This last set off, for our learning day I incorporated Bug's beloved TV show character, Diego. Last Christmas, Bug got a rescue pack and a little stuffie of Baby Jaguar. He uses them all of the time for his alone imaginative play. It just seemed fitting to add some more fun moments to his well used Diego toys.
This is Bug and his beloved Baby Jaguar. He was really excited for our activity...even though the picture doesn't show it! A camera is almost always in his face...guilty mommy! He just wanted to start our learning fun; not wait until the perfect picture was taken! haha!
I also added the use of our
Melissa and Doug World Puzzle Map into our activity of the day. For those of you who don't know Diego, he is an animal rescuer, rescuing animals from all around the world and bringing them back to their natural habitat. During the episode, the child learns about the animal they are rescuing and the actual habitats these animals reside in. I wanted to try and create an indoor scavenger hunt by getting Bug to put together the puzzle that had missing pieces from it. Baby Jaguar had to help.
I had made little paper animals from some images that I found on the internet (I, of course laminated them so we could reuse them), and each animal was found on a piece of the puzzle that was missing. I placed the animal as well as the corresponding puzzle piece around the house for Bug to go rescue.
In the show, Diego would ask questions about the animals that involved choosing between two options. As an example, if it was a penguin in question, Diego might ask, does the penguin have a beak or a nose? Every time Bug came across one of the "hidden" animals, I would ask him a question structured around a question Diego would ask. It was a good way to teach Bug about the animals as well as help him understand opposites (ie: is an elephant big or small). When he answered the question correctly, Bug got to put his animal and puzzle piece into his rescue pack.
Once all of the animals and pieces were "rescued", we came back to our incomplete puzzle and finished it. I love working on puzzles with Bug, as it's a fun way to teach him about problem solving and patience. When the puzzle was complete, we matched up our animals on their corresponding picture.
Bug, once again loved this activity. It makes me so happy that the games or learning activities I introduce Bug to bring so much joy into his life. Not everything we do has the same enjoyment, but on the most part, Bug is thoroughly entertained. I gauge our level of success by how many times he requests to play it "one more time". He didn't want to stop, so we played it again and this time "Baby Jaguar" did most of the rescuing. Bug adopted this insanely cute animal voice and kept Baby Jaguar in his hand while he rescued all of our animals, as if Baby Jaguar was doing it himself. And then once the animals were brought over to the puzzle, Baby Jaguar used his nose to slide the animals into the corresponding location on the map.
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