Keeping Bigger Bit Busy: Tot School Workboxes!

To help organize our daily activities, we use a system that is loosely similar to Sue Patrick's workboxes.  The concept of workboxes is brilliant - self-contained, sequential, and containing everything the child needs to complete the task.

We don't have the space in our teeny, tiny crackerjack box of a house to truly implement a workbox system, but we do the best we can.  We use workboxes as an organization method, and it ensures that each child know what options are available for them to work with each day.  I let them use a self-directed method, choosing what workbox they want to work with, and how long to work with it for.

Bigger Bit, at only 31 months, doesn't NEED workboxes.  I certainly never had anything nearly this formalized for The Princess or Bub at her age.  But, she likes to be included in what we're doing (naturally), so the most logical option for us is to give her a set of workboxes to choose from.

Here's some of what is in Bigger Bit's workboxes this week:

Circle and square sorting.  She was not at all interested in this activity on Monday, so that night, I superglued magnets to the back of the shapes, put all the shapes onto a small pan (one that originally came from a toaster oven, I think), and put it all back in the box.  She liked it a lot better with the magnets. 

Sorting leaves by colors.  This activity she created herself, taking the leaves from Bub when he was done using them for something else.  She sorted them, mixed them up, then sorted them again.  She liked it so much, in fact, that they earned a space in her workboxes to use later in the week!

Spooning beans. This activity doesn't hold her interest for very long, but she does pull it out every day.  It's great motor-skills development for her!

This is another of Bigger Bit's own creations!  I'd put this creamer shaker and some long spaghetti pasta (uncooked) in her boxes for her to practice putting the pasta in the holes of the shaker, but midway through working on it, these fake leaves with long, thin stems caught her attention.  The leaves were MUCH harder for her to get in, because the stems are nearly the same diameter as the holes, but she was so interested in the leaves that she was willing to really work hard for it. 

Sorting pompoms by color.  Bigger Bit LOVES these little pompoms!  They are defiantly her favorite toy right now.  So, this activity is something she truly enjoys.  Dollar store bag of pompoms, dollar store muffin tin, and a few scrap sheets of foam in colors that the pompoms match (the foam also came from the dollar store, I believe!).   She sorts the pompoms out, then puts them back, then sorts them out again... 

Pouring rice.  Ideally, I'd love one of the beautiful Montessori silver sets for the kids to practice pouring with, but it's not in the budget right now.  This is my substitute, which is working just great!  Plastic, very light weight measuring cup, and red plastic ramekins.  This is a great practical skill for her to practice, as well as a good way to develop the muscles in her hands/fingers for writing later!

Folding napkins.  Because this is the first time I've introduced her to the activity, I used pressed napkins. This makes it easier for her to fold.  I'll leave out the pressed napkins for a while, then later I'll change them out for unpressed ones.

Linking up to: