You already got great advice, I just wanted to add that I had a hard time with this when the boys were 2/3. I actually couldn't get them to play puzzles at all. So I bought the puzzles that contained their key interests (animals and vehicles) and I bought that ones that make the sound when you put the piece in. This essentially rewarded them everytime they put a puzzle piece in the right place, and that just fascinated them. It got them to do puzzles and not only that but they did them over and over so they could hear the sounds. It was a precursor to regular and more complicated puzzles.
Thanks for the great advice.
He has perfection but does not finish it alone unless we sit and play with him. His favorite toys are action/reaction specially those that make sound. The jigsaws that make sounds should work too. Also the link that Kristys (Therapy Shoppe) mentioned seems to have excellent toys.
He is fascinated by cars and since we hid them all recently, he seems more interested in the other toys. I think he needs time to like with playing the toys. I mean he should experience the enjoyment first then probably will become more interested.
Daddy
I would suggest doing a vestibular activity warm-up such as swinging, bouncing, jumping. Say, "Jump 20 times," or "Turn in a circle", "now sit down" and have the materials there with no distractions. We do this about every 15-20 minutes. We keep all the activities, games, puzzles, therapy materials on the other side of the basement (storage side) and he helps retreive the next thing. This way you only have one thing to focus on.
We mix these gross motor/OT exercises into his programming and it seems to help a great deal.
I have to say that the Thomas and Friends Station Stop Matching Game was also a big hit with my daughter. We used to play as a family and it kept her attention. She was about 4 at the time.Here is some interesting benchmark data on attention span.
A normal attention span is 3 to 5 minutes per year of a child's age. Therefore, a 2-year-old should be able to concentrate on a particular task for at least 6 minutes, and a child entering kindergarten should be able to concentrate for at least 15 minutes. (Note: A child's attention span while watching TV is not an accurate measure of his or her attention span.)
IMHO there are not specific toys and activities to increase attention span. However, there are some techniques you can try. Do you have any really boring rooms in your house, like a guest bedroom with nothing in there but a bed and a dresser? When my son was 3 I put a small table and 2 small chairs in our very boring guest bedroom. There was literally nothing to distract him in there (no TV, no toys, just some boring furniture and some art on the wall). I would take him in there for short periods of time (10 - 20 minutes) and the 2 of us would sit there and do activities together. If he got off task, I would simply redirect him back to the activity at hand. In order to stimulate interaction, I tried to do activities with him that required turn taking. A strategy I've seen therapists use to keep kids on task is to break things down into simple steps and give interim rewards like stickers.
Using the puzzles idea previously stated, you may want to get a sheet of stickers and show them to him. Then give him a few puzzles (or whatever amount you think he can do in about 10 minutes) and give him a sticker each time he completes one. Another activity is stacking blocks. Get some blocks and sit across from each other and build a tower. You put a block, he puts a block, back and forth. Does he understand numbers yet? If so, count each block.
Does he like Thomas? The first game we were able to play effectively with my son was Thomas and Friends Station Stop Matching Game. We got this when he was 3ish.
http://www.trainparty.com/products/bp08108.html
Basically, each person gets a "bingo card" with 9 trains on it. Then there are a bunch of train cards (36 of them) that you put face down on the floor/carpet. You pick up a card, turn it over, see if it matches a train on your card. If it does, you put the train card on your card. If not, you turn it over and put it back. Whoever fills their card wins. It's like a combination of bingo and memory. If your son isn't ready for the memory portion of it, you could simply put the memory cards face up and make it an exercise of him finding the trains to match his card.
We have perfection too, but my son used to get really upset when the timer went off before he could get all the pieces in and then he wouldn't want to play any more.
Another game my son loved was this basketball thing with pingpong balls. (OK, found a link with picture because otherwise wasn't sure how to describe!)
http://www.amazon.com/MGA-245148P-Hot-Hoops-refresh/dp/B0000 4SZ45
I've also bought things before from Therapy Shoppe, an online store that sells sensory-motor stuff. I think this is where OT's buy stuff to do with kids but us parents can buy stuff too. Here are some "early learning" products.
http://www.therapyshoppe.com/product.php?offset=0&cat=11 &id=625
Let me know how it goes!
My daughter's psychotherapist has recommended the game Perfection for her. So far, she does like it and keeps her focus. Other than that, she likes anything on the computer... however I feel that pc games is a stim for her to retreat into her own world.Hi Daddy,
Get him puzzles related to his interests and keep redirecting him. Plus he is still young. Attention span is short in all toddlers.
Concernedpa.
Any recommendation for activities or toys to help my son not to get distracted easily? When he is doing an activity (like doing a puzzle), suddenly for a few seconds looks around and it seems is completely in another world, KWIM. Have you had this problem? Any recommendation?
Daddy