Activities for Preschoolers!

I haven't been updating the blog for a while now, because my very active preschooler has been skipping her afternoon naps! So there goes my little one hour of break, and I have to come up with more activities to keep her occupied while I do the household chores. Haha. Here are some of the activities we had been doing the past few days.

Treasure Hunt

This is a really fun way for C to learn to read! The treasure was a bag of C's favourite snacks! That was good motivation for her to try her best to sound out as well as recognize the words. I had indicated some prepositions in the clues too, while writing down various places where the clues were hidden.

Clues were written, cut out and placed in coloured envelopes.

Where the clues and treasure were hidden.

Hunting for the clues!

Deciphering the clues.

She did it! C was exhilarated to find the Treasure!

You can download the Treasure Hunt printable here. You can fill in the blanks with various places in your home.

Exploring Emotions!

One of the important things I thought C has to learn, is to discover and understand the various feelings she may experience throughout life, so she can handle her emotions better. One of C's favourite books about feelings is The Way I Feel by Janan Cain. Usually after reading this book, we will discuss about the emotions she has felt, and also to talk about why she experiences them. At the same time, explore how she can feel better if she is upset about something.

Another activity that goes hand in hand with this is one where C helps to draw out faces for different emotions - HAPPY, SCARED, SAD, ANGRY and EXCITED.

Adding faces to different emotions!

Here's the Exploring Emotions printable that you can download.

Science Experiment : Water and Oil

This experiment teaches C about how water and oil do not mix, as well as allow her to learn about the usage of measuring cups. First, I set up the experiment in a large tray, so as to contain any spillages. 

Here are the items required:

- Large, transparent container

- Funnel

- 1 cup of vegetable oil (or any type of oil you may have)

- 1 cup of water

- blue food colouring

- stirrer

- dropper (optional)

Large tray to hold all the items needed.

C helped to put blue colouring into the water using a dropper.

Stirrer to mix the blue colouring into the water.

C pouring the coloured water into the large container.

C pouring the oil into the large container.

Oil floating on water!

C shook it up and saw how the oil will always
settle back on top of the water.

 The simple explanation of why oil and water do not mix is because water is denser than oil (water molecules are packed more tightly than oil molecules). At the same time, water molecules are attracted to each other more than oil molecules. (Water molecules are polar charged while oil molecules are non-polar.)

Sorting and Counting M&Ms!

A few days ago, as I was clearing the kitchen cupboard, I stumbled upon a bottle of M&Ms that were about to expire in a week's time! Not wanting to waste food, I came up with an activity that kept C busy, while she got to enjoy eating the chocolates thereafter! With clean hands, C was asked to sort the M&Ms by their various colours into muffin cups labelled accordingly. 

Muffin cups labelled with the colours of the M&Ms.

The colourful assortment of M&Ms in a bowl!

C having fun sorting out the M&Ms!

C can't resist eating a few along the way!

Cheeky C! Happy with the yummy M&Ms!

Counting the M&Ms!

After the M&Ms were sorted into their colours, C counted the remaining ones that were not eaten and placed them back into the bottle. She had so much fun doing this she asked to paint some M&Ms on paper as well! 

Having fun painting M&Ms!

Spot the Differences

Another activity that C enjoys is to spot differences between two pictures. I've come up with a couple of these. Click here to download.

The above are just some ideas to share. There are many more activities we can do with preschoolers, so they can have fun and learn at the same time! Hope you all enjoy and do check back for more preschooler activities! 

Learning to Recycle!

I learnt the importance of recycling during my stay in US a few years ago, when my hubby was sent there for work. Recycling not only reduces wastage and garbage, but also helps to save energy, water and resources such as trees used to manufacture products. This in turn protects our environment, and more importantly, our planet Earth, our home.

When I visited Japan last year, I was even more impressed with the way they encourage recycling. Walking around in their streets, you will notice they have many recycling bins, but very very few rubbish bins. This truly is remarkable, and really helps to discourage wastage. I've even watched videos about how they cut open their milk cartons, wash and dry them before placing them into the recycle bin! The trip to Japan was inspiring, and upon returning home, I've decided to convey the importance of recycling to C.

Recycle
We have used an old printer box that was large enough and had labelled it "RECYCLE". We place all our items that can be recycled in here, instead of just tossing them in the trash bin. C had also been taught to look out for the recycle logo. And meanwhile, I love how this Sesame Street Sticker book has a section that teaches kids about recycling. C learnt about how recyclable items can be further sorted into PAPER, GLASS and PLASTICS.

Reduce, Re-use and Recycle.

Paper, Plastic or Glass?

Every little effort counts, and we have to recognize that each action taken contributes towards making the world a better place for our children in future! 

Re-use

Here's a little game we made yesterday, re-using old toilet paper rolls. We call it Stack the Rolls! This game helps kids with counting, recognizing colours as well as hone their balancing skills.

