Playing. . .and Learning

Here are a few things that have kept us busy this past week. I forget their real name and brand, but my son always wants to play with the "Magnets." It is a set of balls and two sizes of sticks that are magnetic. He can play with these things for hours! At first it was building towers, and trains. But when he plays with me, we try to make letter forms or colour trains and patterns, although patterns to him are just big lines of mixed up colours. (That's what you get with a teacher for a mom!) And of course the little sister wants to get in on the action as well! It's so funny to watch them figure out (aka: go into hysterics or tantrums over) the sides that attract and the ones that repel.

Our other big thing lately is our "Mickey Mouse Cards." We have obviously gone to the Home Depot too many times in the past little while, and aside from the tractors, these cards are the next best thing about that place in the eyes of my kids. They collect the colours, they use them as "trading" cards (as much as pre-school and toddler-types can), and they match them to colours in the house. And, well, they smoosh them, destroy them, and glue them together, too.