Advent Calendar 2013 Activity - Day 21: An "I Spy" and Discovery Bottles

Admittedly not the most challenging of "I spy" bottles, but a bottle with Christmas-themed objects partially hidden among the rice nonetheless.  I had planned to make the "I spy" bottle bigger, but the bottle I had set aside for the task left a sticky mess when I removed the label, whereas the small bottle's label could be removed easily.  "I spy" bottles can be a good way to expand a child's vocabulary.  If I had chosen a bigger bottle, I would have taken a picture of all the items I had hidden in it and then set Wugs the challenge of finding them all.


The bottle on the right is a Christmas discovery bottle for Dooey.

What we used:
Christmas tinselled pom poms
Christmas figurines
Strips of tinselled pipe cleaners
Money

Expanding Vocabulary Using Old Greetings Cards

I'm in decluttering mode at the moment.  It's a therapeutic activity I turn to whenever I feel there is just too much stuff in the house and things are spinning out of control.  I found myself in the spare room this afternoon sorting through an old box of stationery that I brought across from England. I discovered some beautiful old greetings cards and art postcards there that I have held onto for years.  I didn't really want to throw them out, but I couldn't find a use for them as it's been a few years since I wrote a letter by hand.  Just then a little head popped up...Elijah gathered up the cards and started pointing out the different things he could see.  It occurred to me that this would be a wonderful way for him to expand his vocabulary and an interesting (and cheaper) alternative to using flash cards.

Alphabet Tubs

I wanted to find a fun way to introduce Wugs to letters and I came across the idea of doing an alphabet tub.  These tubs can either include all the letters in the alphabet or focus on single letters.  I didn't want to overwhelm Wugs so I focused on one letter per month.  The idea is to fill the tub with objects that have names beginning with that letter.  To compliment the activity, I added some flashcards so Wugs could match the images on the cards with the objects in the tub.  This was a great activity for building up his vocabulary.  I didn't continue with it beyond letter "C" though as creating the flashcards was a little time-consuming (and not necessary, but Wugs had come to expect it) and I found myself buying objects for the tub, so it might be a better activity to do with a slightly older child who has more toys.