Water Play with Food colouring and Soap!

Okay, some of you must be thinking......not another post about food colouring.Yeah I know somehow I am just too crazily fasinated with food colouring haha but do check out these two cool learning experiences ------> this and ------> this if somehow you haven't read them.

So we had another session of water play again but I was thinking how should I make it a little different this time round for Le Xin and somehow I remember I once had waterplay with some of the N2 children at Etonhouse using food colouring and soap......yeah so I tried it with Le Xin again... This't wasn't the first time we did an experiement before here.

 

She was practically laughing  throughout the whole waterplay :)

 

Let's take a look at this fun filled learning experience!

 Spraying water into her blue tub! Eh sorry please ignore my ugly looking towel bowl :p

Testing the water temperature with her feet.....The water so cold Mummy said Le Xin.

Let's add some warm water!

Water temperature was just nice and Le Xin soaked herself in the tub! So cute :)

Le Xin was observing the colour of the water in the tub....

I asked Le Xin which food colouring she wanted to use and she said blue so in went a few drops of
blue food colouring and she observed the water turning blue.....She started shouting with excitment blue the water turn blue Mummy. I supposed it was quite a fascinating sight for her :)

I asked Le Xin what colour should we add in? and she said green, and I told her but we do not have green food colouring how about we mix some and she said yeah mix green, so I added in some yellow food colouring and she gave a big stir suddenly she observed that the water turns green and she began to place both her hands into the water to feel it.....

 Little Hands with Curious Mind!
 

Then I told her what we did kind of reminded me of the storybook I bought for her "Look Out Leon" by Jez Alborough......This is our favourite book and you haven't read it before, go get it, I highly recomend all parents to get this book for your child/children, it's very interesting and cute!

 

Next, Le Xin went on to add some soap into the water....

 

She gave a stir using her spade...

 

She used both her hands to scoop some foam and she said I can see the bubbles, and I  replied wow, there's foam on your hands and she replied Mummy see foam on my hands. How does it feel like? I asked and she replied nice! Yeah I'm sure you enjoy feeling the soft foam right? I asked and she smiled and said yes!

 

Next, Le Xin explored with a variety of water play tools......

 

Rake....

 

Watering can and sieve....

 

Jug and net....

 

Funnel...

 

Feeling the foam with her feet...

 

Trying to balance herself....

 

I in the boat Mummy like Max - Roleplaying as Max in the story "Where The Wild Things Are" by Maurice Sendak...Wow she really amazed me when I heard that. This shows that she is displaying the ability to make connection and apply what she has learnt!

 

Yeah, probably imitating Max on this page...Bleah :p Le Xin you are just SOOOO FUNNY!

 

Meditating and enjoying her "spa" haha :)

 

Then she went for her bath and......

dried her own hair :)

 

Physical development emcompasses both fine and gross motor activities. I usually cover the gross motor activities when I am out with Le Xin, either in the playground, at the void deck or simply at the corridor. As for fine motor skills, we usually engage in cutting, drawing, colouring and pasting at the our Mini Atelier.

 

So why fine motor activities are important? They develop the small muscles of the hand, enable children to have competency to manipulate materials in their environment and ultimately to master the skills of writing when they are in Kindergarten (in our local context). 

 

To me, I personally find that water and sand play are two of the best ways to refine a child's fine motor skills, that's why I make it a point for Le Xin to engage in water play frequently. In Singapore, it very difficult to find a sand pit which is kind of sad, so we have to go to East Coast Park if we would like to play with sand. However, I am still sourcing ways where I can build a small sandpit for Le Xin at home, perhaps in my service yard....any suggestion anyone?

 

Okay, I am glad Le Xin enjoyed her waterplay session, it always very fulfiling watching her @ play....ending off this post with a cute pic of my darling girl!

 

Look at what my naughty Mum did to my hair! Hmph!  Hahaha!

 Just for you guys okay?  Thanks for reading my blog... Smile :)

Printing with the use of Legos!

Here's a lego printing activity which I did with Le Xin.

 

It was really an enjoyable learning experience and she was very involved even with the cleaning up after the printing session!

 

Well done Le Xin, Mummy is so proud of you :)

 

Let's get the materials ready, Le Xin swinging her drum which Wai Gong bought for her.....

 

Dipping her brush into the paint...

 

Look how focused she was when she was painting the lego!

 

Giving it a gentle press.....

 

Observing the patterns form!

 

Giving it a harder press...

 

Mummy I want the blue lego said Le Xin showing her ability to express what she wants....

 

Taking pride in her work!

