Purposeful Play at Grandma's House

 My son enjoys going to Grandad's and Grandma's and actually calls it "home".  Their house in the desert is a fun place to visit. There are things to explore you don't find anywhere other than in the desert. There are the cubbyholes and toy box filled with special toys, some new and some saved from when my sister and I were small.

Despite all these manifold delights I found he became fussy. He needed something that reminded him of home. He needed a routine. And he needed that routine to be somewhat consistent with what we did back home, adapted specially for Grandad and Grandma's. He was missing having his "work" available to choose from, his purposeful play activities.

It's amazing how easy it is to create a "purposeful play" shelf at Grandma's house. I used her built-in display case, the big shelf where she kept some of her silk flowers. It was at the perfect height for him.

From left to right: 

sock matching & folding activity in basket (last week's Slow & Steady Get Me Ready activity)

color matching using paint samples I picked up at Lowes

a set of Lauri lacing cards

 a counting activity using numerals and empty spools as counters

Melissa & Doug beads I picked up for $6 at a used store

number/dot puzzles (cut apart flash cards from the $1 bins at Target)

his Bible Truth Booklets (ie catechism)

and a southwest desert display since Grandma's & Grandad's house is in the southwest. He kept  the desert creatures matching cards, the book from our previous trip "I Howl I Growl"- and he also kept the tarantula!

It's a great puppet.