Tray activities for Doll

Yesterday I prepared some tray activities for Doll. When she came home and saw the trays, she immediately wanted to work on them. That's the beauty of Montessori, it's invites the child to play and learn. No need for strict routines, it's a natural process. 

The activities I prepared weren't anything academic, it was more to remind her the beauty of 'work'.

Looping the rubber bands around the bottle to work on that fine motor skills. 

Using ice cream sticks to form shapes. Its a good way for them to learn the differences in each shape ie triangle has  sides while a square has four. 

Using an aided chopstick to transfer poms poms into ice cube tray. 

As usual I simple couldn't forgo counting activities. Since Doll has learn to count to 30, I wanted her to practise.  So I prepared her only two boxes (didn't want to overwhelm her) of buttons. She had to count each boxes.  One she had to count up to 26 and another 30. 

I love that she enjoyed herself and didn't see these as 'work'. I hope I can keep this up. These days taking care of two school going kids keeps my schedule very tight and exhausting. 

Guided reading

These days I am more focused on teaching Doll to read. No Math, no activities just reading.

 

I decided that I needed some sort of a system instead of going by where the wind blows me. So I made my way to my local bookstore (Popular) & bought a guided reader for Doll.

 

I chose Scholastic science readers.

 

There are several mini books like these in the set.

 

I love this series because the sentences are more or less repetitive. There are new words on each page but mostly repetitive throughout the book.

 

I am using these books to give me some sort of a structure to teach Doll. What I do is, I'd first read a book to her and then teach her the new words.

 

 

I'd prepare word cards that are found in the particular book we are focusing on.

 

Like always, I do matching activity with her or get her sort the words as I read each word to her. As I've mentioned earlier, matching words helps Doll learn more effectively.

 

After she can recognise the new words, I'd return to the book and make her read word by word. It is easy to look at the picture and guess the words. That's why, I'd usually cover the pictures & point to each word as she reads aloud.

 

 

I am satisfied that Doll has learn to read quite a substantial number of words. Since I have (long) purchased (but never use) a box of word cards, I decided to to use them for Doll to practise her reading.  I took out the words she had learnt and randomly form a sentence or phrase. She would then read aloud to me.

 

I love these cards, so many possibilities!

 

 

Also, I am exposing her to writing her letters and practising her pincer grasp. I've downloaded a couple of free apps & she's been doing this almost daily. Sometimes, we can 'cheat' a little and let technology be their teacher hee hee hee!

 

DIY Montessori Pink box (Tweak)

I love Montessori Pink box activity! But I always find collecting the small objects & finding a place to store them a HUGE hassle. It is also not easy to find the objects individually as most of the time, you are required to buy them in a set amongst other things. It just makes no sense especially when I find no use for the other items in the set. Finding a (large) box is one thing and storing that box is another!

 

I know there are mothers who set up the box and sell them in a set. Still, I find it too costly to purchase particularly if its something that I can easily duplicate myself.

 

So, I put off this activity for a long time. Until, I had a light bulb moment! And here, I present to you...my own version, a very tweaked version of Montessori Pink Objects.

 

Here's my set up. I have longed set up my own movable alphabet box using the cut out letters from our Melissa and Doug set.

 

 

Instead of the small objects, I placed the above puzzles (within the same word family) in the pink box. First, to set the play, Doll build these puzzles.

 

 

 

After she is done with the puzzles, I have her play on our Leapfrog word builder. She had to match the letters from the puzzle to the word builder. It would sound each letter out and read out the word for her. I have her repeat after it.

 

 

After she figured out each word, I gave her my word labels and have her match to the puzzles. I am pleasantly surprised that she immediately recognise these words. Looks like it's working!

 

This is something I intend to do with her later. Here, I want to help her differentiate similar sounding words like 'fox' and 'box'. She will use the cut out letters and identify the beginning sounds of each word.

 

Lastly, again using the Melissa & Doug cut out letters, I will have her spell each word. I hope that by this way, it will also help her see the difference between similar words like 'box'.

 

This will probably be my focus for the next few weeks. I find that Doll is in the sensitive period now in picking up new words and I plan to size this opportunity!

 

 

Pre Handwriting activities

I observed that Doll is ready to hold a pencil and do some tracing. Thanks to the brother, she has been inspired to pick up a pencil and just doodle away. At first, I left it as it is until I told myself I better cease this sensitive period before it passes me by.

 

 

Most of the time, I just give a pencil, paper and simply let her doodle away! I want her to be comfortable in holding a pencil and experience the thrill of seeing how she can draw something just by holding a pencil.

