'What Can I Do?' - My Eyes

I can see with my eyes.

I can see...

1. Big and small things around me - We looked for objects around the house (clothes pins, beads, shoes, etc.) and sort them into things that are big and things that are small.

2. Shapes - I cut out some shapes from a sponge (rectangle, oval, square, diamond & triangle), gave her some poster paint for each sponge (I add 1 teaspoon of water to each colour) and let her paint. As she stamped them on the paper she saw the shapes and she was happy to point them out. Leave her long enough, it eventually became one beautiful mess.  

3. Colours - We mixed colours on fudge sticks by painting the sides with two colours and the shade was revealed in the centre. We also did a salt glue art. I got the idea from here. My daughter was a bit more aggressive with her painting, but more importantly she had fun :) 

4. She practiced Eye-hand coordination - We have these flashcards that are not being used (it just doesn't intrigued G so she doesn't have the patience for them) so I transformed them into lacing cards, using a single hole punch and wool strings. THAT she found interest in doing. 

5. Letters - We did many things with letters. One of which, is letter tracing with her finger and paint. 

6. I can see things that are inside my home - This, she truly enjoyed. She is in love with the camera and being the photographer instead of the subject. *Light bulb!* I let her take pictures of things she sees; I only held the camera's string just in case it slipped her fingers. 

7. I can see things that are outside my home - We went outside and she took her pictures. 

'What Can I Do?' - My Nose

I can breathe and smell with my nose.

Teaching G about her nose was fun. We...

 1. Did breathing exercises - Just to get her into the mood to smell some scents coming her way. Somehow inhaling for her means lifting her shoulders too :).

2. Made (temporary) scented play-dough (peppermint) - I intentionally looked for a recipe that doesn't required cooking so my daughter could be really involve in the making of this. I was also looking for a recipe that didn't require me to buy any extra ingredients. I found some really nice homemade dough but I didn't have cream of tar tar so I moved on. The recipe I found (which seems a popular one) was a salted dough.
I got the recipe here: http://www.bestrecipes.com.au/recipe/no-cook-play-dough-L2119.html

I added the peppermint when adding the oil. For colour, we were out of food colouring so we added a small amount (about 1/2 teaspoon) of green poster paint when adding the other liquids.

Being that it is our first attempt, we divided each ingredient (measurement) in half. I am now experimenting to see how long the dough will last; I have a small batch in the refrigerator in a sealable plastic container, I have another small batch at room temperature (also in a sealable container) and another small batch at room temperature that is left out for play. I can safely say the batch that is out for play will dry and crumble in less than 3 hrs BUT once I knead it again (no additional oil or water) it becomes soft again, peppermint scent still there and ready for play. It has been over 24hrs and the dough in the sealable containers are still okay and ready for play.  

  

3. Scented Flowers - 

I got the idea from here: http://www.twigglemagazine.com/March-activities/scented-flowers-craft.html

However, using what I had on hand we did our own version.

I cut the flowers out of construction papers and my daughter paired the colours. I also let her choose the colour pompoms and pipe cleaners she would like for each flower. It was a bit difficult to get the pipe cleaners through the pompoms (I had to fuzz it out a bit and while I was doing that I was scolding myself for not using coloured cotton balls). 

I used green construction paper to wrap an old vase, glued it and then wrapped green pipe cleaners around the paper to keep it. I also get a green sponge and place it inside the vase to keep the flowers intact (especially since G smells the flowers each time she passes them).  

4. Scent Exploration around the home - We did one for the Kitchen, Bathroom and outside.

From the kitchen we had lemon and almond flavouring, cinnamon powder, nutmeg, vanilla, peppermint essence and a ball of chocolate. 

From the bathroom we had shampoo, conditioner, powder, oils, toothpaste, lotion and body mist. 

From outside we smelled different flowers. 

I tried to keep her away from the very strong scents, especially the ones with alcohols in them like rubbing alcohol, perfume, etc. 

5. An oldie but goody: Kool-aid paint :). She smell them as she paint...even taste. 

Oh, before I forget....

6. We created our nose.

'What Can I do?' - My Mouth

Mouth - I can eat, talk, chew and bite. I can also taste with my tongue.

