Fun Fair At Home

Haze haze go away, come again another day, little children want to play, haze haze go away. Yes, the haze issue here in our country has affected our daily activities. Not only outdoor activities are being discouraged, the Ministry of Education also announced (on certain days due to high PSI readings) the closure of schools. 

To keep JS away from too much screen time, I suggested that we play fun fair at home. JS had not been to a fun fair so he was curious about this idea. I told him that it has game booths like those found at Legoland and indoor theme parks and also lots of stalls selling food, especially junk foods. He was thrilled. 

We list down several types of games and foods that we would like to have at our fun fair. Our game list include fishing, bowling and shooting at targets while our food stalls include french fries, marshmallow, hotdogs, chicken wings, pasta, popcorn, chocolates and chips. 

We started off by setting up the game booths. We decided to have three booths, fishing, bowling and shooting a ball into a hole. 

JS cutting a hole in a box for one of the games. 

JS making the signages.

The reward card and reward stickers. 

By the time we finished setting up the game booths, it was almost lunch time so we quickly prepared the food and started the play by buying food at the stalls. We only had pasta, chicken wings and hotdogs. 

JS preparing the food. 

JE: Can we eat now? I am so hungry!

To make this fun fair game more real, JS had to pay for the food and games. 

JS paying for his food.

JS paying for his food.

Next of course, was game time! 

JS started with the bowling. He had to pay one buck for five throws.

Next, the played the 'Shoot and Win'. This time, he had to pay two bucks for five throws. 

We ended with the fishing game which both of them enjoyed the most. JS had to pay one buck to play for one minute. He gets a sticker for every five Lego bricks he fished. 

JS counting the number of Lego bricks he was able to fish. 

JS counting the reward stickers to claim his prizes. 

It was a day full of play (and learning too!)

Colourful Capsicums

Capsicums and more capsicums! I think this was the first time I bought so many capsicums at one time. All because my son loves them and the department store was offering five different colours. How could I not get them all? So, I ended up buying ten capsicums, two of each colours. 

Of course, JS was thrilled to see so many colourful capsicums and started taking them out from the plastic bags. Besides admiring the vibrant colours, we did some counting with them. 

Then, we cooked them! Or rather, JS, had his first experience cooking capsicum on his own. We (my hubby and I) do not really like the way capsicum is being cooked in Chinese dishes, especially when added in mixed vegetables. It was not something my husband would happily eat until I accidentally discovered the super simple  yet delicious way of preparing this very nutritious vegetable. 

One day, some years ago, I was pan frying salmon and after that, I did not want to waste all the "good" oil that remained in the pan after frying the fish so I just used it to stir fry some capsicums. Surprisingly, it turned out really good and sweet. 

We did not have pan fried salmon on that day when I bought the capsicums but of course, we could still have stir fry capsicums. It is JS' favourite so he happily learnt how to prepare it. 

I helped him to half the capsicums so he could remove the seeds (which he gathered in a small container because we wanted to try planting it in our garden). 

Next, he cut them lengthwise and sprinkled some salt. 

Then, I helped him to pour some cooking oil into the wok and he could do the rest. When the oil was heated, he put in the strips of colourful vegetables and stir fry them on medium to high fire. 

The dish doesn't look very good here, due to poor photography skill. It's taken using my iPhone and the lighting was poor too because we use amber lights at home. Nevertheless, JS was very satisfied with his cooking that he almost ate everything up! 

Racing Against Time

JS has been very active ever since he was a baby. He wouldn't stop moving his limbs even when he was lying in the incubator. He was prematurely born at 30 weeks. He was also very talkative. The only time when he would not be moving his body or talking, is when he is sleeping. Thus, it is a challenge for me, who is not quiet active in sports, to come up with lots of physical activities for him. 

I have always wanted to create a "sort of" relay match for him so one day, I just came up with this simple race. Since he had no one to race against, I made him race against the time, which is to finish all tasks and reach the finish line within a minute. 

He had to run from the main entrance of the house to the living hall where the sofa is and stack up a specific number of pillows according to my instructions which was only given when he reach the sofa, which was "Station 1". The pillows in the living hall comes in two different sizes so I would say something like "3 big and 2 small" which meant, 3 big pillows and 2 small pillows. 

Once done, he need to run to the first "tunnel" (formed using two chairs) and pick a specific number of Lego Duple also, according to the instructions given only when he reached the location, which is "Station 2". 

Next, he would have to go through the second "tunnel" and drop the Lego Duplos in a container just in front of the "tunnel". This is "Station 3". 

At "Station 4", he would have to pick a flashcard based on instruction given. 

And once he got the right card, he is supposed to go under the table which is the finish line of the race. 

Through this activity, he learnt to take instructions and carry them out accordingly within a short period of time. On top of that, he gets to run and crawl around the house, something which he loves doing all day long. 

And while JS was busy running and crawling and carrying out the tasks given to finish his races, JE was happily stacking up the Lego Duplos.  

Pillow Play and Counting

Now that JE is walking more steadily, there are countless of new activities that she could do. Here is one activity that helps her to practice her new skill. It involves a lot of movements and we also added counting to it.

I chose pillows as the object of this activity because it is light, soft and quite big for her, which she might find it to be a little more challenging but not intimidating. 

I started by taking five of the many pillows we have at the living room and placed them in front of her. As I do that, I counted one, two, three, four, five. Then I just let her do whatever she wanted to with them for a while, then I would make a pattern with them, counting one, two, three, four, five as I arranged them nicely. So, every time when I arrange them, I would do the counting. 

She would also learn to take instructions when I told her to "stack it" or "give it to Mommy" or "put it here beside this pillow". 

Here are some picture of what we did. 

First she stacked the five pillows I gave her.

Then she decided to add one of her own. 

And praised herself for a job well done. 

Then I directed her to arrange them in a row.

By the end of the session, she was exhausted....

DIY Pizza Menu For Play

This is one of the "one-thing-lead-to-another" project where we were supposed to make crowns using paper plates but ended up making pizzas, and not just that, but a menu that we use for maths now. 

The paper plates that we used were too small for JS' head and thus the crown "broke" when JE pulled it off her brother's head and we decided to make pizzas instead using the triangle pieces. 

After drawing the pizzas, JS made the menu. I suggested several names for his restaurant such as Happy Pizza and Yummy Pizza, just to trigger him to come up with one of his own and he decided to name it "Laughing Pizza". 

Next, we named the types of pizzas. Since Aloha Chicken is almost the only pizza we order, JS is most familiar with this flavour. We made up the rest, namely Seaweed Chicken, Tomato Hotdog and Eggy Prawn. 

Then we moved on to price them and JS priced Aloha Chicken at RM3 each, Seaweed Chicken at RM4 each, Tomato Hotdog at RM10 each and Eggy Prawn at RM5 each. 

We proceeded with some pretend play where JS also learnt addition using lego bricks as money and an abacus to help him add up the prices of two pizzas. 

Mommy, What's The Time Now? (Part 2)

Lately, JS is more eager to know about "time" and has been asking me, "Mommy, what's the time now?" more often, I thought I should teach him more about clock and time. 

This time, I tried to include the minutes instead of just the hours so we need to draw a clock that is large enough to fit 60 stickers around its diameter. 

I always believe that "if you do it yourself, you will know it better" so JS had to make the clock on his own. However, I want the clock to look neat because it would be his reference so I drew the circle and wrote the numbers on the stickers for him. All he had to do was to stick them on the right places. 

We used an alarm clock as a reference for the time and he would try to put the hour and minute hands accordingly.

I am quiet sure that JS still could not figure out how the "minute" hand works but as I always believe, he will, when the time comes.