Hit or Miss?

Hit or Miss? These were two activities I just was not sure how Henry would react to. Neither were a big hit. But one was definitely a miss.... to begin with at least.

First up, I've been working with Henry on his numbers (He has had his ABC's down pat since he turned 2). For the most part, he recognizes most of them (1-9). But counting things actually is another story. He can tell me how many there are of something up to four with no problem - doesn't seem to count them, he just can tell. But past that... I can't get him to go through and count - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. About 9 times out of 10, if he's in the mood, he can tell me what comes next - sometimes up to 14 or 15. But actually doing the counting, he just won't.

So, I found this Number Match Game, again at my favorite blog - No Time For Flash Cards. I made up some cards with the numbers 1-9 and another set with 1-9 stars on them. I even coordinated the colors to give him hints as to which ones were a match (this came back to bite me later). 

The first time we played... not a hit at all. He did fine matching 1-4 with the stars. But the rest... he didn't want to attempt counting the stars to find out which ones matched. Later that day, Henry asked to play it again - I was surprised since he really seemed to be annoyed by it that morning. So we tried it again. This time, he was a whiz! Matched everyone in seconds... but not by their numbers or stars... but by their colors. He figured that out in no time... 

So this one was a dud - but I think we'll come back to it in time.

Next, we tried a Sensory Tub that I also found at No Time For Flash Cards (she does this a lot and usually themed, I just did a random one with stuff I had lying around). I haven't read about them all, but from what I have read they're supposed to focus on all five senses - I didn't put that much thought into mine though.

So, I ripped up some batting (I had it leftover from an attempt to quilt at one time) to be 'snow' and added some buttons and pom poms and some gold leaves leftover from my Grandparents' 50th anniversary cake that I made them. And I gave him a couple clothespins to use to pick stuff up with. I thought he'd get a kick out those -- I tried to play them up to be cranes since that happened to be one that I read about...

He attempted the clothespins for awhile, but didn't really care too much for them. 

 

As I thought he would, he split everything up - he really hated the 'snow' and took that out pretty much right away. 

 

Then he took out his buttons and leaves - he seemed to love them... then the pom poms just sadly stayed where they were.

This wasn't a HUGE hit with him, but it provided him with some entertainment while I finished up on one of MY projects that I'll post about next (okay, I realize this is a contradiction to me being a more hands on mom... but, to me, being 'hands on' doesn't always mean being with him or guiding him constantly - he needs his guidance, but then needs to explore himself). 

I'm so excited - another part of my New Year's Resolution is to do a ME project once a month. I already have a few lined up that I've been wanting to do - so I'm very excited to actually make myself get them done!!