Bounce!

They're getting big enough to play cooperatively, and this bouncy toy is great practice. The three-year-olds have pretty much figured out the idea of balance on this thing. If there are only two bouncing, you need to be opposite each other.

It takes some cooperation to make the thing bounce effectively. You can't all push at the same time, you can all pull. You have to lean forward and back, push and pull, alternatively. I don't put it in words for them. I let them work it out and then I put words on what they've experienced. Words without substance mean far less at this age than words that describe what they're doing.

A lot of the time, I don't say anything at all. I don't have to be talk, talk, talking at them all the time for them to be learning! Learning ... and just having plain old, agenda-free fun.

Whee!

Note to self: when trying to take on-the-fly pictures of children, take their caps off. I took a dozen shots of the children on this thing, and in not one single shot did I manage to catch Ella's face...