This is one of the topics (with Eyes and Nose) I will be looking at this week with my daughter. I have put together few things that will make it easier for me to bring some points across.

1. We created a mouth - As we put the pieces together we spoke about our teeth, gum, tongue and lips. We also discussed few things we can do with them.

  

2. Taste experiment - What I love about her and this experiment is that she was willing to taste them all (except for the sweet peppers).

We categorized them in sweet, bitter, sour & salty; guess which she liked the most? 

Her word that day was 'taste' and she wanted us to taste just about everything (even soap suds!) except for vegetables. 

Throughout her learning experience I will continue to ask her how the items she is eating/ drinking taste. 

3. Cartridge paper Megaphone - While we put this together she sang 'twinkle twinkle little star' :)

Who Am I (Pt. 2)

Continuing on 'Who Am I?' I sat for some time pondering on how I am going to teach my two (2) years old 'Gender and The body'...her body....

1. Without trying to sound too schoolmasterish and lose my child's interest, I first tried the simplest and most economical way - The Mirror! It was a hit; she enjoyed looking at herself, pointing on her eyes, ears, etc. and telling me how many are there for each part. Granted we have been doing this since she was a baby, which made it easier for her to tell me now and save me from starting from scratch. I intentionally also use the correct name for each part, so for some vagina and penis maybe taboo but we are teaching here; vajayjay and any other names we can think of doesn't cut it. Our children also need to be comfortable saying the name of their genitals just as they would be when saying their arms or head. It builds confidence, self awareness and prevents confusion (especially if and when you are teaching your child bad touch and good touch).

2. Body Charts - My mom thought is was a wise idea to get her granddaughter a chart of the body, showing both male & female and the five senses. I thank her for this! It saves me from doing my own. As for the cost, it shouldn't cost more than J$500 in our local bookshops; I've purchased similar charts for J$300. Now every time G passes she stops and go over a body; sometimes wants me to join in with her.

3. A body out of shapes! She enjoyed putting this together with me...and I did too. She not only identified the hands, legs, etc. but also squares, circles, ovals and other shapes that we've pasted. I spent about J$300 for a pack of construction paper, J$150 for a pack of Googly eyes and J$26 for cartridge paper. I used a hole punch to get the buttons, nose and lips, and scissors to cut out the shapes after I drew them from objects around my house. I topped the hat off with a pompom, which went missing later because she's obsess with pompoms.

4. Footprint Butterfly Art - We used regular poster paint for this, and thankfully she sat quietly as she watched me paint her feet...now she wants me to do it all the time. She was also my 'glue lady' (she enjoyed squeezing the glue out of the bottle and patting the dried footprints onto the cartridge paper. We're planning on doing some sunflower hand prints next :) 

5. Sort by gender - I laminated some pictures of girls and boys and let her sort them in a boy pile and a girl pile. We also counted each pile to see how many boys and girls, and did patterns (boy, boy, girl, boy, boy, ___). She gasped when she saw pictures of her family in the basket and happily sorted them :) 

Later we are going to make plate faces and disguise, and face puzzle!

Books:

Although I have listed these books below, it all depends on each parent to decide what is age appropriate for their child to read or for them to read to their child (especially when speaking of the body); some words may be too big for their vocabulary and some parents may think the literature is too detailed. I suggest reading the reviews and take a look inside before deciding. 

1. Who Has What?: All About Girls' Bodies and Boys' Bodies (Let's Talk about You and Me) by Robie H. Harris - http://www.amazon.com/Who-Has-What-About-Bodies/dp/0763629316/ref=cm_rdp_product

2. Me and My Amazing Body by Joan Sweeney - http://www.amazon.com/Me-Amazing-Body-Joan-Sweeney/dp/0375806237/ref=cm_lmf_tit_23

3. Amazing You!: Getting Smart About Your Private Parts by Gail Saltz -  http://www.amazon.com/Amazing-You-Getting-Smart-Private/dp/0142410586

4. Inside Your Outside: All About the Human Body (Cat in the Hat's Learning Library) by Tish Rabe -  http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Your-Outside-Learning-Library/dp/0375811001/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_z

I also threw in some videos my daughter loves:

1. Elmo's World - Elmo Has Two! Hands, Ears & Feet (2004) - http://www.amazon.com/Elmos-World-Elmo-Hands-Ears/dp/B0000TGAH8

2. Sesame Street: Elmo's World - All About Faces (2010) - http://www.amazon.com/Sesame-Street-Elmos-World-About/dp/B002C6VMG6

....and for more older children.....

