Miss M had playgroup today so Littlest and I had an hour of one on one time after we finished our errands and before we picked her up. We spent about half of that time with our
Dance N Beats curriculum. The dance lessons are written for a little older children so I modified some of the activities to be more appropriate for a 19-month old.
We started with the warm-up dance, which is her favorite. She can do the whole thing and gets very excited when someone joins her. I really like this month's music, which is heavily influenced by tribal drums and chants, as well as the dance moves. It's quite a good Zumba-esque workout if you do the whole DVD. Littlest tends to watch or do her own dance moves to the other songs since she's not as familiar with them.
We listened to the Colored Beads song and then I modified the corresponding activity. We took some play dough and I molded it into something of a porcupine/hedgehog shape. I got some spaghetti noodles and broke them in half, then let Littlest poke them into the dough wherever she wanted to. Speech therapist mommy took over and we practiced the concept of "in" and "out" as she moved them around the dough. I gave her a handful of Fruity Cheerios and I counted them and named their color as she slipped them on the noodles. Along with the counting and language concepts, this was a good fine motor activity that held her attention for a good seven minutes.
Next we made the rainstick. In the guide, it recommends using a plastic bottle with a screw top lid but I didn't have one so we used an old puffs container since she hasn't had the finger strength to pry those lids off on her own. We counted toothpicks as she put them in and she practiced scooping rice and split peas into the container. We went into the living room to play with our new rhythm instrument during a song and that's where I learned that her fine motor skills have improved in the last couple of days as she decided to test the theory "What happens when I peel this lid off and hold the container upside down while Mommy runs across the room to get to me?" After an impromptu vacuuming session, we finished listening to a couple songs while she practiced stomping like a rhino, roaring like a lion and bellowing like an elephant.
We started with the warm-up dance, which is her favorite. She can do the whole thing and gets very excited when someone joins her. I really like this month's music, which is heavily influenced by tribal drums and chants, as well as the dance moves. It's quite a good Zumba-esque workout if you do the whole DVD. Littlest tends to watch or do her own dance moves to the other songs since she's not as familiar with them. 
We listened to the Colored Beads song and then I modified the corresponding activity. We took some play dough and I molded it into something of a porcupine/hedgehog shape. I got some spaghetti noodles and broke them in half, then let Littlest poke them into the dough wherever she wanted to. Speech therapist mommy took over and we practiced the concept of "in" and "out" as she moved them around the dough. I gave her a handful of Fruity Cheerios and I counted them and named their color as she slipped them on the noodles. Along with the counting and language concepts, this was a good fine motor activity that held her attention for a good seven minutes.
Next we made the rainstick. In the guide, it recommends using a plastic bottle with a screw top lid but I didn't have one so we used an old puffs container since she hasn't had the finger strength to pry those lids off on her own. We counted toothpicks as she put them in and she practiced scooping rice and split peas into the container. We went into the living room to play with our new rhythm instrument during a song and that's where I learned that her fine motor skills have improved in the last couple of days as she decided to test the theory "What happens when I peel this lid off and hold the container upside down while Mommy runs across the room to get to me?" After an impromptu vacuuming session, we finished listening to a couple songs while she practiced stomping like a rhino, roaring like a lion and bellowing like an elephant.
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