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!

Oh (my) boy!

Recently, my hub and I gave a stern lecture to Sonshine. Earlier on that day, someone asked him a question. He immediately answered 'I don't know'. We are pretty clear that the answer is his head. It may sound trivial. It would be if it's a one-off cheeky thing. However, he's been consistently like this even at 2 years old. Even his kindergarten and now primary school teachers gave us the same feedback. They know that Sonshine has the answers but he would always show otherwise or refuse to participate in class. 

Sometimes, I let him be. But it can get really frustrating. Whenever someone ask him a question that he knows very well, you will see him crack a smile and declare 'I don't know!'. People who don't know him well will accept his answer as it is. But if they know better & dig further, they would be surprise to know that he has the answers and even more. Even if he says out the answer, he would only reveal a little of what he knows. 

Sometimes I sympathize with him. I find that his mind is not in sync with the rest of his body. Take his speech for instance, he's not very good in expressing himself. The words that come out of his mouth don't accurately describe what's on his mind. Even if he does say it out, the words would only scrape the tip of the iceberg of what he wants to truly say. I suspect that is why he gives up on speaking and telling people the answers. 

This applies with his hands especially when it comes to writing as well. He's got something in his head, but writing takes too long. Even in his imaginative play, it would also be constructing Lego or drawing in a big haste. He does not bother about the aesthetics outcome, all he wants is to recreate the idea out of his head and translate it out in his Lego or drawings. Hence his creation always look like a mess and very hard for others to comprehend. Even in math work, I notice how he can solve problem sums (those that require 3-4 tiers of calculation), he writes down the final (& correct) answer after a quick mental calculation. But he struggles to explain how he gets the answer, duh. 

It's pretty frustrating especially when I know what he wants to say but it gets wrongly translated into words. Every time, I feel a strong urge to intervene and tell whoever there that he actually knows this much. It hurts that people pass him by or opportunies slip by because he hides what he knows. I asked him once why he refuse to tell people the answers and he says 'Because it's a secret'. What? Do you think you're 007 agent, who's storing classified information in your head son? 😐

The thing is, now that he's in school, all the more he's expected to be vocal and shout out his answers confidently. But it seems, he hesistates to reveal the answers whether as an individual or a team mate. 

I hope in time to come my boy will come out his shell. If only he would let others in into his mind so that they come to understand him, appreciate & value his gifts (especially his teachers) instead of brushing him aside and sideline him. Like every parent, I want my child's gifts to be fully capitalized and not be wasted. Still, it's not in my hands but it's in my Lord's hands. As of now, I can only encourage him to speak up and guide him to understand that when he do so, many amazing doors will be open for him. 

Judge me not please!

As soon as My hub and I settled into our seats, we quickly whisked out our phones and hand it over to our kids. We ordered our supper and happily daze away in peace. 

I am aware of the judging glances and what other parents or non parents are saying of us. Probably shaking their heads and passing judgement on us for exposing our children to electronics instead of having a quality, in depth, eye to eye conversation. Some times, I ignore them. At times, I just want to yell out and tell them my reasons, or some may say excuses. Most of time, I just quietly tell them in my head, pretending that I can send mind to mind message to them. 

Since I can't quite turn to these strangers and tell them to stop passing judgement on me- I shall do it here on my blog. Before you pass judgement on other parents: here are some of my 'excuses' and perhaps other parents too.

1) You have no idea how hard it is to feed my kids. You are very lucky that your kids love and enjoy eating but mine do not. I do not need to explain extensively how hard it is just trust me- it's tortorous and it drove me to tears and near depression many a times multiply that by 2 kids. Giving them the phone, distracts them so that I can deceptively stuff the spoonful of food into their mouths. But don't you worry, I am discerning enough to know when to put a stop to this bad habit. Now that Sonshine is older, we can order him to eat without the phone and he's been phone free during meal times for a long time. As for doll, I'm working right at it. But you probably don't know all these and it's easier for you to judge me in that mere moment you remotely met me in the restaurant. 

2) Sometimes we need to space out. I don't have a live in helper nor grand parents whom I can easily hand my kids over to get away. In other words, the kids are with me 24/7, all year round and it repeats itself. There's no escape route for me- na da. In order to get some peace and quiet, to earn myself some quietness, I hand them the phones just to shut them up. You may see a family at a dining place with kids furiously tapping their fingers on the phones while the parents daze away. But you never know, they may have had a horribly bad day just before stepping into the restaurant. And just to earn themselves some chill time, they liberally allow their kids to tap away on the phones. Cut them some slack will you?

