Slow and Steady

from the mom

Not long ago I was lamenting that I didn't play enough with my children, and that I didn't know what to do with them. I am not interested in crafts and I pretty much just cry at the thought of cleaning up after finger painting, etc.... A couple of things happened that have helped:

1) Ben has hit a level where he can play early games and it is a lot more fun than the early days when we just rolled a ball back and forth.
2) I started selling (actually buying, haven't done a lot of selling) Discovery Toys. In an effort to "test" products I started playing more with the kids.
3) I discovered June Oberlander's Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready. A great guide with one developmentally-appropriate activity to do with your child weekly from birth-age 5, this book has given me all kinds of ideas. They involve some supplies but mostly they are simple, relatively quick activities. Some of them are meant to be revisited again throughout a week until the child understands. I've found Ben to be far, far ahead of some of the activities (shapes, colors, numbers, letters) but others are right where he is at (money, what is missing?). Kyri's activities are very simple. Fortunately, Ben likes to get involved because she thinks only what he is doing is worthwhile. (Consequently, she is playing with toys that are way above her age level.) Sometimes we spend very little time on an activity and other times we do it often for weeks afterward.

After I had purchased the book online, I discovered that HSLDA offered this book. Kudos for helping us parents of preschooler tackle the early learning stage in a simple, straightforward manner.