Simple Sorting - Girls or Boys?

Have you ever asked your son or daughter if he or she is a girl or a boy and the response was an opposite answer? Haha at least this always happen to me when I asked Le Xin that question Don't get me wrong, it's common that young children at this stage are still a little confused about their own gender and personally I think this will just be a passing phase. I  am definitely not at all concern about it but still I thought why don't I try out a simple sorting activity with Le Xin and observe her level of understanding :) Good idea isn't it?

 

Materials that I used to teach her....

 

But first up let's enjoy a mini interview I did with Le Xin :p
 

What can I say.....Cuteness!

 

Then she showed me her enthu look that could almost make me melt!

 

Kor Kor said Le Xin

 

Alright put some glue first......

 

Then I paste!

 

Know why she was staring at that little boy?

 

Watch this!

 

I like how she tried to say shhhh initially and then repeated after me by saying.... Baby don't cry

 

Le Xin was observing what she had done so far....

 

Still very confused about boys and girls even at the end of the activity......all she could say were Jie Jie and Kor Kor!

 

Watch this

I wanted to teach her how to differentiate but I don't think she is ready to understand yet...it might make her more confused than ever so I better learn when to stop and when to pick up and continue :p

 

Excited to present her work and the first person that she targetted was the crying baby of course whahahaha

 

Then she tried her tricks as usual...

 

Let's play peekaboo....

 

Check out my cute smile first....

 

My roof.....nice?

 

Sorting activities are very fun and meaningful for Le Xin. As she sorts, she is also showing increasing interest to notice details about things and is also thinking about how things can be the same or different. I will continue to explore more sorting activities with her. Do you know sorting activities can be included in everyday tasks which include putting toys away, puting clothes into the respective laundry bags, helping to sort washed socks and etc...Ending this post with a pic of my cutiepie once again......till the next time I blog about her again....Take Care!

 

I am done with playing.....poof!

What's your name?

Since Le Xin joined MFS, I've been starting to teach her about her name. I often ask her if someone ask you What your name, what should you say? and Le Xin will reply Le Xin. However these days, she will answer Koh Le Xin instead haha. At first, I used Dream English Youtube video to introduce her the concept of name.
 

Then I also printed out her name and pasted it on her shoe rack so that when she keeps her shoes, she will see her name on it. I explain to her that Koh is her surname and her surname is same with Daddy Scott and my surname is Tan but I wonder if she understands what I am trying to tell her :p  However, I know that she can differentiate between her English name and her Chinese name because there was once she pointed at those Chinese characters and said Chinese name. Haha so cute <3

 

As I continued to observe her when she working at our Mini Atelier, I noticed  that she is beginning to scribble some lines on the paper that she was drawing on and after scribbling she will say my name. That was when I decided perhaps I should build on her interest but what should I do? I know nuts about teaching toddlers when it comes to name haha not my fault okay? ---> I did not take PG class before (eh....just an excuse :p)

 

I know about all those tracing her name with her finger using sand paper and other materials but I am not into geting her to write yet.....the whole purpose is to share with her name is Koh Le Xin and everyone has a name so that others could identify another person using his/her name. I also wanted her to know that there are different ways of writing her name (not language but font) and no matters how the letters look like they can still be used to form her name. So aww` I thought of carrying out something that appears to be quite boring. In fact, I was quite reluctant to do it initially but I decided to give it a go bleah :p

  

This was what I did first....

 

 I showed her our names and shared with her that my name is Linda Tan (yeah yeah that's my real name but I did tell her that most people call me Lynz too!) and then the next name is Daddy Scott's name and guess what? She amazed me by pointing to the word Koh and said Koh......whahahaha I guess she could tell that Scott Koh and Koh Le Xin are the same? Haha I assume only :p

 

Then I prepared the materials that I was going to use for my "lesson" <---- (hate this word) whahahaha

 

 I sticked her name on a drawing board with all sorts of fonts.......a little too many but I only realised that after I have pasted but nevermind if I am willing to stop the activity if she is not interest.

 

Then I prepared another set of fonts for her to paste.

