The Learning Tower

We are blessed to have a large kitchen and a lot of counter space.  I learned about what's called a "learning tower" from a friend of mine.  Instead of using a chair to stand on for your child to get at counter height they can stand in the learning tower.  It has four sides and little foot holes to use to climb up.  We have been so happy with it.  Lachlan uses it to cook with his Dad and it is the most common place for school time to take place. 

Here is Peter showing off his first haircut while standing in the learning tower.
I try to have something on the counter for them to do if they climb up into the tower.

Since we have started preschool at home I have tried to have one of Lachlan's school activities on the counter.  We just started learning the letter b.  So I dug out the Melissa & Doug puzzles I got as a gift from Grandma D.  Picked out two b words and found all the letters need to complete the puzzles and put them in a little container.  The puzzle set has all the letters of the alphabet which Lachlan can dig through but he get's deterred easily.  I thought he might stay focused if he felt more successful.  It turns out that even the little ones that I watch have been able to find a few of the letters on their own and get them in the right place.