Modeling

As a former classroom teacher I know that students needed lots of modeling to learn certain skills and complete difficult tasks. Having been out of the classroom for almost two years now I seem to have forgotten just how important modeling is for young children.

Finger Painting Fun

About one month ago Tanner and Abigail finger painted for the first time. I found an edible finger paint recipe online using yogurt and food coloring and I thought they would enjoy playing and getting messy. I took their shirts off, strapped them into the high chairs, and put a large sheet of paper with blobs of paint in front of them. They looked at the paint blobs, looked at each other, and then looked at me with a "What the hell are we supposed to do with this" look on their adorable faces. This was their very first experience with finger painting...they had no idea what to do. My friend Jane (who was there as an extra set of hands) said, "Maybe you should get a piece of paper and show them what to do?" Of course, it made perfect sense. As soon as I sat down and began smearing the finger paint around on my own paper, Tanner and Abigail quickly joined in. Ta da!

With Easter around the corner I wasn't sure if Tanner and Abigail would be into hunting for eggs. They really enjoy playing with plastic eggs...taking them apart...putting them back together...throwing them...you get the point. Since the rain outside was keeping us inside I thought today would be a good "Egg Hunt Training Day". I barricaded the Twinkies in the kitchen while I "hid" eggs in the living room. I didn't really hide them. I placed them around the room in plain sight...on the couch, on the coffee table, on the floor, etc. Then I called Tanner and Abigail into the room and said, "Where are the eggs? Do you see an egg?" They quickly went around the room collecting the brightly colored eggs and putting them into the Easter basket I held out to them. Once all the eggs were found, I sent them to the kitchen and hid the eggs again. This time instead of putting them all out in the open I hid a few a little more. When I called them back into the room they set to work searching for the eggs without me having to say anything.

Tanner loves the Easter Bunny!

I need to remember that there will be many new experiences for Tanner and Abigail and I may need to do some modeling to help them master and understand them. Now if I could find a way to model "not reaching into the back of your diaper to play with poop" which Tanner seems to be so fond of these days I will be one happy lady.