I Can Do It Myself

Recently a common phrase in our home has become " I can do it myself!".

The Little guy is really into trying things on his own. Most of the time I don't even have a chance to get an activity arranged before he creates a similar one. He knows where many things are kept so so feels free to help himself more often than not!

Practicing pouring from a green tea teapot
Washing dishes
A new twist on lining up the cars - a "round house" made with the center part of the angel food cake pan

As you can see he's busy as usual!

Children's Books Online

Did you know that you can read and download children's books online for free? They even have a variety of languages!

Check it out here:http://www.childrensbooksforever.com/

Toddlers love Order

This past week I was reading in a Montessori book about the toddler love of order. If found myself nodding and agreeing as I read. Here are two recent examples:

Playing Church.

The Little Guy has always enjoyed playing with the cloth church, farm, house and Noah's ark that we have. Usually though the pieces have ended up all over the place. The last time he got out the church though was different. He put it on the kotatsu (low table) and set up for a service. After they did a bit of praying and singing he called me over to explain who was who and what was going on.
Another example of order is lining toys up. The cars often end up in a line at our house. Again, this was an unprompted activity that reaffirmed what Maria Montessori observed.

Homemade Toys

Kids don't need the biggest, coolest, newest toys. They are completely happy with simple, homemade ones.

Last week we got the following 3 things from a church memeber. I don't have patterns but if you're crafty I bet you could copy them!

The one on the left is a toilet paper roll painted brown, resting on a rubber band inside a milk carton. There is a string running from the cover down through the tube and out of the bottom of the box. When you pull the string the tube pops up.

In the middles is a cat? dog? drawn on a paper cup. The cup is cut so the bottom of the cup is the opening of the mouth. A string goes through the cup which you pull to make the mouth move.

On the right is a pinwheel. The blades are a strong paper, spinning around an unbent paper clip with a straw for the handle.
When the Little Guy opened his gift his joy over the new toys was just the same as with any other toys. Almost a week later they are still holding up surprisingly well!

Opening of "Signing Way"

I'd like to invite you all over the my new blog - Signing Way!

While the Little Lessons blog does touch a little on signing I feel that it's time to have a site dedicated just to the topic. The Signing Way blog will include information about classes in Tokyo, deals on Signing Time products as well as valuable information and research about the benefits of signing with children of all ages.

Please consider becoming a follower/subscriber of this blog as well as the Signing Way blog so that it is easier to keep up with new posts.

As always, I welcome your questions and comments as they help me to know what you are interested in learning more about!

And, for those of you on Facebook, you can do a search for Signing Way and become a fan!!