We Taste With Our Tongue
What a fun day today was ! The kiddos should NOT be hungry. Our day started with tasting some yummy homemade monkey bread. If you have never made it you should try . It is very easy ! I go the semi-homemade route. I take a can of biscuits and dip the biscuit in melted butter. Then I roll it in a cinnamon / sugar mixture. I tear the biscuit apart and put it in a muffin tin. To make a large monkey bread load you would use a bundt pan ( sprayed ) and throw the whole biscuit in there. It is like heaven in your mouth.
I asked you to bring your child’s favorite food today. We had a great variety. We had chocolate in three forms, fruits, noodles, peanut butter, cheesecake and so much more. You could have heard a pin drop as the kids tried their friends favorite foods.
We also did a little fine motor work making necklaces out of fruit loops. The treat was when we were finished we could EAT the necklace. To make it less challenging we tape one piece of the ribbon to the table so the fruit loops dont fall off the other end. The kids loved this and they were very persistent. This would be a great activity to try at home if you need a few minutes with your child still at home. Fine motor activities like this one prepare our hands to be writers. Most of our little hands are not quite ready for writing letters but activities like this one will get us closer.
If you arent sure what is expected at your child’s age here are some examples .
3-3 1/2 YEARS
- able to complete simple puzzles
- can build a tower of nine small blocks or more
- can get himself dressed/undressed independently; only needs help with buttons; still confuses front/back for clothes, and right/left for shoes
- can feed himself with little or no spilling, drinks from a cup/glass with one hand
3 1/2- 4 YEARS - can pour his own drink from a pitcher if not too heavy
- can place small pegs into small holes
- able to string small beads
- can hold a pencil with a “tripod grasp” (3 fingers), but moves forearm and wrist to write/draw/color
4-4 1/2 YEARS - can use scissors to follow and cut both straight and curved lines
- can manage buttons, zippers, and snaps completely
- can draw and copy a cross (one vertical and one horizontal intersecting lines)
4 1/2- 5 YEARS
- can hold fork using his fingers
- can feed himself soup with little or no spilling
- folds paper in half, making sure the edges meet
- puts a key in a lock and opens it
5 YEARS
- can get dressed completely by himself, and usually tie shoelaces
- cuts square, triangle, circle, and simple pictures with scissors
- uses a knife to spread food items (jelly, peanut butter, mayo etc.), uses a dull knife to cut soft foods
- able to draw and copy a diagonal line
- uses a “tripod grasp” on writing utensils (thumb & tips of 1st two fingers) and uses fingers only (because small muscles of hand have developed) to hold writing tools.
