Wide Age Ranges at Home – Sarah Fletcher & Ruth Chapman-Olla
Kia ora koutou.
I hope that this finds you well and content in your bubbles. We are now almost 4 weeks into this experience, and I think it’s fair to say that our perceptions of it have shifted somewhat. Maybe what seemed like a bit of an adventure to start with has now become somewhat more of a daunting reality. Maybe it’s the other way around...the scariness of those early days may have been replaced by a feeling of having stepped off the hamster wheel and you may be relishing extra family time?
However, you are feeling I am sure there has been a plethora of emotions on a daily, if not hourly basis and that OVERWHELMED has been one of them at times. This can be particularly challenging when trying to take care of a range of small people.
What Ruth and I have put together here, is designed to compliment what Shawny so beautifully presented last week. Where her focus was on creating amazing play spaces for younger children, ours is on the challenges and joys of having children of a wider age range at home….stuck together…ALL the time.!!!
Ruth has 2 boys at home; Franco is 6 1/2 and full of questions and Luca is energetic and funny at almost 3. Ruth and I are both teachers at Gems Kowhai and both Mums to children with ‘age gaps’.
I have 4 children; Evie is 9, Alba 7, Joey 5 and then we have a bigger gap down to Sonny who has just turned 2.
My span goes from a mature and academically driven 9 to a young, early verbal toddler full of urges and care needs.
The question is, how do you cater for the needs and desires of all these children, every day, whilst also keeping on top of the laundry, the home-schooling, the 247 snacks and of course ensuring you don’t run out of toilet paper? Well the answer is that you CAN’T. It is incredibly difficult to keep everyone happy all of the time.
We have found that the best bet is to aim for balance. To try to have some awesome moments with each child and to have some cool group family time too.
There are 100 awesome Pinterest worthy, craft ideas I’d love to do with 9 and 7 but 5 would lose interest and 2 would trash the beautifully prepared and presented resource box…likewise I could sit and build with Duplo and drive trucks in our sandpit all day with the little guy but my eldest 2 would nag me every 12 seconds to do something with them declaring ”this is boring!”
So Ruth and I thought we could compile and share a few activities that we have found that have entertained everyone…that span the age, development and needs range really well…and that above all else, seem to keep everyone happy.
Messy and Sensory Activities are such a great way for anyone to play. Children of any age, and in fact adults benefit from these types of experiences as they can help us to:
Experiment with the properties of products…does it hold it’s shape, pour or run?
Develop hand eye co-ordination...
And relax. Given the current situation with lots of changes in routine, distancing from friends and family and HUGE disturbance to ‘our norm’…this is a great way to help your children, from babies up to teens, to let go of some of their tension, anxiety or frustration.
Bubbles
Here Ruth has set up a washing station for the boys’ toys. Franco loved helping to set this up, especially the lining up of the cars. Luca enjoyed dunking and pouring. It provided the opportunity for them to assist each other and Franco benefited from being the ‘leader.’ This has scope to run and run with other toys and objects.
Goop
Here Ruth prepared some goop. She whisked LUX flakes with warm water and an electric mixer. Both boys loved it and it kept them entertained for a long time. They loved pouring it and squeezing it...all those property investigations that we referenced earlier.
This looks like so much fun and also doubled up as a good wash for Luca by the looks of it!!
Playdough
We made a plan as a family to have a play dough session and we decided to raid the garden for natural treasures to add to the dough. It was interesting to see different preferences and motivations.
We made the dough and then Miss 9 and I laid the table as an invitation to play. Honesty disclaimer…I don’t usually spend this much time preparing an activity and have to admit this was a bit staged for a photo, however in taking so much care over this part of the project, it took on its own purpose. Evie loved the responsibility and creativity that came with this role and the others were SO excited when we did the big reveal. It reminded me that we spend time on presentation for a reason.
I loved watching how they all played with the dough differently but also how they watched each other and drew inspiration from each other’s ideas and creations. Here you can see Sonny watching the older children and then mimicking their actions. This is a demonstration of the concept of Ako. In teaoMāori, the concept ofkomeans both to teach and to learn. It acknowledges the way that new knowledge and understandings can grow out of shared learning experiences.
The end results were different and quite a lot went into Sonny’s puku, but EVERYONE loved it and gained from the experience. Its heuristic and open-ended qualities allowed it to cater for their different motivations.
