When my older son started preschool, we really had to hunker down and work on “listening ears” and following directions. As with any toddler, neither of these are easy and attention spans are next to nil. Don’t get me wrong, even when he was just at home he got time outs and general discipline. Preschool is just more of it for longer periods of time and that’s just not something was in to at that stage of his life. Ok, he’s only four now so it’s pretty much the same and let’s be real, no one really likes doing what they don’t want to do, adults and toddlers alike!
One day, after a day of general not listening and zero attention in circle time, his teacher gave me a suggestion of how we can work on it at home by sitting down for 5 minutes for a small activity where he has to concentrate and listen. He really had some of the best teachers! So, in an effort to work on expanding Mr. G’s attention, I gave it a shot and came up with a couple of fun activities to do with him. Let me tell you, if you stick with it, it works! Gav got up to 15 minutes at one point!
** Before each activity set a timer for 5 minutes. Tell your child that once the timer goes off, they can get back to playing! As their attention span continues to improve, increase the time of the activity. **
1. Coloring Shapes
This was actually the example from Mr. G’s teacher. Print out a sheet with shapes on it, be sure they are shapes that your child knows, and have them color them in according to your directions. For example, tell them to color the circles red, then the squares blue, triangles yellow, and so on. I found THIS one by typing in the phase “shape sheet”. It’s technically a maze worksheet but it works for this activity too!
2. Sticker Sorting
You will need 3 different types of stickers. (i.e. Mickey Mouse, Toy Story, flowers, animals, etc.) Draw out three large shapes on a piece of paper and tell them which stickers go where. For the example above, the Toy Story stickers go in the circle, the Thomas stickers go in the triangle, etc. This helps them work on shapes and sorting in the same activity!
3. The Face
This is one of my favorites. Print out the two sheets below and cut out the parts of the face.
Parts of the Face DOWNLOAD
Blank Face DOWNLOAD
Give them one of the parts and ask them what it is and where is goes. Then they can glue it on to the blank face. Depending on the age of your child, you can do more with this activity. They can color the parts of the face before cutting or they can cut them out themselves if they’re ready for scissors.
If there is time left, encourage them to color the final picture.
4. Read
There’s nothing like a good, ole’ fashion story time. It’s not only good for their development, but if they’re in school/daycare/MMO, it’s probably an activity they are familiar with and will enjoy.
What fun activities do you like to work on with your child?
XO, Kelly
For more DIY and tot activities, check out my DIY match game and polka dot soup.
