GARDENING! AND MORE!! (like practising fine motor skills)
This comes from my cousin in South Africa. Her great-grandson has just turned six. See his birthday present from her in the first sentence.
Well Gabriel loved his trowels, and wasted no time in putting them to use. He and Kalia had a fine old time in my pots of course, and much hilarity with taps on and taps off, and lots of mud every where. He carefully washed and dried them off when they had finished playing. Must be a first ! So I think I did well in the birthday department. The kids certainly don't play with toys. They are just a waste of money. Kalia loves sticker books, and at the moment it's cute to watch her concentration, when struggling to cut with scissors. It opens my eyes how children develop. She is quite determined to master the art, and carries on, showing no sign of frustration. She's been like that since she was very little. I watched her trying to get into a cardboard box once, which was very small, and I was quite convinced she would never be able to do it, but let me tell you, it was quite something to see. She tried it every which way. One leg in, one leg out, turn around, bend the leg.....it was astonishing, but eventually she got her whole self in, sitting down. She filled it ' wall to wall " so to speak. It took a long time, but the most interesting thing, was that she showed no sign of irritation, just concentration, on how to achieve her goal. She was very little at the time.
