This week in review...

Musical Monday - we played the piano (We would sit together on the piano bench and she told me what songs she wanted me to play (mostly the ABC's) and we'd sing together or she'd sing alone and she "played along" at the high end of the keyboard) and I got out the guitar for her to play with. We did a little bit of guitar playing where I held the chord and she strummed. That was sort of fun, I just have to figure out how to play some children's song on it. Most of the guitar songs I know are praise and worship songs from college.

Tactile Tuesday - I have to admit that I didn't do much with this this week. I had ideas, but she mostly wanted to play the piano and guitar again, so I let her. Maybe next week we'll pull out the playdough or something. Leif did try to teach her somersaults today, so I guess that counts.

Wordy Wednesday - Leif (who is home from work this week) played starfall with Ellie, and we did an alphabet puzzle on the floor. It is a new puzzle for her and it might be above her skill level, but it was good practice at matching up letters.

Theatrical Thursday - I didn't do anything specific with her today, but she spent a good deal of time at the Children's Museum playing with the other kids, including dress up. So I count that as good imaginative play.

Fun Friday - No art projects today, just a couple hours spent at the splash park with the Danielson and Morales kids! She was pretty worn out after that so she actually took a nap today!

Routine

Now that Eliana has given up her nap, I have been wanting to use that time to do a little organized learning time with her. Nothing too structured, just something to add a little consistency to our afternoons. She functions much better on a schedule and, truthfully, so do I. We typically have things scheduled in the mornings from around 10-noon, but I want to do something together each day in the afternoon as well. So here's what I've come up with so far...

Musical Mondays - activities focusing on music and rhythm. We'll explore instruments (piano and guitar for now), sing together, dance to music, and play rhythm games.
Tactile Tuesdays - activites focusing on motor skills. We'll play with playdough, blocks, bubbles, etc. Anything to get moving in big and small ways!
Wordy Wednesdays - activites focusing on language. We'll read books, work on the alphabet, play Starfall, and color alphabet activity pages.
Theatrical Thursdays - activities focusing on pretend play. We'll dress up, play with puppets, play with baby dolls, and do animal imitations.
Fun Friday - activities focusing on fun things, but mostly art! We'll paint, draw, color, and create! It'll be fun!

I haven't thought it out too much, but this is my basic scheme for right now. I figure we can do a couple activities for 15 minutes each and we'll vary the activities depending on weather, energy levels, and what we want to do that day. It will give us some semblance of schedule in the afternoon without being too rigid, and it will give us organized time to play together! Some days we may just be busy and need to skip it because we're in town or whatever, but this way I know what we'll be doing on which days so we can pick up when we need to.