3) Trust me, I am not as liberal at home as I am when I am out. At home & on weekdays when we hardly go out for meals, it's hands-off from the phones/iPads. They have zero iPhone/iPad play time on weekdays. My kids know that and they don't suffer from any form of withdrawal symptoms either. Neither do they ask to play, not even a squeak. But knowing that they really enjoy playing and watching, we decide to let them play when we go out and eat on weekends. Just to reward them for being phone free for the entire week or well, simply put a smile on their faces. Again, you wouldn't know that would you? Seeing my kids glued on the iPhones during meal times, it was so easy to make an assumption that my kids are ALWAYS on the electronic devices, wasn't it? You wouldn't have known that that was their only precious tiny opportunity to play on the phones for the entire week, would you? I don't expect you to but, don't be quick to judge ya?

4) And ahem, my kids are doing well in their studies so, I know that their time on the iPhone is not wasting their brains. Don't you worry, I watch them like a hawk in this aspect, especially for doll since she is still very young. But the fact that her attention span is great (she gives her full attention during our reading time), not easily distracted, she learns well and retains well, I think a little exposure to the iPhone is not hurting her and Sonshine. 

There I let it out! Should I print this out and hand it to the next parent who throw me a dirty glare? LOL! Seriously, I think at this day and age, it is not realistic to abstain our kids from electronics. The exposure is everywhere. That said, of course I'm not for kids playing electronic devices especially at such a young age either.  And if possible, I will choose not to expose them. But I have succumbed and instead of regretting it, I decide to allow it but control my kids' usage and what they are exposed to wisely. I think the key is how we parents manage it. It is very much like fire, it can be a good servant but it may be a very very bad master. So parents should always lord over the phones and not the other way around. Wisdom and a lot of control is key. 

So anyway, next time you see a family with kids lost in the world of iPhones in dining areas; don't be too quick to pass a judgement. Let's cut each other some slack, parents to parent! :)

Learning about all things in the sky!

I have finally cleaned up my act and display new sets of learning activities for Doll!

 

 

Sonshine was able to patterning when he was 3 year old. Then, I thought it was because of a technic I used to help him. But that same technic didn't help Doll. So, I came up with this pattern strip and cut out the same pictures. She's to match the pictures from left to right. I hope this will help her 'see' the pattern.

 

Revising her word recognition on number words. Matching the correct number word cloud to the corresponding rainbow.

 

Which is NOT the same? Which is Different? Helping her visual discrimination and also at the same build her vocabulary.

 

Doll can read 'the', 'three' and 'this' but there are times when she mixes these words up. So I decide to put the words side by side to help her see that these words are not the same. Here, she has to sort out the words accordingly. I must say, it is helping. She can now instantly read out these words without confusion.

 

I have seen many Montessori counting activities from 1-10 but never beyond. Why so? Anyway, I printed out these cards and have her count. The numbers are between 21-30. She's doing this very well!

 

I never let an activity whizz by without her learning new words. This time, she's learning words on weather and all things in the sky.

 

If you like the above printables, click here

Kids Stop @ Singapore Science Center

Hello! It's the school holidays here on our sunny, scorching island! Ah, I mean, it's the 'about to end' school holidays! Like most Singaporean families, we took a short vacation abroad, met up with friends and spent some family time.

 

This is the last leg of the school holidays and we are seizing each day as much as we can! Today, we spent our afternoon at Kids Stop. Needless to say, the kids had a blast! This place reminds me of the Children's Museum we visited in South Korea, Seoul. However, Kids Stop is alot smaller, dimmer (it bothers me that the lighting at our Science center is consistently dim & dark- why so?) and loud. The children's museum in Korea was 4 storey high, bright, spacious and very clean. Of course, they have bigger land too. ANYWAY! I am not complaining! I am just thankful there's a place like this here in Singapore! I remember when I was in Korea I wondered why we didn't have a place like this in Singapore. And now we do! It is almost like my wish came true!

 

Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

 

 

 

There's a suspended mid air erm, playground? This will surely thrill he older kids to no end. The route brings you all the way up high. I envy my son, it looks like a lot fun!

 

 

Connect and construct!

 

 

I love this pretty little corner. Flower planting anyone?

 

And oh my the Supermarket corner! Wow-ed me to bits!

 

 

Fancy some bread?

 

 

A galore of food condiments to buy just like the real world!

 

 

Wet market! Check out the ice cubes! Makes it look extremely real!

 

 

At the check out counter. You can scan the food items over the scanner and it really makes the 'beep' sound!

 

Chef's corner.

 

 

I'm utterly amused by this. Fried rice, looks really yummy doesn't it? 

 

 

 

For the dino lovers, time to dig up some dino fossils!

 

 

A small little construction area for kids to pretend to ride on a digger & push a wheelbarrow full of cement sacks!

 

 

For the aspiring doctors!

 

 

And this area is specially reserved for the little ones up to 3 years old. It is blow up size of Lego blocks and the kids can build it up just like typical Lego bricks!

