Having an afternoon free to play with the H man one day whilst Miss M was at pre Kindy I decided to try him out with this little colour sort game.
One of the things I love about the H man is that he has a mind of his own and decides himself how he thinks toys should be played with. This does make playing with him very interesting and I have to step back and follow his lead. He plays a lot differently than Miss M did at the same age and like all children has his own set of interests.
Often books are eaten, blocks are thrown, dolls and soft toys are banged together and all sorts of toys are used as missiles.
One thing he generally always like to play with is balls. Perhaps, that's because he is allowed to throw these balls inside as they are soft and light.
At the time of doing this the H man was 14 months.
He was showing interest in colours and liked to match objects of the same colour.
I decided to start this concept of sorting with just two contrasting colours.
I filled one basket with a mix of blue and red balls.
Then I added a square of blue card to another basket and red card to a third basket, showing the H man and talking with the H man about what I was doing.
Then I demonstrated for him and picked out a blue ball from the basket and put it into the basket with the blue card. All the time talking about what I was doing.
"Here is a ball, this ball is blue. I will put it into the basket with the blue card."
The H man got right into it and loved moving the balls from one basket to the next. He seemed to understand the concept of sorting the colours too...
...but of course had to do things his own way lol!
This lasted all of about 30 secs till the balls were once again used as missiles!!
But still we got those 30secs!!
All children are different. This is a game my Miss M would have delighted in and would have played over and over again even at this young age.
She loved purpose and structure to her play at this age.
Remember to follow your child's lead. If they are really engaged and into the task stick with it, add more colours etc. If like the H man they clearly show you they are done with the game go with it. This ended up being a chase the balls around the house and bring them back to the tub kinda game with a lot more ball throwing and chasing along the way lol!
Enjoy
Play and Learn,
Katey
