365: Opposite Day

January 25 is Opposite Day! We are on our way from Cincinnati to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, so we got a little creative and played in an Opposites Bored Bucket.

I am uncertain of what I would officially call this bucket, but I figured since we were stuck in the car for 6 hours, this bucket would serve to help Jude be less bored. We travel a lot, so I plan on making a lot of these Bored Buckets.

The Bored Bucket was full of all the opposites I could find quickly in the playroom.
Pair #1: black and white (two homemade peg dolls)
Pair #2: tall and short/big and little (turtle and giraffe wooden toys)
Pair #3: loud and quiet (striped baby paper and rainbow play silk)
Pair #4: soft and hard (rainbow play silk and wooden giraffe)
Pair #5: circle and square (Oball and block) [note: at midnight when I packed these, circle and square seemed like a logical opposite, but they seem less so like opposites now]

We started by talking about what opposites are. Then, I set the Bored Bucket on Jude's lap and let him pick out his first object to make the pair. He went right fo the Oball, so we got the quasi opposites out of the way. I let him play with each pair for about five minutes and then switched them out and explained to him the next pair.

It gave us about thirty minutes of conversation and one-on-one playing. He is still playing with the toys while I type. It definitely helped make both of us less bored!

A fun way to do this with an older child would be to fill the bucket and have them pair off what they believe the opposites are and list them. You could also let an older sibling pick pairs to put them in the bucket for a younger sibling to sort!

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365: Opposite Day