Kinesthetic Learners??

[neveryoumindthere]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for all sorts of toys, activities, sites with ideas, homeschooling programs that are geared to kinesthetic learners.

My almost 4 year old is spirited to say the least, and so utterly bored and just causes a ruckus because she neeeeeds to be touching, throwing, making messes etc.

Honestly, I don't have full patience to deal with it and channel it every second of the day. I know she likes to cook, but we are in the middle of moving and I have one million things to get done and just want to get dinner on the table, yk?

I have no idea what else she likes besides sitting on the computer, which I don't want to let her just freely do that either.

We have our holiday coming up in a few weeks so I'd really like to get them some toys/activities they'd like and they could use to learn as well.

Ideas??

[spoony]

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[Keeta]

Subbing to this for ideas- My 3 y/o is the exact same. We tried going to a really cute gardening class (Slimy Creatures!) this week, and it was a total disaster - for me, anyway. The age range was 3-5, so admittedly he was on the young end. But still - it is amazing to me that people have children who will sit still in a circle and listen to an instructor talk about the rules - even for 3-5 minutes! My DS was up and walking around, playing in the water, etc. Basically, he was just In. To. Everything. The whole time. Running ahead, wanting to get up and touch things he wasn't invited to yet (but would be soon), etc. I know it probably wasn't the case, but it really seemed like he was the only one having trouble with the pace. He just moves at lightspeed and doesn't have time to wait for the rest of the world to catch up!

But I love it! I love that he's so curious and so interested and so self motivated and confident in his movements. *I* just learned that we should wait a while before signing him up for any type of "class" again in the future. And it doubly reinforces our commitment to homeschooling! I want him to remain interested and passionate! And I can just see a school wanting to put him on ritalin within 6 months of enrolling.

[scoobymummy]

I would put together bins with tactile play things - you can put it on a vinyl tablecloth to contain the mess. Take medium sized rubbermaid bins (under the bed ones work great) and fill with sand, rice, macaroni, whatever. Have lots of play dough (I usually stuck to one colour, because they just mash it together). Sand was VERY important to my sensory guy - before we hsed him in grade one, he would go to the sand table and run his hands through it - it seemed to calm him.

Unstructured crafting is great - no goal or finished products, just lots of cut up ribbons, cardboard tubes, papers, stickers, sequins...whatever...they would get glued everywhich way.

Marhsmallows and toothpicks (large marshmallows and bbq skewers would be good for her age) used to build structures.

Water in the kitchen sink or tub with bath toys.

Dirt and shovel outside in any form - doesn't have to be a sand box. Friends of mine have a dirt pile from some work they had done and the kids spend hours out there digging and pretending.

Mini trampoline to bounce on.

Lots of cushions to make a landing pad (preferably not from the trampoline lol).

Try ''hotdog'' for calming - wrap her up tighlty in a blanket and slowly unwind her.

If you google sensory processing disorder you'll find tons of ideas for tactile play and learning - not suggesting at all that your daughter has that, but the type of play they use for therapy are basically the same as sensory play that would appeal to a tactile spirited kid.

[scheelimama]

This website is really neat: http://monthome.com/pl.htm

[earthmama369]

Even if your child doesn't have sensory issues, books about sensory processing can have some GREAT activity ideas. I recommend The Out-Of-Sync Child Has Fun.

[scoobymummy]

Originally Posted by earthmama369

Even if your child doesn't have sensory issues, books about sensory processing can have some GREAT activity ideas. I recommend The Out-Of-Sync Child Has Fun.

Good suggestion! That's where I got a lot of info about sensory play for my guy.

[SeekingJoy]

Pouring water and washing dishes in the sink.

Drawing (letters or just scribbles) in sand, flour, rice or grits.

Exploring slime as a solid and liquid.

[LilyGrace]

This blog was posted a while back - www.filthwizardry.blogspot.com There's a LOT of great ideas in there for tykes!

Our favorite hands on shops are
www.stevespanglerscience.com (check out their experiments section for instructions to activities)
www.forsmallhands.com (a lot of the stuff here can be found cheaper at amazon/dollar store, but it's a great idea source!)
www.alisonsmontessori.com

[scheelimama]

Also, when your dd is ready for more formal math (if that's even in your teaching philosophy), Math-u-See is working wonderfully for my very kinesthetic oriented 6 yr. old. We're only doing the primer, about 1/3 through, but she always uses the blocks and is finally learning her numbers because she has something to "see" in her mind to associate with each number. We just started addition and she is actually getting it because she sees 3 (pink) plus 2 (orange) is 5 (blue) and she can easily check her answer by comparing the blocks to see if they are the same. Then she writes her answer in those colors (her idea). It utilizes so many senses that she's really getting it. Just thought I'd throw that out there. Rightstart Math was a failure for us, and I thought it would be good because of all the games, but it was a little too abstract, all over the place (not really mastery based) and lessons generally took too long for us.

[neveryoumindthere]

Awesome ideas. Thanks everyone!
As I mentioned we are in the middle of moving, but we'll be out of here in a few days so I'll definitely keep this in mind for their play/learning room.

Alisha, I did have Math-U-See, and gave it to a friend as my dds were too young for it, but I did like it. I still have the blocks so I'll look into it again. Thanks for reframing that for me!