Animal Game, Learning about Sound and Phonics Activity

The weekend is arriving soon! Yay! Meanwhile, here are a few activities C and I have been doing together:

- Animal Game!

- Learning about Sound

- Phonics Activity

Animal Game!

C loves animals and here we've come up with a learning game that includes knowledge of animals, math and spelling!

C raring to go!

C keeping score. Great way to learn math!

You will need:

- Animal Game Board (included in free download)

- Animal Game Cards (included in free download)

- Dice

- Player tokens

- Pen and paper to keep score (we used a whiteboard)

Objective: Collect as many points as possible by answering animal, math and spelling questions on the game cards.

It's a fun way to learn about animals, math and spelling! :)

Download Animal Game!

Learning about Sound

Having an inquisitive mind, C is always asking questions, and I always encourage her to do so. The other day, she was curious about how sound works, and I used a slinky to show her the difference between transverse and longitudinal waves. Sound waves are longitudinal.

Using a slinky to show the types of waves.

We also did a sound activity and made our own string telephone using paper cups and a long string! C had so much fun! She learnt that the sound of her voice travels through the paper cup, through the string and into the other paper cup attached at the other end. She could feel the vibrations of the cup as well as the string. We also found that sound travels better when the string is taut instead of loose.

To provide C a visual of how sound waves work and travel through different mediums (solid, liquid, gas), I showed C this video by Designmate:

Phonics Activity!

C loves reading, and since we were on the topic of sound, I thought to introduce the sound of each alphabet, as well as the sounds when the alphabets are joined. As C is already familiar with the sound of each alphabet, she is currently learning letter blends (when two or more consonants are joined together in a word).

Matching the correct items to their beginning sounds.

This phonics activity has helped C to sound out more words and read them! :)

If you are keen, click here to download: Phonics Activity!

I hope you will find these activities useful and here's wishing everyone a great weekend ahead! :)

Books about Kindness and Compassion

Recently, C and I read a few more books about the significance of being kind and compassionate to others. I thought it is important to provide her a good foundation especially at a young age, just as how my Mum used to teach me to be considerate to others. She used to share how people would feel when certain actions are taken, and that let me understand and empathize with others. In the fast paced life of Singapore now, where academic results take precedence over the teaching of moral values, it is even more paramount to let our children be aware of how their actions and behaviour will affect others around them.

C learning to share!

It has helped tremendously to use daily occurrences as examples for C.

1. Like holding the door open for the next person coming through, especially for the elderly or people with young babies.

2. Greeting our neighbours, to build a community spirit.

3. Acknowledging the hard work of our wonderful cleaners, and respecting them. I love how their faces light up when C says hello and gives them a wave.

4. To know not to speak loudly in certain places like the library or a restaurant, as we need to be considerate to others.

5. Recognize and appreciate service staff who assist us, and to always say thank you. (Being in the service line for more than 10 years, I truly understand how important it is to appreciate customer service personnel.)

Well, the list goes on and we are learning everyday. Besides all these examples, C and I also learnt about kindness, compassion and acceptance through these books. Here are some to share:


Whoever You Are by Mem Fox

A wonderful book to share about how people around the world may be different in certain ways. Differences in the way we look, the way we speak, the way we live, and yet, deep down, we are the same. That we are all human beings who have emotions and feelings.

Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud

A great book that provides insight into how our actions and behaviour affects others around us. And we have a choice in helping others feel happy.

Happy in Our Skin by Fran Manushkin

This book is also about the differences in how we may look, but each and every one of us have feelings, thoughts and emotions. Everyone is special in our own way, and we should learn to accept ourselves and others too.

Meanwhile, here is a great website to find other stories about kindness:
The Best Children's Books

Do also check out our post on recommended books for preschoolers:
Recommended Books for Preschoolers

Here's wishing everyone a wonderful weekend ahead!

Learning with HANDS, Make Your Own Parachute and Scissor Skills Fun! :)

The weekend is here again! So here are some of the activities C and I have done together, besides heading outdoors to enjoy the wonderful nature (I'm always thankful for the days when the weather is beautiful)!

Love how happy C is here! Always great to have a
good balance of indoor and outdoor fun!

Meanwhile, our recent indoor activities include:

1. Learning with HANDS

Numbers and Number Words
Numbers were written on the front of these cardboard fingers, and on the back of each finger, I wrote down the respective number words, so that C can learn to read and spell them!

Hand Swat Game!

This was a really fun way for C to learn math! We printed out some hands and attached straws to them, to act as handles. A game board of numbers on hands was also printed out, so we can "swat" the correct answers to math equations.

C got the correct answer!

This game can be played with more players to make it even more fun, to see who can solve the math equations, and swat the correct answers first!

I've included this game in the free printable (also includes math equations plus LEFT and RIGHT Hands Worksheet):

Download Learning with HANDS!

2. Make Your Own Parachute!

C also made her own parachute the other day! It was a cool way to show C the effects of air resistance, which slows down the fall of the parachute.

We used:

- A biodegradable plastic bag, cut into two octagons (one big and one small)
- Scissors
- Ruler
- 8 strings for each parachute (attached to each corner of the octagons)
- hole puncher (to create holes or cut small slits with scissors, to attach strings)
- tape (optional)

Watch this video to see how to cut an octagon from a square.

Attached strings in each corner of the octagon.

We made two parachutes of different sizes, as I wanted to show C the difference in the falling speed of a big parachute versus a small one.

C observing the differences between the parachutes made. 

C quickly learnt that the small parachute fell faster due to less air resistance. We had attached little toys of the same weight (we used the weighing scale for accuracy), and dropped them from the same height at the same time.

The larger parachute took a longer time to fall due to greater air resistance. :)

3. Scissor Skills Fun!

C loves using the scissors, and she has been very proficient in cutting straight lines. So I thought she will benefit from the challenge of cutting curves and circles. Here, C had fun cutting out pizzas and scoops of ice cream, yummy treats that she enjoys as well! Haha.

Download Scissor Skills Fun!

I hope you and your kids will enjoy these ideas and do check back for more easy learning activities next time! Happy weekend to all! :)

Making Our Own Masks! :)

Inspired by a book titled "I Could Be, You Could Be", by Karen Owen, C and I decided to come up with our own masks, and let our imagination take flight! It's so much fun to pretend and imagine! :)

C requested to make her own Pororo mask, as the little penguin is her favourite cartoon character! We printed out the image, and C added her own colours. Then, we laminated and cut out holes for the eyes. We also attached an elastic band to the holes on the sides, so she could wear the mask.

After adding colours to her Pororo mask.

C as Pororo!

C as a bunny! :)

C combined her masks here! Haha.
Looks like Pororo grew a pair of bunny ears!

Meanwhile, we also came up with a few other animal masks. If you are keen to make your own masks and have some pretend fun too, download the free printable here: Fun Animal Masks

Hope you enjoyed this and here's wishing all a great weekend ahead! :)