The trick with these children is that unless they are truly interested in what the material offers, they won’t be drawn to repetition and developing concentration. 

Remember that it is work chosen by the child that generates the interest in doing something repetitively. Disinterest in something will lead to the child working with the materials once after which they will put it away.

If the child can work with the materials correctly, allow the child to become the “teacher” of that material, giving a presentation to an interested child. Being the teacher of something can inspire the child to work with the materials until they are mastered. 

The first step is to ask the child to master the material, then give a lesson to you, the teacher, and if all goes well, they can give the lesson to others. Discuss how one would know if another child is ready for the presentation. 

All of us are challenged to look at the interest of the child rather than the ages in our albums to determine which materials a child may be interested in – rather than thinking about the next material in a sequence. 

Be creative in generating interest in a material but accept that some children may not repeat the work if they either already know how to do it or there is little interest in working with something.