 

 

A Montessori activity, tracing Metal insets, except that mine is the cheap cousin of Metal insets- its wooden inset & smaller than the authentic ones. But it works just as well! According to Montessori, this is a prelude to writing; the child is to trace the inside shape of the inset.  (No she didn't trace the ones on the right of the drawing, it was done by yours truly)

 

If you don't own one but want to do this, you can always find those stencil rulers that come in differing shapes like circle, triangles and of different sizes too. Those work just as well and its CHEAPER! :D

 

 

 

I have also started her on writing her letters. Just to interest her and to get a feel of the letters shape, I printed out the Dot-a-dot printable from Confessions of a homeschooler.

 

If you don't have the dot a dot markers, don't fret. I also used these printable and have Doll traced over them. What I did was to number the circles for her to trace over. The numbering on the circles help her to write her letters in the correct direction.

 

 

 

Alternatively, you can also write out the letters using highlighter and have the child trace over it. It works as well and at no cost! :)

 

 

 

I splurged on the Leapfrog Mr Pencil. It's not costly, but I find it's an unnecessary buy. Still, it did help Doll to learn her letterings. I have been letting her trace the letters and from here she learnt how to write the letters 'E', 'I', 'F' etc. 

 

I say its an unnecessary buy because I think there are many free apps out there for the kids to learn how to write the letters albeit without a pen. I find the Leapfrog pencil a little annoying because one needs to place the pencil in a certain position in order for the censor to pick it up. It can be frustrating & disruptive for the child when the app does not sense pencil motion.

 

I say don't buy because there are many cheaper and equally, if not more, effective than this pencil.

 

 

Another typical Montessori activity.

 

I let Doll trace the letters on sand. Instead of fingering, I gave her a brush to 'write' the letters or draw shapes because I find it rather messy if she use her fingers to trace.

 

That sums up my handwriting activities for my 3 year old!

 

 

 

Random stuff

I have been relaxing for weeks now but as usual I try to do things with Doll whenever I can. Such random times, I love to rely on everyday things or materials I've prepared eons ago. :P

 

 

 

 

Sensory play with Ikea beads (those type you can form a shape and then iron them on to make them into a coaster)

 

I was never into sensory boxes although I know of them like 6 years ago! But out of lack of ideas and energy, I decided to whip out one for Doll. I was happy that it entertained her for a long period of time, I was not happy that she insisted I played along with her (I wanted to just fade into the background while she entertains herself).

 

These heart buttons were made when Sonshine was a toddler. I took it out for Doll to practise her buttoning/unbuttoning skills. Actually, it was more to entertain her than anything. She is already buttoning and unbuttoning her pyjamas!

 

Another material I had stashed in my cupboard! This was printed (sorry forgot the site) long ago for the then toddler Sonshine. It is a simple activity of arranging the pictures from the smallest to the biggest.

 

AH! I had wanted to brush up her chinese, she's way under exposed. So I made these cards and have her match her toy food to the cards.

 

 

True to my style, I made her match cards. She took a super long time to remember the words and I blame it on the lack of exposure. I don't speak in mandarin to her nor read a lot of mandarin books hence, its a no wonder that she had difficulty remembering the words! But with constant and persistent practise, she finally can read these words! PHEW! As a follow up, I read to her a simple chinese reader that covers most of these words.

 

Beading for her mama

It all started when I bought this cheap DIY necklace box from Daiso for $2!

 

 

I saw that this was a good opportunity for Doll to work on her pincer grasp. However, she couldn't connect the stars together at first. It works like a paper clip; to connect one only needs to join each star through the small disconnected loops on each star. IF you can understand all that...anyway!

 

I did a necklace for her nevertheless & she fell straight in love with it. She wore the necklace for the entire day. But I wasn't comfortable with it because the stars have rather pricky edges. So I bought her a gorgeous beaded necklace & of course she ADORES it (I have a girly girl here)!

 

I pretended to sob and grumble that I don't have any necklace & no one got me one. She immediately comforted me and assured me that she would make one for me! AWWWWW

 

 

 

Doll knew I bought another beading jewellery from Daiso and bug me day after day to let her do it. (She REALLY wanted to use this to make a necklace for me) AWWWW

 

I finally let her do it and oh boy, did she work it!

 

As I watched her string bead after bead, I saw how a simple (and cheap) activity unknowingly taught her (and me) many lessons.

 

Obviously, she learnt how to use her pincer grasp. As she strung each bead, she became more and more efficient and skillful. Also, I let her decide which is her master hand ie which hand to hold the string and which the bead. From here, I could tell she will be a right hander.

 

The other thing that left me in awe was how patient and persevering she was. She set herself to finish the beads and didn't want to stop until I had to interrupt it as we had to pick Sonshine up. I love her working attitude- I hope it will translate into her school work next time! :P

 

 

 

Later, she tried her hands on the stars again and to my delight, she did it! She made herself a full bracelet with the remaining stars. I am so proud of this girl!

 

Our final masterpieces! The bead necklace was mostly done by Doll and she actually presented it to me! How sweet!

