tadpoles

Each week at the library I have Sparkle check out a science book and a biography along with whatever other books she wants. Usually she never reads these books. Last week I decided to sit down with her and have her actually read the book she checked out. The science book was a book about tadpoles. As Sparkle read, I asked her what she was thinking about. Turns out the whole time she was reading the book, she kept looking at the pictures and thinking about squishing the frogs and tadpoles. After we got to the end of the book, I threw up my hands in frustration. No wonder she doesn't get anything out of the library books. She spends the whole time looking at the pictures wanting to poke and squish things.

Fast forward a few days.

We are dropping Glitter off at preschool, and we cross a little bridge over a drainage ditch. Sparkle looks down at the muddy water below and tells me that there is algae down there, and tadpoles eat algae. Can she go look for tadpoles? Okay, sure, but I'm staying up here where it's dry. Sparkle exuberantly runs down and a few moments later exclaims that, yes, there are tadpoles there.

Fast forward a few more days.

Sparkle wants to play with play-dough. Okay, it's spring break, go ahead. Sparkle makes a round ball and tells me it's an egg. Okay. I give the obligatory customary look and return to my own thing. A few minutes later, Sparkle calls me back. She's made play-dough models of all the life stages of a frog. Then, at my suggestion, she makes labels for them.



OMG, how do you teach such a kid. One day I'm exasperated that she's day dreaming about poking pictures instead of reading her book. Then a few days later, she's finding real-life ways of applying the information from the same book.