Come and Frog with me *croak*

I am very grateful to Doll's kindergarten teachers. They are doing a fantastic job teaching her how to read, write and study thematic topics. She's having a lot of fun learning at school too. That explains why I have been pretty laid back with the home teaching.

 

But recently I was suddenly inspired to make some frog theme activities for her.

 Bouts of inspirations like these does wonders!

 

 

Doll's teacher will go through the day of the week with her class everyday. To the point where, she can read almost all the days in words. I made this matching 'Days of the week' cards to help her reinforce her reading.

 

 

To make it interesting, I threw in the 'lily pads' into our sensory box. Doll makes the frog jump according to the day of the week from Monday to Tuesday to Wednesday etc.

 

 

I bought this Safari Toob a long time back. So I took it out and have Doll find the matching poison dart frogs to the card.

 

 

I printed these free Frog Nomenclature cards from here. First I have her match the picture cards.

 

Later, she matches the word cards to the pictures. She can't recognise the words on the cards so she's expected to compare the spelling of each card and determine if they are the same. I would also read aloud each word card as she picks.

 

Learning parts of a frog. 

 

I managed to borrow two very interesting reads on frogs from the library.

 

As we flip through the pages, we try to spot some familiar looking frogs :).

 

 

Doll was taught writing alphabets and numbers in school. She's learning them very well and can write most letters and numbers independently. Still, I created these cards for her to practise her writing and hopefully, remember the spelling of the words :D.

 

 

Learning a simplified frog cycle. Matching the correct figurine to the right cards.

 

 

Since our last math learning, she now understands that 10+3= 13. I whipped this up just for her to practise and reinforce what she learnt. This time no visual aids, all done mentally and from recalling what she learnt the last time. 

 

 

If you need more ideas, there are lots more ideas on this theme over at Living Montessori Now here. Lots of free printable too!

 

Have a croaking good time!

 

 

 

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.

 

Sensory Play: Hear the bells ring

 

Here's a Montessori inspired sensory activity. These capsules were collected from our numerous Kinder surprise purchase. Instead of throwing them away, I used them for our sound play.

 

The last time we played this, I put in different items that make different sounds in each pair. This time, I wanted to make it more challenging by putting in the same item (bells) but of varying number. The kids had to distinguish each sound and find it's match. The kids had fun! Shaking away with a huge grin and an 'Is this it?' expression plastered on their faces. :)

 

You can use any bottles but make sure they are covered and opaque so that the kids cannot see what's inside from the outside. Have a blast playing this one!

Mish a Mash

So, we have been out of action- I totally blame it on the Korean wave. I have been watching too many dramas and entertainment shows. *Hiak Hiak* Also, I have been too lazy to take photos, edit and type a post. It is getting a bit of a chore lately. :(

 

Anyway...here's some meager effort I made.

 

 

Doll wanted to paint so I reluctantly obliged. On the whim, I threw in a toy corn, a piece of Lego and a car wheel. I let her paint on them and stamp/roll them on the paper. And there you go! Sensory play in an instant! :D

 

I love to make learning material using felt! I sew a tree & call it 'counting tree'!

I place a numeral at the side and doll has to put the correct number of counters on it.

 

My DIY counting cards in mandarin.

 

We have been reading about body parts in mandarin for a long time so I decided to make her these cards for her to practise. Glad to discover she's recognise the words!

 

I dug out this number sequence card again- for Doll to learn counting BACKWARDS. Learning to count backward is important for learning subtraction. So instead of starting from 1, I made her start from 10. I also tried to introduce to her the term 'before' by asking her 'What number is BEFORE 10?'

 

There you have it, these were the work done this week. Simple.

Montessori- Geometry Solids

I am mostly presenting Montessori work to doll this week. One of which is Geometry solids.

 

The intent is to teach the child the formal names of these solids. If you are interested, I printed this set of cards here.

 

 

Of course, I do not expect my 2.5 year old to know the terms 'triangular based prism' etc. I whipped this activity more for her to do matching which is a pre-math skill. Anyway, I gave her this more for the fun of it.

 

 

 

In David Gettaman's book, I remember he mentioned about allowing the child to explore these solids particularly stacking the solids and showing the child that not all solids are 'stackable' like the sphere. Surprisingly, Doll explored these solids exactly  this way without my prompting. In fact, I was trying to pack up and turned around to see her trying to build a tower with the set. Instinctively, she discovered she cannot add more solids above the pyramid (because the base is too narrow- but of course she doesn't know exactly that!) or that the sphere will no stay on top either (because it is rounded).

