Introducing Puzzles to Babies (6-12 months)

 

At what age can you introduce puzzles to your baby? 

 While even simple puzzles have generally been deemed as an activity for the toddler and preschooler domain, there are lots of great options nowadays that can bring the benefits of puzzles down to babies under a year old. 

When is my baby ready? What are some good things to look for to see if your baby is ready for puzzles? For starters, if your baby:

1. Picks up small objects with one hand
2. Puts things inside containers
3. Manipulates objects, such as trying to open containers, cabinets, or locks

He will probably be able to handle simple puzzles. Most babies are able to do these things well before their first birthdays.

How to Introduce Puzzles to Babies

1. Get the Right Puzzles

Find some good "inset" puzzles, the kind where puzzle pieces fit inside cut-out spaces in a board.

Try and find some puzzles with as many of the following characteristics as possible:

• Have large, easy to grasp knobs
• Have only a few pieces, 1-3 is best to start
• Have a little wiggle room and are easy to put in
• Have simple shapes (circles are the easiest)
• Have matching pictures under the pieces

A few "ok" options:

 Some of our personal favorites include this 3-piece jumbo shapes puzzle previously available from Melissa & Doug, and this set of Garanimals puzzles (which Damien is pictured playing with) from Wal-mart (available as a 3-pack in the baby section for $6). It would really be ideal to find some "perfect" starter puzzles, such as a one-piece puzzle with a circle shape, but so far I haven't been able to find any. Have you?

2. Put Puzzles in Baby's Play Area

I have had puzzles out in Damien's play area for a while. He has mostly enjoyed dumping them out, banging them together, mouthing them, and doing all of his other dozens of "scientific experiments" with them.

In the process, however, he was able to truly learn about their shape, texture, color, length, diameter, weight, thickness, curve of the edges, sound they make, balance, and many, many more characteristics babies are discovering in their play.

3. Play Clean Up

After letting baby play with the pieces, teach him to put them away.

I believe that if a baby is old enough to dump toys out, he is old enough to put them away. So as with other clean up activities, guide his hand in putting the puzzle pieces in the correct place and then putting the puzzle away on the shelf. He will get a feel for where they go and how they fit and will very quickly attempt to do this on his own during playtime.

4. Scaffolding - Play Puzzles with Your Baby!

"Scaffolding" essentially means giving your baby as much help as he needs to advance to the next level of skill, but not more help than he needs.

For introducing puzzles to baby, it might first mean guiding his hand in placing the pieces in the correct spot (as in the "clean up" activity above).

The second step might mean putting the puzzle piece almost in the right spot, then guiding him, "Put the puzzle piece in" and letting him "do the rest", essentially only moving the piece a little before it falls into place.

The third step might mean giving your baby a puzzle piece, making sure it is oriented correctly (not upside down or sideways) and pointing out the correct spot while encouraging him to put the piece in.

And so the game would continue, with each time giving your baby only much help as you feel like he needs to succeed, then stepping back and watching him figure out the rest on his own.

Damien is currently somewhere in between the second and third step mentioned above. We have only recently started playing with puzzles more often, and he really seems to enjoy it. His focus while trying to put the pieces in is intense!

Puzzles can be a great addition to your baby's playtime. Always remember when playing with your baby to keep in mind the principles of teaching tiny children - specifically to keep it brief, fun, and stop before he wants to stop.

P.S. I would love to hear about your experiences of introducing puzzles to your baby or toddler, as well as any recommended beginner puzzles you have found!

"He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left..."

2 Chronicles 4:8

Damien is 10 months, 2 weeks old

Chess Match

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hunter is 6 years, 8 months old

Silver Dollars and Babies: Discussing Probability

Results after coin tossing game 1

"Life is a school of probability."

-Walter Bagehot

I don't believe that we have ever really talked much about probability before, but we had fun discussing the concept the other day while playing a classic coin toss.

Hunter loves coin tossing (he's a little bit competitive) and will often initiate a game randomly, usually asking me to guess which side it will be.

After being prompted for my guess several dozen times, I told him that my guess would always be heads. We then decided to start recording how many we each got right. Over the course of many throws, this illustrated the idea that they would be pretty much even, if though it wasn't a perfect pattern of heads; tails; heads; tails... etc.

He had fun watching the game progress on paper. Sometimes we would get tails after tails after tails, sometimes the other way around, but one person would always end up catching up, or switching between who was in the lead.

