Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Today, I took Jasmine to her Gymboree class. This time, it was diffrent. They gave us a new handout:


The activities that focused on exploring the contrasts between the hard, soft, bumpy, squishy and smooth props and equipment exercised both big (arms and legs) and small (fingers and hands) muscled development and encouraged lots of back and forth interaction.

WHAT WE LEARNED TODAY:

• The Tactile Zone helped your child discover the tactile differences between bumpy balls, textured playground balls, and smooth beach balls. How did your child tell you, which textures were her favorite? Your child's ablity to communicate with you is growing by leaps and bounds as she is increasingly able to use her face, voice, and gestures to make her feelings known. Climbing and crawling over and through this set-up also supported children's balance and motor planning skills (the series of steps needed to achieve a goal.)
• The Foam Zone made for an exciting obstacle course to master, with lots of different textures to touch and explore. Climbing over the foam pieces and up the wedge to drop playballs into the bucket below also gave children a chance to practice their motor planning skills. Stepping on and touching the various textures on this set-up (the soft foam, firmer wedge, lambskin and minichute) helped children learn about objects using their sense of touch.
• Working to accomploish the Big Tactile Walk helped children perfect their sense of balance. How does your child respond to challenges like this? Reading and responding to her emotional cues (excitement, fear, trepidation, etc.) make her feel safe and loved. Walking with another child during this activity encouraged children to interact with one another and their adult partners, enriching their early social skills.

WHAT YOU CAN DO AT HOME:

As you try these activities with your child, watch for ways she is learning through her senses of communicating back-and-forth with you:

• Make ribbon rain. Fill a bucket with pieces of ribbon (each about 4-6 inches long.) Say, "Uh-oh, it's raining," and spill the bucket over your and your child's heads. Together, put the "raindrops" back in the bucket. Watch to see how our child communicates what he thinks of this game--does he grab the bucket to dump it next? Does he "tell" you he wants to keep playing or that he is not so crazy about it?
• Make a texture mountain. Pile up a bunch of pillow and cushions and then put a blanket, sheet, or raincoat over the top of the "mountain." Let your child climb to the top and then make his way back down. This kind of activity develops your child's ability to plan his actions to reach a goal.

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