Keep it Diverse!

Today we met at my house as I wanted to demonstrate how to keep environments diverse so that every child’s personality can find a place.  I laid a few board games out in the living room.  The Screwball Scramble game was a definite hit with almost everyone!  It takes patience and eye/hand coordination.  There is great satisfaction when someone makes it to the end.  There was also Rack-o and Snap Circuits which appealed to the older boys.

dsc_0440 Bremen stuck with this game until he had it conquered.  He enjoys figuring things out and is always up for a challenge.  Other kids tried it and had fun but didn’t care if they made it all the way through the obstacle course.  Remember – keep it diverse for the many different talents and likes.

In the kitchen we had all the ingredients for frosting along with pretzels and M&Ms. One of our cute girls took the job of making the frosting and then several others joined in to make themselves a yummy treat!  Elise frosted pretzels for over half an hour and then shared them with others.  Again – keep it diverse!

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For those who are analytical and love to solve puzzles there was a word search.  Only one of our kids took time for that, but he found every word and really enjoyed it! Keep it diverse for the one or for the many!

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Other engaging activities were painting, farming, nativity rearranging and fort building with Christmas lights.  Oh…..and there was washing the dishes which was a big hit surprisingly.  Who can resist playing in the water? The lion and elephant even made it into the nativity scene!

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Let me say it one more time… Keep your environments diverse to inspire many different ways of engaging.  Then sit back and watch which environments your kids spend the most time with. There is a reason for it.  They are satisfying their curiosity, using their imagination, learning to be inquisitive,  desiring to be challenged, looking for a feeling of accomplishment, having a new experience…AND YES, they are LEARNING!!

4 Comments

  1. Wendy

    I am so grateful for the time you take to help us understand how to break out of the box. Education should never be a one size fits all and you do an amazing job of showing us how to make it work with so many children with so many different talents, abilities, desires and curiosities.
    Thank you for helping us see the needs of each child as an individual.

    • Val

      Thank you for being so willing to take these fun ideas and share them with others around you to give them that boost they need when they are doubting themselves! It helps a lot!

  2. Machiel Pulley

    I’m so grateful for this post. I love how each child’s unique gifts are brought forward. Quite touching. Thanks for the reminder.

    • Val

      Your comment reminded me of being in your home watching you read to your little ones while your cute girls were in the kitchen making bread and others still were in the music room practicing! You’re an expert at natural learning!

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