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!)

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. 

Mommy! What's The Time Now? (Part 1)

Here is a post which I have delayed writing for several months now. Perhaps it was because JS was still not able to grasp the meaning of time yet and we did not proceed with another session on this subject until recently when he started to ask about the time more frequently. 

For a start, I tried to introduce to him the very basic concept of  time telling and since he could count to 20 at that time, we did not have any problems with reading the numbers on the clock.  

I drew six clocks for this session and wrote the time, 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, etc.... below each of them. 

JS reading the numbers on a clock.

After telling him briefly about the hour and the minute hands (I used the term "long hand" and "short hand" to make it easier for him to remember), he had to draw the hands correctly on each clock. I would show him where the hands should point to, using  a wooden clock. 

Lastly, to make things very obvious for him, he had to put stickers on the numbers where the hands pointed at.