We discussed why this was, and the concept of probability.

Seeing it written down on paper really made it stick about the concept of chance, and that the chances were even, even if the pattern wasn't exactly even.

We discussed that because there were two choices, and it was pure chance which side it landed on, about half of the throws would be heads, and half would be tails, or in other words, 50 out of every 100.

We said this many different ways throughout the process of the game:

There is a 50% chance that it will be one or the other.

It is a 50:50 chance it will be one or the other.

There is a 1 in 2 chance it will be one or the other.

etc., etc.

We talked about how there was a 1 in 2 chance of a baby being a boy or a girl, but just like with coin tossing, it is not always an even pattern. Sometimes you get boy, girl, boy, girl, and sometimes you get several of the same in a row, like us having two boys!

We talked about how if you had something that had more than two side, the chances would be different, like if you had a die. But we will come back to that later.

Just a lot of fun math talk, while sitting on the couch and playing a silly little game. I have been inspired to make the language of math a bigger part of our vocabulary, and it has been fun seeing the many places it has taken us - if only I wrote about all the many discussions we have had! Truly, mathematics is everywhere, we just have to notice it.

First game results - Hunter, 48: Mom, 52

Second game results - Hunter, 56: Mom, 44

"Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal." 

Psalm 17:2

Hunter is 5 years, 11 months old

Rush Hour Game and Building Thinking Skills

Playing "Traffic Jam" android application

Before we moved to California, Hunter, at four, loved "playing" my mom's Rush Hour game from ThinkFun.

In the actual game, you have to set up the variously-colored cars, trucks, and eighteen-wheelers on a sliding grid, according to the puzzle you're trying to solve. The vehicles get set up in a mix-match of horizontal and vertical arrangements, and the goal is to slide the other vehicles out of the way in order to get the red car out the exit.

Sounds simple, but it's not always so easy, and can take some careful planning, seeing the bigger picture, and lots of trial and error to get through the often multiple steps necessary to free your little red car.

We were both so excited when we found a generic version of the game ("Traffic Jam") as a free android app under "Brain & Puzzle" in the games section of the marketplace. It's also available for iPhone for $2.99.

According to the editorial description on Amazon, Rush Hour has received a national award from Mensa and has been used in elementary school math classes. And I can see why.

Hunter has so far made his way through dozens of puzzles and has fallen in love with the game. It's not exactly my cup of tea (I'm easily frustrated with puzzles and brain teasers) but Hunter really seems to enjoy it.

And the nice thing about having it on my phone? (for free, no less) Definitely being able to play it anytime, anywhere, and playing something productive and fun. Beats Super Mario or Pac Man any day, in my book.

This post is linked up here.

Cell phones sure have changed a lot in Hunter's
little lifetime, don't you think?

"Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people." 

Nehemiah 5:19

Hunter is 5 years, 6 months old 

Upcoming Review: Accelerated Education Curriculum

"Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler."

Albert Einstein 

One problem I have had in homeschooling is that so far in my five or so year journey, I always seem to have to reinvent the wheel.

On one hand it has been because I have always had very little money to work with and therefore instead of buying a curriculum, I would just make my own.

On the other hand, and the far more prominent reason I always found myself "reinventing the wheel" and making my own curriculum, was because I could never find anything that was suited to my and Hunter's wants / needs. Usually just because I thought all the stuff that was intended for the "early years" was too boring / slow so I would have to [want to] take more advanced things and simplify them for Hunter's comprehension level.

But the longer I have homeschooled, the more I have felt the pull of the simplicity of a pre-bought curriculum. Not for every subject level necessarily, but at least for some things, to have it all already planned out for you would be really nice.

Math was one of those things. I knew how horribly the traditional American education model generally fails in math education. And I also knew that even most of the best private curriculums were still based off of that failing system, at least in essence if not always in exact content.

They were too slow. Does it really take six or seven years (pre-k through grade 5 or more) to just teach basic arithmetic? (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) And what was more, you would think that after spending so much time on a subject, it would be thoroughly mastered, right? But we all know that that is not the story here.

Is math really that hard? Is it really that complicated?

I knew it wasn't, but designing my own accelerated curriculum baffled me. I have tried, and Hunter has learnt a great deal of mathematics using Doman as a jump start, but I created every schedule and sequence basically on my own and in so many areas have been lost with what do next. The thought of attempting this until high school overwhelmed me, to say the least.

That is until I found Jones Geniuses.

