Playground Time With Daddy!

My MIL always warn me not to bring Le Xin to  the playground. Reason being it is "dirty" and I told her Come on Mother, I only bring her during the day time. I don't think there is ghost at that time! and my MIL replied I don't know if you believe it or not but it is "dirty" be it in the morning or evening.Even though I find her very supertitious at times, I can never get angry with her over these sort of things because I know she only meant well.

The point is, I don't deny that sometimes I do find that the playground can be quite dangerous for children to play in, not in terms of the haunted aspect, but for safety reasons because the playgrounds in Singapore are not really suitable for very young children and it's often not well-maintained (Fortunately my neighbourhood playground is still quite clean ) Nonetheless, I still find that the playground is really a great place to refine Le Xin's gross motor skills and this post is all about Daddy Scott getting involved to bring Le Xin out for a play at the playground, the only ghost around was the one taking the photo! ----> MummyT2X

I always love to take back view shots of Daddy Scott and Le Xin. Look how lovely they were holding hands to go up the stairs.

As Le Xin went up the stairs steadily, she pointed up to show Daddy Scott the fake coconut tree structure and she said tree, somehow the trees are like charm and they never fail to attact her attention!

Daddy Scott is teasing me these days over with the word "interaction" because I used it sooo much on him when he is accompanying Le Xin. Here's a great example of what I meant by interaction; Daddy Scott was explaning to Le Xin about safety rules when it comes to sliding down the slide, look how Le Xin listened attentively to what Daddy was trying to tell her. Haha!

Daddy Scott holding on to Le Xin's hand as she slid down the slide. She giggled and laughed loudly as she came down. I hope the time when come soon when she can do this all by herself without our help :p

Le Xin showing Daddy Scott how she could match the animals on the playground equipment. She knows cow and rabbit but kangaroo was something new to her.

Le Xin demonstrating to Daddy how she could write using a stick. Daddy Scott's first reaction was Don't pick up the stick, it's dirty but I guess when he saw how engaged she was, he soon find that it's not a bad idea after all!

Lastly Daddy Scott brought Le Xin to the fitness area, she really enjoyed this equipment, she probably felt like she was skiing.

Ending this post with a happy video of Daddy Scott and Le Xin coming down from the slide!

Do you love bringing your child/children to the playground? How do you make use of such opportunities to interact with them?

Outdoor Play with Children from LCCCT Student Care!

After fetching Le Xin home from my MIL's place, I decided to visit the student care children in LCCCT! Really miss everyone of them so much! And they were really happy to see me and Le Xin!

I thought this was a great opportunity for Le Xin to mix around with older children and everything went out fine except when I went to the toilet, she started crying! The children from SC were super nice to her, what a great kor kor and jie jie you guys were, they tried to distract her and comfort her.

Then we went outdoor for a big play!

De Hua held Le Xin's hands and started dancing with her.... She wasn't afraid at all and played with him happily.

The girls discussing with Le Xin what to play in the playground.

Chor Yi and Gladis decided to play a little balloon game with Le Xin. She was delighted to throw the ball to and fro with the girls.

They were really frightened that Le Xin might burst the balloon because she kept pressing it!

Le Xin must have find these two jie jie really funny! It's a tiny balloon and they are protecting it like a golden egg!

Last but not least a group photo together! Le Xin was really reluctant to take this photo.... just look at her face! I guess she probably wanted to go back to play or was just feeling overwhelmed with all the attention that she was getting!

Sometimes it's just difficult to offer social play at home :( It's best to go out......so where are you bringing your child today?

Making Connection

This might look like an ordinary stroll at the park, but it turned out to be a really exciting day for Le Xin as she explored nature in our neighbourhood park. Le Xin found a stalk of big brown leaves, she was really fascinated by it. In retrospect, I have to ask myself what it was in the leaves that sparked such an excited response from her and what is it that inspired her to find out more? What is it that I could learn from her?

As she looked at the brown leaves and tilted her head to look at the trees up high, I have a hunch it was the colour of the leaves that attracted her attention. The leaves on the ground looked really similiar to the ones on the tree yet somehow they are different!

I carried her to touch the leaves on the trees and explained to her. Le Xin the leaves on the tree are still growing, that is why they are still green and soft unlike the leaves on the ground that are brown and hard. These are dried brown leaves which have fallen off from the trees, they are not growing anymore!

Le Xin continued her exploration, suddently, she squatted down and looked at something.

 I walked and took a closer look too, there it was.... a cute little ant carrying a small stone.

Where do you think the ant is going to? I began to asked Le Xin. She observed where the ant was heading towards and then she stood up and pointed to me the direction that the ant was moving to.

Then I replied Mummy thinks the ant is going to build its  house, what a  busy day for the little ant maybe it will be a good idea to look at the ant again the next time we visit the park, what do you think? Le Xin nodded her head and walked back home with Mummy. At home, I revisited this idea of the nature walk and what she saw by showing her the photos that I took.

Exploring nature not only helps the children to make connections and understand the relationships between plants, animals and the environment, it is also a fantastic way to bond and share. I know how parents love to take pictures of their children engaging in an activity/learning experience but  through my work with young children, I came to realise the importance of taking photos of the objects that the child is looking at so that he/she could revisit the experience and even represent them symbolically through drawing or painting.

What is this life, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

Quoted from the poem Leisure by William Henry Davies.

Start enjoying the nature by just standing and staring. Enjoy!