Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Mama's Busy Game: Categories

I find that most days there are times when I am busy doing something with my hands, but my mind and mouth are free to interact with my daughters. Sometimes it's nice to just enjoy silence and time to think, but at other times I don't want to waste the moments with M and G.

One game that M and I often play while I'm making dinner is "Categories." I think of a category and we each try to think of examples. I might say, "Let's think of different animals." Then I ask her "Is a lion an animal? Is a chair an animal?", etc. (M really enjoys it when I make ridiculous suggestions!) Then she will do the same thing, and we will go back and forth until we have exhausted the category, and then we will move on to a new one.

This game is, of course, very flexible, educational, and can even help teach morality. One recent category we've explored is "Let's think of good and bad times to be silly."

Can you think of some good categories to explore with a two-year-old? (I may use them for dinner tonight!)

2 comments:

Sandi said...

My daughter is a little younger, so I might try colors with her. "What is green? Is the grass green? Is the dog green?"

Thanks for the idea!

Unknown said...

You could do items found in certain rooms of the house. "What is in the kitchen? Is an oven in the kitchen? Is a bathtub?" Body parts. Emotions. Items found in a church. Different seasons. "What do we see in winter? Snow? Ice? Falling leaves?" Bigger than or smaller than. "Is a mouse bigger than M? Is a lion bigger than M?"