Jones Geniuses Accelerated Education is an accelerated curriculum developed by Dr. Miles Jones based on years of research and implementation first in the classroom and more recently in the home. The math program aims to help children learn mathematics four times faster than the traditional model and with greater accuracy and speed than most college-educated adults.

His main focus is math, but he also offers courses in speed reading, Spanish language learning, and memory training.

Dr. Jones has kindly offered to send me his first year early learning program, to try it out with both Hunter and my daycare kids. I'm very excited about what looks like an amazing program and an amazing company and look forward to sharing my experiences with you all very soon!

Update: read the full review of Math One here

"...Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them." 

Deuteronomy 5:1

Egg Division (Not-so Mathematical Monday)

Anyone remember Piaget's experiments on children in the "preoperational stage" (2-6) where he theorized that children of this age couldn't yet understand quantity?

The idea of "number conservation" - that is, that the actual number or quantity stays the same even if the items are rearranged, spread apart, or moved - was something that Piaget believed was too advanced for a child until about the age of seven.

Hunter hasn't really ever had a problem with this since, ever since he was pretty young we were doing the Doman math program. But today's little episode reminded me of good old Piaget and the later debunking of this particular theory of young children, while Hunter and I were doing a little math with today's lunch.

You see, it's true that most little kids without much math instruction will tell you there are "more" marbles if you spread them apart and make the pile "bigger", even though you didn't add any actual marbles. However, more recent experiments to mimic Piaget's original show that little kids do indeed have more math smarts than once thought. One experiment, not listed in the above link, showed that when the set of rearranged objects was something desirable (say, M&M candies instead of marbles), little kids would consistently pick the pile that had more actual candies versus the pile that was just spread out more. Maybe we were just asking the question wrong.

Hunter wasn't picking from a pile of candies, but he reminded me of that little experiment today when we were playing around with our lunch, finding the possible dividends for the number six.

We made six hard boiled eggs to eat, three for him and three for me. "What's six divided by two?" I enquired.

"Three" he figures.

"Ok, well what would we do if we wanted to divide these six eggs for three people?"

After staring at the three bowls and thinking for quite some time about his much beloved eggs, he finally offers,

"Cook some more eggs."

Guess when it's something you want, the math doesn't matter so much, does it?

"And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another..."

Genesis 10:15

Hunter is 5 years, 1 month old

Exploring Symmetry (Mathematical Mondays)

In reality, no one can teach mathematics. Effective teachers are those who can stimulate students to learn mathematics. Educational research offers compelling evidence that students learn mathematics well only when they construct their own mathematical understanding.

-National Research Council, 1989

His toys spurred this little exploration on.

It was a little over two weeks ago when I suddenly noticed that all of Hunter's recent tinker toy creations were consistently, perfectly, accurately symmetrical.

And you know me. My mind started ticking and my fingers started googling. What are some fun activities to introduce the vocabulary behind the concept that, he obviously knew [hence the tinker toys], yet just didn't have the words or rules to describe it yet?

A little bit about our blooming adventure.

First we stumbled upon the Illustrated Lesson on Symmetry, courtesy of my google search. Very cool, informative, free. Hunter played this pretty much entirely on his own with very little coaching from me, and wanted to play again the next day. He used the reflecting mirror in The Amazing Book of Shapes to figure out which figures were symmetrical and which ones weren't.

We later learned that there are actually different kinds of symmetry, illustrated with stencils:

Reflective symmetry, aka the dinosaurs, the kind we're most familiar with, which is basically the "mirror image" effect.

Glide reflective symmetry, aka the dogs, same as mirror effect except the reflected image is moved [glided].

Translational symmetry, aka the flamingos, is when an exact copy of an image is moved [translated].

Rotational symmetry, aka the palm trees, is when an exact copy of a figure is moved [rotated] around a center point.

Those red lines in all the drawings? That is the line of symmetry. We learned about that in the before mentioned game, that there are different kinds of lines of symmetry. Sometimes it is vertical, right down the middle, sometimes it's horizontal, sometimes diagonal, sometimes there is more than one line of symmetry. One day we made these folding-paintings (paint one side, then fold and press to "translate" symmetrical version to other side) to illustrate some different lines of symmetry:

Besides using the mirror and our eyes to point out reflective symmetry in a great many things around the house (and find things that were asymmetrical as well), the last activity / craft we did was these "snowflakes" (which thankfully turned out way cooler and more suitable to the season). Ours, after folding them only in quarters, had two lines of symmetry:

It was a really neat little spree of activities. And I think he had fun and definitely explored the vocabulary and depth of the concept more thoroughly.

