Boy Activities While Listening to Read-alouds

[domestic_engineer]

Can you please suggest some ideas that younger boys (7 or younger) can do with their hands while listening to the read-alouds?

 

Coloring pages are rarely enticing.

I've allowed him to whittle when it's warm and we can read outside ... but now that it's winter? (Unless you can give me some ideas on how to keep the shavings contained and we can whittle inside.)

I've read that some people allow lego building - but does the child actually listen to the story? I'd be so engrossed in my design and plans for the legos that I'd tune out the story.

Should I teach the boy to crochet or knit or macrame?!?!

Thanks in advance.

[Cassy]

Mine build with lego while I read, and also play with action figures; I sometimes stop and ask them questions about what I'm reading to check if they're listening, and sadly they can't always answer correctly :glare:. Once they know I'm on to them though their concentration does improve. I prefer those days when they're happy to cuddle in on the sofa while I read - a book with some pictures can help there, they like pictures :tongue_smilie:.

 

I've read that some people let their dc bounce on mini-trampolines while they read. We don't have a mini-trampoline, and the idea doesn't appeal terribly, they're wild enough as it is.

[Alte Veste Academy]

My boys pay perfect attention while playing Legos. Its doesn't appear that way, but they do. Unless they need the same piece...

 

Other things...

 

Bouncing on a hop ball

Playing with Thinking Putty or clay

Drawing on a doodle pad or in their history notebooks

Playing with wooden unit blocks or Citiblocs (or Keva, Kapla... My kids frequently narrate with these.)

Push-ups/pull-ups/sit-ups

Logic puzzles (the kind you physically manipulate like these http://www.amazon.com/Toysmith-1437A-Brain-Bogglers-Bundle/dp/B002VXRLM4/ref=pd_sim_t_30, not paper-based puzzles)

Perplexus (if you can handle the constant sound of the ball rolling)

 

I am sure I will think of others.

 

ETA: Yes, weaving looms. DS9 has made (roughly) a MILLION pot holders. DD and DS6 like to embroider.

[Cosmos]

Perplexus (if you can handle the constant sound of the ball rolling)

 

Oh God. Not the perplexus. That thing alone will be responsible for my breakdown.

 

My ds does small, "fidgety" things --

 

silly putty

ball of whacks

stress ball

tube of slime (he got this at a bowling alley -- I don't know what it's really called)

Rubik's cube

Rubik's snake

Jacob's ladder

 

etc. We have a box full of stuff like that. Building, drawing, coloring, or active play doesn't work for us.

[Spryte]

HIppity Hop Balls (the kind you sit on and bounce, with a handle)

Mini-Trampoline

Acting out what I'm reading (I find this distracting, but try to deal with it)

Playmobil figures

Play Dough, modeling clay, etc

Various "fidget toys" - we keep some in a box, just for school

 

I think DS would like to try sewing or something like that, but I don't have a clue how to teach him. Eek.

[Photo Ninja]

My ds had a favorite ball tha fit just right in one hand. He wold toss it from one hand to the other, lie on his back on the floor and toss it in the air, or roll it against a wall and let it bounce back. I didn't always allow that last option because of the noise, but that ball sure got used a lot!

[Alte Veste Academy]

Mine plays with toys. Pretty much any toy he wants. He still pays attention. I don't know how, but I swear it improves his focus. If I ask him to sit still, forget it.

 

 

Dyphasic thinking. I learned about it in Dreamers, Discoverers & Dynamos. I've done it all my life and never realized it until I read it.

 

http://books.google.com/books?id=4NfUcXcE9Y4C&pg=PA115&lpg=PA115&dq=dyphasic+thinking&source=bl&ots=HVccQRr17d&sig=vOiaoSzVxQI9dhhtMoWYqMrbOHA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tzXvUNjkIaSo2gX_vYH4BA&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=dyphasic%20thinking&f=false

[Alte Veste Academy]

Oh, puzzles! I once read all of Black Ships Before Troy to him in one sitting while he worked on a 1000 piece puzzle.

