Activities

I've recently made Rolland a daily schedule with moving, magnetic parts that hangs on the dishwasher and gives him an idea of what to expect for the day (and lets me avoid being the bad guy when he asks to watch The Backyardigans for the 39th time today: "What does the schedule say? Ooo, too bad." etc.).

One of the items is "Activity," by which I mean that I'll provide some sort of structured experience that requires a bit of supervision. Playing with playdough, for example. So, crazy me, I thought it would be neat to have several options lined up for the different days. I googled "busy bags" and came up with approx 1 bazillion (wow, spell check okays that one) ideas for engaging activities. I gathered my supplies, made my bags, and...huh, he has no interest in threading Cheerios onto a piece of yarn. Apparently the promise of a necklace does not outweigh the immediate pleasure of consuming a bowlful of dry, stale, spongy Cheerios. Okay, how about sorting colored paper clips into 7 different small bowls? What could be more gratifying than that? Ah, I see, running around the house with an unlidded container of over 200 paperclips while yelling, "Roar! I'm the paper clip tiger!" is clearly the way to go. (Yes, they did spill, but he did a champion job cleaning them up, so it wasn't a complete bust.)

So...I'm at a bit of a loss. Do I let him play playdough every day until he's sick of it and the carpet is permanently multicolored? Do I persist with my activities until he gives a hoot? Do I just give him the supplies and let him use them as a springboard for his imagination? Or do I forget nice, crafty activities and play more David and Goliath with him (in which I, as David, throw a ball at his head, and he, as Goliath, falls down face first--we played this outside today and I'm a little surprised CPS didn't show up with all the cars that were driving by probably observing the wrong 2 seconds of the game)?