Our week of Gentleness had arrived and I was so excited to start this week. As any mom of a toddler, I want to teach mine to be gentle with his words and actions. This week at read a book or a story on gentleness and did an activity that went along with the story. The books we used this week are :
- Chrysanthemum, a story about how gentle words can make a person’s day
- Jesus storybook Bible, so many stories about gentleness. We read the story of Joseph forgiving his brothers.
- Bartholomew and the Oobleck, how the words “I’m sorry”changed a while town.
- Quiet Loud, pictures and actions to show the difference between quiet (gentleness) and loud.
TEACHING GENTLENESS WITH WATER BALLOONS
Story for the day : Joseph choosing to forgiving his brothers
We started the day by reading from our Storybook Bible. Joseph chose to forgive his brothers for doing something bad to him when he could have done something bad back to them.
For our activity, I had some water balloons ready in the yard for J. First I asked J to throw the water balloons with great force. The water balloons burst on contact. Next, I asked him to gently drop it in my hands, and the balloons did not break. I explained how is we are gentle, we will not hurt others. For most of the day, J played with water balloons and had so much fun. I love when fun and learning to hand in hand.
GENTLE WORDS WITH OOBLECK
Story for the day: Bartholomew and the Oobleck
We read the famous Dr. Seuss story of a proud king who by his words and actions hurt the whole town by covering the whole town with green slimy Oobleck. But two simply words “I’m sorry” changed everything – the town went back to normal and no one was covered in sline.
The activity was quiet obvious – Oobleck! And it was so easy to make. I mixed 1 cup of water to 2 cups of corn flour and added some light green food coloring. The concept of Oobleck is – the more you press on the Oobleck, the harder it becomes, when you are gentle with it, the Oobleck flows through your fingers. The hard and rash actions makes matter worse, while the gentle words calm others around us. And the Oobleck was a great Sensory activity for J and he loved every minute of it.
GENTLE VS HARD USING SAND PAPER
Story for the day : Chrysanthemum
Chrysanthemum was bullied by other kids at school because of her name. She became insecure with each passing day, but a few kind words and gentle coaxing by a teacher, she started to become more confident and happy altogether.
For the activity, toy week need a piece of sandpaper, some cotton balls and glue. Let the toddler feel the sandpaper with his cheeks and hands, and show how rough it is. Now glue some cotton balls onto the sandpaper and let the toddler feel it now. Let him feel how soft it is when you added the cotton balls-how gentle it feels. It can be a great way to teach your toddler to be gentle when interacting with others.
QUIET VS LOUD TOYS
Story for the day : Quiet vs Loud
We read Quiet vs LOUD book – it’s a great book for toddlers to easily understand the difference between quiet and loud actions. This was a book that we used to teach him to be gentle with toys. We went around the playroom and identified quiet and loud toys. J played with each one and called out quiet or loud. It was such a practical activity to teach J to choose gentle this at some times over the loud ones.
