Otis' toys and materials at 17 months. Most of these I have written about before. We don't frequently buy toys but rather rotate them. 17 months feels like a good time to make an inventory. It's time for me to take stock of the materials Otis has and plan for the future. Eighteen months feels like a turning point and I want to be prepared.
1., 2. and 3. All stackers featured here. Yes, he's still using all of them!
4. Ball tracker. A range of tracking toys are featured here.
5. Imbucare box.
6. Pop up peg toy featured here and here.
7. Peg hammering toy shown here.
8. Car tracker.
9. and 10. Threading activities with matchsticks. Usually there is only one of these activities out at a time.
11. Feathers.
12. Finger puppets as shown with our range of discovery baskets.
13. Basket containing three Australian animals, a variation of the animals basket we use for language development.
14. Toy worm that rotates at the joints.
15. Small bucket of trains. This is a recent addition. Caspar has a larger train set which has been out of rotation for a while. There is no track in Otis' bucket, just a few carriages the connect with magnets for him to assemble and play with.
16. Rainbow Stacker.
17. Shape puzzle seen here. This post illustrates how long some of these materials last. In the original post Otis was just starting to put the circle in and now Otis is putting in all of the shapes.
18. Shape sorter.
19. Jack in the box.
20. Sensory basket of brushes.
21. Small bucket of Duplo. This us a recent addition. Caspar and Otis usually use this together and Caspar shows Otis how to connect the blocks.
22. Scooping. This activity is on Otis' shelves but he needs to bring it to me to set up. I fill the bowl with water, get a towel and supervise.
Although there is no photograph there is often an open and close activity on his shelves, sometime I change the containers but the principle remains the same.
These materials are stored in three different shelves.
1. A hidden cupboard near our dining area.
- selecting and using one item at a time
- using the item on the work mat (each area has a work mat near by)
- use the item correctly (focus on not throwing)
- put the item back on the shelves to the same place they came from.
Most of the materials out of rotation are stored in our storage cupboard although we also use a cupboard in our spare room for the larger items. We don't have a strict schedule for rotating the materials. About once a week I have a look at the materials and I might put away a couple of things that Otis hasn't been interested in and bring out a couple of new things. If Otis is frequently using an item I will keep it out for him.
Otis has a couple of soft toys in his room. He also plays with a lot of Caspar's toys. We have a basket of instruments and a basket of our blocks including our planks in our living area. Next to these baskets we also have a barn with a basket of farm animals, the barn is usually kept out and not rotated because it is such a favourite.
Otis also has outside toys but I'll leave that for a post another day.