 

This is why I love Montessori! There's little need to give extensive explaination- just let the child explore & learn!

Montessori- Cylinder Blocks

This was the activity that first attracted me to Montessori- Cylinder blocks.

 

 

It consist of 4 blocks and in each block there are 10 (mine only has 5) drilled holes to fit the cylinders in.

 

Each cylinder differs either in diameter or depth or both. For instance, in one block, all the cylinders have the same diameter. However, they vary increasingly/decreasingly in depth. In another block, all the cylinders have the same depth but vary increasingly/decreasingly in diameter etc (sorry, to lazy to give lengthy explanation but read here if you want to know more) 

 

 

The direct objective of this activity is to sharpen the child's visual discrimination of varying dimensions. The indirect goals are for pincer grasp exercise (as the child use her index finger and thumb to manoeuvre the knobs on the cylinders) and if I may add, eye-hand coordination skills as well as Mathematical concepts.

 

During the initial work, present only one block at a time. Once the child is seasoned in working with each block; present all 4 blocks at a go to her & mix the cylinder blocks for more challenging work.

 

 

The best part of it is I don't need to give her lengthy lecture. As she worked, she instinctively learn that each cylinders have differing dimensions. I thought it was very interesting how she always pick up the largest pieces first- I guess these were the easiest to identify & match. She naturally discovered that the bigger cylinders don't fit into the smaller ones and some smaller ones don't fit into the smaller holes because they may differ in depth.

 

According to David Gettman, when the child matures, we can use this to explain the terms 'shallow' vs 'deep', 'thick' vs 'thicker etc.

 

Admittedly, this is something you can't DIY easily unless you are an expert in sawing and drilling wood- even if you are, you must be well equipped! However, if you like you can pick this book up. It comes with a template, though 2-dimension (but better than nothing & much cheaper than purchasing) which emulate this activity.

Montessori Red Rods

Here is another Montessori visual sensory activity.

 

The goal here is for the child to arrange the rods from the shortest to longest. In this activity, the child visually learns what 'short/shorter/shortest' and 'long/longer/longest' means.

 

Lay the rods in random order.

 

 

Have the child arrange the rods according to it's length.

 

Read here to learn more about this activity.

 

Again, you don't need to own these Montessori materials to conduct this activity. Think out of the box and look around your house to see if you can improvise. You can, say, use straws and cut them accordingly?  

Mummy! Do work!

 

It is becoming a habit for Babydoll to do mummy's work. Every noon after her lunch, she will demand & insist on doing 'work'. Never mind that mummy has been too tired to clear the shelf and add in new activities, she still tells me 'mummy! DO WORK!!'.

 

She has been doing 'stale' (as in I haven't change the activity trays for weeks) work for the last few weeks. So, I just HAD to perk myself up and slowly added new activity for her. Here are some of our new activities on our shelf this week:

 

 

 

Transferring beads into ice-cube tray with a tong.

 

We are FINALLY moving on with numbers from 11-20!  I am quite sure the road ahead would be a breeze from now on. PHEW.

 

Counting! I made some counting Duplo cards for her. To help guide her count, I gave her counters for her to place it on each Duplo. As she places each counter on the card, she counts them aloud. I am very glad that she is getting the hang of counting! Yahoo!

 

Sorting items by their weight. There's a boo boo in the photo but I was too lazy to correct it. This was fun for her. She took out each item from the basket, determine if its light or heavy and put it under the correct label.

Montessori: Sound boxes

Or rather, sound capsules! My kids are obsess with Kinder Surprise no thanks to the Youtube. These eggs are not cheap and we are made to buy them every week.

 

While my kids look forward to cracking the eggs for the toys, I look forward to collecting the capsules (that is use to hold the toys in the egg). My husband laments that I am a trash collector. :D But I just knew one day these capsules would be put into good use! And I was right!

 

I decided to use the capsules for Montessori Sound box activity. To know more about this activity, read here.

 

 

First, I filled the capsules with stuff like rice grains, a piece of Lego and pom pom. Use items such that when you shake the capsule, it makes a sound.  I used 6 capsules, each pair is filled with the same items.

 

 

Mix the capsules up and have the child pair the capsules that makes the same sound. As a control of error, I pair up the capsules according to its color.

With reference to the link above, the purpose of this activity is to refine the child's auditory sense. We can also use this activity for language purpose like teaching the child the concept of 'loud' and 'soft' sounds (I didn't know that before this! Ha!).

 

I think I need to increase the challenge by adding more capsules.

