Messyfish

One of the things my son (3years) loves to do (apart from paint) is playing with beads. He has a very big collection of handmade glass beads from India. Every single one is different. He sorts and separates his favourites, plays families with them, threads them and cuts them apart again. It seems sorting and finding "favourites" is his primary interest.
Does anyone have ideas on how I could "strew" his environment. I bought him more beads and other small objects in different shapes sizes colours and materials, but the Indian glass beads hold his interest the most by far.
Kind regards
Anna

sheeboo2

----Does anyone have ideas on how I could "strew" his environment. I bought him more
beads and other small objects in different shapes sizes colours and materials,
but the Indian glass beads hold his interest the most by far.------

I have a few suggestions, but want to first point out that is is absolutely okay for him to have a favorite. A preference for something isn't a cue to draw him away from that with other things in an attempt to increase his experience.

That said, office supply and craft stores are great places to look for "same but different" kinds of things in large packages: erasers, clips, little sticker labels, buttons.....

One of Noor's favorite things to sort and make families (literal families: momma, dad, baby...) with was a set of Cuisenaire rods:
http://www.amazon.com/Cuisenaire-Rods-Intro-Set-Wood/dp/B000FFWCOW

She used them to build with and as characters in imaginary play.

What about marbles? If you aren't concerned with him putting the beads in his mouth, marbles may be safe too. Save paper towel and toilet paper rolls and he can make runs for them.

Or small bouncy balls?
http://www.amazon.com/Rhode-Island-Novelty-Assorted-Bounce/dp/B00407CYCG/ref=sr_1_10?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1312384021&sr=1-10

Noor loved lots of the same kind of thing with different variations, (for her, part of the draw was also on the "lots") so a huge bag of pom-poms in different colors, sizes and textures was another great investment:
http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/productdetail.jsp?pageName=search&flag=true&PRODID=prd47804

or a big bag of feathers: http://www.joann.com/joann/catalog/productdetail.jsp?pageName=search&flag=true&PRODID=xprd76729

There was a time she had a tub of 100+ crayons that she used as toys too.

Another group of toys that have gotten years of enjoyment are tubes of figures, like these:
http://www.amazon.com/Safari-LTD-Frogs-Turtles-Toob/dp/B000BNB0OG

Be on the look out for any package of toys that are the same, but have variations--the party isle at big box stores, where they have bags of party favors, is good for this too. Like this:
http://tinyurl.com/3mwk93s

Also, maybe he'd like having lots of different containers to put/carry his things in? That was a big part of Noor's play at that age too (actually, still is!): bags, baskets, bowls, boxes, empty yogurt/food containers.....

Brie

NCMama

I want to point out, your son might be really happy with just what he has. 'Strewing' doesn't always have to mean buying things, or bringing actual objects in... That's certainly a part of it! But so is simply being with him while he enjoys what he has. My oldest enjoyed the relationships he had with his small toys - plastic jungle animals, etc. - and bringing in someone 'new' wasn't usually what he wanted. He liked just having time to play with them, uninterrupted, in the way he wanted to play with them.

peace,
Caren



--- In [email protected], "Messyfish" <messy_fish@...> wrote:
>
> One of the things my son (3years) loves to do (apart from paint) is playing with beads. He has a very big collection of handmade glass beads from India.

Sandra Dodd

-=-finding "favourites" is his primary interest.
Does anyone have ideas on how I could "strew" his environment. -=-

If he's happy with what he has, don't add to that.
Maybe, though, take photos of the patterns and strings he makes before
they're taken apart. Not methodically every time, necessarily, but
some.

Please don't think of strewing as "strewing his environment." If you
come across something in the course of your own day, or life, that you
think would be interesting, put it out, without comment, to sit
somewhere. Maybe he'll play with it or ask about it. Maybe he
won't. Maybe adult guests will, or maybe they won't. Put that away
after a while (a week, a month, two days; depends) and put something
else out.

That's what strewing is. It's putting something interesting out, like
a conversation piece, or a game/puzzle/toy to be discovered.

If he's happy with those glass beads, let him play with them as much
as he wants, and don't think of adding to that, necessarily.

Sandra

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Alex

Your question about the beads brought this site to mind:
http://pepperpaints.com/?s=strewing&searchsubmit=
because she has separate posts about mirrors, cool sorting containers, and a marble run that might be fun for you guys. Maybe the bead families would be interested in a slide? :) (Thanks to Kristen, who I don't know personally!)

Marble painting is fun with that age: http://www.thecraftycrow.net/2008/06/marble-painting.html
I wouldn't suggest doing it with the beads, but it's tangentally related so he might get a kick out of it. My daughter often wants to try crafts if she sees me looking at internet posts about them.

I also thought he might like to see a kaleidoscope with beads in it.

I'm sure you've thought of this but you might ask when some sort of gift-giving occasion comes up if he'd like to help make beads or a necklace for someone with other beads bought or made for the purpose, dyed pasta, salt dough beads, or whatever. Dying pasta can be a fun process.

We live by the beach, and my daughter went though a big mermaid phase last year, so I liked to pick up shells with holes for "mermaid necklaces." Did she want to look for them? No, honestly, but they were nice to have around, so I just quietly did it while we had beach walk or sand time.

Alex
mama to Katya, age 4

Jenny Cyphers

***Does anyone have ideas on how I could "strew" his environment. I bought him more beads and other small objects in different shapes sizes colours and materials, but the Indian glass beads hold his interest the most by far.***


My initial thought is to find cool and interesting ways to keep the beads.  Little pouches or small glass jars or treasure chest.  I loved playing with my grandma's button box when I was little!  I loved the tin they were in and the way it smelled and I loved just sorting through them all and thinking about them.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Jenny Cyphers

Also, magnifying glasses could be really cool for those beads, just another way to see them and look at them.  We have a small light box that sits on a table top.  I imagine looking at beads sitting on a light table would be extremely cool!

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]