[Alte Veste Academy]

That's pretty cool! I might actually have a bit of this myself. I pay attention better during a lecture if I doodle or write notes. If I just sit there and listen I start to drift off. I don't like being read to. I just can't pay attention. I like reading out loud though. I like to change my voice and really get into it. Hehe...

Interesting!

 

 

Me too, exactly. When I get to a boring part in a book that I am reading to myself, I either skim it and hurry through or read it but while thinking of something else simultaneously. :lol: I don't think I've ever had fewer than 2-3 thoughts in my head at a time. I specifically remember being called out by the professor one day in one of my college courses. He asked if I was paying attention because I was doodling away furiously in my notebook. I said I was. He didn't believe me and (rather pompously :lol:) said, "OK then, tell the class what I just said." I repeated about the last five sentences of what he had just said, verbatim, then asked if that was enough or if I should have gone back farther. He said that was enough. :tongue_smilie:

[JudoMom]

Some things mine have done:

 

Draw (Ed Emberley's books have been a favorite)

Bendaroos

Clicko, etc.

Klutz books (pipe cleaners, capsters, pom-pom animals, etc.)

Shrinky Dinks

Thinking Putty

Color Code

Pattern Play

Puzzles

Spool Knitting

Monster Drawing Machine

[happypamama]

Mine draw. They don't color, but they do like to draw. They do sometimes play with Legos, but that's usually noisier (because of looking through bins) than I want while I'm reading (and it brings Legos into the schoolroom, which is also the baby's safe room, so that's a no go). Playdough/clay or squishy balls would be good too.

[garddwr]

legos, blocks, k'nex, magna tiles, drawing, puzzles...

 

 

Anything that doesn't require a lot of verbal processing. If they start playing with toy cars or dinosaurs or something where the play is basically an on-going story then they can't play and listen at the same time. Construction or drawing or visual puzzle kinds of things don't interfere so much with listening. I don't expect my kids to give 100% of their attention to listening, though.

[violamama]

This summer at my music camp, we taught them all to finger weave. The boys (ages6-12) were actually more into it than even the girls. The only tool required: yarn!

Google can show you how, it's super simple.

 

[chocoholic]

Bounce a bouncy ball, play lego, make paper airplanes. He may not seem like he's listening, but he is.

[Faithr]

How does anyone read over the chinking sounds that legos make while you are searching for just the right one? I could never read over that!

 

I like to read to them while they are eating! Also, when they were young they'd hang upside down on the sofa. That seemed to help. Or they'd get up and pace back and forth. I just tried to ignore it. My daughter would color or make snow flakes, but my son never liked to do any of that kind of stuff. I would sometimes get out playdough but then they'd fight over who got what color. Now that my ADD son is older he plays solitaire on the ipad while I read aloud. It works really well for him.

[myfunnybunch]

Dyphasic thinking. I learned about it in Dreamers, Discoverers & Dynamos. I've done it all my life and never realized it until I read it.

 

http://books.google....hinking&f=false

 

Aha! This is me!

 

I can read aloud and plan dinner at the same time. When I was in school, I would do my math homework and watch television or carry on a conversation at the same time, following both just fine. In college, I used to write my English papers in my math class. My mother claimed that it was impossible, and it drove her crazy, but I did it anyway. I never knew there was a name for it. :)

 

I am good at multi-tasking.

 

To the OP, my kids put together Legos just fine while they listen to a read-aloud. They also like to draw, build bridges with blocks, and now that they are older, they will often color or draw while they listen, though they did not enjoy coloring much when they were younger.

 

Cat

[HS Mom in NC]

I have girls, but they've listened just fine building K'Nex and other construction toys. I have one (7) that bounces on an exercise ball the whole time and another that did gymnastics on a gym mat in the living room while listening to read alouds. They've played with dolls,done beading projects, various art projects and the like while listening just fine. If what they're doing makes them unable to tell us what we read, they have to do something else. If it interferes with a sibling listening then they have to do something else.

