Welcome to another episode of Wondering Wednesday! We have been recording our Kelowna, BC convention sessions for you for upcoming Wondering Wednesday sessions, but we are swamped with preparations, so we will have those for you in coming weeks!

In the meantime, spring is the perfect time to start collecting activities, toys, and books for room time with your littles, so this week’s WW is a re-run of the podcast about Room Time.

 

 
Here are the details:

“Donna Reish, writer, speaker, and teacher at Character Ink Press and Raising Kids With Character blog and seminar, brings this Wondering Wednesday podcast about utilizing room time with toddlers and preschoolers. In this episode, Donna describes the benefits of room time, how to begin this daily, potential problems and solutions, and ideas for activities to use for room time. She also explains the importance of utilizing this opportunity to increase focusing skills, Independence, creativity, resourcefulness, and attentiveness.”

Love me some littles! Teach them to obey and be content—and you will enjoy this age so much more!

Love and hope,
Donna

Download the podcast notes here.

Listen to previous podcasts here.

The post [Podcast Rerun] Room Time With Toddlers & Preschoolers appeared first on Character Ink.

“Soon it was time for Jakie to play in his play pen, so Josiah and I got to play together. Next thing I knew, we were in trouble! Mommy came into the room and said that it looked like a tornado went through. We did it again! We got too many things out at one time. We had stuff all over the living room: Legos, cars and trucks, Duplo people, books, and stuffed animals. It took us FOREVER to clean it up—even with Kara’s help. Josiah and I had to each do an extra fifteen minute chore with Mommy because we forgot the rule about getting out too many things at one time. “

What Is Room Time?

• Concentrated time of play and activity for young children in which they learn focusing skills, independence, problem solving, initiative, resourcefulness, deference and more.

Benefits of Room Time

1) Increase in Focusing Skills—studies show children who watch television over independent activities and/or what large amounts of television have more trouble with concentration, impulsiveness, and restlessness

2) Builds many preschool skills naturally

3) Provides small amount of time for Mom to get something done

General How To’s

1) Set up a closet or area off limits normally in which you house the room time activities

2) Build the child’s curiosity each day or week by describing what he can do that day/letting him peek in the closet/hiding (but showing!) new things you got for room time, etc. (Be sure he never sees it as punishment.)

3) Tell him ahead of time you will be starting it next week or whenever (if it is new to him…and especially if playing alone is new to him)

4) Choose second most time-intensive time of day for Mom (when she is needed elsewhere second to the most)

5) Set a timer or have some other mechanism in place so he knows when it ends (make it super short at first)

6) Give him a five minute warning for clean up

7) Have him clean up

Room Time Activities Suggestions

• Closet or several tubs somewhere

• Not something he normally gets to play with

• Something you have already done with him/that he has mastered and can do alone easily

• Nothing too difficult or that he would need help for (he should grow into those things)

• Age appropriate/size appropriate

• Non electronics

• Imagination-driven

SIGN UP for Character Ink Press/Raising Kids With Character newsletter  and receive an annotated list of suggested activities for room time for preschoolers and toddlers in our December 2015 Freebie Friday!

Potential Problems and Solutions

• Bored—children often get bored with “regular” things when they have too many thrills (electronics, etc.) Don’t let room time take the place of those (or he could resent it), but try to reduce the thrills in other ways/at other times

• Bored—try to really tap into your child’s interests and get activities geared towards those

• Won’t stay in room time—at first let him come out or call out one time, but then he can’t unless it is an emergency (don’t make it so long that he feels trapped and feels like he has to come out)

• Can’t fill the entire time—if you are increasing time and want him to play longer, try switching toys halfway through, helping him play or come up with activities/suggestions and then leave again

Links

Podcast: Solving Common Preschool Behaviors

Podcast: Turning Unusually High Need Preschoolers Into the Darling Angels They Were Meant to Be

Blog Post: Story Time With Toddlers and Preschoolers

Podcast: Story Time With Littles & Very Littles

Blog Post: Character Training for Toddlers & Preschoolers – Boundaries, Simple Tastes & More

Podcast: What Should I Do With a Kindergartner

Podcast: How Do I Prepare My Child to Learn to Read

Podcast: What to Do About Toddler Trouble

Podcast: What to Do With a Wonderful One-Year-Old

Listen to the podcast here!

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The post Podcast Notes for “How to Utilize Room Time With Toddlers & Preschoolers” appeared first on Character Ink.

Donna Reish, writer, speaker, and teacher at Character Ink Press and Raising Kids With Character blog and seminar, brings this Wondering Wednesday podcast about utilizing room time with toddlers and preschoolers. In this episode, Donna describes the benefits of room time, how to begin this daily, potential problems and solutions, and ideas for activities to use for room time. She also explains the importance of utilizing this opportunity to increase focusing skills, Independence, creativity, resourcefulness, and attentiveness.

Download the podcast notes here.

Listen to previous podcasts here.

Sign up for our newsletters to receive a nine-page booklet of a list of toys and activities to use with your toddler or preschooler during room time! 

Do you have a question you would like answered in an upcoming podcast episode?  Email me here! -Donna

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The post Podcast: How to Utilize Room Time With Toddlers & Preschoolers appeared first on Character Ink.