Little Kids Club
Ages 2 – 6
The years of amazing imagination and growing memories
Memory clinics everywhere are always looking for families who can come in and play with their residents throughout the day. Playing ball, reading, writing, playing pretend, art projects and more are all things that residents love to do with children. Think about it when you get home from a long day and you sit down to do a project with your child and they giggle and smile. Doesn’t that make you feel special? Residents at memory care facilities feel the same way. The facility itself enjoys it because its therapeutic to the residence. They are teaching a child how to do steps or to read and this allows the residents to work on their memory, sensory or motor skills.
Building Confidence
As a parent we want our children to be confident and want to try new things but how do we get them there? For me I found that showing my children through play confidence is key. I'm going to give you a ways you can build confidence throw play along with addressing a hard conversation.
Puppets- If you have a old clean white sock, or small paper lunch bag your set. If you want to go above and beyond break some markets out, glitter or pip cleaners and color a face, ears, and hair on your puppet. Then pick a place where your child is comfortable. Have your child pick a name for your puppet and start having a conversation. I like to start with whatever my children would like to talk about first so that I can be a model for them. I will listen, ask questions and not interrupt them. Then once they have completed their story time its on to mine. I ask them questions about my topic (We will use Dementia since that is the theme this month) Like what do they know about it? Have they heard about it? I then explain it to them and read Come With Me, Papa then I ask them what questions they have. This last part is key because I want my child to feel comfortable asking questions and expressing their feelings.
Superhero Day- I pick one day a month and I dress my kids in a superhero cape. Why? Because they are and they should feel and show it. I let my children do what they do best during this day which is save me. Now I don’t mean dangerous situations saving. I mean being extra loving, helping me around the house with whatever they feel like I need help with, roll playing. One roll playing game my children love is The Floor Is Lava- We set up a fort and I surround myself with stuffed animals and they have to save me while not touching the floor because you guessed it The Floor is Lava. If you have multiple children you will see them working as a team and it’s beautiful to see as a mom.
Sensory Activity
This age is so much fun for sensory. The possibilities are endless. I may change or add things to this one consistently just because I am such a fan. For now I want to go with two summer sensory idea’s to get you outside with your kids.
1) Make a Mud Pit- I know its messy believe me when I feel your pain with laundry BUT this is a fun project. Go into your backing drawer and get some cupcake holders, a rolling pin, big spoons, and a bowl. Collect some dirt from your yard and apply mud and let your little ones bake some cupcakes in the son. They will have so much fun collecting flowers or grass from around the yard to create sprinkle decorations. Not only will they be using their imagination and motor skills but they will also be finding bugs like worms, slugs, or butterflies. It gives you the time to explain to your child how worms work and allow them to show compassion for their new bug friends when they put them all back into nature.
2) Carwash- Get a bin or a bucket and start collecting toy cars from around the house or scooters from outside. Take your bucket and fill it with water and soap lay out a towel and give them another towel to dry. Then teach your child how to clean the car, rinse and dry them. This will teach your child how to follow steps which is definitely key to life.
How to Introduce Daily Tasks
When you as an adult master a skill didn't know you feel confident? When you get dressed for the day and feel good in what your wearing doesn’t that boast your confidence? If you answered yes to these questions just think about how your children feel doing it for the first time. Let them dress themselves in dots and strips or bright green and bright orange because that’s what they feel confident in today. Let your child complete that task giving them a boost of confidence. Let them wash dishes themselves ( please take out sharp objects or anything you don’t want broken before allowing this) have them put it away to, or maybe try letting them put their clothes away, even if it’s in the wrong draws. At the end of the day they accomplished something and that makes them feel good. Remember as much as you don’t want to believe it your raising a person that is going to be an adult someday that will need to know how to do these tasks.
Exercise Activities
This age is great for exercising and the one thing I love doing with my kids is Yoga. I was never interested in yoga before I had kids so I didn’t know where to start. If your like me go to YouTube and find something called CosmicKids Yoga and they have so many fun Yoga activities to keep your child active.