My younger one is almost a year and a half now. There's this toy she specifically loves to play with. It's the shape sorter. The reason she loves playing with it is that it has lots of pieces and she just enjoys throwing it everywhere and watch me gather them for her.
After it is assembled, it's a joy to watch her figure out which pieces match the shape of the hole.
Children this age are still acquiring various skills needed for their overall development. Toys are an excellent medium to assist.
A shape sorter is a great tool for many reasons.
It benefits eye-hand co-ordination, fine motor skills, understanding colour & shapes and vocabulary. Although I have shown her where the circle peg and the square peg goes in, she insists on pushing through an incorrect shape into a misfit shape.
So, like every other time I try to move her hand away from the wrong shape and place it over the right match. But back she goes again to give a few more try on squeezing the solid plastic square piece into a circular shape.
Aren't we guilty of doing the same thing with our children's lives?
We try to fit them into something that's not right for them.
We try to look at their life from the opportunities we missed out.
Seldom realizing that they are an individual with unique gifts and skills.
Children are a gift to us and we have the responsibility to nurture them wisely.