Build a Sea Plane, Pirate Play and Fun Activity Worksheets and Easy Chinese Worksheets

It's been a really fun and busy week for C and I! We attended the RSAF Open House last weekend, and it sure was exciting for C to see so many different types of aircraft as well as witness the powerful fighter jets put on a roaring performance. The F-15 and F-16 pilots showcased their amazing prowess during the show! C must have been inspired, as over the next few days after the Open House, she requested that we build an aircraft ourselves! So we came up with a simple sea plane, made with an old recycled cardboard box. 

Build a Sea Plane!

C all excited to build her own aircraft!

C decided to give the sea plane some eyes, and
a smiley face. :)

Propeller was made using a modified pinwheel
from Daiso!

Wings were made from coloured paper. Straps were also
attached so C could 'fly' the craft without holding onto the box.

We fixed it with wings and a propeller for flying in the sky. We also made a control panel. The controls can switch between flying in the air, and sailing in the water. We've also included the basic directions of going up, down, left and right.

C is still having loads of fun flying her sea plane around the house even after a few days, so it was well worth the effort! If you are keen on creating your own aircraft with your kid, here is a quick list of the items we used:

- Big Cardboard Box (large enough for kid to fit through comfortably)

- Plain Wrapping Paper, or you could use paint over the exterior of the box
- Pinwheel as propellers
- Coloured paper, folded to become wings
- 2 Long Strips of Felt as straps over shoulders (so kid can move around hands free)
- Control Panel printout (Click to download printable)


Meanwhile, here are a couple more activities we've been busy with:

- Pirate Play!
- Easy Chinese Worksheets

Pirate Play!

This was a fun activity we did to introduce directions and map reading to C. We came up with a treasure map drawn with a couple of landmarks. C then attempted to use a compass to locate the treasure chest based on the directions given by the map.

Here are the items used:
Treasure Map, Compass, Toy Treasure Chest,
and landmarks built with C's building blocks.

C dressed up as a pirate with her pirate hat!
(Pirate hat available in printable).

In this Pirate Play printable, you will also find:

A treasure map where you can
place your own treasure chest and
landmark locations. 

Pirate themed mazes.

Pirate hat for dress up fun!

Colouring Activity

Dress up the Pirate!

Click here to download Pirate Play and Fun Activity Worksheets!

Easy Chinese Worksheets

When I was growing up in school, I used to have difficulty grasping the Chinese language, mainly because my family speaks English at home. Fortunately, through hard work and determination, and a whole lot of luck, I managed to score an A during my 'O' levels! Even my Chinese teacher was so surprised, since I was always just scraping through my Chinese examinations. I will never forget the look on her face when she announced my result. Haha!

Fast forward three decades, and now I am concerned about C's understanding of the Chinese language. So I am trying to come up with worksheets and exercises to introduce her to some basic Chinese, slowly but surely. Here are some basic Chinese worksheets I have come up with:

Learning Chinese Words and Matching

Basic Chinese Strokes Handwriting 

These are the links to download our Easy Chinese Worksheets:
- Chinese Part 1

- Basic Chinese Strokes

I'll be coming up with more as C and I continue to learn together. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend ahead! :)

Sea Shell Game, Draw and Glow Projector and Measurement Fun!

When we were holidaying in Phuket last year, C was enthralled by the adventure of searching for sea shells by the beach. And the other day, she got so excited when we stumbled upon a box of beautiful sea shells while shopping, we just had to purchase it. I guess the sea shells brought back good memories of our time in Phuket. Anyway, thankfully, we were shopping in Daiso, where everything costs an affordable $2. When we got home, C wanted to play with the sea shells and here's what we came up with:

Sea Shell Game!

It's a board game where the objective is to collect as many sea shells as possible in 3 rounds. Players will take turns rolling dice and moving around the board, performing math, alphabet, shape and action tasks, as seen below:

You will need some sea shells, player tokens
and dice. 

C performing the task of forming the
shape of a HEART with shells!

It was great fun playing a game we came up with together, while C learnt about math and reinforced her knowledge of the alphabet. If you would like to have some fun with this game too, I've included a printable here: Sea Shells by the Beach Game!

Meanwhile, here are a few other activities we have been doing recently:

- Draw and Glow Projector (learning about how Glow in the Dark ink works)
- Concept of Measurement
- Water Play Fun

Draw and Glow Projector

When I was growing up, I used to be really fascinated with those glow in the dark stars we used to stick on our ceilings. C and I were browsing in a bookstore the other day, and we saw this Draw and Glow Projector. I thought it would be fun for C to explore how photoluminescent ink works.

