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08-02-2011, 10:57 AM | #1 |
Rose Garden
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Into the sky, all the way out.
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Ideas for fidgety listeners
I have a fidgety 6 yo and a 4 yo. The 4 yo, of course, isn't required to listen to all the readings, but she wants to participate and she's our tag-along learning.
What are your best suggestions for quiet activities to do while listening to read-alouds? I know of: coloring legos (don't really have any though) I'm thinking maybe silly putty? What other suggestions do you have? It needs to be something that's not too interactive or so interesting that she would be distracted. Just enough to distract her fidgets and let her mind focus.
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Hi! I'm Robin married 13 years to my best friend mama to two ~ 9 & 6 years old "Don't they teach recreational maths anymore?"
~The Doctor |
08-02-2011, 11:06 AM | #2 |
Rose Garden
Even if you can't see them or hear them at all, a person's a person, no matter how small!
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Wakefield, UK
Posts: 4,895
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Re: Ideas for fidgety listeners
Anything her fingers can fiddle with whilst her ears are listening
Coloring in is great. You can also get little squishy balls, or anything really that can be manipulated with fingers... |
08-06-2011, 06:39 PM | #4 |
Rose Trellis
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,895
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Re: Ideas for fidgety listeners
I'm curious too... So far, I just sit on the couch and read while they roam around the living room...we have a mini tramp in there, snack time or meal times work too.
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INFJ/INTJ DYT 4 Wife to Alan, Mama to Abby 3/05, Ella 2/08, and Julianna 10/10 “Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong.” Leo Buscaglia |
08-06-2011, 06:44 PM | #5 |
Rose Garden
Some Cal/Mag will probably fix that.
Join Date: Mar 2005
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Re: Ideas for fidgety listeners
stained glass window coloring books are good...not the ones with the pictures, but the Rose Windows or kaleidoscope ones http://www.amazon.com/Kaleidoscopic-...ref=pd_sim_b_6
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allisonintx Wife to Stephen Mother to Elizabeth 19, Andrew 17, Abigail 14 & Evelyn 12 Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the world. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home. . . . . . . . |
08-06-2011, 07:07 PM | #6 |
Rose Garden
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Re: Ideas for fidgety listeners
An exercise balls works as well.
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~ Becca ~ Wife to C., WFHM, Life long learner Living in "organized chaos" with 2 handfuls of kiddos. DS1(21), DS2(20), BD1(20), DD1(19), BS1(17), DS3(16), BS2(14), DD2(14), BD2(10), BD3 (8) (B = Bonus/Step) |
08-06-2011, 07:23 PM | #7 |
Rose Trellis
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,318
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Re: Ideas for fidgety listeners
Silly putty has been banned from my living room, they like to make little pieces and it ends up in the carpet. In theory, or if you're sitting at the table, it's a great fidget though.
An exercise ball is great if it doesn't drive YOU nuts (my girls get to bouncing really high, they listen well but it about drives me batty). "Tangles" (they sell them in the checkout area at walmart & such) stress balls coloring/drawing is definitely a favorite around here folding laundry (it's their chore anyway, so I "sell" it as freeing up time later LOL) we often do read-alouds at mealtimes, so they're busy eating. Especially if I can find the book on tape/cd/mp3 so I don't have to read it, but even if I do, sometimes I'll read while they eat and then eat while they're doing other things my girls like to knit, but I think they were 6 or 7 when they learned, yours are probably old enough to learn finger knitting though I got some little "disks" from amazon that are designed to stand on and "twist" to get a waist workout, the girls stand or sit on them and spin or twist back and forth. They're compact, not too distracting for me, and were only like $10 similar to the workout discs, but pricier, sites that specialize in things for special needs kids sell squishy disk things that can be put on a chair to let the child bounce/wiggle while they're sitting. The girls love crafts, so I often include them in what we're learning. Even if it's a different subject from the read aloud, I'll give them craft stuff to work on (coloring, cutting, painting, glueing . . .) while I read to them
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08-06-2011, 07:29 PM | #8 |
Rose Garden
Join Date: Mar 2005
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Re: Ideas for fidgety listeners
Yes, I'm sure the exercise ball in our not-so-big living room would drive me nuts.
Of course, that's the problem with most things. Today Lucy was playing with the ends of the afghan while I read. I wonder if it would be safe to ask her for ideas?
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Hi! I'm Robin married 13 years to my best friend mama to two ~ 9 & 6 years old "Don't they teach recreational maths anymore?"
~The Doctor |
08-07-2011, 02:37 PM | #9 |
Administrator
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 34,561
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Re: Ideas for fidgety listeners
Food Do as much of your reading to them over breakfast and lunch when they are already sitting down and busy. Side benefit, you get to send them off to play and have a peaceful meal alone (or with a book, or on GCM or.....) It worked at my house.
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Elizabeth "Truth without love is divisive and hurtful & love without truth is anemic"--Pastor Estep Arise, cry out in the night...pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord; Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children..; Lamentations 2:19 |
08-07-2011, 03:58 PM | #10 | |
Rose Trellis
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 2,318
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Re: Ideas for fidgety listeners
Quote:
Does she know how to braid? When I was a kid I did a craft that was just a bunch of yarn glued to a styrofoam craft ball & then we braided the yarn into 8 "legs", and glued googly eyes on. Maybe have her make herself a whole family of those, or make them, then unbraid & rebraid the legs? (the playing w/ the afghan made me think of it, I've been known to braid together the little fringy things on afghans LOL) I'd give her the advance warning that you get veto power on her ideas but then sure, see what she comes up with
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Busy Homeschooling Mom to 3 Sweetpeas: Lexie & Ashlyn 16 yr old twins and Lina, 9 Virtual Accountant and Bookkeeper in my "spare time" |
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08-07-2011, 04:38 PM | #11 |
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~I choose joy~
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Texas
Posts: 4,763
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Re: Ideas for fidgety listeners
This is what we do. Works extremely well with my kids. They are 6, 4, 3. I also read in my rocker, and let them play with legos, blocks, things they can build with. Also, rice in a bucket with kitchen utensils. They can pretty much play with anything, so long as it's quiet.
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