NatMo & Play Dough Candice and Natalie ~ January 14, 2009 & The New Tool !

Natalie loves play dough. On Friday I looked around the kitchen to see what I could find. In the pantry I found a neat- looking pastry cutter. She tried like this.But she wanted to get it flat. So we tried that.

Natalie showed me some different ways to flatten the play dough. We tried them, but they didn’t really work.

Then she remembered about something… the rolling pin!

“Help me?” She still needed some help, but now I had the right tool. I made it flat, and cut her a triangle. She made some lines in it. She said, “It’s wet.” “It’s in the water.”

She picked up a gingerbread man we had cut out. She made lines with the pastry cutter. “He’s wet. He’s in the water.”

When she was done with the pastry cutter, we made circles…. We kept playing for a long time, and then we cleaned up!

What It Means Natalie, I had a lot of fun playing play dough with you. You showed me how excited you are to try new things, how persistent you are, that you know just when to ask for help, and that your eyes and mind see things in such a creative way. You have talented eyes. You can see and say all the letters and numbers—even lower case. You know a lot of sign language and can tell when your hand is a little bit different from mine. You have a lot of patience for seeing differences, trying and practicing, and that’s how you got a great result with the tool and the play dough.

What It Means I was fascinated by your interpretation of the wavy lines. They really do look like water, and your idea of putting the wavy lines on the “man” was brilliant. It is always hard for me to remember that you are just two years old. Your eyes, your mind, and your patience amaze me every day, and I am so fortunate to be part of your explorations.

10 Opportunities and Possibilities Natalie’s interest and patience provide great opportunities to work on dexterity and eye-language skills. I am interested to hear her observations using other new tools with play dough, paint or shaving cream “painting”. Continuing to use more sign language with her, when reading familiar books or during eating or play time will help introduce new words and perfect what she already knows.

Family’s Response Natalie’s mom, Julie, says… I think Natalie is soooo smart. I think she is wonderfully choosy about when to ask for help, she doesn't automatically ask for help until she tries something by herself first and she usually asks for help before she reaches major frustration or meltdown. I also like that she will ask for help in Spanish - what she has learned from Dora - and she uses it as if asking for help in Spanish is how we do it at home! Natalie really seems to be understanding emotions observed on others through facial expressions or cries, etc. and is then able to verbally describe it to me. I love the kids being part of your projects!