I am often asked how I plan activities for T. He is 3.5 years old now and I am doing small activities with him from the time he was a baby. Till the age of one it was more of sensory play and stacking toys. After that I started with more structured activities.
While planning activities, one should remember that a kid's attention span is not much. For eg. Attention span for a one year old is maximum 5 minutes. After your child turns one , plan one activity a day, be it colour sorting or stacking or blocks. Along with that you can read to them, give them pull along toys, etc to play with.
As they grow older the activities vary and the attention span of the children increase too. Like I said, my son is 3.5 years old now. When he in a mood, he can sit and do various activities for 30-40 minutes at a stretch. When he doesn't want to do, he doesn't sit for 2 minutes also.
How do I plan activities for him:
💓I try and make him do at least 4-5 small activities in a day
💓I plan a number activity, like matching or circling the right number or a DIY activity.
💓Similarly for alphabets, I give him alphabet matching, matching the object with the correct alphabet.
💓Pattern tracing:
He cannot write alphabets or numbers yet. So I give him some pre writing skills activities to do.
💓Puzzles/ blocks : . I don't force him to play with puzzles or blocks or do painting. He has different blocks and various puzzles. I have put these within his reach so whatever he feels like playing with, he takes and he plays .
💓Painting : T likes to paint. So some days we do some random painting. Other days , we do some finger, hand , vegetable painting too.
💓Sensory Activities: kids love sensory activities. Make it fun according to their age. If the child is 2-3 years old. Hide alphabets, numbers, objects and let them find.
Always remember, never make any activity as if it's a punishment. Make it fun and interesting for him. U don't have to buy expensive toys or games for your kids. Make the maximum use of what you have and trust me your kids will have fun and will learn a lot of skills.
You don't have to finish what you have planned in one go. Let the child take his own time. He might do one activity before taking a nap and the other other one maybe after he plays outdoors. Don't stress . Start with simple activities. Once your child is used to a certain routine, he will definitely sit for a longer time and will do more activities.
Great tips for planning activities for kids. I agree kids have shorter attention span and we need to keep this factor in mind while planning for them. you know, your posts always made me nostalgic and I recalled the time when girls were young. you are doing a fab job as a mom..loving all your posts.
ReplyDeleteThat's no nicely put by you in the post. I am sure this post would make it easier for interested reader moms to do plan activities for their kids. I liked the intent of not making it a punishment for the kids giving them their own sweet time to get comfortable with the activities.
ReplyDeleteI have been babysitting and playing with my niece who is 8 years old now for the past few years. Children are so amazed by even the little things that planning activities for them is a pleasure. Your tips are very helpful and will be useful for all parents of todďlers.
ReplyDeleteTrue.. patience is of utmost importance when with kids.. they wil learn in their own pace.. age relevant activities are also important.. will try them with my LO when time permits...
ReplyDeleteThat's some great tips to keep kids in activities intact they will use less TV. In fact, my son loves to different types of activities though he is 7 years old. I do join him in the activities
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is also 3.5 and your post has given me some good ideas. I agree their concentration span is short and they have their moods too so keeping that in mind and planning is a good idea. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThese are all great activities for that age group. My son thoroughly enjoys doing similar things. And yes it is prudent to let the child do everything in his own time.
ReplyDeleteNoor Anand Chawla
You are my mentor in this Simrit, I love the way you plan all this for tegbir.
ReplyDeleteCreative ways to trigger mind of your child and great ways liking it so much😊
ReplyDeleteYou have planned activities really well. I’m sure any child will benefit greatly from these points. So moms do read this!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to see u new age moms engaging ur kids in activities otherwise I just see kids with mobiles or ipads and the screen time becomes full time addiction leading to no growth of the mind.
ReplyDeleteUltimate techniques to engage your child in the most creative ways, very interesting activities shared by you, I am going to start somw of these with my 1 YO daughter. thanks for sharing insightful post.
ReplyDeleteArchana Srivastava
archusblog.com
Being patient with the kid is the toughest task..sitting with him multiple times to get the work done but u r right that chasing them doesn't work.. let them complete it at their own pace. They would enjoy doing it and even finish off the work earlier.
ReplyDeleteAs IAM a teacher I could relate your post.every child is unique and thru various activities only we can enhance thr hidden personalities..thr capabilities may vary in different areas only with planned tech we can bring them out.nice post.
ReplyDeleteMy twinnies are of same age and mostly I do these activities at home. Another one which I do to let them scribble on wall blackboard with chalk and teach them how to draw with shapes and lines. It's fun and keep them busy for half an hour at least.
ReplyDeleteWe do have few activities in a day with Penguin, my 3 years old. Sensory and puzzles are our fav anytime.
ReplyDeleteWow I admire moms like you. Other than keeping my kids disciplined and happy, I'm not sure I had half the patience you have to do these activities with the children. Hope there are more moms like you in the world.
ReplyDeleteYou have given such a creative list of activities which can help the child in keeping engaged along with developing his various skills. But what I liked the most about this post is the last paragraph where you have emphasized upon giving the freedom to complete the activity to the child. This is very essential otherwise these enjoyable activities can turn out to be the source of stress for the child. As parents we need to keep this thing as top priority.
ReplyDeleteI could not find any better ideas as mentioned in this post. Summer breaks are approaching and there can't be better ways to keep kids engaged. Thank you for laying it out so beautifully.
ReplyDeleteThese are some wonderful techniques!!
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