Chinese New Year!

I made some CNY theme activities for doll.

 

 

Arranging chinese lantern patterns in numerical order.

 

Read aloud and match to the correct color chinese fan.

 

In line with the Chinese horoscope, I made these matching cards for Doll to learn the names of these animals in mandarin. (Why no horse and the rest of animals? 'Cause she learn most of them already).

 

Counting the number of mandarin oranges and matching the correct word number card. Sometimes I'd make her count in Mandarin and she had to match the correct mandarin word card.

 

Here's an activity I plan to work on with her. Either I'll put in a random number of gold chocolate coins in the red packet and have her count the number of coins in each packet. Or I'll write a number on each packet and have her slot the corresponding number of chocolate coins into the red packets.

 

And like a true Montessori style, one could use these chocolate coins as counters! :D

 

 On another note, I enjoy home teaching my kids. I enjoy researching, resourcing and preparing the learning materials for them. It gives me great joy when my kids acquire a new skill or knowledge through the materials I painstakingly made for them.

I don't necessarily do it because I want my kids to be ahead, believe it or not. I do it because I truly enjoy it. Of course, the result of all the home teaching is a bonus for me. I am really blessed that both my son and daughter enjoy our home learning time. This spurs me on to continue home learning with them. Otherwise, I don't think I'd bother nor last this long. 

 

But even if you don't home teach, please don't ever think your child is losing out. From my observation, things will even out by kindergarten/primary level. The supposedly not so advance kids will catch up sooner or later (i.e. most kids will eventually learn how to read and count by primary school).

 

Have home learning only if you and your kids enjoy it or you plan to keep them from formal schools. Otherwise, don't fret too much, I trust that most pre-schools prepare their children well enough for primary. :)

 

Till the next post, Blessed Chinese New year everyone!

 

5 easy CNY activities for kids!

We will soon be celebrating Chinese New year (CNY)! Are you wondering how you can entertain your kids during those endless visitations? Well, here are some ideas!You don't have to prepare nothing! You just have to make use of these common CNY goodies/items which are available in most households!

 

 

1. Pre-Math skill

photo credit here

 

Sort assorted peanuts/sweets/melon seeds

2) Fine Motor skills

 

 

 

photo credit here

 

Peel mandarin oranges


3) Sensory

 

photo credit here

 

Arrange the chocolates from biggest to smallest.

4) Counting

 

 

 

photo credit here

For younger kids- count the number of red packets received.
 
For older kids- count money of course!

5) Matching


photo credit here

Mix in pairs of red packets of different designs and have the kids find the matching red packets!

There you go! CNY Homeschooling on the go! :D

 

 

Chinese New Year Crafts

We were bumped off this week when a persistent virus hit us, so we decided to scrap our Chinese New Year (CNY) plans & stay put at home.

 

I scrambled to search for CNY activities for sonshine just to liven our (okay, more like my own) moods. Pinterest was my richest source of ideas!

 

Here are some of CNY crafts we did at home:

 

 

Painting Cherry blossom tree using Lego stamping.

 

 

The final product.

 

 

Chinese calligraphy wannabe anyone?

 

 

Well, i just told myself to look at it artistically & it didn't look so bad after all. He wrote two of these &  i used them as last minute CNY decoration for my home. :)

 

 

Can you tell? It's a friendly dragon using cut out hand prints. Sonshine drew the a happy face despite me telling him to make it look fierce. Check out the blue pom pom eyes!

 

 

We had a bit of fun playing Hong Bao treasure hunt. Instead of the usual money, i put in slips of notes in each packet. The notes could say '1 minute extra on the ipad', '1 jellybean!' or 'Extra game on the Xbox' etc. Things that i knew would make him excited. He had alot of fun playing this.

 

 

Practical life skill- peeling Mandarin oranges for Daddy.

 

 

Some non CNY stuff we did. Add some coloring in a plate of milk, give the kid toothpicks & let him doodle away! Watch how the colors merge and turn the milk into an array of colors!

 

 

Babydoll was the first to get hit by the virus. I gave her a bit of activities to cheer her up. Practical Life skill activity- slicing a banana. It was quite a mess. But oh well.

 

 

A tub of water with some cubes of ice. Water has an amazing ability to keep any child thrilled and delighted. It's free and readily available- one of God's best creation i say! She was particularly restless that day and this certainly perked her up.

 

 

Threading. She is quite a pro in this! She sat there and thread beads after beads without any help from me. Well done my girl!

 

 

Peering into big brother's box of toy trains. She loves to look for Thomas the tank engine & name each train 'nomasszzz'!

 

 

Stuck at home with an ill brother. What better way to lighten her mood than with paints?

 

 

The masterpiece!