 

When I showed her the drawing board, I tried to make it sounds like a surprise by saying Ta Ta Ta Ta <-------- a small trick I always use with children and it works like wonders.....Duhz alright I know I am just childish, probably trying to excite myself only :p haha but Le Xin my zhu zhu na fell for it! She was amazed to see her name(s)! She tried to touch one of it and attempt to peel it out.... Ohh noo! Too much excitement is not good at times :(

In this activity, Le Xin will take one of the peach paper from the white plate (as shown above)  and try to match it with a similiar font on the drawing board. Sometimes I deliberately placed the peach paper near to a white paper with the wrong font and asked  Is this the same? next I waited for her to respond before saying yes it's not the same, it's different and then we tried to search again by asking her again so what about this one? Once we have found the right font, I will suggest okay let's stick the paper now and pass her the glue. This is a classic example of how I offer an intentional and directed activity for my child to engage in. I believe children need both teacher directed and self directed activities so that they learn to take instructions but at the same times are being empowered to suggest what they would like to learn.
 

 She put some glue stick on....

 

before she pasting her name on :)

 

Just when you thought this shouldn't be too difficult for her? Nah! Not going to bluff you that my daughter is a genius, watch this video first!

 

Actually, whe we were doing the activity I had to guide her to look out for  the font which was similiar to the one she was holding on to and which were the ones which were different. When I asked her yes or no, she even said yes or no back at me whahahahha. Sometimes, I need to remind her Mummy is asking you a question, I am not asking you to repeat after me before she replies me a yes or a no :p That's why I always stressed that the key to teaching young children is patience! Nothing else matters! We need to understand that children are not like adults they don't catch a particular concept as fast as we do. The most important thing is never compare a child with another child of the same age because every child is unique. It doesn't bother me a bit when she placed the font at the wrong place, I just corrected her and showed her where to put it in a gentle tone, I believe by doing so, she will naturally understand what to do at her own pace.

 

Here's Le Xin trying to look at the font first before pasting. I can't fault her even she pasted wrongly at least she has tried her best so as parents/educators we must always look at the child's effort <------That's very important!

 

What I like about Le Xin is that she is always very focus in doing what she is asked to do, unless it's something which she hates but Daddy Scott and I seldom force her to engage in something that she doesn't like to do either.

 

Have a look at this video...

 

She repeately filled her paper with glue before sticking it on so that it will stick well on the white piece of paper. I don't think I can be as focused as she is, I will probably just put a little glue at both sides and stick it on hahaha but that is what I admire about her. Having said that, do you know how difficult it is for me to have self-control? I have to keep reminding myself not to say "FASTER" or "快点". I need to be patient with her because I am a strong believer that if a child lives with tolerance, she/he learns patience,therefore I want to and need to model the same behaviour :) Daddy Scott always share with me "TALK IS CHEAP so it's better to WALK THE TALK!" whahahhaha

 

When she has completed her work and I asked her So what is your favorite font? She pointed to one of the tfonts and said This!

 

I guess in a way, I have met the objective of this activity because she was really able to differentiate the various fonts at the later part of this learning experience. Upon reflecting, I do know that deep in my heart it doesn't matter even if she could not differentiate because I was just trying to expose her to various fonts and to keep her engaged.

 

I hope Mummy didnt bore you with this activity, I really had a fun time observing you my darling girl AS ALWAYS.......

 

As I reflect, I realised that this learning experience which I have offered has helped Le Xin to understand the importance of perserverance. Children with perserverance are the ones who will keep on working at a task to complete it even when they find it is challenging they will choose not give up easily. I hope Le Xin grows up to understand that where there is perserverance, all things are possible ---> maybe one will only realise the success that comes with it......at the very end :)

A little exercise for the both of us :)

Hi all, I would like to share about a simple activity which I did with my darling girl. This was an activity that I didn't plan for. That day I actually brought Le Xin out for chalk play....remember I blog about enhancing pre-writing skills with chalks  in this post? Yeah but suddenly I came up with an idea which was to engage her in racing activity and there here it is.......a learning experience at the corridor which developed both her fine and gross motor skills :)

Hooray I get to play with chalk again......I like it :)

 

Let's form a line first.....

 

Do these lines look like waves?

 

Mummy came up with a new way to play with me.....but I guess it's difficult for her to explain through words....so let's watch my video below

 



Mummy demonstrating how to play this game....

 

Then I try it by myself :)

 

According to NEL (Nuturing Early Learners), children's gross and fine motor skills develop over time and influence their physical fitness, agility and coordination. Children should be given ample space and time for physical play to develop their sense of balance, physical coordination and spatial awarness. I am glad to offer this learning experience  for Le Xin to demonstrate control, coordination and balance. You can try it too with your child/children or students :)  

Sorting Manipulatives

 

I bought these manipulatives from East Point and Le Xin has been playing with it since then, usually she likes to put them through an ice-cream stick and shake it. Apart from using them to fix into something interesting, or using it for our race, haha I thought of another simple activity that these manipulatives can be used for....