3. The Magic School Bus - Human Body (1994) - http://www.amazon.com/The-Magic-School-Bus-Human/dp/B0009S4IME/ref=cm_lmf_tit_15

Popular songs we sang:

1. Head, shoulder, knees and toes

2. If you're happy and you know it

3. Dry bones (Dem bones) 

Who Am I? (Pt.1)

This week G and I will be looking at the subtitle 'Who Am I' under the 'All About Me' theme. It touches on her name, gender, parts of body and very little on birthday (I will not be touching much on birthdays because there is an entire subtitle on this topic).

Let us look at 'Name'

It is very important that a child know his/ her name and eventually can spell it. Come to think of it, it is a milestone! I know I'm not the only one who was asked by their child's Pediatrician that if my child (months old) turns around or stopped what she's doing because she knew I was calling her, and she went on to checked a little box after I said yes. Right?

Now I've been teaching G her name for as long as I can remember but that doesn't mean she has mastered it, so here are some ideas on things we are still using to let her get more familiar with her name and it's spelling:

1. I call her by her given name - In my culture it's popular to give a child an alias (some just out of this world!); this may lead to confusion when teaching a child his/ her given name. A child may be called Poochie daily, she answers to Poochie daily and so when her parents decide to call her Melissa they may not get the response they were expecting. I'm not saying one shouldn't give his/ her child an alias but minimize its usage and use your child's given name more. Their teacher will thank you :)

2.  Labels - It's one of the cheapest way to build name recognition. You can use a permanent marker and label just about everything they own; showing ownership (and I know my daughter loves that). If you do not want it to be written permanently (depending on the object...let's say a textbook) you can use paper tape or labels and write your child's name on it.

  

Above are labels I designed in Word doc. and I got these cool fonts that I downloaded for free from: http://www.fontspace.com/ .

If you are interested in the fonts for the car, flower and other diagrams you can check out: 

a. http://www.fontspace.com/khryskreations/kbabcdoodles

b. http://www.fontspace.com/search/?q=vbdings

I waterproof some to go on G's water bottles. It is about J$7 per label at PACKMART (minimum of 25 labels).

3. Speaking of name recognition, I created these name slips (below) and laminated them for durability. G had fun this morning fishing her name out of a basket and sorting them in two piles; the ones that had her name and the ones that didn't. 

4. Mats and Magnetic Letters - I grew up with magnetic letters on my fridge and they are just as good now, just as they were before. We spelled her name on her magnetic board and we used the mats to spell her name. You can make up a simple song while he/ she search for his/ her name; I sung while I clapped and she bopped her head searching. 

If you don't have magnetic board, the fridge will do just fine.

5. We unscrambled her name:

6. We searched her reading book for all the things that begins with the letter 'G':

 

7. Colouring pages, connect the dots, tracing letters... I get free materials here: 

a. http://www.education.com/

b. http://www.schoolsparks.com/

c. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/ (some materials are at a very low cost but you can find really good free ones too).

8. If you're feeling creative, you can create your own. I did this in Word doc.:

9. As for songs I got some really nice selections from here:  http://preschool.uen.org/curriculum/september_s/NameUnit.pdf

Books:

Unfortunately I couldn't find what I desire from my local bookshops but I went online I found these that I thought were really nice....

A) A, My Name Is Alice by Jane E. Bayer. Take a look inside here:

http://www.amazon.com/A-My-Name-Is-Alice/dp/0803701233/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=25LC1ICOW5HN8&coliid=I1NT7B7M5SE2XS

 

B) Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes. Take a look inside here:

http://www.amazon.com/Chrysanthemum-Kevin-Henkes/dp/0688147321/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=25LC1ICOW5HN8&coliid=I3F8ZWWRB6JZNH

C) The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi. Take a look inside here: 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Name-Jar-Yangsook-Choi/dp/0440417996/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=25LC1ICOW5HN8&coliid=I2MVN0BUN5FCK7

Share with me... How do you or would you teach your child his/ her name? What books would you recommend? 