Math sure is fun, isn't it?

"At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes."

Matthew 11:25

Hunter is 5 years, 1 month old

Brick by Brick and Spatial-Temporal Reasoning (Mathematical Mondays)

Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas. 

-Albert Einstein

What is spacial-temporal reasoning? Well first of all, the meaning of each word:

spa·tial [spey-shuhl] –adjective

1. of or pertaining to space. 2. existing or occurring in space; having extension in space

tem·po·ral [tem-per-uhl] –adjective
1. of or pertaining to time.

rea·son·ing [ree-zuh-ning] –noun
1. the process of forming conclusions, judgments, or inferences from facts or premises.

The best web definition I could find explains spacial-temporal reasoning in this way,

"Spatial-temporal reasoning is the ability to visualize spatial patterns and mentally manipulate them over a time-ordered sequence of spatial transformations. This ability is important for generating and conceptualizing solutions to multi-step problems that arise in areas such as architecture, engineering, science, mathematics, and art." 

Spacial-temporal reasoning is something that is obviously quite important to mathematics. You have probably heard about it in terms of IQ tests and the SAT exam, but the ability extends much further than the sphere of geometry and puzzles.

Spatial-temporal reasoning is, in fact, everything in mathematics. It is geometry and trigonometry, all the way down to the ability to mentally manipulative two plus two and come to the conclusion of four.

So today I wanted to talk about something that Hunter has really been into these past few days, which is the Brick by Brick game by ThinkFun. It is a little five-piece puzzle that is a lot harder than it looks!

I introduced the game a couple of days ago and at first, he didn't really "get it". After explaining to him how it worked and him still not seeming too interested, I sort of walked him through the first puzzle and showed him how its done and, viola! It had this sort of magic effect that made him want to repeat and repeat and repeat it - building and rebuilding the same puzzle, of course.

The goal of the game is to make a symmetrical, criss-crossed wall out of the five "brick-like" pieces shown to the left. The game comes with sixty puzzles for you to try and figure out how to build, and that is only the beginning.

He seems addicted to his own success. So far, he has figured out how to build two of the puzzles, and keeps building and rebuilding them and asking me to do the same (which is not always so easy).

It is wonderful to aid in the development of spatial-temporal reasoning: Visualizing what needs to be done, manipulating it both physically and mentally, looking ahead at the next step to the solution, and seeing the whole problem as a whole. And best of all? It's really fun.

"At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes."

Matthew 11:25

Hunter is 5 years, 0 months old

Creative Constructions

Hunter has been getting very creative with his Tinker Toys lately.

There was a time in his life, actually ever since he got these, that the only thing he and his cousin Anthony would make out of these is "swords" (using the poles to whack each other) and the occasional "umbrella" (sticking poles in each opening of one of the yellow pieces, forming a sort of spoke and wheel effect).

But Hunter has suddenly decided to use these to make all sorts of interesting contraptions. "Ships", actually. The one above is from earlier today. Here is Monday's creation:

It is fun watching him suddenly get increasingly innovative with his creations.

I love these and other building toys and all virtually endless possibilities for creativity they provide. Looking forward to seeing what he'll come up with next.

"He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever."

2 Samuel 7:13

Hunter is 5 years, 0 months old

Chess Wars

"Then I'm gonna get you in jail!" Hunter says with a devious smile and a curved eyebrow. Sound effects follow with pows, blasts, cheers, and shouts. "Your turn!" He yells.

We're playing a game of chess for the first time in several months and he is anxiously excited about getting my king. To him, it is an epic battle of, [eh hem], knights, kings and castles. Ironic, isn't it?

I cannot help but laugh as I advance my pawn. He first learned how to play chess shortly after his third birthday but, with me being the not-so-chess-savvy player that I am, we have only played it a handful of games since then. I do, however, intend to change that. And this particular game was part of the reason.

He is still a bit hesitant about some of the rules. He didn't quite remember how some of them moved and, frankly, neither did I. But as we played together, advancing and capturing pieces in our not-so-strategic pattern (but nonetheless with a lot of noise and fun!), I began to see what a neat and beneficial game this would be, in terms of academics (where my mind always seems to wander). I began noticing that chess, unlike my much-played childhood game of checkers, is in many ways an art, a science, a battle of wit and skill.