[Spryte]

Dyphasic thinking. I learned about it in Dreamers, Discoverers & Dynamos. I've done it all my life and never realized it until I read it.

 

http://books.google....hinking&f=false

 

Thank you so much for this link!

[acablue]

My kids roll coins. :leaving:

[ZeeMommy]

.

I've allowed him to whittle when it's warm and we can read outside ... but now that it's winter? (Unless you can give me some ideas on how to keep the shavings contained and we can whittle inside.)

.

 

 

 

If he can listen and whittle at the same time, why not let him do it inside over a box or an old cookie sheet or maybe an old sheet/shower curtain to catch the shavings? He could always sweep or vacuum if it gets too messy.

[domestic_engineer]

Thanks, all, for the great ideas.

We will start going through the list ... and check out that book!

It's just so hard for me to break out of the mindset of you-must-be-sitting-still-in-order-to-pay-attention!!!!

[Mommie_Jen]

Mine usually acts out what we are reading. (He's 5). He's on a big Magic Tree House kick lately.

[redsquirrel]

Thanks, all, for the great ideas.

We will start going through the list ... and check out that book!

It's just so hard for me to break out of the mindset of you-must-be-sitting-still-in-order-to-pay-attention!!!!

 

I get it. I really do. The funny thing is I am totally one who has to do something when listening. I took up knitting to give me something to do. for some reason it was difficult to get over that with my own kids. I guess I have always seen it as a problem of mine and I didn't like to see it manifesting in my kids.

 

Anyway, in my house it would be legos and legos and legos with some block building thrown in for good measure. Now the 12 year old pulls out is itouch to play a game while listening, but I promise he really is listening.

[kiwik]

It is odd how people think to be paying attention you have to look at the person and sit still. That's not really how it works. I am watching tv now and I did most of my university assignments while talking to my flatmate and watching tv. If I try to just study I drift of into daydreams, same with music. My dd5.5 used to leap around the room but now mostly he just listens. Ds3.5 has always been good at listening but plays while I am reading to his brother.

[domestic_engineer]

I just thought I'd come back and share what worked for us today ... quite unexpectedly ...

Spreading Peanut Butter on Saltine crackers for a snack!!!

 

Or it could just be that we were reading about fighting in a war. :tongue_smilie: Either way, I'll take a good read-aloud day!

[AKshanmar]

 

We had a gymnastic bar set up in the school room. They were gymnasts, so sit ups, push ups, stretching, all worked. My mom taught them knitting, which was a little easier on my mental state. Good luck!

[shawthorne44]

Mine plays with toys. Pretty much any toy he wants. He still pays attention. I don't know how, but I swear it improves his focus. If I ask him to sit still, forget it.

I have read that doodling can improve focus. If it is something that doesn't require all available brain power, then the mind can wander. The doodling uses the excess brain power and keeps it from wandering. The toys probably do the same thing.

[Miss Tick]

Mine will often read other books - but can still pass my pop quizzes, so I don't feel right making them stop even though I don't understand how they can do it.

 

Reading this thread makes me want to have them read out loud to me so that I can do the other stuff - knitting, puzzling, even spreading nut butter on saltines.

[ScoutTN]

Mine plays with toys. Pretty much any toy he wants. He still pays attention. I don't know how, but I swear it improves his focus. If I ask him to sit still, forget it.

 

 

This!

Play doh or lego work best here.

Napkins and napkin rings will do if we're at the table!

[Julie Smith]

I know, Youngest did this a few days ago.

 

I was on the small couch he would jump from the small couch to the long couch, bounce on that three times. Jump onto a cushion on the floor, jump onto another cushion, climb onto a small stable table. Eat one bite of rice. Then do the above in reverse. Then start back at the beginning.