Every Day is a Chance to Learn: 2017

Thursday, 1 June 2017

Sticker Fun, Learning About Angles and Ocean Art!

Welcome to the month of June! I always love this time of the year because it is the school holidays! Not only do I get to spend more time with C, but it also means lots of play dates for C! :) Well, I haven't updated my blog for a while now due to a busier schedule and I thought I'd better get back to it. C and I have done so many activities since my last blog entry. For a start, since it's the holidays and to keep our kids busy purposefully, here are some ideas to share:

Sticker Fun
Measurement - Learning about Angles
Imagination around the Ocean

Sticker Fun

We never thought it would be so much fun making our own stickers until one day we stumbled upon a tiny roadshow at Kinokuniya bookstore. Xyron, is a wonderful and easy-to-use sticker maker. You can either draw and colour any design, or download their lovely printables to add your personal touches thereafter.

Image Credit: Xyron

Here's a look at C adding colours to her own stickers! This definitely kept her busy! :)

Super easy to add the sticker adhesive,
just insert, pull and cut! The sticker maker
comes with its own cutter.

Happy with her cupcake sticker! :)

Just peel and it is ready to use!

A few of the stickers C created!

Busy Bag Stickers by Stickie Mail

Check out their website for Singapore: Stickie Mail - Sending love with stickers ! Do sign up for their newsletters too, because they do send you useful information and beautiful stickers for your own creations! :)

Measurement - Learning about Angles

We came up with out own protractor for C to learn about the measurement of angles. It comes with two trains attached at 0 degrees. C was asked to rotate the trains such that they were 'moving' at specific angles from each other.

Make Your Own Protractor!

A fun way to learn about angles!

If you are keen to make your own protractor too, download Learning About Angles.

Imagination around the Ocean

This was loads of fun for C! She chose a picture of a boat and created a scene around it. This activity was a great way to exercise her imagination. C learnt to use different shades of blue to paint the waves of the ocean, and at the same time, used white to lighten the shades of blue.

Different shades of blue, and a touch of white
to lighten the existing colours.

Little artist hard at work!

Done with the ocean waves! Now to place her boat!

Next, C decided to paint the sky. She wanted to use round poms poms to create her white fluffy clouds. They turned out pretty well!

Being a lover of sunny weather, C opted to use the round circumference of a bottle top to paint the bright yellow sun in the sky!

Using her imagination, C used a bottle top to
paint her bright sun!

Dipping the bottle top in yellow paint,
C made a round imprint to create her bright sun!

C's finished artwork! She also added cute birds and a dolphin!

This activity allowed C the freedom to:

- use her imagination to design a scene

- learn to utilize white to lighten other colours

- use different objects around the house to create different patterns on paper

If you are also interested in creating a little ocean scene too, download your free printable here:

Meanwhile, do check out our related posts here:

- Art Class at Artify Studio
- Under the Ocean
- Colours

Remember to have fun and Happy Holidays to All! :)

Thursday, 2 March 2017

Bugs' World!

It's been raining quite a bit lately, and the other day when we were on our way home after C's school, we spotted lots of snails who came out to play! It was perfect and cool after the rain had dissipated, and C was so thrilled to spend some time observing the beautiful nature around us!

C spotted a snail! We found a total of 8 snails that evening!

Seeing how excited C was, I was inspired to come up with some bug-themed activities to have fun and learn at the same time. :)

1. Make a Leaf Insect!

Many animals and insects have the ability to camouflage themselves, as a way of protecting themselves from predators. The leaf insect is one of these amazing creatures, and here, we came up with a simple activity to make your very own leaf insect! You will need:

- Leaf insect printout (available in the free printable at the end of this post)
- Pair of scissors
- Green straw (cut into 3 small pieces)
- 3 green pipe cleaners
- Glue

Cut out the leaves and apply glue
to attach the straws.

Adding the pipe cleaners as legs.

Push the pipe cleaners through the straws.
Great activity for fine motor skills too!

Giving the leaf insect a cute face!

C is pretty happy with her leaf insect!

2. Ladybug Fun!

This activity also involves some fine motor skills to create a beautiful ladybug! C used a hole puncher, scissors and some glue to give the ladybird black spots, antennae and legs! This kept her busy for a while. :)

C's pleased with her ladybird!

3. Decorate Your Butterfly

Use your imagination to decorate and create a lovely butterfly!

4. Bee Hive!

A tracing and counting activity.

5. Match the Bug!

Reading and matching worksheet.

6. Shrink the Bugs!

Here we were inspired by a honey bee 'globe' C made at a farmers' market event.

C adored it and we decided to make our own garden 'globe' filled with flowers, glitter and more bugs! Here were the supplies we used:

Transparent plastic sheet from Daiso,
colourful sharpies and scissors to create
the bugs!

- Transparent plastic sheet (to trace the bugs from the free printable)

- Colourful Sharpie Pens

- Scissors

- Clear Bottle

- Glitter

- Craft Flowers

- Super Glue

- Water

- Green decorative paper (to decorate the outside of the bottle, optional)

Step 1: Trace and colour the bugs on the plastic sheet. Cut them out.

C helped to draw the flowers onto the
plastic sheet!

Step 2: Place the cut plastic sheet onto foil on a baking tray. Bake at the recommended temperature. We did it at 130 degrees Celsius for around 80 seconds. The trick is to watch the process carefully. Stop once the shrinking has ceased.