Instead of Napping

Lincoln's nap has been going out of style for a while now. He will still take naps for me sometimes, but I can't ever plan on it. Lincoln has never been a self-entertaining child, which creates a problem during nap time because that is my only chance to get anything done during the day without a lot of extra "help". So, I've been trying to come up with activities that he can do at the kitchen table while I do dishes, that way he feels like I'm right there with him, and I can still get the kitchen cleaned at least.

Lincoln isn't a very big fan of coloring. He'll do it sometimes, if I suggest it, but he will never, on his own, ask me if he can color. And it never holds his attention very long. I've been looking for a way to "introduce" him to writing skills, ya know, get him to hold a writing utensil and make some kind of mark on a paper, the kind of thing coloring is great for, but it's been a little bit of a challenge since he's not really a colorer.

For Christmas, Aaron and I got Lincoln this really cool book called I Can Trace, which is part of the Big Skills for Little Hands series put out by Brighter Child. I've been eyeing the series for awhile, wanting to give it a try, and in our case, I think tracing is the best place to start. (They also have I Can Fold/Cut/Paste/Draw/Color). I really like their intro section, which is written to the parents, and talks all about fine motor skills and how developing them is a precursor to being able to write. It gives ideas for fine motor activities to do with your child. Also, it explains how tracing is not only a good fine motor skill, but helps the child develop tracking ability, which helps with reading and writing. The tracing activities start out very simple...straight lines...and then work through curves, zig-zags, loops, multiple lines that cross one another, shapes, letters, numbers, and some blank lines for the parent to write the child's name for him to trace.

I was really impressed with the book. I didn't want to let Linc draw on the pages, because I want to be able to use them again for Ivan and Adelia. Obviously, though, that kind of defeats the purpose. But then I came up with a genius plan! I tore the cover off the book and pulled all the pages out and three hole punched them and put them in a three ring binder. Now any time Lincoln wants to do a page we pull it out and put it in a sheet protector and let him use a dry erase marker to complete the activity, and then we erase it when we're done and it goes back in the binder. :)

Another thing I like about the book is that a lot of the pages have supplemental activities that go along with  them besides just tracing. For example one of the supplemental activities suggests giving the child some sort of object (pennies, beans, rocks, etc.) to use to place along the line they are tracing.  I think Lincoln actually like "doing the rocks" better than the actual tracing, but he gets really excited about both.

Another nap-time activity that was a big success, takes me back to my elementary school days and the Math/Science Olympiad. I gave Lincoln a handful of uncooked spaghetti noodles and a bunch of marshmallows (normal size and mini) and had him use his imagination to create something. He made a music tower, complete with tunnel. I was impressed. And Linc enjoyed being able to eat the marshmallows afterwards. This activity kept him busy for a solid hour. Wow!