So I did what I always do and got on Google. I, of course, wanted to know what the [perceived or studied] benefits of chess were. This is because otherwise the subject would be in my head for days as I over-analyzed every possible aspect of the academic benefits of this little game. So I just let Google make my life a little easier.

I didn't sit there are read every research insert for hours but, what I found (upon googling the benefits of chess) intrigued me.

Apparently, there have been a lot of studies on the effects of chess on school children and it seems to help them in pretty much all areas academic, among other things (social, personal self-esteem, etc.) I'm not going to bore you with a bunch of numbers and details (you can look it up yourself if your interested) but lets just say that chess has been shown to excell kids enormously in critical thinking and intelligence tests (more than any other activity, including critical thinking-oriented video games or special extracurriculars), boost their math scores and analyzing abilities and even improve their reading (improving it even more than the control group who actually got specific reading instruction during the time while the other kids were playing chess!)

Chess is also used widely in other countries as a required part of the curriculum (as it was hundreds of years ago for anyone wanting to be a knight) and even takes a special seat in many U.S. classrooms, though mostly as a part of their gifted and talented programs, like this legislation for New Jersey public schools in 1992:

BE IT ENACTED by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. The legislature finds and declares that:

   a. chess increases strategic thinking skills, stimulates intellectual creativity, and improves problem-solving ability while raising self-esteem;

   b. when youngsters play chess they must call upon higher-order thinking skills, analyze actions and consequences, and visualize future possibilities;

   c. in countries where chess is offered widely in the schools, students exhibit excellence in the ability to recognize complex patterns and consequently excel in math and science: and

   d. instruction in chess during the second grade will enable pupils to learn skills which will serve them throughout their lives.

2. Each board of education may offer instruction in chess during the second grade for pupils in gifted and talented and special education programs. The Department of Education may establish guidelines to be used by boards of the education which offer chess instruction in those programs.

3. This act shall take effect immediately.

After reading this stuff, it reminded me of why Doman always said that if parents do something with their children but don't completely understand why they are doing it, they will not do it well. I began teaching Hunter chess almost two years ago but with only a vague understanding of why it was a good idea. As such, I never really went through with consistency.

But let's just say that now that I understand a little more of the why of it all, I am extremely motivated to continue with this and make it a regular part of our school time experience. And, if you can't tell from my description of our game together, so is Hunter.

"As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom..."

Daniel 1:17

Hunter is 4 years, 11 months old

Rubik's?

I now truly understand Suzuki's reasoning when, in teaching little toddlers to play the violin, he begins by teaching their parents, while the tots simply watch and observe. This sort of "desired activity" psychology is being clearly manifested in Hunter's sudden, not only supreme interest, but in actual beginning reasoning and budding ability to solve the Rubik's cube. 

I, meticulously following a how-to video the other day, solved it for the first time. Hunter was sort of "around" while I watched the video (with the pause, play, pause, rewind, play, pause pattern). After the first time solving it, I wrote down the algorithms and solved it (ever so painfully) a few more times - it was somewhat addictive. 

Then two nights ago,  right before bed, Hunter told me, "Mom, tomorrow when I wake up, I am going to run into the school room, and I'm going to solve the Rubik's cube, then I'm going to show you."

I was humored by his enthusiasm. Up until now he would occasionally play with the little puzzle but didn't seem to get the inner workings of it all. He would get excited when he could get a few of the same color on one side but that was as far as he ever got.

However, recently he all of the sudden seems to be really picking up on it. He has, with a little coaching from me, solved an entire side. He will fiddle with the thing saying, "right inverted, up inverted, right, down" etc. (usually just randomly saying some combination of those things without actually doing them). He is fascinated with the "magic algorithms", and how, with the right algorithm, you can completely mess it up but then it all comes mysteriously back together in the end. And then yesterday, he actually "solved" the whole thing, just as he promised.

The cube was in some special checkered pattern, made so by some concoction my sister did while she was here. I'm not sure exactly how she did it, but it was only few twists away from it's truly solved state, and it looked really cool. Each side was, for example, a red square, green square, red square, green square, etc., like a checker board.

Well Hunter took the so-solved cube and fixed it back to its original state, several times actually. I'm sure it was only a few twists to do so, but I'm pretty sure that if I would have made an attempt at those "few twists" I would have done more damage than good. Yet he did, somehow, see which twists needed to be done and "solved" it. He then proceeded to mix it up, solve it back, mix it up, solve it back, several times. He wasn't mixing it up too far, but far enough that I couldn't figure out how to do it (he handed it to me and offered that I try at one point - which I couldn't, so he did it for me). 