The set comes with:
- a projector,
- six different interchangeable images
- a tube of photolumiscent ink

C tracing the picture projected on the paper.

We added the glow in the dark ink after the drawings were done, and C had fun writing her name with the special ink. She was thrilled to see her own name glow in the dark! :)

Glow in the dark ink works because of phosphors. It is a chemical that absorbs the energy from light sources and re-emits it as visible light. When we shine light on glow in the dark objects, the packets of light excite the phosphor molecules that slowly release the stored energy by giving off a dim glow. It was pretty interesting to understand the science behind some of the things I used to play with during my childhood too!

Measurement 

C absolutely adores Pororo. He's actually a cute little penguin character from a Korean cartoon series. So today, we included him while C was introduced to the concept of measurement.

Pororo the penguin. 7 blocks tall,
and 6 blocks wide.

While playing with some building blocks, C wanted to build Pororo a house. So starting off with the doorway, C measured Pororo's height and width by counting the number of building blocks placed to indicate how tall and how wide he is.

This was a fun and alternative way for C to learn about the importance of measurement, as otherwise Pororo would not be able to fit through his doorway! Haha. :)

Water Play

C loves playing with water, and we do include some things for her to learn while having fun! :)

C practising her pouring skills.

Toys that FLOAT.

Toys that SINK.

Animal shaped sponges that ABSORB water.

Different sized bottles. Measuring cup to learn about
measurement of liquid.

Fishing toys for fishing fun and
practising motor skills!

It's really great to see C learning so much through play, and I am looking forward to more fun activities we can do together! I hope to share even more ideas next time. :)

Number Words, Fine Motor Skills and Fun Animal Activities!

Most of us will agree that it is always easier to have our kids learn through fun activities, so today, we made a little activity board that consists of:

a. Number Word Scramble Cards - for C to learn number words by unscrambling the letters in each word. Velcro is stuck on the back of each letter so the letters can be removed, scrambled and attached again. Some of the number word cards are hidden behind the clothing fasteners so C was motivated to open up them up! It's like finding treasure!
b. Zippers, Velcro fasteners, Snap Buttons, Buttons, Safety Pins and Poms Poms (for Fine Motor Skills)

Number Word Scramble and Clothing Fastener Activity

To help C associate each number word to the correct number, each number word is attached to:

1. ONE - 1 zipper
2. TWO - 2 velcro fasteners
3. THREE - 3 snap buttons
4. FOUR - 4 buttons
5. FIVE - 5 safety pins (for looping through a pipe cleaner)
6. SIX - 6 poms poms (I placed the pom poms in a cut out egg tray)

C working on the zipper.

C opening up the velcro fasteners. 

Unscrambling T-W-O!

Snap Buttons.

Unscrambling T-H-R-E-E!

Buttons!

Looping 5 safety pins into a pipe cleaner.

Using tweezers to pick up the poms poms.

Unscrambling S-I-X!

If you are also keen on creating something similar, I've included a printable here: Number Words Scramble Cards.

Pipe Cleaners and Buttons

While I was setting up this activity board, C played with the pipe cleaners and buttons that were laying around. She discovered that the pipe cleaners can be fit through the little holes in the colourful buttons! It didn't occur to me that the pipe cleaners could actually fit! So C created her own little activity that was also great for fine motor skills!

They look like a vase of button flowers!

C is really happy with her wonderful creation
with pipe cleaners and buttons!

Animal Words and Craft Fun!

Animal Word Match Activities!

For the sea animals, I printed them out, cut them and attached them to magnets. C then matched the animals to the correct animal words pasted on the white board.

All done! :)

For the other animal word activity, I used clips that had cute animal faces on them. C then matched the animal clips to the correct animal words. This was a great way to learn about words as well as exercise her fine motor skills by using the clips.

C clipping the animals to their respective words.

Art and Craft Fun!

Here we have a couple of craft activities where C had fun decorating a whale and giving an octopus its tentacles. 

Whale activity for handwriting practice and craft fun.

Applying glue.

C decorating the blue whale with sparkling blue glitter!

Using pipe cleaners as tentacles for the octopus.

Sticking on the 8 tentacles.

The octopus is done!
It was also great counting fun!

Here's the printable activity: Animal Fun!

C had loads of fun learning with the activities above and hope you will also find these ideas useful! :)

You may also be interested in our previous posts related to:
- Numbers (Number Bonds, Odd/Even Numbers and Counting Activity!)
- Animals (Animal Cookie Recipe and Animal Classification Table)