Day: September 13, 2020

Spoon Match

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Spoon Match (4)

Veronika loves playing with spoons, whether little measuring spoons or big cooking spoons. I decided to sneak a little learning in while she had them out as a toy today.

I broke apart two sets of measuring spoons and lined them up as large (tablespoon), medium (teaspoon), and small (1/4 teaspoon). Then I encouraged Veronika to match big with big, little with little, etc.

Spoon Match (1)

Grated this task was tricky because one set was heart-shaped and the other a standard oval, so they weren’t necessarily intuitive as a “match”. But she sort of got the idea, especially with the two small ones.

Spoon Match (3)

She fairly quickly returned to just playing with the spoons, but it never hurts to sneak in some quick learning!

Spoon Match (2)

Monkey, Monkey

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Monkey Monkey (6)

Thanks to the influence of a certain big brother, Veronika has learned to say, “I want [fill-in-the-blank], gimme!” When I then remind her, “Say please, not gimme,” she becomes impish, doubling down on the “gimme”. So I came up with this incentive to guide her back towards the magic word of please!

We have a set of stacking monkeys that the kids love. I told them that every time Veronika says please instead of “gimme”, a monkey gets added to a tower. Travis’s job is to help remind her that “please” is the word to use. Once the monkeys are all in a pyramid, the kids get a reward.

Monkey Monkey (1)

To incentivize Travis a bit more, a monkey also gets added when he does a kind deed for his sister.

Monkey Monkey (4)

I love that this added an element of sibling cooperation to the game. Part of the issue, I realized, is that I taught Veronika to say “please” using sign language. Reminding her of the sign prompted her to start using it, rather than “gimme”.

Monkey Monkey (2)

By the end of the first day, the monkey pyramid was growing. Travis was so proud when he could add one for his good behavior.

Monkey Monkey (5)

After two days, the monkeys had all been stacked – success! The kids decided they wanted hot chocolate from a cafe as a reward, a rare treat. And well earned!

Monkey Monkey alt