Nikolas Workboxing/Wordless Wednesday

Workbox Update

The last two weeks have been busy. I've had to leave the house for doctor visits (just check-ups), birthday parties and grocery shopping. This really throws the whole day off. Which is okay because Joshua is doing preschool stuff. We pick out letters and animals and colors everywhere we go, unschooling, I think its called. I found The Work of Childhood which has great information on workboxing. These are some questions they posted for us "workboxers" to answer.

JOSHUA is three. NIKOLAS is 19 months.

How many boxes do you fill? 6 for Joshua, 3 or so for Nikolas

Do you expect your children to go in order? Joshua- yes, Nikolas-no

Do you use the schedule strips? I use 24 boxes on one sheet for Joshua, I include his entire daily routine from the start of the school day. Nikloas doesn't have a schedule yet.

How long does it take you to fill the boxes? I try to plan ahead of time for the week which cuts down on filling time, so probably ten-fifteen minutes and I typically fill in the morning. I leave the same activities in the boxes for Nikolas.

Do you fill your work boxes EACH night with all new items? I use Joshua's curriculum workbook and My ABC Bible Verses. We usually having matching, coloring and books everyday but I mix those up.

Do you have some boxes repeat each day so there is less filling/refilling? not so much

What do your kids do with the empty boxes? Joshua puts the boxes back on the shelf.

Do you put away the ‘supplies’ each night? or do your kids? I do, but once Joshua is able, he will be helping me.

Anything else you want to add? We are preschooling, so I use the workboxes loosely but Joshua loves doing them. It also helps me mix up the activities so we're not doing the same things all the time.

Color Sorting

I needed to add something new to the mix today. Joshua used an egg carton, plastic tongs, colored pom-poms, foam shapes and feathers. He used the tongs (motor function) to put the poms, feathers and shapes into the egg carton. He attempted to match the colors. Joshua loved using the tongs as a tool.

Clothespins!

Nikolas loved playing with clothespins! I gave him a cup to put them in and he put them in the cup and then dumped the cup out on the table, then put them all back in the cup again. I'm thinking about painting the clothespins, jazzing them up a bit. What do you do with clothespins?

The Letter "A"

This week we are focusing on the letter "A". One project we did was a collage with lots of a's. I cut them out of magazines, put glue on the paper in the shape of upper and lower case "a". Then Joshua put the letters on the glue! He enjoyed it a lot.
Also, we are potty training and it seems like he really enjoys being naked. Whatever works!

Nikolas Is Loving Sensory Bottles

I made this sensory bottles for Nikolas. He is eighteen months old and I have a hard time finding things for him to do. I'm building up my list and then I will also start workboxes with him. He loved shaking the bottles. These are what is in each bottle...

#1 canola oil with red and blue food color, its kind of ugly now
#2 dry kidney beans, corn kernels and fried chow mein noodles
#3 green apple soap with some water and foam stars
#4 white, green, blue, red and purple rice with some glitter, curly ribbon, feathers, pom poms

PLEASE REMEMBER to glue the lids on, so little ones cannot open them and choke or make a mess.

Loving the Curriculum

I started a preschool curriculum with Joshua! He is loving it! He wants to work on it every day and I have already seen improvement. It is amazing! They have curriculum for age 2, age 3 and ages 4-6. I purchased all three as a download for only $49. You can purchase them all put together in a binder for a lot more. Using this workbook with the workboxes is great! When you put the worksheets in page protectors you can use them over and over! What a great idea for all printables!

One More...

I think this will be the last post for the day. I really wanted to get caught up! This is an activity that a friend gave us for Joshua's birthday. He loves doing it and it is so cheap and easy to make! What an easy gift to share!

Rice Fun

Joshua and I made some colored rice. He loved squishing it in the zip bag! I put it outside to "cook". He was so excited to show Daddy when he got home from work! Here is what we used to make it, the rice "cooking" and Joshua pouring it!

WORKBOXES All Set Up!

Here are the steps I did with putting the workboxes together. I highly suggest a good quality paper cutter (like the one from Stampin' Up!) and using the little velcro dots. If you can afford it, I'd also get a heat laminator. That is on my wish list for sure! For this, I used laminating sheets, which were ok but... I plan on getting a different shelf, this is one I had. We are limited living in podunk, Sicily. [Sidebar-Less that NINE months to go in Sicily] I also included some examples that we did today.

busybusybusy

I've been working on workboxes! And spending a lot of time with Joshua, working on his workboxes. I've been taking lots of pictures and will be posting soon! I've also started MUFFIN TIN MANIA. I'll add pics of the fun, too! I am super excited about all of our new activities. They seem to be taking up some of my computer time, which is probably a good thing. Let me get to those pictures so I can get to posting them!

Workboxes

I have come upon the new craze! WORKBOXES! I am going to get all the stuff to make mine this week and then I'll post pictures. Walking by the Way has some great pictures and ideas. Sue Patrick is the creator of the Workbox System.
Are you a workbox mom? I'd love to hear your ideas! I also want ideas of things to put in the boxes for my 18 month old. My three year old is a little easier to plan for.