I took A to library this evening (B was having her lesson and DC was doing his grocery shopping).
While I was searching for books to borrow, A came to me and asked me to help him find "15".
"15? What 15?"
"Shelf 15!"
"Oh book shelf No. 15!"
"Yes! Help me find!"
He couldn't find the library book shelf number "15" and pleaded me to look for it with him.
And so, A and I went on a hunt for the number "15" in the library.
Strangely, even I could not find it... There were 1, 2, 3...14 and there were 16, 17, ...22 but there was no 15!
After a few rounds of walking, we sought the librarian's help to locate the "missing" shelf.
"Ask and you shall be granted" That's what I told him, hehe...
Alas! The librarian couldn't find it too! But, she had her means...she went to the lift lobby, checked the directory and managed to lead us to the mystery shelf. :)
"找到了!" A exclaimed excitedly.
That ended our mini hunting game at the library... So it was a magazine rack!
A had his TKD grading and we witnessed the whole process.
The purpose of us enrolling him to the sport was to build discipline in him and to tone him up.
During the grading, we saw how he moved his feet and body according to his master's orders, and broke the board with his bare hand with one strike, much to our surprise. I say, we pretty much achieved our aim! :) Undeniably, the credit went to the Master as few could move A like he did!
At the end of the session, he was presented with a yellow belt and we took a family picture together.
Look at how happy A was and how B posed for the picture...
It was a memorable occasion! Mummy's really proud of you, A! :)
I took the iPod out to put my iPhone in to charge. A saw it and immediately wanted the iPod. He calls it his phone now and was playing with it for the past few days.
He would also gather DC's i5 and my i4 and line them up with his "Hello" neatly together. Then, he would count them, "Papa 的", "Mummy 的", "A 的"! The smile he gave after that never fail to melt my heart! :)
Although some may say never give small kids gadgets, they may spoil them, I think it's ok. What matters to me is that he finds great joy in it and is happy. :)
What can he learn from this? I explained the concept of long and short to him and also, tall, taller, tallest.
A loves to eat jellies. He had some 6 jellies in his x'mas goody bag from his childcare teachers. He couldn't wait to eat them all up and kept asking me to open them!
I thought it's such a waste to just do what he wanted, so I flipped the jellies facing them downwards and made him play a memory game.
The game is to remember the position of the coloured jellies and flip them when I said out the colour. He liked the game but was impatient to complete the game for the third time as the jellies was too alluring for him! :P
We had fun and these heart-shaped jellies are just too cute!
One day after shower, I placed B's diaper next to A's and asked him to identify his. It took him no time to point to one and he was correct! My sharp boy! It could be because of the difference in size, the yellow strip or the coloured patterns, I'm not sure which but I know DC had this disbelieved look on his face throughout the short session that made me LOL! :)
Just before shower, DC passed A a torch light for some playtime. He gave him an orange filter that could be slotted in front of the torch light and that gives a different color light.
A had his fun and was fascinated by the light and colors! He shone the light on the walls and corners of the house. Too bad, playtime was too short, we could have taken all the filters and explore more colors... next time perhaps! :)
It's a pleasant coincidence that the theme of the class that Baby attended last week is on Ants. :) I thought that was a godsend as this topic was planned to be covered next week. :) I had the privilege of walking through the topic in a breeze, adding only some supplements to strengthen his idea of ants.
We started off with the letters...
Then, we flashed the words...
Followed by some pictures...
And, we did craftwork...
We did coloring...
We sang songs...
We played toy...
We had an imaginary taste of...
We read books... all on Ants!
--- Details --- Language & Learning Alphabets
Aa
Flash cards
ant
Ant
ANT
蚂蚁 Pictures
Picture cards and real ant! (actually I passed off some crawling bug as an ant. He tried to follow its movement and catch it!)
Bible Verses
Proverbs 30:24
Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise:
Proverbs 30:25
Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer;
Proverbs 6:6
Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!
Music & Action The Ants Go Marching
I heard and seen most of the videos about this song on YouTube but none satisfied me. There were variations in the lyrics and the sound of the videos were no good, some too soft, others can make you sleep. I managed to pick this but still find this video too long to capture Baby's attention:
The lyrics:
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah, (march)
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah,
The ants go marching one by one,
The little one stops to suck his thumb, (pretend to suck thumb)
And they all go marching down to the ground, (stoop and march)
To get out of the rain. Boom, Boom, Boom!
Repeat with:
Two by two - tie his shoe
Three by three - climb a tree
Four by four - shut the door
Five by five - take a dive
Six by six - pick up sticks
Seven by seven - pray to heaven
Eight by eight - shut the gate
Nine by nine - check the time
Ten by ten - say the end.
小蚂蚁
A chinese song on ants. Somehow I like the chinese children songs. They are simple and meaningful.
Karaoke
Managed to find this in our player. We played and sang this karaoke song to him.
Movement
There was an elastic band and he was supposed to wear the ant on the head, pretending that he is an ant. And, Baby was supposed to crawl and move around the room like an ant. That, however, didn't work out very well as he hates anything on his head but he wanted me to wear it on my head instead! So, in the end, I became the ant and he watched with amusement.
