So those bins that I posted about . . . I love them! I read about them in a magazine and latched onto the idea. The idea is that you let your preschooler pick out a bin and that they play with it for 10-15 minutes, then you let them clean it up and pick out another one to play with. Hopefully this buys you time to work on schoolwork with your older child/children. I keep the bins exclusively for school time so that they hold some extra appeal.Here is a list of what currently fills my bins. I think I'll probably switch things up in another month or two to try and keep things interesting.
- A wooden connect four game that was in the dollar section at Target
- Black beans and my Discovery Toys Measure Up Cups
- Mini books
- A chain of carabeiners to link and unlink together
- Colored paper strips for cutting
- Ink pad, stamps and paper
- Lauri lacing shapes
- Lauri Locktagons
- Lauri Fit-A-Space
- Foam alphabet puzzle, again from the dollar section at Target
- and of course Legos!
I had a bin filled with Papo plastic animals and a wooden collapsable fence (made by my Grandpa T) but it was in such demand for playing zoo that we had to leave it out for regular use!
If anyone has ideas about what to fill these bins with in the future, I'd love your ideas! I'm thinking stickers, more games by Lauri and . . . .?
2 comments:
Hi! I haven't gone the bin route yet for my almost 4 year old as he does do some of the activities I do with my kindergarten daughter (and my husband is around in the mornings and will usually entertain him & his 18 month old brother when needed), however I do have a few things I get out when needed.
I found lap-sized white boards at Wal-mart that have been a big hit. One side has lines to practice handwriting & the other side is blank for drawing. Another game that has been a hit is Sudoku Jr. by Thinkfun. It's a 4x4 magnetic sudoku game with different levels. You use color-coded magnets to put on the cards & basically play Sudoku using colors & numbers 1-4. My kindergartener really likes it but my almost 4 year old boy also likes it. He uses some of the cards that give you more hints of which number/color goes where & he matches up the correct magnet on the correct pre-marked place. We bought it at the Mache convention last spring but I know online it costs $10 plus shipping & I don't know but you might be able to get it from Games by James... My son also likes it when I print off the letter of the week really big and give him something to glue on it. Another activity he likes is the textured abc puzzle by Lauri.
Thanks for your ideas - I'll have to look at acquiring some of them as well!
Great ideas Kristie! I'll have to add Sudoku to my list. How nice to have your husband around in the mornings too! Thanks for sharing!!
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