Learning to Tell Time!

One of the most important things in life is being able to keep to time. When we were having our holiday in Japan, we were extremely impressed with how organized they were, and how reliable and efficient their train systems were. Their trains were punctual right down to the second, and that is truly a world class standard that all of us should look up to.

That being said, learning to tell time is the first basic step to being on schedule. And now that C is of preschool age, we've come up with a few activities to help her learn about telling time.

Make Your Own Clock!

Click here to download.

You will need:

Paper Plate

Paper Roll

Scissors

Tape / Glue

Brad Fastener

Hole Puncher

Pen / Marker

(Optional) Stickers to Decorate

Download and print out the clock face and clock hands.
Instructions in download.

C had fun drawing a face on her clock!

Learning to tell time on her very own clock!

Learning Minutes in Intervals of 5

Another thing we added to this activity was adding the minutes with stickers. I wrote the minutes in 5 minute intervals, and had C match the numbers with numbered stickers.

C also added her own touch by sticking
decorative stickers to beautify her own clock!

Tea Party with Toy Friends!

We came up with an idea for C to fetch her toy friends to a tea party. We set the tea party at 3pm.

List of C's favourite toys and various times to meet.

C was given a list with her toy friends' names and the times she was to fetch them. I changed the time on the clock and C was to match the toy and time, and get the correct toy to the party.

C fetched all her toys at the right time!

All set for the tea party!

A wonderful tea party with her toys! 

This was loads of fun for C, and she got to learn about telling time while enjoying her little tea party with her toys!

Meanwhile, C was also introduced to telling time according to:
- one hour intervals,
- half hour intervals,
- 15 minute intervals, and
- 5 minute intervals.

Will be introducing her to one minute intervals last. Before I sign off, here are some time telling worksheets to share with you! :)

Fun Easter Activities for Preschoolers!

It's going to be Easter again soon! Here are some Easter activities to keep our preschoolers busy while having fun! Download them here.

Meanwhile, C had loads of fun baking this morning! We made Snickerdoodles with a twist! Instead of coating them with cinnamon sugar, we used beautiful rainbow sprinkles and chocolate rice! Shaped like round eggs, they are perfect fun for this Easter!

Here's the recipe, super easy and fun for kids!

Rainbow Snickerdoodles

Ingredients:

5 oz of unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
6 tbsp of sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1 3/4 cup cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Rainbow Sprinkles
Chocolate Rice

Step 1. Cream the butter with the sugar.

Step 2. Add egg to the creamed butter and sugar.
Then add vanilla.

Step 3. Add the sifted flour, salt, baking soda and
cream of tartar to the egg and butter mixture.
Stir until flour is incorporated.

Step 4. Scoop out cookie mixture from Step 3 with a tablespoon.
Roll into a ball and coat with the rainbow sprinkles.

Step 5. Place coated cookie balls onto baking sheet.
Press down to flatten before baking at
175 deg C for 12-14 minutes.

Step 6. Remove from oven. Chill and enjoy!

Method:

Step 1. Cream butter and sugar together.

Step 2. Add egg and mix well. Mix in vanilla.

Step 3. Pour in sifted flour, salt, baking soda and cream of tartar. Stir until incorporated.

Step 4. Use a tablespoon and scoop out balls of cookie dough. Roll and coat with the rainbow or chocolate sprinkles.

Step 5. Flatten the coated balls on cookie sheet. Bake in preheated oven at 175 deg C for 12-14 minutes.

Step 6. Remove from oven, cool and enjoy!

Happy Easter everyone!

Update: Download New Easter themed Worksheets - Easter Fun!

Meanwhile, hop over to our other egg-citing activities:

- An Eggciting Morning!

- Feed the Bunny Math

Number Bonds, Odd / Even Numbers and Counting Activity!

Number Bonds

Now that C is confident in doing simple addition, we came up with a number bonds chart to show how different numbers can add up to give the same result. For example, there are 4 ways to derive 4:

1+3 = 4

2+2 = 4

3+1 = 4

4+0 = 4

C working on the number bonds activity
to derive 10.

The number bonds chart can be downloaded here. It shows the different ways to derive numbers from 2 to 10.  You can also find a DOUBLES chart and a number bonds activity within the download.

Counting Dots

C matching the number of dots to the correct number.

Counting dots is a great way to teach kids to count items correctly. It provides a good way for our kids to observe and focus on counting each dot/item just once. Playing games that utilize dice is a fantastic way to teach a child to count to 6. Meanwhile, here's a counting dot puzzle that helps preschoolers count to 12. You can print and cut out as puzzle pieces. Lamination is highly recommended for durability.

Odd / Even

C deciphering odd and even numbers.

Dots are also a great way to provide our preschoolers a visual about odd / even numbers. For a start, the explanation to C is that even numbers like 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 have dots that have an equal / balanced number of dots on two sides (if an imaginary line is drawn right down the middle), while odd numbers like 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 are unbalanced. 

Here's the Odd / Even Puzzle printable. Print, laminate and cut out as puzzle pieces!

So there, hope you and your preschoolers have fun while learning and do check back for more easy learning activities!

Fine Motor Skills for Preschoolers

In the past week, C and I have been doing many activities that involve fine motor skills, so I thought to do a compilation of these activities in this post. Here's a list at a glance:

• Scissor Skills
• Beads and Lacing Fun!
• Sorting Colours
• Cut and Paste
• Finger Painting

Read on for the details!


Scissor Skills

Now that C is interested in using the scissors, I've come up with a few scissor skills activities for her practice. She gets more confident each time she does this! 

You can download the free Scissor Skills Activity here.

Beads and Lacing Fun!

Another great activity to train our kids' fine motor skills is for them to lace beads. Nowadays, we can find a wide variety of beads in various colours and shapes for kids to lace and make bracelets/ necklaces as they wish. You can even find some beads with alphabets on them and get our children to form names or words! Please note: this activity is suitable for children aged 3 years and above due to possible choking hazard.

Other than lacing beads, we can also train their fine motor skills by asking them to place the beads into the tiny spouts of old drink bottles. Thereafter, these bottles become great musical instruments! Shake them up like maracas!

In a previous post about life skills, I had also shared about some lacing activities, to prep our preschoolers to lace their own shoes in future.

You can download the free lacing activity here.

Sorting Colours

If you happen to have lots of colourful beads, all you need is an old biscuit container with lots of compartments to do this fun sorting activity! Sorting things by colours really helps with their concentration and focus too! Please note: this activity is suitable for children aged 3 years and above due to possible choking hazard.

C had tons of fun sorting the colours of yummy M&Ms too! You can read about it in my previous post on Activities for Preschoolers!

Cut and Paste

This activity can be done together with the Scissor Skills activity. Kids can help to cut out the various components, apply the glue and stick the parts.

Piecing together parts of a train!

At the same time, our preschoolers can try their hand at using a hole puncher. This will help them get better at using different tools.

C using a hole puncher to punch out red circles.
The red circles can be pasted on as apples on the tree!

Sticking on the apples!

Happy with her apple tree!

You can download the fun Cut and Paste Activity here!

Finger Painting

Finger painting is really fun as the creations are endless! Let our child's imagination run wild, and they will come up with the most amazing ideas. We used a couple of products for our finger painting activity.

The Most Amazing Thumb Doodles Book by Klutz. 

Washable ink pads from DIY Finger Painting kit.

C makes finger prints and adds on details
with a marker.

We came up with a picture of clouds in the blue sky,
green trees, and various animals!

There are so many ways our children can learn and develop their skills. Each and every day is really a chance to learn! And I hope these will give you some ideas to have fun with your kids.