My top ten (10) 'craft bin' supplies

One cannot move forward without being equipped with tools, and being equipped with proper tools makes life and the task we have at hand just a little bit easier to complete; the same goes for teaching and guiding our children the best way we can. In order to create, explore and make learning fun we need the tools to make it happen.

Ok, now you're probably seeing dollar signs and may have let out a sigh wondering how much you are going to spend. Truth is if you have a baby or toddler, whatever you have around the house may just entertain him/ her. They don't demand much...just your imagination and creativity.

Toys are normally purchased from each parent's perspective as to what is appropriate for his/ her child, the cost, durability, whether it is educational, will it stimulate the child, etc.; some, if not all, of these are taken into consideration. As parents, we have the choice to buy or create. You can purchase a small drum kit if you so desire (and that is perfectly fine) or you can make one. However, to make our projects possible or even attractive and fun, there are some basic supplies needed.  These supplies and activities you will create, some will be perfect for long trips, our children will be able to explore and bring their concept to life, and it will help them to work on their gross and fine motor skills.

Ten (10) supplies you just got to have around:

1. Crayons - There's no need to buy the very expensive brands if you don't want to; there are affordable ones in our local stores. I got mine for J$300 for a pack of 16 Jumbos (this summer 2013)....just make sure they are non-toxic.

2. Paint & paint brushes - be it water, poster, powdered, etc...again make sure the paints are non-toxic. This summer (2013) I paid J$500 for 2 sets of poster paint (12 colours). You can also get a smock if you want but I just put my babies in old Ts and it has been their go to art smock.

3. Cartridge paper/ Canvas/ Printing paper/ Scrap book - You decide what will be your child's canvas for painting, scribbling, colouring, etc.

4. Child safety scissors - Perfect for toddlers

5. Paper glue & Glue sticks

6. Pipe cleaners, also known as Chenille stem

7. Construction Paper/ Card stock

8. Googly eyes, also known as Jiggly eyes

9. A pair of lace - for lacing cards, beads, etc. These can be coloured or you can dye/ paint them with your child as part of a craft project.

10. Play dough - A child can get really engrossed in this!

I'm starting to believe '10' is a very short list; of course you can add glitter glue, tape, tissue paper, glow in the dark markers, thumb tacks, etc. I will highlight the supplies I used for each project I introduce.

So what is in your 'craft bin'? What would you add or take away from my list? 

"All About Me"

Our baby girl G is starting her first day of school this year (yeaaah!), and trying to be on top of things I went ahead and get myself a copy of 'The Jamaica Early Childhood Curriculum Guide'. I found it on their website, free of cost to download, pdf form, from birth to 5 yrs old...and I do believe it will help me to keep up with the pace of the teachers and not be clueless as to what my child should be learning in class. You can find the curriculum here if you're interested: http://www.ecc.gov.jm/l-public_manuls.htm

I'm using 'Birth to Three' (I also have an almost 1 yr old):

Of course I'm expecting her teachers to introduce other things to her. There is Heroes' Day coming up; which school wouldn't cover that?!

Well the first theme for her age group (age 3) is 'All About Me' and it covers most, if not all, all about them :); name, age, gender, emotions, birthdays, etc. You get the idea. I am really excited myself...she coming home from school, me helping her with her home work and cookies in the oven baking (yup suuuuure: day dreaming here)....most of all I'm really looking to push my limit so I can help her enjoy learning and her school experience. Some days will be better than others but I'll do my best (pinky promise, cross my heart, hope to die).

The first sub-theme is 'Who am I', which is what I'll be addressing. I will also be feeding off my sister, an Early Childhood educator, who can share her ideas and make suggestions which will help guide me on this journey (big sister rocks!). This I will share with you, and any other great materials that will help us in this theme. I am also open to your ideas so please share.