 

Sorting!

 

Le Xin is able to recognise most of the colours, sometimes she gets a little confused between green and yellow, other times she might think that orange is red. I am quite certain she doesn't know grey and I often have to remind her that's the colour of the sky when it's about to rain haha! I certainly feel that this simple sorting activity is able to help her recognise some of the colours as well as learning the idea of classifying objects according to 1 attribute - Colour!

 

Shouldn't be too tough right? So let's see how she did it

 

It wasn't as easy as you think it was, initially she was rather confused! Initially, she did not understand the concept of putting the manipulatives of the same colour together because she was just too excited to throw them into the container. So I thought of a way, when she placed them into the right container I said Go Home! When she placed them wrongly I said Oh Oh...I keep in mind not to "kill" her confidence even when she sorted wrongly! She was really proud of herself when she completed sorting.......Yeah, see I'm done already a satisfied Le Xin exclaimed! How cute :)

 

 

Le Xin appears to like the "going home" idea. Haha of course I can just keep telling her yeah that's right, no that's not right.....well red should be here or blue should not be there.....but I guess that will only make her feels very irritated and frustrated. Sometimes when adults over-correct their children/students they get turn off and  instead of helping them they might just turn back and say "You play.....I don't want to play already". By sending her manipulative back to their respective homes is a sudden idea I thought of and I think it was very much based on children having animistic thinking and do you know why? That's because MummyT2X herself is also a big baby! I always draw my sun with a smiling face okay? There you see....

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Comes with eyes lashes too! whahahhahaha

A Visit to Chinatown!

Chinatown is definitely a great place you have got to visit during the Chinese New Year. Packed with lots of CNY goodies and deco, we knew Le Xin would be delighted to "shop" there! It's also learning more about the culture of Chinese New Year like what kind of things people will usually purchase to prepare for CNY.

Wai Gong showing Le Xin the Chinese New Year Deco!

Why are pineapples up there?

How about getting one of these deco?

I like snake said Le Xin

Almost going to purchase one but Mummy stopped! There are too many soft toys at home my dear!

It's okay, Wai Gong bought something else for me.......look at what I am holding hehe :p


 Personally, I find it's difficult to explain to a toddler what Chinese New Year is all about, sometimes books do help but still the concepts are hard to get through. Certain things seem to be too abstract for Le Xin . I would still prefer providing hands on experiences for her to learn about this wonderful culture for us Chinese! We visited Chinatown a couple of times during the Chinese New Year period, frankly speaking I really do not like to squeeze through the crowd....but looking at how Le Xin seemed to be so attracted to everything she saw.....it's all worth it! haha ending this post with a beautiful deco we saw!

A large and long snake.....which we were so intrigued to see as MummyT2X snap a photo of it from the car :)

Caring for Rover and Silver!



 Here's my dad teaching Le Xin how to feed the doggies - Forever grateful to Dr Siew, President of SOSD! Without him, my two dogs will not be able to stay with my dad! 

I always believe that children should be taught from a young age to love animals. That's what my dad has been teaching me all along. TLC - Tender Loving Care is what animals need most, not just impulse buying and leaving the pets to care for themselves after that!

 

If you ever been to my place you will know that my home is a small zoo, currently housing a dog, a rabbit, 3 terrapins, 2 tanks of fishes, 1 huge tank of shrimps and 1 small tank of a pair of crayfish! Even my niece Tricia asked me that day when she visted us Ah yi, Why do you have so many pets at home?

I am thankful to Daddy Scott because he allows me to keep so many pets, the marine lives are his hobby and  for me, I can't be grateful enough to have Snow, Bambi, Torie, Tisey and our new addition Tabby as part of our lives!

 

Le Xin loves all the animals in our home, currently we are fostering a street dog named Snow, she is really a very sweet baby but I will blog about more her and Le Xin in another post.

 

This post is dedicated to two of  my very special friends in my life -> Rover and Silver!

 

Rover and Silver resting on their favourite pillows in my Dad's place!

 

I bought Rover in 2005, he was my soulmate, my greatest companion, our love for each other is so deeply rooted that even we do not see each other every other day now, nothing can stop me from loving him and him loving me too! My Tatana ---> Muackz!

 

 In 2010, after I got married my dad bought Silver to accompany my Rover

The love of my Dad's life!

