A Family Of Shapes

Yes, it is time to start formal classes with JE and hopefully I will have more posts to share soon. I am starting with the things she has shown more interests in and that would be glue, stickers, masking tape, colours and shapes. Last week, we made a collage of a garden (which I have not found time to write a post about it) but it seems to me that she could not figure/or picture out what we were doing. Well, she knows grass, tree, flowers, sky, cloud, bird and butterfly but she did not show much interest in arranging or pasting the pieces of papers. She was more engrossed in putting glue on them. So this time round, I thought perhaps making a face would help her to learn how to form a picture (or rather, get a picture of what we are making)  because I assumed that she would know where to put the eyes, nose, mouth and hair. Hmmm... 

She was excited the moment she saw me arranging her table and chair to where she would do some work. She was more thrilled when she saw me taking out the bottle of glue. She started putting glue on a piece of yellow paper but after she was done, she just passed the paper to me. Yes, she still hasn't get the purpose of putting on a glue on a piece of paper but that's alright. I asked her where she wanted to put the paper and she pointed at the bottom right of the art block. Then she continued putting glue on the next piece of paper. 

JE putting glue on the yellow triangle. 

After sticking all four shapes, I asked her to pick a shape for each family member. She chose square for Daddy, circle for her big brother, rectangle for Mommy and triangle for herself. 

Next comes the fun part of putting on the eyes, nose, mouth and hair all according to the shape of the face. For the square face, she should stick on square eyes and for the circle face, she should stick on circle eyes and so on. I use labelling stickers which are a lot easier to handle and she could learn to peel them off. It's an important fine motor skill and also fun to do. 

JE peeling a labeling sticker. 

So this is Mommy and Daddy

and this is JS her big brother

and this is JE herself!

When JS came home from school and saw what JE did, he also wanted to make one. This is what he did. 

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!)

Learning To Tie Shoe Laces With DIY Slippers

This is a long delayed project with the aim of trying to teach JS how to tie a ribbon and also shoelaces. He does not have any shoes with shoelaces yet so it was almost unnecessary to learn this skill but I think he should so I told him that he could have his own sport shoes like Daddy's badminton shoes when he grows a bit older and he could go play badminton with him. 

The activity would not be interesting without something actual to work on so the best thing was to make a footwear for this purpose.

We made a pair of slippers with patterned cardboards, felt stickers and foam sheets. 

The first step was to draw the outline of his feet for the foot soles. 

Next we made the upper part using foam sheets and felt stickers. Then we punched some holes for the string. The string was not really necessary but because this project was aimed at teaching JS how to fix shoe strings and tie a ribbon, it was necessary. If your project was just to make a slipper, you can decorate the upper part in any other way. 

From the picture below you can see that we used felt stickers to stick the upper part on the insole of the slipper. We used felt stickers because it has a stronger hold and is mess free. Next, we put some latex glue at the bottom of the insole to stick the sole on. 

Lastly, JS learnt to tie the string on the slipper. 

More Sensory and Motor Skill Play

Here are some of the sensory and motor skills play that JE enjoyed recently. 

These can  be short session activities but if she really enjoys it, she could play for quiet a long time. Sometimes, if we carry out these activities in the afternoon, JS would join in too. 

Most of the things we used are common items found at home and you can substitute them with other similar objects. 

For example, we can use rings or rubber bands for this activity. 

This "fishing" activity helps JE to practice her spooning skill.

For this activity (pushing and pulling objects through a hole) many other types of objects could be used. Here we used french beans.

Meal time is a good time to put their motor skills into practice. 

JE doesn't really like to eat eggs but this activity was a success. I made her peel her own egg and she happily ate it! 

Colour Play

Markers have been my top choice of art supply for a toddler's first experiments with colours. I like their vibrant colours that will definitely attract young explorers, not to mention that they are less messy compared to other choices. 

As pictures speak louder than words, I love to use them to depict the learning process of my children. 

Here are some of the pictures of JE exploring her new set of "toy".

She tries different ways to grip the markers.

She learns to open and close the cover of the marker. 

And when she got tired of scribbling with them, we played a little game with the colourful sticks. 

JE looking at the markers and decides which one she wants to  knock  down and...

it's the yellow one!

Sticker Play

Sticker is an essential item when it comes to doing projects with my children. They come in all kinds of sizes, texture, colours and design, easy to handle and most importantly, they are almost mess free. The kids love them and as for me, it is the perfect solution for a quick-an-easy project for them to work on when I do not have much time to prepare for more complicated activities. It is also one of the activities that I can do with both of them at the same time without having to worry about a messy workstation to clean up. 

While JS worked on his sticker picture, JE started by exploring  the collection of stickers we have. 

   

Then she joined her brother at the table and worked on her own little project. 

JE working on her little project.

JS started with a fruit tree and added fruits and animals to it. Then, he added numbers one to ten in a particular sequence among the animals and tree. 

The next day, we did another round of sticker play. This time, instead of sticking them on paper, they had to stick the labels on their bodies. I wrote the names of a few body parts based on a body chart. JS used the body chart as a reference to learn new words and then stick the labels on the correct body parts. 

JE also joined in the fun as JS and I stuck the stickers on her.