 

Helping to pack up, Le Xin picked up all the legos and placed them in her yellow bucket....then off she went to the toilet.....

 

Le Xin helped to wash the legos but wait what was she looking at?

Haha it was Mummy asking Le Xin to observe the colour of the water before she washed the legos...a great opportunity to learn the word/concept ---->"transparent" :)

 

Giving the lego a big rub using her little fingers...I kept telling her she was bathing her legos :p

 

Rinsing the lego.....

 

Mummy the lego still got paint said Le Xin Ohh you mean there is paint left on the lego, so what cleaning tool we could use to make sure the lego is clean? asked Mummy. Wash it again suggested Le Xin. Why don't we use a brush to clean it? suggested Mummy Use brush to clean Le Xin repeated after Mummy and started brushing her lego :)

 

Le Xin observing the water once again after she has washed all her legos....Le Xin look at the colour of the water, what happen to the water? asked Mummy. So dirty the water said Le Xin as she placed both her hands in to scoop the water and observe it closely.

 

The reason why I felt this was an extremely fun and meaningful learning experience for the both of us was because I value the entire learning process that comes with it. It's not just an art and craft activity because during the learning process, I observed how her fine motor skills was developing as she painted and printed the legos on the drawing board. I observed how she could make decision by choosing which colour lego she wanted to use. I also get to share with her the need to be responsible by getting her to pack the legos after she has used them.

 

Next, she was involved in the washing process, teaching her to be independent that she needs to be in charge of cleaning of her own art tools. Lastly, there was also some form of observation going on when she noticed how the water has changed from transparent to dirty grey.

 

 I gave her a glass bowl instead of a plastic basin because I wanted to teach her the need to handle glassware with care as it is fragile. It seems like incidental learning for her yet it was kind of  intentional on my part....In fact now Le Xin has a good understanding on what I have exposed her so much so that everytimes she sees something that is made of glass she says to herself becareful this one is fragile haha! For example when she is eating her apple sauce, she handles the glass bottle with care  which I think it's good because she is applying what she has learnt:)

 

 The reason why I am sharing the above is not because I want to proof to everyone who is reading this post just how capable my daughter is. Nope that's not my intention, the reason why I have such a reflection was because yesterday I went to Kiasu Parents Forum and read one of the post from a parent. Apparently this parent has enrolled her daughter in an English reading enrichment class (don't think it's nice for me to mention the name of the centre), and this was what she commented "I paid so much for her to attend those lessons, her teachers said she is weak yet they didn't focus on making her read and write, instead, they just engaged her in art and craft, I know it because she often comes home with all those art and craft work....isn't this a waste of my money and time! Should I pull her out or continue to send her for enrichment please advise?"

 

I guess every parent want to see some form of results at the end of the day. I am not sure why she sent her daughter to an English reading enrichment class yet her daughter came home with art and craft work only but what I feel like sharing with her is that Art and Craft is not a waste of time, certainly it is an excellent way to boost her daughter's self confidence. A child without confidence will not be ready to take on the world with the right learning attitude and mindset.

 

I hope this post helps parents out there to understand what it really means to have a child engaging in activity where learning does take place! It's starts from the heart......a happy child with a happy heart who craves to learn through exploration, fun, play, enjoyment and nothing else....I agree reading and writing is important but certainly it's not everything, once your child is ready she will be.....don't be too stressed, give your child more time to internalise the concept taught, eventually she will and can read and write.....

 

To that parent, thanks for making me understand how important it is to focus on what I need to focus and not what I want to.....Just like you, I also hope Le Xin can read and write soon, come on which parent doesn't have such a mindset but it takes time and lots of exposure......I believe when the time is right Le Xin will be able to do so, for now I hope I can still spend time to craft with her, to explore and to make learning an enjoyable process not a chore.....  On a serious note, I don't wish to neglect on Language and Literacy or Numeracy or Mandarin too so I will buck up on those areas :) So contradicting right hahahahha? Forget it, I just have to admit I am also a KIASU PARENT :p

 

Well the bottomline is

 

Treasure every moment you get to spend with your child because you can't turn back time!

 

Just like her little fingers won't always be this little right? Aww~ So cute :)

Necklace made from Toilet Rolls!

Haha to promote substainability, I always encourage Le Xin to recycle. So after completing the vowels activity in the morning, I told her  in the afternoon.....hmm maybe today  we can use toilet rolls to make something again! Le Xin smiled and suggested Mummy can we make necklace?

 

I guess she was inspired by this

 

Le Xin and Daddy Scott wearing my rainbow necklaces....