Sand
Similarly, adding natural resources to sand (if you have some) can open up the space to older children who may previously have considered it too young for them.
It allows the play to be complex, artistic and very creative…
...while still providing the integral opportunities to scoop, pour, build and destroy.
Food Preparation - Creativity - Responsibility - Pride - Sensory - Life skills - Fun!!
Food prep and baking are great ‘go to’s’ to bring the family together and I know I have fond memories of spending time in the kitchen with my parents and grandparents.
Ruth says…”it can be messy, but I’ve found both Franco and Luca both love this. It can take a bit more supervision ...but if you can embrace the chaos the rewards outweigh the effort it takes”
Future Chefs
The sense of pride and satisfaction it brings are so beneficial and of course the processes involve maths, sequencing and when done as a group or in pairs, promote calm turn taking.
Another disclaimer…I have a chef for a partner so kind of get out of this one on a loop hole!
Outdoors
Both families have found that getting out every day is so important and judging by the amount of times I have seen various of the Gems whanau on our jaunts, I see that you guys are all making the most of it too…how lucky are we to have these amazing places on our doorstep?
Ruth says…”near or far the walks are always a great re set. Franco and Luca are loving the routine of going for a walk most days. Sometimes we go a long way sometimes just round the block depending on how life is treating us. I try to think of a mission, we try to find ‘treasures’ we can use when we get home like sticks or stones. Luca likes getting to go on the same adventures as Franco and Franco loves the responsibility of showing Luca what he can find and do.”
Trajectory
Franco and Luca love rolling cars pretty much anywhere. Find a hill, ramp, slope anything that means the cars or balls can roll down and they love it.
Ruth has found that taking cars with them on walks adds to the fun.
If you find something all your children enjoy then adapt it and use it in different locations and situations… roll with it….excuse the pun!
Be Adaptable
I have found that thinking on my feet and being adaptable is more important than ever. I may have an idea in my head of how an activity will go but I need to be able to change tac pretty quickly to engage or feed the needs of the whole crew.
Here we began a creative chalk activity which the girls both loved and Joey found satisfying but Sonny was soon bored with…when they had finished their masterpieces I noticed that Sonny was still carrying a piece of chalk around with him looking hopeful…...so we went out onto the greenway and began decorating the fence.
This open ended, free play tapped into his drive to mark make and be like his siblings without the pressure of the expectation of a set finished product.
The activity became more universal.
Change of Equipment
Similarly, the ‘big 3’ were keen to paint but Sonny had other ideas and was being ….erm…distracting so I quickly set up a simple water painting activity for him to allow him to join them without reducing the quality of their experience.
Can an activity be adapted to suit everyone?
Calm time
Ruth has found that creating quiet moments in the day for a snack or picnic are helping their family to have calm together time.
So to summarise, our tips/things that we are finding are helping to widen our nets are:
Lots of messy play…it’s so universal
If you find something that spans the group, then embrace it and use it in different situations and locations
Get outside as much as possible…for you as much as for them
Provide opportunities for creativity and for them to teach and guide each other
Try to involve them in group or individual cooking sessions when you have the energy
Be adaptable and try to see that an activity is usually more valuable in it’s process than in its product. If the end result doesn’t look how you had planned but everyone had fun, then it’s a HUGE win!
Finally, I am finding that above all else…what they actually want…regardless of age, gender, developmental stage or motivations is our attention. We adults are being pulled in so many directions at the moment and our tamariki are definitely feeling that. I am finding that if I can find the time to have a little 1:1 time with each person…even if it’s just a quick bounce on the tramp or a quiet book in a corner that that is really helping to maintain harmony. This DOES NOT happen everyday...some are a blur!
Final disclaimer…Ruth and I don’t do all these things all the time. Our kids also fight and argue, we yell sometimes and feel guilty afterwards. They watch tv and chat to their friends on messenger. But no one takes photos of those things, do they?
These are all things you are all already doing with your children whilst juggling so many external pressures right now but I hope that some of this has been useful in either providing new ideas or reassuring you that you are doing an awesome job. Ruth and I would love to hear of any other activities you have done that have united your children or have been universal across age ranges.
Ka kite koutou.
Sarah and Ruth