Some days, despite all my best efforts, these two little angels just argue, argue, argue! (Which often turns into screaming, screaming, screaming and whining, crying, whining!) Sound familiar? When times are tense with them, I am sure to include cooperative activities into our day. It really helps! It helps in the short-term (turning those screams and tears into smiles and giggles) and I know in the long-run these kinds of activities will help them navigate their relationship as sisters as well as their relationships with others.
Here’s one activity we did today from the Leaping Lilies curriculum
This week’s Theme: Dinosaurs
Activity Description: Save the Egg!: Tape out a start and finish line. 2 people stand side to side (2 children or you and your tot). Place a ball/balloon (the dinosaur egg) between you (no hands allowed!). Walk to the finish line without dropping (breaking) the egg!
This Activity’s Main Area of Development: Social Learning
Specific Skill: Use cooperation to complete a task
O&M’s Ages (at the time of posting this): 2 years + 5 months
- Introduction: (To begin we read a story)
By Ian Beck
- Give an Example: (Mr. Y was home so Mommy and Daddy demonstrated)
– You can get two children to demonstrate (for a group)
– You can demonstrate with a child (for a group)
– If it’s just you and one child, do one slowly together holding the dinosaur egg (balloon), then do it a second time without hands!
- Try It!: (The girls suggested that we try different body parts – great idea!)
We had a lot of fun with this, it relieved the tension between them and there was a lot of giggling and smiles…. which was a breath of fresh air!
Trying the bum-to-bum again!
These two crack me up!