There are a couple of other areas to explore like the mock up of an airplane cockpit, solar system and more. For more information click here.

My take is, this is a place worth to visit with the kids! If you have older kids, you can literally sit out and let the kids run amok. The area is enclosed and safe. However, if you can avoid school holidays, please do! It is absolute chaos and crowded during the peak period. But absolutely a must try!

New free Printable: Number Board

I have finally uploaded my number board printable.
You can download it here for free!

 

Enjoy! 

Preparing for Primary one (part 2)

Aside from academics preparation, parents should also consider preparing their kids in other aspects like life skills and outer physical needs. Here are some of my list.

Life skills

1) Obviously, learning to buy their own meals is an essential skill. They need to be able to count money, order appropriately, learn to queue, where to queue etc. I won't elaborate on this as this is quite apparent to most parents.

2) Toilet hygiene. What? You say? Well yah. I read from Ing, who was a former Primary one teacher and now a blogger, she realised some kids didn't know how to clean themselves after a big business in the toilet. Right up to 6 years of his life, I have been cleaning for Sonshine after a big poo. I just didn't trust him to clean himself well. But after reading her account, I realised it was an important skill to learn! 

3) From another teacher's account, she noticed some girls don't know how to tie their hair and of course she had to help them. So if you have girls, teach them the know how!

4) Personal hygiene. Again, from a teacher's account, some kids don't know how to clean up after themselves after a meal. Even during meals, their sense of personal hygiene is quite poor. Teach your kids to wash their hands before & after they have their meals at recess and to clean their mouths with tissue after meals. 

5) For me, I was worried that Sonshine didn't know how to zip & unzip his pants. Up till then, he always had to pull up or down his pants, never to zip or unzip. It didn't occur to me that he needed some practice until his very first day of school. But fortunately, he picked it up quickly. If your kids need a longer time to practise, make sure you let them try to put on and take off before they start school. 

6) Taking care of their belongings. It is very common that primary one kids lose their things. While you should be mentally prepared to never see their stuff forever and standby multiple lunch boxes, water bottles, pencil cases, pencils, erasers etc. You should also teach your kids to have a sense of ownership for their belongings. Honestly, I don't know how to. Maybe, 2-3 months before school starts, let them carry a belonging out and make them accountable for it. Before we go out, I ask Sonshine to remember what he brought out of the house and he is to make sure he brings everything back home.  I'm very fortunate. Sonshine rarely loses his things & we didn't prepare him for this at all. There were occasions he forgot to bring his stuff back, but he always get them back. 

7) Handwriting. Sonshine has been penalised a couple of times because of his less than perfect writing. Some teachers are lenient some are not. Sonshine was marked wrong even though his answer was correct just because he wrote '2' without a curve at the top. Even though it was a multiple choice answer and it's obvious that he's answer was a '2' the teacher still marked him wrong. Some teachers are less gracious like that. While his mandarin teacher would correct his writing but still grant him the mark because he's answer is not wrong. What I'm trying to say is, don't assume every teacher, even at Primary one, is lenient. Some can be quite strict. Hence, if your child has less than average handwriting, do give him more practise before school starts. 

Physical needs

1) I know most parents are concern about buying the appropriate bags for their kids. I don't have much tips here but if every school is like Sonshine's, in primary one, you don't really need an ergo bag. He's bag is pretty light on most days. He only needs to carry his Chinese textbook back & forth. Personally, I think ergo bags are not necessary for primary one as it is too heavy for the kids and not worth to lug around if they only need to bring little things. But to each their own. :)

2) Stationery. This is one thing I learn; stationery is very important! I thought we can let him use cheap pencils, erasers, sharpeners and what nots. I chose cheap ones because I was afraid he would lose them. Gradually I realised it's important to invest in good quality stationery. Take erasers for instance. Sonshine's fine motor skills is not strong. He needs to put in a lot of strength when erasing and we could still see the shadows of his previous answers. In his case, it's important to get him a good quality eraser to help him erase cleanly and with less effort. Same for color pencils. I could see his coloring improved (he hates coloring) after we invested in a good set of color pencils). So far, Fable Castell stationery is working great for us! 

I hope these pointers help! As for academics, I observe that most children, who attended kindergarten, are well prepared. There's really nothing much to fret about. Of course this also depends on the schools. Some schools have higher expectations than others. But in general, I think most kids will do well. I think even the average student can hit a score of 90 marks for every subject, even 100 marks is attainable. Yes it is that easy; at least that's how it is for our school. As long as your child has been doing good in his or her kindergarten, I don't think there's much to worry about. Not now at least. I think the nightmare will only start later half of primary two or start or primary three. What is important in primary one is to get the kids into the groove of doing homework, revising & taking ownership of their own school work. Laying this foundation is very important for later years. The first year is the best year to train them up because in the following years, we probably need to focus more on their studies.