Lacing activity

That's a photo of the set of the Garden Stringing Beads, by Imaginarium.

Mid of last year, I eventually found version of lacing beads that was attractive, chunky enough, and the hard-plastic-wrapped-up-end of the lace seemed sufficiently long enough. It was sold at Toys R Us.

He struggled to insert the lace through the wooden pieces and while I did bring that toy out once in a while, I didnt force it upon him to play with it the way it was intended. It was obvious he didnt have an interest in that activity even though the toy was attractive. I now think that that's because his fine motor skills weren't ready for it back then.

I've another silly story to share on how I got him interested in lacing the Garden Stringing beads.

He attended a Sports Day earlier in the day, so I got the idea to turn it into a race. I took 3 animal pieces out of the set - snail, turtle, butterfly - and laced them up on a piece of their own lace. I laced - he didnt even bother to watch me lace it up. 

I roped my sister in to help since there were 3 animals. I used the doorway as an imaginery starting line, and chose an end point. Did the count down, and blew the 'whistle'. We each pulled an animal along towards the finish line, while creating excitement by giving a running commentary on who's leading, who's about to overtake, who tipped over and had an accident, etc.

He loved the game so much that we played it many, many times. To keep the interest going, I'd occasionally change the race route. He was quite hyper towards the end!

My original intention was to get him to lace the pieces but it turned out differently! Anyhow, it wasn't wasted cos I managed to teach him some stuff whilst having loads of fun.

Some of the bits of learning I sneaked in:
- reinforced the vocabulary of 1st, 2nd, 3rd.
- showed him that he doesn't always finish first, and that's ok
- race rules/concepts (starting line, finishing line, listen for the whistle)

It did though, renew his interest in using that toy as it was intended to be used. The next few times I brought out that toy, he did manage to lace a few pieces, with assistance. Make no mistake, I still had to create the interest with new games or scenarios to get him to try to lace the pieces, but at least, I had broken the negative perception/mental block he had on that toy.

I guess for him, it is a longer route towards learning to lace...longer, but at least we're on it now and we'll get there eventually.

He seems to like games that are made up on the spot, which challenges my creativity (cos I usually operate with a brain fog!). So I just spend time playing with him to spot opportunities to build in objectives I'd like to achieve, whether it's vocabulary, a math concept, living skills, gross or fine motor skills. It's tiring for me, but fun for both of us, whilst getting some "learning" done! It's all by God's grace!

(I must have forgotten to post this after I wrote it a few months back! So as part of 'housekeeping' of my blog, I'm posting it now - better late than never!)