 

Montessori (Sensorial): Brown Stairs & extension

"Aim: To help develop the child's

1) visual discrimination of differences in 2 dimensions.

2) muscular cordination.

 

Indirectly preparing the child for later work in geometry through observation of geometrically differences in size & volumes. Indirectly prearing the child for the concept of numbers, unit differences in height and width."

 

{Above extracted from " Basic Montessori learning activities for under-fives" by David Gettman}

 

Material needed: 10 brown wooden, rectangular blocks. E

 

In this activity, the child arranges the blocks from the thickest to the thinnest. All are of the same length but increasing in thickness (differing by 1 cm from the next). As the  child works on this, she is able to instantly see the differing thickness of each block.

 

 

Not coincidentally, the Pink tower blocks are of the same measurement as the square end of the brown stair blocks. As an extension to these 2 activities, you can have the child match the Pink tower to the brown stairs to their corresponding sizes.

There are 10 blocks in both the Pink tower and Brown stair set. So as the child arranges them in order, you can also count along!

I never knew of this until I surf around other Montessori blogs! That's the beauty of Montessori- so clever! Each activity is build on the one before it. One activity subtlety helps to the child to acquire a skill that is needed for the next activity. That's how each Montessori activity is linked! WOW! Genius!

Sensory Play- Moon sand

 

Weather's too nasty to go outside and play? Or just too lazy to bring the kids out?

 

Then make Moon sand you must!

 

I saw this on Pinterest- my favourite online site and since I've the ingredients I decided to make some too!

 

All you need is flour and baby oil. I used A LOT of baby oil- like half a bottle. Good thing is, the baby oil is due for throwing else it does feel like wasting actually.

 

 

 

Took the tray out to our balcony and just PLAY away! I sprinkled some beads into the moon sand just to make it look prettier. You can add other stuff like animal toys for the kids to 'dig' out. But ah, I was too lazy.

Easy Peasy outdoor fun- indoors! Have fun!

For the love of Russian Dolls!

 

I bought this beauty at Victoria market, Australia. I was over the moon when i saw this because i was looking for one! (It is hard to find one here!)

 

I had to convince myself that this was an educational piece of work! And it is! One can use this to teach about 'big vs small', 'biggest to smallest'.

 

 

This is also a great visual discrimination activity for the child! Matching the correct upper body to the lower.

 

I wouldn't stop with my obsession for Russian dolls. I made them following a tutorial i saw on a craft book. I could make more but ah, i was too lazy!

 



 

I used these babies and created a matching game for doll. To avoid more work, i simply photocopied the 4 paper dolls i hand made; so now i've got multiples! I made a sort of a table mat of Russian dolls bordered with WASHI tapes.

 

I made another set, stuck some stickers and wrote numbers on them. Doll has to match the numbers. Admittedly, she could also match by size but oh well.

 

And to top up my love for Russian dolls, i just HAD to get this cute Russian doll T-shirt and bottle for doll from Cotton On Kids (and washi tape of course)! :D

DIY mini activity booklets.

We did little this week, been busy doing some other fun stuff! :P

 

But, in the midst of all the hectic schedule, i managed to make a little activity book for doll.

  

 

I made a mini alphabet activity booklet for the little one.

 

 

In this book, she has to match the small letters to the capital letters. I could make it a little more prettier, add a flower, birds and bees here and there. But i chose not to. I don't want to clutter it with too much 'noise'. I made it to be what it is meant to be. Also, i deliberately chose the capital and small letters to be in the same color (actually, i prefer it otherwise) to help doll match. At the same time, it works as a 'control of error'.

 

 

I packed the booklet into zip lock bags so that i can easily bring it along with me to entertain doll when we are out.

 

 

Another booklet, i made was on numbers.

 

 

Matching numbers. In this case, i deliberately chose the numbers to be in varying colors. I wanted her to match purely by recognising the numbers and not by color.

 

Laying out the cards for her to match is easy for her-no matter the number of cards we play. So i reckon these mini books would help to bring up the level of difficulty for her. She now has to search the page herself by flipping the book in order to look for the right match. I can see it is alittle challenging for her- good!

 

 

I also made some mini color cards (for easy travelling). Here she has the match the correct colored words to the cards.

 

 

Learning about big and small.

 

These are cards to help her visually discriminate big versus small. As she work on them, i can hear her say 'big frog' *match the cards*, 'small frog' * match the cards*. Oh, i am but a proud mama! *Beam*

 

I would love to share these printables here. But bear with me while i figure out how to share documents on the blog. So do keep a look out!