More About Toddlers

Melanie, another mom of 3+2, asked for more concrete ideas of what to do with toddlers in the comment section of my post Toddlers Are Born Persons.  I've been thinking... and thinking... and...

... what I've been realizing is how fly by the seat of the pants I am.  Considering that we began our homeschooling adventure when my oldest was not quite four with The Unschooling Handbook, my observation skills became pretty well honed as I watched my children for signs of budding interest... but unfortunately, my planning ahead skills did not really improve too much.  So what I generally do when trying to provide activities for little ones is to spend time watching them. 

This doesn't mean I actually sit and watch them, of course, like a scientist taking notes -- although when I do have the chance to sit and they're playing, I find sitting and watching very enjoyable.  But a part of my brain is generally always "on" when it comes to picking up little hints of interest from the kids.  So if I see that the babies are starting to repeatedly do something new -- for instance, they've switched from the dump-everything-on-the-floor stage to the pick-everything-up-and-put-it-inside-something-stage, I try to do what I can to accomodate their needs without going insane myself.  Usually I am about a step behind them, but I figure if I only stay one step behind them, I'm doing pretty good.

As they get older, I've also been checking out these resources for toddler work:

Montessori from the Start, by Paula Polk Lillard and her daughter, Lynn Lillard Jessen, has lots of concrete ideas for work up to age 3.  A caveat, though: if you're like me, this book may totally overwhelm you, mostly because it assumes (in my opinion) that you do not have many other children at home.  And certainly it has to be adapted for twins.  Also, I don't agree with the chapters on sleeping, weaning, and the recommendations they have for reading to your toddler seem wonky to me, too, particularly if your older toddlers are like mine and develop interests that must! be! fed! with a constant stream of books.

But I think it's definitely worth reading, and I like having it on my reference shelf.

Online resources include:

MontessoriMom has a great Toddler Scope and Sequence with photos!

Lori at Montessori for Everyone has a series of toddler posts on her blog:

• Toddler Time
• Toddler Resources
• A Little More on Toddlers
• Another Homeschooling Update (talks about the progress her daughter has made over the course of a year)

She also has an interesting post on balancing mixed ages.

The Infant/Toddler curriculum page at NAMC lists the Tables of Contents of their infant and toddler manuals and also gives sample lessons.  I've just printed out them out for ideas; I don't feel like I need to buy the manuals.

Shawna (who is also parenting a Dynamic Duo) at As Simple As Two Plus Two lists several favorite toddler activities.

Andrea at Gray Family Circus has a post about babies and Montessori, with photos of her set-up.

The folks at playschool6 are also a great resource. 

In my next post, I'll show you some pictures of the babies' "toys" and shelves.

 

Comments

[Meredith]

Angela, you shared so many wonderful resoures and ideas here! Thanks for your perspective and I just love that Montessori for Everyone site, she's right on!! Blessings!

[Amy]

Ditto what Meredith said! Great links and this post plus your one above are so helpful right now as I struggle to think of things for my soon to be 2yo to enjoy.

[Lori]

Thank you so much for the "link love", as they say! I'm so glad you've found those posts helpful. I've had fun with my daughter this past year, but to be honest I'm glad she's finally out of the toddler stage =)

Thanks again!