Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion I'm finding it hard to challange DD

I am finding it hard to challange DD 2.9. I am talking more toy wise, puzle wise etc. Everything I get that I think will challange her she ends up grasping and mastering immediately.

I don't want to frusterate her by going to hard, but I get things for kids twice her age and it doesn't challange her.

She loves workbooks so instead of preschool ones for 3-4 and 4-5 year olds, I thought...humm I'll get her a K one for 5-6 year old, that meets national standards and has a full year curriculum...in 2 weeks she has done over half of the 300 pages and has not been challanged at all. I am thinking of buying the 1st grade one after Christmas.

She mastered 24 piece puzzles so we moved to 35 piece ones last week. I figured I should get her 48 piece for christmas...have several wrapped and under the tree, however se got to open one of her presents Sat night at a christmas party and she put it together in no time flat...definitly did not challange her. I didn't think she was ready for 60 piece ones but maybe she is.

She got a Mighty Mind game as a gift the other night. It is for 4-8 year olds....she got to puzzle 21 without even having to think....(it is kind of a tanagram type thing) There are only a few cards left to do.

Everything just seems to come easy to her. If she hears it once, sees it once, etc, she seems to know it and grasp it....manythings I don't even know how she knows, but she does...So is it just that I am not buying hard enough activities? I am already chosing activities that are for kids 3-4 years older then her. Should I go up even higher. I am afraid of frusterating her but also afraid of her not learning how to work through something challenging.

So how do I challange her?

wow! she sound amazing.

How about some science experiments, art type projects or legos. We have a kit about bubble science for the summer. Panama waterways (Brio) is great fun and kids can learn about pumps and currents.

This is not my expertise but try to relax and enjoy the ride. I would follow her interest leads. Go up levels in games/toys as she is ready. If she takes an interest in something go get books about it. How about some things to be challenged and some stuff that is just fun? I think it nice to enjoy things that are simple too. It feels good to make a colorful paper chain that have stickers, stampers or marker decorations to hang on the stair rail. String some popcorn and dried fruit for the birds.

Hope this helps. Mostly just have fun and enjoy this time. Take lots of video and pictures.

A book called Montessori play and learn has some good ideas.

I diddo the amazing comment!

How about board games? Checkers, chess, monopoly-they have so many versions now. cards games. One thing my girls loved is that talking model of the planets and the sun, has over 600 facts,with questions and answers.

onthegomom is right about the simple things too, I call it getting back to the basics. DD's do this alot they'll do some intense science experiment and then go play paper dolls

Have fun!

Thank you both so much

She definitly loves the simple things. We do a lot of crafts. Today we made cut out christmas trees, sheglued buttons on them for ornaments, and then glued them to clothes pins. We hung up a string and used them to hang all the christmas cards we have gotten
Anything with paint, clue, cutting is a hit with her.

We are getting more board games for christmas- we only have one right now and she loves it. I have a box under the tree that includes 4 card cames, and i think 5 or 6 board games, and Nana bought a few for her to.

I think I will check out some science kits for her. She is very into how things work and exploring things. A few months ago she asked me for a magnifying glass so we bought her one, and she uses it everyday to look at things LOL.

I told dh that when my mom comes for christmas we will make a trip to Micheals and stock up on craft supplies for DD.

Skylersmommy- Can you give me the name of that model. DD is enthralled with space. We made a solar system model a few months ago together that is now in her room.

Your doing GREAT!!!! Love the buttons on Xmas trees.

At micheals they usually have $1 plaster ornaments to paint. Our first ones are just dripped paint. Make sure these get names and ages. It's fun to see them again every year.

It's called the "solar system fact finder" here's a link:

http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/ca%7CsearchResults~~p%7CWF212~~.jsp

it recommends a higher age but we got this when DD6 was your DD's age, and when it still had pluto! we had to get the updated version when it came out

I highly recommend checkers, chess and sudoku (you can start with 4 squares until she gets the hang of it).

If I were in your shoes I would pick something you know she is good at and then just keep bumping up the age level until you hit a level where she actually starts to slow down a touch. Not necessarily to the so frustrated that she gives up, but just has to actually think a bit. I went through this with Wolf starting school this year...

Welcome to my world. This is the issue I've faced with DS6 forever. The best advice I received was to follow her lead. Anytime she shows an interest, Pounce! At that age, we played a lot of word games and number games. He also was and still is fascinated with vocabulary words.

I second onthegomom's Lego suggestion. I got my first set at age 4 (waaaay too late) and was soon covering the entire floor space of my room with giant cities/spaceships/space cities. Things that have a "right answer" (like puzzles and workbooks) are only fun once. Creative stuff like Lego is fun forever.

As for books, why not take her with you to the shop, open a book, hand it to her, and see how she reacts? Or go online and print some stuff at different levels and see how she does with them.

My suggestion would be to focus more on open ended materials that offer the possibility of growing with her developmentally. Some examples of material that got use for many years at our house: wood unit blocks, simple dress up stuff like capes, legos blocks -not sets, stuffed animals, playmobil, and brio style trains.

In other words, I would move away from the idea of getting stuff that is quickly outgrown once it is mastered and instead offer open ended toys that can be played with in increasingly complex ways. Knock off versions of the brio trains can be purchased fairly inexpensively. They offer lots of possibilities for engineering and pretend play that can last for years.

If you want to buy something like a puzzle pattern blocks are really great and again can be used for many years in a variety of ways. http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/seo/ca|productSubCat~~p|RA572~~f|/Assortments/Lakeshore/Promotions/promo/patternblocks.jsp