About two weeks ago, my friend Miru from Japan sent me a birthday package in the mail that included an "Anpanman Sagase" book for me to do with Xavier. It's the Japanese version of an "I Spy" book. That started a new thing for Xavier. He loves to find things by looking. At the park today, we spent 10-15 minutes playing an "I see..." game while we walked around. I would start by saying something like, "I see a boy walking" and he would respond with something he saw. At first he said whatever I said, but pretty soon he started adding on to mine ("I see a blue car" instead of just "I see a car.") and then said the things he noticed on his own, like "I see a shadow," or "I see a duck in water." I always find it fascinating what he notices. X is an observant little boy.
We played a similar game for Family Home Evening tonight. Joe and Xavier lay on their stomachs and I was the caller. They had to look around the room and visually find the things in the room that I asked them to find. Xavier's were easier--Can you see Mr. Potato Head? Can you see a book? Can you see something brown? Joe got harder questions--Find three things that show your personal preferences, find three things that remind you of me, etc. Joe had me find three things in the room that made me feel happy. It's a fun, easy game that requires NO preparation whatsoever. :)
Another fun thing we found with our imaginative little Xavier right now is the use for random boxes. His diaper box was converted into a fire truck with some construction paper and he likes to put stuff in it and push it all around the house. We also found two great books about using your imagination while playing with boxes. One is called Not a Box by A. Portis, and the other is Panda the Train Engineer by Oda Taro. I make up my own words for Not a Box (basically repeating, "It's not a box! It's a ..." and letting Xavier fill in the blank) but the idea of the book and the pictures are great.
Any suggestions for fun books or activities you've done with young kids lately?
1 comment:
Love it. Will definitely try this game. Thanks for sharing.
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