 

Alright then.......time to get started!

 

Remember how I used the toilet rolls the other time? I am going to make a necklace this time round! Excited!!!!

 

Decorating the toilet rolls with coloured markers...

 

Next up, pastel chalks from Daiso!

 

Hey come to think of it I should also use my stickers too.....so let's me choose a nice one!

 

Let's stick it!

 

Tata!! Nice?

 

After decorating my toilet rolls, I am going to start making my necklace now!

 

So Mummy gave me this......is this for my head? It's looks like a hat!

 

Finally I can put all my threading exercises that I have been doing to good use.....Hooray!

 

Nicely done! Do you like it?

 

Mummy T2X went a little crazy and kept snapping photos of me....... I know I look like a mini model to her....

 

Photo #1 ---> The Cutie Look

 

Photo #2 ---> The Carefree Look

 

Photo #3 ---> The  Liang Si Mei Look (haha so happen I am dressed in green that day :p)

 

Photo #4 ---> The Piggy Look

 

Well Mummy's personal favourite is..........

 

The cheeky me!

 

Actually she loves all my photos because she..........

 

she...........

 

she..............................

 

she..................................................

 

she...............................................................................

 

she.......................................................................................................

 

LOVES ME!

 

 

Do you love using recycled materials to craft with your child/children/students too?

 

I strong feel that it is a fantastic way for your child to display his/her creativity.You can source an idea from a book, from the internet, from other media as well and try it out with your child.

 

 Just remember that you need to allow him/her to speak to you and listen attentively. Next, make sure you respect his/her input....Always show that you are interested and then allow him/her to express his/her creativity and you will be able to see wonders.......

 

Leaving you guys with my favourite quote from Mary Lou Cook.....

 

"Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”

 

What is your definition of Creativity?

Vowels!

So I finally decided to get down to teach Le Xin - Letters. I was struggling to do so because it's not an easy thing  to teach her. I find that she doesn't seem to have much interest to learn about letters but I know no matter what I still have to introduce them to her!

 

To kick start! I decided to teach her about Vowels.....AEIOU!

So how do I spark her interest to learn about those funny looking letter shapes apart from playing ipad games and flashcards....hmmm I know Le Xin always have a soft spot for flour like stuff so I decided to get her to......explore letters using flour!

Hooray I am going to start! Look at her cute smile :)

Let's pour some flour out a tray for her to observe!

Does this remind you of the goo activity we did the other time? Le Xin used her hands to feel the flour...

Next she used an ice-cream stick and started forming lines and strokes with it.....

 

I want to write letter O said Le Xin as she tried to use her ice-cream stick to form the letter ...That's her favourite letter, kind of remind her of a circle and a zero. By the way I once asked her if  O and zero are the same and she said No o is circle and zero is oval, I was totally amazed by her response!

 

The writing part often does not last long and soon she was lost in the world of exploration.. Sprinkling the flour all over :)

 

It was messy but it was all worth it because she was sooooo actively engaged in the activity! Little Hands @ Work :)

 

So happening, she laughed and laughed and almost couldn't stop!

 

 The cute thing is she was able to relate her action with "Snowing", which was pretty fascinating to me since she has never seen real snow in her life!

 

Then it was time to get down to some serious "work"

 

I wrote the  letter "a" on a piece of black paper with glue.

 

Le Xin used her little fingers to pick up some flour....

 

Next, she sprinkled the flour onto the paper...

 

Then it was Le Xin's turn to try, the first time she pressed to much glue on the paper and her "work" was ruined, but I did not give up and allowed her to try again and I kept reminding her not to press the glue bottle........well.....in the end she did it!

 

Mummy I'm making a sun said Le Xin. Before that, she created a fish!

 

Getting rid of the excess flour on her paper....

 

Let's explore without the tray....Simply enjoying her sensory play!

 

Nicely done!

 

 

I hung the vowels at the window as part of our home deco, cool!

 

 

This is alternative learning that one can offer to a child instead of worksheets. After this activity, Le Xin  is able to identify all the vowels! Sometimes she forgotten letter "a" but that's perfectly fine. She appears to enjoy writing on the flour too, even though her attention span was short but to me as long as she could write on the flour for a few minutes that was good enough. The exploration of the flour was provided her an opportunity to understand the properties of powery materials. It was kind of killing two birds with one stone! Okay hope you enjoy reading this post, ending this post with Le Xin big smile!

 

What else you can ask for when you know your child has really enjoyed the activity you had planned for her? Hooray!