lists
Showing posts with label lists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lists. Show all posts

A list of Items to Prepare when Out on Long Trips

When I forsee long car  trips, I would try to prepare some items to make life easier for us along the way... Of cos these are the additional items to occupy the kids besides the other neccessities :). These are what I prepared on our most recent outing. 

1) Sticker books, level of difficulty suitable for both of them (gotten from taobao)


I would cut out the stickers along the lines and do remember to number the book and the stickers. Eg Imm's sticker book is 6 so I would label each piece of the sticker from his book with the number 6 so it would not get mixed up with Ko's one.


2) This was any random thing I picked as it was about to finish. It will serve its purpose for them to decorate on any rough paper and I can discard it after that.


3) Colouring books and crayons


4) Cds of their songs to play on the car

Some things I learnt that might be good to have:

1) A new type of toy or book (can buy on promo and bring along trips as the kids might have been tired of old toys)
2) Zip Lock bags to store the extra snacks from hotel breakfasts as boxes can be bulky. It would be good to have a foldable box as well.
3) Rough paper for kids to be creative
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Five Counting Ideas for 1 - 3 years old

I am sure we all do some numbers right from the start just to count together, even when your child is a baby. Well I do that; in the lifts, I would point at all the numbers enthusiastically (usually in the beginning of a trip when I am not too exhausted) and count whenever we go up and down the stairs. Counting is great and fun! And a prelude to to overlooming maths concepts that kids will certainly enjoy.

Here are some of my ideas of teaching the kids.. I did a lot of counting but I felt they enjoyed this the most from 1-3 years old. For me, it is much more fun to do something tangible.
I have added links for those I managed to.

Jumping in the Teens

I started with this idea when I realised that Imm always skipped number 12 when he just turned 3 years old. So I decided to do a jumping game for him cos movement will help him remember better.. Strangely enough, Koko never had this issue even when she had not turned 2 years old.. maybe the immense effort to teach Imm something has rubbed off on her and she decided to make life easier for me. Anyway, I just drew the numbers on construction paper, cut it out and then laminate. I got this idea from looking at my floor tiles so you can always draw inspiration from the things around you for games. :P




Did I arrange the numbers myself? Obviously not! I got him to help me. I would say the number, he would search for it and then paste on the tile. * He looks kinda frustrated now * But trust me he enjoyed jumping so much I forgot to take pics of him :P



Finished our product! For me, it is like a hopscotch game. After he has counted forward, you can always try to jump backwards.


Counting with Rabbits and Carrots

Ko loves animals like bears and rabbits. So I decided to make a counting game and also input rabbits like to eat carrots. To make the game more fun, I used raffia string for the carrot top. You can also make the rabbit more furry by pasting cotton balls for their tails. You would be surprised at how these little things will make the game more alive. Also, I took the opportunity to show which is more and less. Always expand your game and share more ideas when the children are eager to absorb.



Counting with Cherries on Cupcakes

Using little balls for counting. You can get them in Daiso. Another idea might be to use sponge for cakes and put the cherries on top. Even the sky is no limit when it comes to creativity.


Playdoh Leaves

Ko enjoyed this a lot. We just make little leaves using green playdoh for the giraffes to eat. Yum Yum!!


Spots on Bugs

Does your little one like stickers? You can put little stickers on the bugs to input numbers. As I already laminated the bugs, you can remove the stickers and used it again later on.


Well, I am still experimenting with new ideas everyday! It is always a fun journey for me to know how far we came along :)
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My Top Eleven Websites for Play and Education

Well, there are just some sites I like to visit again and again because they are filled with awesome ideas for materials and I simply love sharing some with you. I hope you can benefit as much as I did from them. Here is the list of top 11 (extra one is bonus!) I used, in order of how frequently I used them. The ones from 5-11, I do not visit them as frequently but they are still good for ideas. Also, learning is all about practical activity, so do link up your worksheets with tangible activities for some fun and play!! :)


I have bookmarked this recently. It is good to have some practical activity coupled with these worksheets as worksheets can be well...

As Reiko loves her strawberries, I can purchase some strawberries and ask her to count till 20. Then, I would let her do the worksheet on "simple strawberry activity" (link above) and let her count. She can also learn to cancel and count. She also learn to count when the pictures are random and not in straight lines (which is what I have been practising on these days.

For Immanuel, I can use our cereals (yes the one we eat) and do a practical counting. Prepare some cereals in a box, let him count according to the numbers on the worksheet and then let him write the answer.


For me, I personally like this cause it teaches about sharing!!:) It also has ideas on magnetism, something which I touched briefly with Immanuel before.


I used this link for my Chinese Language colouring pages. I find a limited range of Chinese resources online frankly, so do share with me if you know any!


I love doing art with my kids because they instill creativity and time passes quickly :P Esp when I am handling both of them when hub is still at work. For the above "Sensory Play" link, I kind of did this before, only I used soft laminating paper so that the decorative items can stick by itself and does not require hair gel.


This website has different categories that are useful. They have recipes as well as kid printables. For me, I like the organization tables to organize activities or allow me to understand what children can do at certain ages. Above is a link on manners, very important!! :)


Creative play, woohoooo my favourite! I got some playdough ideas from here. Like making watermelon, strawberries. These are easy sensory play, only require two colours and you can add your own seeds, which is good for fingertraining and simple counting.





For the younger ages, I printed out patterns of it. The size and colour is the same as Melissa and Doug blocks. I bought mine (unbranded)sometime ago from a Popular bookstore sale and was pleasantly surprised that they fit as well! I used this to do the blocks with Reiko when I am teaching her letters. She could match the shapes and colours with help at 2 years old.



This is a good website to find worksheets. However, you have to upload your worksheets and collect points and then use the points to download other worksheets. This is good for me cos I like to create and target areas that the kids are not so good in. You can choose to buy books and do but I prefer to use worksheets.. I will print on rough paper, do and then discard. Additionally, if I were to start an assessment book, I feel a compulsive disorder to "finish" it and get it over and done with. Worksheets are the best. :) You can also print pictures to make your own flashcards.


This is a site that I used to encourage Immanuel and Reiko to be interested in reading. I actually bought the app for a year as it can also be used on ipad. It also includes components like maths. When I am super exhausted from all the playing and learning, at least they are still doing something educational and fun. 


I have bookmarked this only recently. It is a writing exercise app that allows you to create any chinese words you want. Good for me because I can print out the worksheets on the day that I want Immanuel to write certain words. Superb!!



One of my favourite websites for all time and I printed a LOT of materials from here to make my tiny books for easy reading. I also read some of the ideas from Science experiments and then modify the ideas for my own use.
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