cause principale des modifications que je devais apporter à la cuisine. Puisqu'il avait accès au tiroir que j'avais organisé pour les plus grand, et que celui-ci contenait de la verrerie ainsi que des assiettes en céramique, je devais déplacer le tout pour assurer sa sécurité. Par contre, une autre point a été la goutte qui a fait débordé le vase: le fait que E avait souvent soif, mais ne demandait pas à boire (ou ne parvenais pas à se faire comprendre). J'ai compris qu'il était donc important qu'il soit en mesure de répondre a ses besoins lorsque ceux-ci se faisaient sentir.

J'ai tout d'abord voulu utiliser le tiroir pour y mettre ses choses. Mais un tiroir étant ce qu'il est, il ne voyait pas en permanence son gobelet, et l'oubliait lorsqu'il en avait besoin. Ça devenait donc évident que je devais trouver une solution qui permettrait que ses choses soient à sa vue, d'où l'idée du meuble.

(Voir image no 1)

Le meuble est sous le comptoir de cuisine. C'était un espace perdu de toute façon. Il est situé tout près de la table à manger et de sa chaise. En même temps, il est juste dans l'entrée de la cuisine, donc un emplacement parfait.

Sur les tablettes, j'y ai mis le minimum. Sur la première tablette, ses bols et un panier d'ustensils en bois. La tablette du dessous est pour son goblet d'eau et les chiffons (qui ne sont pas encore tout à fait prêts). Et finalement, la dernière tablette loge les collations et un espace laissé libre pour un panier d'osier a poignée pour transporter ses choses à la table, lorsqu'il sera capable de marcher.

(voir image 2)

Une note sur les collations et le gobelet.

E n'a appris a boire au gobelet que tout récemment. Le goblet n'est utilisé que pour être laissé sur la tablette et lui permettre de prendre une gorgée lorsqu'il a soif en dehors des repas. Au repas, il boit avec les verres en vitre vu au dernier billet. Sitôt qu'il sera en mesure de se servir lui-même à boire, le gobelet disparaîtra.

Il y a 2 contenants de collation. Celui avec les poignées a un couvercle coup en forme d'étoile qui permet a une petite main de rentrer dedans et prendre une poignée du contenu, sans que celui-ci n'en sorte si la tasse est échappée. Ça fonctionne relativement bien. Ce plat là contient seulement des céréales. L'autre est un contenant avec un couvercle hermétique qui y est fixé. J'ai montré à E comment l'utiliser avant de le mettre sur les tablettes. Celui-ci contient généralement des petites portions de nourriture à manger au doigts comme des légumes, qui peuvent rester quelques heures à la température pièce