Musical bells

A co-worker of mine donated a broken switch toy to our job. It was an awesome bell toy that looked like a sideways Ferris wheel! However, the part that strikes the bells to make the sound was broken. After several attempts to find some way to fix it, I decided just to take it apart and use the bells! I made a small mallet, wrote up some music, and voila, new functional toy! The kids have loved it, and we’re even getting them to help write more songs! It’s also been fun to see them try to guess which song they are playing and learn to keep the rhythm! Trash to treasure!

Lacing

I have been brainstorming a way to help my kids understand the concept of lacing. A coworker and I came up with this idea: green for go, red for stop, with a green line to follow with the lace. Starting at the star, push the lace through the green hole, pull it through until it stops, and follow the green line to the next green hole. I haven used it with several kids and it is helping! I plan on making one with only green holes to remove some of the visual cues. Has anyone else tried something fun to help with lacing?

Mardel Monday: Lab Mice

This game is too fun. 100 puzzles, with 3 different levels of difficulty, and an awesome cognitive component for only $18 is a superb deal! To play the game, you must connect the color mouse to his corresponding cheese, without crossing any other paths. What a great way to make mazes fun!

Mardel Monday: ThinkFun’s Amaze

Love this ThinkFun game (and a few others!) 16, interactive mazes, to challenge our cognitive process, executive function, visual motor skills, and fine motor skills. Very challenging, and only recommended for kids who can handle the thinking demands. Great option for challenging older kids!! It’s small, compact, easy to travel with, and easy to set up. The mazes challenges are shown for set-up. Use the “pen” to move through the maze! As you trace through the maze, you’ll find red bars that can be moved left or right to create a new path. So fun!