He hasn't totally figured the whole thing out yet but, he is definitely getting the gist of if. It's amazing what little kids can pick up on, isn't it?

"Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge..." 

Proverbs 22:20

Hunter is 4 years, 10 months old

Pictures Falling

"Mom, how did that fall out of your camera?" Hunter asked me.

"What are you talking about?"

"How did it fall out?"

"What fell out?"

"The picture, over there."

I looked up and he was pointing at the fridge, where a picture I printed out at Wal-greens the other day was hanging. Now, Hunter has seen me print out pictures from a home printer many times before, but we don't have a printer at our new home yet. So, apparently he saw this picture on my camera and was wondering how it got out without a printer. Or, something of that nature. I'm not really sure, didn't quite see the logic in this one.

The things that go through this kid's head.

"This is a great mystery..."

Ephesians 5:32

Hunter is 4 years, 7 months old

Chess Club

"Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments."

Psalm 119:66

Hunter is 4 years, 7 months old

Puzzles

Hunter has loved puzzles since he was a baby. He used to love doing those wooden cut-out puzzles, the kind with little knobs that you fit into matching pictures. Now, for the past couple years, he has progressed to jigsaw puzzles.


Mommy loves puzzles too. It has always been a habit of mine to let Hunter play with puzzles on the bathroom floor while I take a shower. Which is, in my opinion, a way better option than many parents' shower solution - park them in front of the TV. It's not that I'm totally opposed to TV but I don't think it's a "must" as an electronic babysitter and I know that there are many beneficial alternatives. Parents have survived for thousands of years without the black box, after all.

In school supply shopping this year I have got Hunter some new puzzles. He is moving up to the 60-100 piece puzzles now and doing really good with them. One great thing that I love about them is that they are so inexpensive - you can find all kinds of small puzzles ranging from 24 to 100 pieces for just a dollar. And even when you get up to higher level puzzles, you can get nice 200-5000 piece puzzles for $5-$10 at many places. These 60-piece Disney puzzles where $1 from the Family Dollar. I got some geography ones at Target for $1, too.

Another thing I love about this practice is that it teaches self-control, too. It's not that he's really tempted to get up and run around when he's doing a puzzle - he's usually enthralled in it. But he knows that when Mommy is in the shower he is to play with the puzzle and stay seated and not get into anything.

He has been doing a lot of puzzles these days - as well as other sit-down activities, such as drawing, coloring, or logic and thinking skills games. It is always nice to know that even when I have to be busy with something else, he can still be actively involved in something educational and fun.

"From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part..."

Ephesians 4:16

Hunter is 4 years, 4 months old

Memory Card Game

Hunter was at his Dad's today so it was just me and my nephews for school this morning. Anthony, age 2 1/2, wanted to play this superheros memory game we have and did really good at it. We played quite a few rounds and he did really well remembering where a previously-turned over card was. His imagination, as usual, was soaring and he was discussing how this particular hero was his Daddy, and this hero was him, and this hero did this, etc. Hunter enjoys playing this game a lot too, it's a great game to build memory skills and, the neat thing is, when it gets too easy, just add more cards!

"The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot."

Proverbs 10:7

Anthony is 2 years, 6 months old

Imaginative Play

Hunter doesn't watch movies much but, when he does, he remembers everything. For days and sometimes weeks after he's viewed a particular film he will randomly narrate certain parts of it, giggling about something humorous or questioning something serious.

He always amazes me with the detail with which he remembers something that he has only seen once and also with how much he analyzes the things in his life, pondering issues while I thought he was just staring out into space.

On one hand, that's a good thing but on the other hand, not so much. With such a memory, there is no hit-or-miss exposure to movies, games, or books. There is a huge responsibility that comes along with it - a responsibility to carefully guide what goes into his brain.

But lately he has not only been narrating with perfect detail every movie he has viewed in the past six months, but incorporating it into his dramatic play, too. Yes, recently he has been quite the actor and likes to take Anthony, Mommy, and all his toys on exciting adventures in an imaginary world where you can be anything that you want to be. This has been great, but it has got me thinking, What kind of things do I desire for him to be pretending? After all, the power of a child's play is great, and as saith the scriptures, "As [a child] thinketh in his heart, so is he".