 

This beading activity is absolutely cheap and satisfies the 3 Ps:

 

1) PLAY

2) (hones) PATIENCE

3) & PERSEVERANCE

 

LOVE IT!

Orange Juice anyone?

I am planning to start Doll on writing which explains why I am focusing more on Practical life activities as well as working on her pincer grasp. 

 

Plus, practical life activities are the easiest to prepare! Yesterday Doll made her own orange juice.

 

It started one day we chanced upon an orange juice maker vending machine! My hub was so y fascinated by the novelty that he splurge $4.50 on it without battling an eyelid.

 

It was intriguing watching how the machine selected the oranges, sliced them, squeezed them, collected the juice into a cup and served the fresh drink to us. Doll slurp up every last bit of the juice, she said it was "very very very nice"!

 

So grabbing the chance when that experience is fresh in her mind, I made Doll squeeze her own and at the same time exercise her hand muscles (for writing in future).

 

 

 

My invitation tray to play! Well, an invitation was quite unnecessary actually!

 

Squeeze, squeeze *grit teeth* *growl*

 

She had quite a hard time squeezing, she didn't have the strength. Still, she did not give up and could not keep her hands off the orange!

 

Good thing we had an HUGE orange that day because we extracted quite alot of juice!

 

Doll poured the juice into her cup (yes, another hidden practical life activity & chance for her to practise pouring- this time with a purpose!) and generously shared with me!

 

It was absolutely yummy!

Practically practical.

This past week, I have been focusing on practical life activities. Oh okay, I have been too lazy to plan Doll's home activities, so I decided to whip out our everyday things for her to dabble.

 

 

 

Learning to pour.

 

To make it a tad challenging, I deliberately chose a small jug for her to pour water into. I made sure she positioned her hands correctly when holding & pouring the filler. Obviously, it was no sweat for her.

 

 I notice young kids do not have the discernment to know when to stop pouring. They will continue to pour as long as there's still water in the filler which of course means, the jugs will end up overflowing with water.

 

So I gave her two jugs and filled the filler with water just enough for the two jugs. I wanted her to make proper judgement when to stop filling the jug i.e I reminded her she should stop when the water level in the jug reached to a certain level.

 

The other no-brainer practical life activity is to work on Playdough! I gave her a rolling pin, scissors and a slicer and let her work away! As she played, she was unknowingly exercising her pincer grasp and fine motor skills. WOOT!

 

Remember this counting card? I decided to use it again!

 

This time together with a handful of marbles, number cards & tongs. I have her count & determine the number of symbols on each card. When she has the answer, she had to transfer a marble with a tong onto the correct number card. My 2 in 1 activity- learn counting cum practical life activity!

 

So you see, one does not really need to have an elaborate plan nor deep pockets when home teaching a pre-schooler!

Simply Animals

I took out a tub of our animal toys and conducted some simple activities with Doll.

 

 

I made a place mat depicting the sea, land and sky.

 

 

We randomly picked out some animal toys and sorted them according to where they can be found i.e. sea, land or sky.   

 

I printed out some animal prints and Doll matched the animal toys to the cards.

We sorted some animals according to the number of legs they had.

 

As always, making her read is my priority. This week she is learning sight words 'i' and 'am'. I made sure all the cards repeated these two sight words so that it gets drilled into her head. She read aloud the cards and matched it to respective animal toys.

 

I've been neglecting the mandarin bit. Just a little phrase for her to retain words that she has learnt. Also, to help her make sense the words that she learnt.

 

Another way of AB patterning. Instead of pictures, this time I used words. She had to read and find the corresponding colored animal.

What a (little) girl wants and needs!

 

 Lately, Doll has been pretending to be a waitress taking my orders and serving me my meals and collecting my money. I felt sorry that she had to make do with the little space available (due to HER clutter) on our coffee table for her 'cooking'. Hence, I put together a little play area at, where else, my kitchen.

 

First, I gathered some of her cooking toys and displayed them in a basket (which I bought from Daiso for this very purpose).

 

A bakery basket

 

Carbohydrates!

 

 

I had an empty shelf so I displayed the baskets of food on the shelf- inspired by the ones we saw at Kids Stop, Science Center. A poor version of it but still...it is an invitation to play! Besides the bakery and carbo baskets, we also have a basket of fruits & vegetables and a tray of an assorted cakes. :P

 

Next to that black shelf is MY kitchen shelf. Just for her, I cleared one tier for her. I placed her cultery, rice cooker, water flask and what-nots.

 

And what use is a kitchen without a cooking stove? I shifted this from her usual play space into our kitchen.

 

To complete my mini project, I painstakingly snapped photos of each and every item displayed on the shelf and created a menu. I forsee that I can use this to teach her to read and the concept of money!

 

Next, I really should set up a cashier counter for her! Man, I envy her! I wish I had an play area like that when I was at her age!