Arts & Craft Coloring
He did coloring with red and black crayons.
Drawing
After the coloring, I took over the crayons and drew some ants on the newspaper that I used for the coloring session. Then, I asked him where he wants his ants to be. He pointed a spot and I drew the ants (red or black in random) on that very spot.
Craft 1: Ant Hill
You'll need the following materials:
- Plastic disposable bowl (or cup)
- Brown Paint
- Ants (Not real ants but ants drawn and cut out from cardboard or paper)
- Dried leaves
- Gold glitter (optional)
- Paint brush
First, paint the anthill (bowl) with the brown paint.
Then, paste the ants, still the leaves and sprinkle gold dust onto the hill while the paint is still wet.
The finished product. :)
Craft 2: 小蚂蚁搬豆
What you need:
- Paper with printed picture of ants
- Glue
- Few Black Beans
- A bowl of sand
- Paint brush
First, brush the glue on the bottom part of the paper and on the back of the ants.
Then, put the black beans on the back of the ants.
Next, grab a handful of sand and sprinkle it on the paper where the glue is.
The finished work.
Craft 3: Create an Ant from Egg Carton
This is yet another very commonly found craft on the Web.
What you'll need:
- Egg Carton
- Pipe cleaners
- Paint (Red or Black or any colours)
- Goggly Eyes or paper cut eyes for the ant
Just brush the egg carton with the paint, pipe in the legs and stick the eyes on and it's done. We didn't do this but I might want to try it for spider, i.e. when we get to the letter S. :P
Play Time Hand Puppet
He saw a magnification of an ant close up and touched it. :)
Role Playing
A big Red Ant appeared from time to time to steal the apples one by one from the apple tree. Then, he fell down and hurt his elbow. All the kids helped the Ant pluck apples from the tree to bring back to his nest.
Sand Play
No ants found, we were just playing in the sand, one of the ants favorite hideouts!
Water Play
I placed the letters a, n, t and s in the bathtub and get Baby to pass me the letters one by one. And, he did it correctly! :)
Snack Time This snack that I found from the Internet has a cute name. It's called the Ant in the Sand.
Here's how you prepare:
Place a Graham cracker or any biscuits in a ziploc bag or container. Crush the cracker into small pieces and lace some raisins or chocolate chips in the bag or container. Easy to make and i think it's yummy for Baby :)
School Time
Actually, most of the activities above were covered in school. I shall not elaborate further on this section. :)
Book & Story Time The Ants Go Marching by Ann Owen and Sandra D'Antonio
I thought I could get through this easily because apple is one of Baby's favorite fruits. He's too familiar with this. But, it's still taking me two weekends to complete this. This is contributed by me being greedy to want to cover a lot on the topic but lack of time to prepare the materials! :P
--- Details --- Language & Learning Alphabets
Aa
I concentrated on small case A this time.
Flash cards
apple
Apple
APPLE
苹果
Pictures
Picture cards and real apples!
Proverb
An apple a day keeps the doctor away.
Bible Verses
Deuteronomy 32:10
In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye,
Psalm 17:8
Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings
Zechariah 2:8
For this is what the LORD Almighty says: "After he has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you--for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye--
Proverbs 7:2
Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
Lamentations 2:18
Their heart cried to the Lord: wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night; Give yourself no respite; don't let the apple of your eye cease.
Song of Songs 2:3
Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my lover among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
Song of Songs 8:5
Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover? Under the apple tree I roused you; there your mother conceived you, there she who was in labor gave you birth.
Joel 1:12
TThe vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree--all the trees of the field--are dried up. Surely the joy of mankind is withered away.
Note: The phrase "apple of the eye" in the bible actually means the "pupil of the eye" or the "center of the eye" or the "center of God's love". And, the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve ate in disobedience was not indicated in the Bible (the Book of Genesis) that it was an apple. No idea why apple became the symbol for the forbidden fruit!
Music & Action 红苹果 We sang 红苹果 (Red Apple) or 大苹果 (Big Apple) song. This is a classic children song that I remember singing when I was a kid. Of course, my Baby has to know it too! :)
The Apple Song
I found a very interesting Apple Song on youtube too. Never know apple exists in so many colors and types!
Arts & Craft Coloring
I printed out a Apple coloring page and passed him red and green to color.
Alphabet Craft We did the lower case alphabet craft, yet another craft commonly found on the Internet. Here's what you need:
Baby at work:
The end product:
It's delicious and he nibbled on it for a while! :P
Play Time Indoor Play
We bought this toy for Baby last Children's Day and it's no brainer that the toy of the theme is the Apple toy - No need to source for new toys! A worm pops up when the button is pressed and the catchy music move Baby to the beat. :)
iPhone App We played Apple Catching Game on Apple iPhone.
Outdoor Play Then, we had our outdoor activity where we brought Baby to the supermarket to see and feel real apples.
Through this, he learnt that there are 2 different colors of apples - Red and Green.
Snack Time After which, he had his snacks on apples!
We also added apples to his his porridge during the weekend! :)
School Time
In school this week, the teachers had him pluck the apples from the apple tree. What a nice coincidence! :)
Book & Story Time Big Red Apple by Tony Johnston and Judith Corwin