 

 Everything was fine till his nasty neighbour came to complain....not too sure if you guys have read the paper but all I can say is his neighbour is really horrendous, taking about the mad man will turn me into ANGRYT2X so hmm...better not go on!

 

Anyway, my initial plan of getting Dr Siew to help was really because I hope that both Rover and Silver can continue to accompany my dad because he really loves them! Little did I expect that the media will pick up Dr Siew's Youtube video and things were then blown out of proportion....but after the big hooha, the good thing was that my dad could keep both of his dogs. Used to be mad at HDB but now thank you! I am grateful for your understanding :)

 

I cried so many nights just thinking about this silly issue seriously and I am glad it was all over!

 

So now what has my two dogs got to do with Le Xin?

 

 

They are first two dogs that Le Xin was exposed to since she was a baby!

 

Initially, each time I visited my dad, Le Xin would scream at the top of her voice, she was mad scared! Especially Rover who never fails to become extremely excited when he sees me and then evolve to barking loudly, ohh ya.....not forgetting to mention Lao Er who enjoys scratching my legs to show off her excitement!

 

Le Xin was petrified! whahahahah (mean Mummy who often laugh at her for being scared ^_^, just kidding I always carry her okay?)

 

The crucial thing was I did not give up, I am certainly not trying to influence her to like dogs the way I do but I hope she will overcome her fear for dogs.....haiz I get very sad when I touch on this topic. I am SEVERLY SCARED of cats, hahaha I never seems to overcome my fear for cats so I hope Le Xin will not turn out like mummy.

 

And come on dogs are man's best friends remember?

 

So how should I help her?

 

The key word is to observe. I can't emphasize enough the importance of having children to observe the things around them......as these often form hands on experiences!

Firstly, Le Xin was involved in observing how Wai Gong bathed the two doggies...

 

Video - Le Xin was distracted but still she tried her best to concentrate :p

 

 

Then she went on to find out how Wai Gong cleaned his dogs' ears!

 

 Video - Somehow Le Xin appears to be in a little distress, not sure if it was due to the sound of the hairdryer or was it that she was unsure of what Wai Gong was doing :p

 

Le Xin slowly warms up and now she is not afraid of dogs anymore in fact she even attempts to hug  them and pad them at times

 

Remember this?

 

The first time I observed that she opened up to Silver! Haha a very happy Mummy indeed!

 

Scaffolding is just as important, Wai Gong sharing how to show love and care for dogs!

 

 

Alright, I not going to write a long reflection, yawnz~ It's 2am that I am blogging this, nonetheless I am so happy to be able to share with you guys how dogs have affect the lives of  my dad, my Le Xin and  me too! I hope you  will enjoy reading this post! Thank you Rover and Silver for all the happiness you have given to us thus far. I have seen how the both of you were so excited to see me the other day when you were in Papa's car I miss you two sooooo much!

 

I know perhaps it's really silly to my readers haha because dogs can't read blogs, but seriously if they could read my blog the only thing I ever want to say to them is THANK YOU!

 

Sharing a cute video of my dad teaching his grandchildren how to feed Silver haha!

 

 

Cliche as ever - To you it's just a dog, to him YOU ARE EVERYTHING!

 

If you are ready to own a dog, remember always choose the option to adopt!

 

If you are unsure why? That's the reason -> http://spcasingapore.wordpress.com/2013/03/22/the-bane-of-puppy-mills/

 

Out on a wet cold day!

This photo was taken when Le Xin was out on a wet and cold day! She appeared to be very happy using her Stitch Umbrella for the first time! :)



Rolling Paint!

Just thought of trying out some rolling paint art which I saw on someone's blog! It's a good alternative to sponge painting which I tried out with Le Xin earlier on.... She appeared to enjoy  the learing process because it was simple and most importantly - FUN!

So these are the materials we need?

 

Mummy helped to wrap the toilet roll with bubble wrap 

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Alright nicely wrapped, let's start!

 

Firstly, scoop a bit of green paint...

 

Hey, I don't think that's enough :o

 

I need to scoop a little more!

 

Stir and stir....

 

Start rolling.....

 

Wow look at the patterns that I have formed :)

 

How about working with blue paint now ^_^

 

I didn't take any photo after that because I was busy facilitating her and yes both her hands and my hands were filled with paint...

 

Haha that's true too :)

 

The joy of learning begins when you truly wants to enjoy and nothing else!

Not even when your hands look dirty right?

 

Yes indeed! Blue Hands said Le Xin