When you know your kids, the activities kind of just fall into place.
I feel that it’s very important to revisit this every few months (our kids just grow up so fast and change a lot in the process). So don’t be afraid to come back to this every 5-6 months or so, and study your kids, make notes and find what works and what doesn’t.
Homework
- Keep track of your activities this month with the “Activity Journal”.
- Fill out the “My Child” sheet for each of your kids (Three kids? Print it out 3 times.) What is one thing you learned about your kid this week? Maybe it’s something you already knew or something that was an a-ha moment for you. Big or little, it all helps!
- Interview your child(ren) with the “Interview the Kids” sheet.
- Report your findings in the The Activity Room: Member’s Only Facebook group (this is a private group).
Make notes of what works & what doesn’t!
I encourage you to keep a journal of your activities for a month.
Make notes of what you did, how your child reacted, and why you think they may have reacted the way they did.
There are many variables that come into play to make an activity successful — the major one is your child’s interests, but it could also be your mood, or your kids’ mood, or it could be simply the time of day (which may affect yours or their mood). Just jot down in a notebook your experiences this month to see what happens!
Download the “Activity Journal” Sheet
Study Your Kids
Figuring out what your kids are interested in is a huge part of doing hands on activities.
Step back and watch them as they play together or by themselves. Ask yourself some of these questions about their free play, and jot down notes on the My Child sheet!
Download “My Child” Sheet
These are just a few questions to get you thinking.
- What are they playing with?
- What do they talk about?
- Do they sit and play, or run around?
- Do they tell stories?
- Are they focusing in on one thing, or jumping from one toy to another?
- What do they gravitate towards?
- Do they make up stuff or tend to reenact what’s been going on around them?
- Are they builders or destructors?
Allow Your Kids to be Who They Are
Instead of judging and wanting our kids to be a certain way to do activities and wondering why they don’t want to do them; use this information to form activities around what they’re already interested in. Not just with the object, but how they play with the objects plays a huge part too!
Incorporate the way they play into the activities and you’ll be golden.
Interview your child once a year to not only capture these as memories, but also as realizations of what they like from their perspective.
