"The BOX"

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I have mentioned to a few of you about E's "weekly box" but I have never blogged about it. I figured why not now?

When I was concerned about E being colorblind, I got such wonderful comments & E-mails from my readers with suggestions, though none of them seemed fitting for E. So I started doing a lot of research and Dr. Google & I were becoming good pals. 

I was finding that a lot of children who excel in other areas sometimes will "lag" (for lack of a better word) in one pronounced area. E's must have been colors. I mean my kiddo was counting to 10 alone before her 2nd birthday. She knows her ABCs & can sing you any nursery rhyme-y song you request. 

But colors, were/are her weakness. She knew the names of all of them but matching the name with the actual color was where she was troubled. 

So after various research and talking to other toddler/older kid moms & early childhood aged teachers; I adapted something for E. 

We call it "E's Weekly Box". It is given to her MONDAY AM after breakfast. A big deal is made about the box so she is excited to open it and see what "treasures" lie inside. 

We do a COLOR, LETTER, SHAPE & NUMBER of the week. I know it sounds like a lot. 4 things to focus on but how I have adapted it she seems to do well. I am also seeing a huge improvement on her color recognition. 

Inside the box lies a letter written by mommy [me] on a piece of paper that is the COLOR of the week. The letter states what we will be focusing on that week. E & I go over that and she moves on to her "treasures".

The contents of the box or "treasures" as E calls them are things found around the house, in E's toybox, anywhere. I am creative & keep it cheap (as in $0-$1).

Everything in the box for that week is the color of the week. To really put emphasis on the color.  

Once we have gone over everything in the box and she has had time to play with and talk about her treasures we put them back in the box, for the next day. Its done every day, at the same time. We're big on routine here. Then usually Mon or Tues we go on a hunt around the house and collect as many things that are the color, shape, START WITH the letter for that week & add them to our box. 

E likes arts & crafts and when we do arts we focus on that weeks COLOR, LETTER, SHAPE & NUMBER.

As for the numbers she is good, she can count to 20 alone now, we're working towards 25. I just want her to recognize the numbers when she sees them quicker then she does & on her first try.  We have about 4 or 5  1-10 puzzles and she does those so quick, girl loves her puzzles, but I think its different just seeing the number. 

Over all I am very pleased with how this is working, as I have expressed to some (Candice did a similar idea with her son). E really enjoys the box. She knows she gets it after she eats her breakfast. I really like mondays b/c its all new.  E is just so animated, about everything. It really makes doing things like "the weekly box" that much more fun. 

Even better she has no idea she is learning. 

**Tell me, Do you do anything special with your littles to keep their brains firing & get them ready for pre-school? (OMG thats in about 8 mons for E...growing up too fast!) 

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xo

-Kandid Kelli