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Tiny Objects and Your Older Child

Tiny Objects and Your Older Child
Tiny objects are EVERYWHERE in our house. Now that your child is older, here’s how you can use them.
Tiny Objects and Your Older Child
tiny objects and your older child
We unrolled two felt mats and I put an F and an O on each one.  Her job?  Classify and categorize the objects based on FARM animals and OCEAN animals!  She would name an animal, figure out what letter it started with, and then search the drawer to see if we had it.
tiny objects and your older child
And occasionally, she’d surprise herself and find something she hadn’t thought of (a flipper, a skunk, a frog).
tiny objects and your older child

 

For this one, she sorted things she’d see at a PARK or at the BEACH.
tiny objects and your older child
Another fun one is to lay out a certain number of objects (I like to start with four).  I have three that are similar and one that is different.  Her task is to identify and EXPLAIN which one is different and WHY.  We did healthy/unhealthy foods, land/sea animals, animals that lay eggs/live birth, food that grows underground/on a vine, ect.
tiny objects and your older child
And while she loves ALL of these things, here’s her favorite:
We dump a drawer (so everything starts with the same letter) on one felt mat.  She then uses the objects to tell a STORY!  As she uses each item, she moves it over to the other mat.  Seriously, she LOVES this and it is so awesome to cultivate vocabulary, creative writing, imagination… To name a few!
I can’t say enough about these alphabet drawers and HIGHLY recommend building up a collection of your own!!
Written by Jill

Kirstylee Cassidy

Thursday 1st of August 2013

Wow! I had no idea these drawers could be so versatile. I have thought about gathering things for ABC drawers like you have, but I never know where to get all of the tiny objects. Where did you get all of your little things?

The Activity Mom

Thursday 1st of August 2013

We have gathered ours over time from various places. You can also find them here at Time for Tots: http://timefortotslearningkits.com/?product=tiny-object-complete-collection