Ok so we are working and stretching ourselves to get into the right home school setting. It is tough but we are getting there.  This week we are going to transfer into a challenging area for adults…creativity.

Being creative as an adult can be so difficult! We have grown and matured and thinking outside the box now is not as easy as it used to be.  To add to our struggle with this little ones really need the creativity and imagination to stay excited and engaged about learning.

So what do you do? Where should you start? How does one get and maintain being creative? To be frank, you need to think like you did when you were a kid. 

So let’s all think back.  What did you love to do when you were in school? What was the one or five things you looked forward to all the time?  For me that would be gym class, library day and when we got to use the loud musical instruments.  Of course field trips were always the best but for this,we will focus on those other choices.

So now looking at those classes you loved so much figure out what it was that you loved about them so much.  Gym for me was the high energy.  Running so fast you thought you were flying and the freedom of space to move.  The library was the constant adventures and surprises in my books.  And music was a chance to just really get into what I was learning and be loud!

Now think of your little one maybe even watch them for the day.  Identify those things that they love and why the love it so much.  Simple right!

Take that list and start to find ways to mold it into your lessons.  Head shoulders knees and toes can have drums and a tambourine if it makes learning more fun.  Learning to add is more fun when you are adding M and M’s. And we made our phone number into a song, worked amazingly!

Our favorite for Tractor Man is racing for numbers and letters.  We place a series of flash cards on our love seat and one parent calls out the number/letter/shape/color and the other parent races with Tractor Man to get it first.  There is no prize involved but we do encourage a ” good job dad” whenever Tractor Man loses.  And yes every now and then he loses that race.  He’s learning to lose with grace and doing well with it too.

So now you are thinking like your child and appealing to their learning style by doing so.  Nice work! I bet they are enjoying learning even more.

Don’t be afraid to go even farther.  Create your own homemade musical instruments with rice inside of paper towel rolls.  Noodles work great too.  Cornstarch with water added to it makes a safe and strange texture contrast for kids.  Baking soda mixed with vinegar stinks, but it bubbles like crazy as you drop the droplets of vinegar into it making seem almost like a science project to little eyes.

So here is your challenge for this week.  Come up with five indoor and five outdoor creative ideas to do with your child.  I will be doing the same and updating this post on Monday with those creative ideas we came up with.  Good luck now go get creative!