{"id":3534,"date":"2010-07-06T17:47:54","date_gmt":"2010-07-06T23:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/?p=3534"},"modified":"2010-07-06T20:20:53","modified_gmt":"2010-07-07T02:20:53","slug":"finding-our-summer-rhythm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/2010\/07\/06\/finding-our-summer-rhythm\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Our Summer Rhythm"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve been simplifying our scheduling and to-do lists around here and enjoying\u00c2\u00a0 a summer of simple activities.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t want to be on the go all day in an attempt to keep The Littlest Apple entertained, and I’m trying to cut back the amount of TV he’s watching.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m no longer referring to or creating rigid daily lesson plans for Tot School, just a loose framework of daily activities.\u00c2\u00a0 A routine.\u00c2\u00a0 A rhythm for our days that The Littlest Apple can look forward to.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re not (nor have we ever been) doing lapbooks, worksheets, and all of those super neat printables I keep seeing everywhere.\u00c2\u00a0 Although that suits my personality just fine, and I dream of The Littlest Apple and I sitting side by side at the kitchen table each doing our “work” for 30 minutes each day, it does NOT suit The Littlest Apple’s personality and learning style.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 He needs to be MOVING and DOING.\u00c2\u00a0 So here’s a little glimpse into our daily rhythm<\/strong>…<\/p>\n

We’re spending at least an hour outside every morning before it gets too hot<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 (Temperatures are in the 90s here.)\u00c2\u00a0 We walk around our neighborhood or go to one of the many nearby parks.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve been encouraging The Littlest Apple to walk more and more on his own, instead of being carried or pushed in the stroller.\u00c2\u00a0 Because he is relatively light for his age, he gets carried (and expects to be carried) way more than most kids his age. \u00c2\u00a0 Since his energy level is still on the high side, our morning outings have helped him to focus better on other activities the rest of the morning.\u00c2\u00a0 There is a park within walking distance that has 37 baby ducklings!\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve even gone out in the rain, which makes for great puddle jumping and slug-hunting.\u00c2\u00a0 In the late afternoons, we often go outside again, spend time tending the garden<\/a>, playing with the sand and water table, or splashing in the kiddie pool.<\/p>\n

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We spend time every day on art<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 I rotate out the supplies available to him(markers, crayons, dot paints, tempera, watercolor, chalk, glue and collage supplies, etc).\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes I have a definite project in mind (and incorporate additional supplies), sometimes I just let him create whatever he wants.\u00c2\u00a0 Last week we used markers to draw still life portraits of a vase full of sunflowers we had on our kitchen table, and painted an American flag.\u00c2\u00a0 The Littlest Apple also created some great art using his dot markers, and practiced with his safety scissors.<\/p>\n

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Building.<\/strong> We’ve got giant blocks, small blocks, and stacking towers, and we’ve been using them LOTS lately.\u00c2\u00a0 Making skyscrapers, castles, houses, towns, and bird nests.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes we count the blocks or sort by color, sometimes we use toy dump trucks and loaders to move the blocks around, sometimes we just build.\u00c2\u00a0 I let The Littlest Apple lead the way on these projects, using his imagination (which never fails to amaze me!).\u00c2\u00a0 Last week we also built roads with ramps and lined the blocks up like dominoes and knocked them down, over and over and over again.<\/p>\n

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Sensory activities<\/strong> like rock tubs<\/a>, seasonal sensory bins<\/a> (time for a new one!), playdough<\/a> (sometimes store bought, sometimes homemade), pasta, lima beans, pom poms.\u00c2\u00a0 We use shovels, scoops, buckets, tongs to move, pour, and transfer stuff from place to place.<\/p>\n

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We read<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 LOTS.\u00c2\u00a0 We read downstairs on the couch, we read upstairs in the playroom.\u00c2\u00a0 We read in tents made of blankets.\u00c2\u00a0 We read in mommy’s bed.\u00c2\u00a0 We read in The Littlest Apple’s rocking chair.\u00c2\u00a0 Sometimes we even read outside in the late afternoon.\u00c2\u00a0 Even though he never really sits STILL for stories (sitting still for anything is still a really big struggle), The Littlest Apple is staying interested in longer stories, and more stories at a time.\u00c2\u00a0 Our current favorite books include Mike Mulligan and More<\/a>, Make Way for Ducklings<\/a> and the Harper Collins Treasury of Picture Book Classics<\/a>, but we also make weekly trips to the library in search of new favorites.<\/p>\n

Working in the kitchen<\/strong>.\u00c2\u00a0 Making ice cream<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Making popsicles.\u00c2\u00a0 Learning knife skills.\u00c2\u00a0 Washing and drying fruit.\u00c2\u00a0 Washing and drying dishes.\u00c2\u00a0 Making tortillas<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Baking bread and muffins.\u00c2\u00a0 Making butter.\u00c2\u00a0 And quite a few messes, too.<\/p>\n

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Real life activities.<\/strong> Both of us need to work on cleaning up our messes!\u00c2\u00a0 I’m trying to teach The Littlest Apple that when he makes a mess in the kitchen (like the one pictured above), then he is responsible for wiping down the counters and putting the dirty dishes in the sink.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s also been vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, mopping, sorting and putting away laundry, making beds.<\/p>\n

Quality time with grandparents.<\/strong> We see both sets of grandparents at least once a week.\u00c2\u00a0 The Littlest Apple really looks forward to their time together.<\/p>\n

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And last but not least, CUDDLE TIME<\/strong>!\u00c2\u00a0 My favorite part of the day.\u00c2\u00a0 We spend at least 30 minutes a day just laying in bed cuddling and talking, tickling and kissing and hugging.\u00c2\u00a0 It can’t get any better than that!<\/p>\n

I’m sharing this post with Tot School at 1+1+1=1<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve been simplifying our scheduling and to-do lists around here and enjoying\u00c2\u00a0 a summer of simple activities.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t want to be on the go all day in an attempt to keep The Littlest Apple entertained, and I’m trying to cut back the amount of TV he’s watching.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m no longer referring to or creating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motherhood","category-tot-school"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3534"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3573,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3534\/revisions\/3573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thepickyapple.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}