So I have been encouraging and participating in all sorts of historic dramas as told in the Bible. The picture above depicts the boys playing Jonah and the great fish with a tumbling mat at the gym, and the picture to the left shows the boys playing David and Goliath as they throw bottle caps at the giant painting on the wall.

To say the least, they have loved it.

Hunter has, for some reason, always had a huge fascination with story-telling. No pictures, no flashing screens, just "tell me a story!" And now, instead of reenacting the scenes of Madagascar or The Lion King he is happily building a firm foundation in Biblical and historical literacy as well as, most importantly, developing a fear of the Lord.

"For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..."

Proverbs 23:7

Hunter is 3 years, 10 months old

Window-Washing Adventures

Several months ago Hunter was helping me wash windows at the gym and I meant to blog about the conversations we had, but never got to it. We were having some interesting talks about contrails, rock doves, crickets, and ants. While I washed I spilled some drips on the ground, some in the sun and some in the shade, and we decided to see which one would dry faster. We talked about why the sunlight makes the water evaporate faster, and enjoyed a little spontaneous science lesson.

Today we were once again washing windows together, and having our usual conversations, about the clouds and the weather and the people and the birds. This time we were singing Christmas Carols in preparation for the Christmas party that is coming up on Monday. I let him help me wash sometimes (he works on the windows I haven't done yet) or he plays on the sidewalk. He hasn't helped me with this in a while and I believe it was July or August since our last window-washing adventure.

The minute we got out there Hunter found two old, dead leaves and dipped them in the water then laid them out on the sidewalk, watching. He did this for a while before he brought up that he was testing which one would dry the fastest. It's so much fun working with him and it's nice to know how much he remembers the conversations we have, even if it was months before.

"... a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun."

Ecclesiastes 8:15

Hunter is 3 years, 8 months old

Rubik's

Hunter got a Rubik's cube a few days ago. I got him a 2x2 cube and a little later, got myself a classic, 3x3 one (pictured).

This mechanical puzzle was invented by Hungarian sculptor and professor of architecture Ernő Rubik, hence the name. It's purpose? To demonstrate the properties of three-dimensional figures to his students.

There are exactly 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible combinations on this little two-inch high toy. Hence, solving it is completely about mathematical logic and reason rather than guesswork, as you could literally spend your entire life doing nothing but twisting the layers to different combinations and still not even touch the surface of possibilities. Forty three quintillion possibilities, one solution.

With so many possibilities and only one solution, it is the unsolvably solvable cube.

The solution to the cube is found in algorithms, those wonderful things that give Google's search engine its power, astronauts the ability to send a spacecraft to the Saturn, and a fifth grader the information to discover the solution to 253 x 746. Algorithms power computer science, mathematics and even linguistics and understanding them is key to all things math and science.

So what could playing with one of these little, inexpensive toys do for a little kid's brain? Well, let's just say I'm not even going to even try to analyze the potential, but I do know that exposure to manipulating one of these little toys has an incredible potential in teaching a superbly advanced level of logic, reasoning, and concentration skills as well as developing an intense understanding of the properties of three-dimensional geometry.

Has he solved it yet? No. Does he play with it all the time? Not really. It sits in his toy box, right in there with his wooden blocks, and he likes bring it out to fiddle with it while we're driving in the car. He joyfully exclaims when he gets two, three, or four blocks of the same color next to each other. Perhaps he'll figure out one of the algorithms (there are many) on his own, or maybe we'll look it up and explore the possibilities together. Who knows, but all I know is that it is one of the best $10 I have spent! With all the potential, what an incredible gift to invest in your child!




What can you teach your tiny kids? Absolutely anything!

"Forasmuch as an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and shewing of hard sentences... were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar: now let Daniel be called, and he will shew the interpretation."

Daniel 5:12

Hunter is 3 years, 8 months old

The Thinker

So today I asked Hunter, "Guess who loves you?" as I have been frequently, just as a silly little game. To which he replied,

"No Mommy, we think, not guess!"

Wondering where on earth he came up with that one!

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

Jeremiah 29:11

Hunter is 3 years, 6 months old

Dinosaur Puzzles

Got this puzzle set at the Goodwill the other day, and Hunter really enjoys it.

"Let them praise the name of the LORD: for he commanded, and they were created... Praise the LORD from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps"

Psalm 148:5,7

Hunter is 2 years, 11 months old