Last Sunday evening, I was reviewing my calendar for the week and saw that we had a meeting with our landscape architect planned later in the week. I'd been meaning to do a Construction theme week and this seemed like a perfect time since we could take advantage of existing activities. This is one way I keep things simple but it's really effective because it's real life. I let Mia tagalong to the landscape meeting and she sat on one side of the table with me reviewing the plans and looking over plant lists. I wasn't totally sure how much she would take away from that encounter, but when we got back home she set up her little table and chairs and reenacted the whole thing with me. She had her own scribbled "plan" and everything. The imaginative play is my favorite part of these theme weeks and Mia is at the age where she immediately picks up on things we are doing/saying. It was really neat to see her initiate this imaginative play all on her own. When we did our weekly family drive out to check on our new house construction, Mia brought along her tape measure & note pad and walked around mimicking me by taking her own measurements and scribbling away. I took a few minutes to show her exactly what I was doing and why I was doing it. I have no idea if she really understands the concept of space planning or if she will remember any of this, but she did spend the rest of the week talking about her new room design. Another little activity we did is walk around downtown where some big construction projects are happening. There were all kinds of heavy construction equipment onsite so we talked about what each machine is called and what it does. I've heard of some communities doing "Touch a Truck" events where kids can see similar big vehicles up close. Might be a good construction week activity.
We did all sorts of indoor construction projects as well. We built things with Legos and I put an emphasis on reading & interpreting Lego construction diagrams. Just a little spatial awareness activity. And you don't need to limit building activities to kids' toys. If you happen to be assembling anything for your home (IKEA furniture, etc), let your kid help. I was very mechanically driven early on in life and my parents always got me involved in these sorts of things. I see similar abilities in Mia so I make sure I give her opportunities to explore further. She's been involved with little projects like assembling her easel and her table & chair set but I've also included her as my little helper on household repair & DIY projects. One afternoon, I set up an invitation to construct a blanket fort. I laid out a few light blankets, some twine, a bowl of clothespins, and some chairs & stools in our living room. I found yellow caution tape in the Target Dollar Spot this week so I taped off the whole area as a construction site. Then I told her that I was hoping we could make popcorn and watch a movie together but first we needed a fort. She was really excited by this and figured out a decent design within minutes. She did need a little help spreading out the large blanket, though. Some other construction activities we did this week include playing with our construction vehicle toys in the sandbox at the playground (or you could make a sensory bin), role playing with our pretend tool kit, and spending some time playing the Little Builder app on the iPad. And have you seen this reflective vest in the IKEA Family section? It's only a couple of bucks and perfect for construction dress up.
Instead of doing an art project this week, we did a construction project. Home Depot offers building workshops for children (check for them here) and if you are local to Denver, there is a really cool place called The Craftsman & Apprentice that offers them, too (offer listing here). We did our own because I really wanted to impress upon Mia the ideas of project planning, sequential events, and order of operations. I settled on a string art project because it's simple yet calls for some hammering and the finished project can be used in her room in the new house (the first rule of good design is usefulness!). The first thing we did is look up string art projects on the internet so she could see what a finished project looked like, a goal to work towards. Then I gave her a wooden star from the craft store and some blueprint paper. Blueprint paper is THE most important part of this whole project. Make your own with blue construction paper and a white crayon. I drew a rectangle border and then a title box with "Mia's Plan" on a few sheets. Then we traced her star and she planned where she wanted to put nails.
After some careful consideration, we decided that it might be best to paint the star before hammering in the nails. I gave her a paper towel tube to store her rolled up blueprints in while she painted. Super official. Once the paint was dry, she marked the spots for her nails and I showed her how to hammer them in. This is tricky and we had to work together on this. Watch your fingers! Haha! Lastly, we wrapped colored embroidery floss around the nails to create a fun pattern. A really good fine motor exercise, too. What do you think?
A summary of all Construction week activities with links:
ACTIVITIES: Played with building blocks, Also spent some time playing the Little Builder app, Construction vehicle sensory play in the sandbox, Built a blanket fort
ART PROJECTS: Made string art by hammering nails into a wood plaque and then wrapping string around all the nails
OUTINGS: Took a walk in heavy construction areas around town to scope out all the big equipment
BOOKS: Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker, Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty (or try Iggy Peck, Architect), That's How by Christoph Niemann, A Year at a Construction Site by Nicholas Harris
BIBLE STORY: Solomon building the temple
If you'd like to share a photo of your kid doing theme week activities, you can email it to me (email button in the left menu) or tag me on your Facebook photo or use the hashtag #weeklytoddlerthemes on Instagram (if you are private, just make sure I'm following you or tag me in the photo).
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