Maths - Counting Beans

Y&K enjoys counting but they still can't count. They don't know when they should stop counting. :)
I was thinking of reusing the Red beans from the scooping activity we did for another activity and came up with this.

I'm doing this activity with 5 bowls each time. Their attention span is still extremely short. I'm already lucky to have them sit through the counting of 5 bowls.

What You Need:
Containers
Labels (to label the container with numbers)
Beans or any other counters

I showed them the number on the container and gave them the correct number of beans. For example, I give them 5 beans for bowl "5". And they put the beans into the container and we count together. They still don't know when to stop counting at the end of this activity but I think they are slowly getting it.

Fine Motor Skills Activity - Scooping Beans

Scooping is a Montessori inspired activity. This is a very easy activity to put together to keep your children occupied for at least half an hour. It was 45 mins for mine. You can let your children practice scooping with all many materials available at home, rice and all sorts of beans, etc. But keep a close watch, though my boys have out grown tasting, they still attempt to put the beans in their mouth.

What You Need:
2 Containers
Spoons
Beans (I got those big red beans)

Y, practicing his scooping but he soon got impatient and just poured the beans over the other container.

Paper + Glue + Beans = 45 mins of peace

We are not quite done with the terrible twos x2 phase though the boys are turning 3 years old in about 3 months time. I made a very brave decision to transit them to a big bed as they are outgrowing their baby cots and with the allergy cough that I suspect the bed to the culprit, we purchased 2 car beds for them. It had been a nightmare . It’s been 1 month and I’m happy to say that they are slowly adjusting to their new beds though they still ask for their old beds every now and then.

It’s mostly child led activities in the house these days since they have their old favorites like Marble Painting and Car Painting. It’s not an uncommon sight to see them with their cars and paint at 7am in the morning still in their PJs.

Back to the activity, on this day, Y suddenly ask for glue. “Glue?! What do you want to glue?” I asked. And all that came after that was whining “I want Glue! I want Glue!”. Ok, they want Glue and I’ve got to find them something to glue. In the kitchen I go and out came some beans and so here are my boys totally focused. I just love the serious work on their faces when they play. I like to observe how they different they play. Y make patterns with his glue before pasting the beans creating a masterpiece while K puts a dot for every bean, very systematic.

Planting Seeds

An introduction to Gardening.

What You Need:

Plastic Containers

Cotton Wool

Beans (I used Green Beans)

Water

Spray Bottle (optional but it's a must to get my boys interested)

Method
Just lay the seeds on the cotton wool and spray water on it. I had to do everything until the spraying part as the boys were not interested at all.

See how a spray bottle transformed a grumpy boy to a happy boy?

Another grumpy boy pushing the beans to me until his brother sprayed water on his face. The beans were being neglected, they derived more joy at spraying themselves and each other.