Painting the paper rolls with various colours.

Placing a Red roll according to the Colour Chart.

Objective is to stack rolls without toppling!

You can even use the rolls as bowling pins!
C is seen here testing her bowling skills!

You will need:

-18 toilet paper rolls (painted red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple, 3 each)

-1 die

-2 players

How to play:

Each player takes turn to roll the die. Stack the rolls according to the number you rolled on the die. Refer to colour chart. If you roll a number that has run out, you get to skip your turn. The objective is to stack the rolls without toppling, and the player who gets to place the last roll without toppling is the winner! 

You can download the Stack the Rolls Colour Chart here: Stack the Rolls!

Hope you have fun with the game! 

And don't forget to Reduce, Re-use and Recycle!

Happy Lantern Festival! 元宵节快乐!

Today is the last day of the Lunar New Year celebrations, and it is also known as 元宵节 (Yuan Xiao Jie). It is also the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar calendar, which marks the first full moon of the lunisolar year. On this day, we celebrate by eating a traditional dessert called 汤圆(Tang Yuan). 圆yuan = round, and 汤tang = soup. So Tang Yuan basically refers to a dessert made of  round rice balls cooked in sugary soup. It is believed that the round shape of the balls as well as the bowls they are served in, symbolize family togetherness. Eating these rice balls are also supposed to bring the family happiness and good luck in the new year.

C and I thought it will be a wonderful occasion to get together as a family and make the dessert with each other. We headed over to my Mum's with the ingredients and started preparing the dish after lunch. It's really simple to make, and the main ingredients for the rice balls are glutinous rice flour and water. As for the soup, we used brown sugar, pandan leaves and a small knob of ginger. You can also add food colouring to the dough to make the rice balls more colourful. C and her cousins used red, green and blue.

Green dough by J.

Pink dough by C.

After rolling the dough into tiny balls, the girls decided to add their own touches to the dish. They thought adding faces would be cute! Haha.

The girls made faces for the rice dumplings!

Kids can really be creative, and they are pretty good at coming up with their own creations! My sister-in-law and I were glad to go with the flow.

Do you spot some animals in there?

Girls having fun making Tang Yuan!

The rice balls are boiled and then added into the
sugar syrup.

Ta-da! A bowl of  汤圆 made by the girls!

Besides eating Tang Yuan, Lantern Festival traditionally is also a time for children to head out at night with various shapes of lanterns and solving riddles on lanterns (猜灯谜).

Overall, I think it is important that our children learn and experience the various traditions in our Chinese culture, and  元宵节 (Yuan Xiao Jie) definitely is a wonderful occasion to get together with family!

Life Skills

When we were in Bangkok last week, the hotel served pancakes for breakfast and C LOVED it! So we thought to make our very own pancakes for breakfast this morning. C helped with mixing the eggs, milk and flour.

C busy whisking the eggs.

Gently stirring in the flour after adding milk,
vanilla essence and molasses.

Topping off the pancakes with Maple Syrup!
Yummy!

C even helped me with my coffee!

Helping herself to the pancakes.

Delicious! Two thumbs up!

C does get a great sense of satisfaction when she helps out in various tasks. A while ago, I had come across a quotation by Ann Landers, quoted below.

I really do agree with it very much, and equipping our children with life skills even at an early age is important. Here's a list of simple life skills that even our children can learn at a young age.

• Dressing themselves
• Helping with the laundry
• Cleaning the house
• Preparing their own meals

Dressing themselves:

Learning to put on and take off their own clothes is part of our children gaining independence. I started C off with simple pullovers and pants, before proceeding to different types of buttons and zippers.

Stud buttons that easily snap on or off.

Zippers.

Regular buttons that require fine motor skills.

Putting on her socks before wearing her own shoes is also one of the tasks she can handle easily now. Whenever we return home, she also understands to take them off and place them nicely in her laundry basket.

C is also into lacing activities that will prep her for wearing shoes with laces in future.

I laminated the printouts to make them durable.

To reinforce the holes punched out, I used seal
stickers as shown in the picture below.

Tools needed to make the lacing activities.
Just add on an old pair of shoelaces and you
are all set!

C having a go at this lacing activity.
The spider web was her idea!

You can download the lacing activities here: Lacing Fun!

Helping with the laundry:

C is extremely happy to help with sorting out clothes from the dryer. Younger kids can be assigned to sort out socks into matching pairs.

Sorting out socks into pairs.

Placing folded clothes into her own wardrobe.

Cleaning the house:

Tidying up after play is something that C had been taught since she was much younger. As with most kids, she needs reminding once in a while. But it is a simple duty that young kids can do to help keep the house clean and tidy. Toys can be stored in boxes that are labelled for easy keeping.

Another chore that C loves to help out with is wiping down low shelves with a tiny cloth. She has even tried mopping and vacuuming the floor! Children can really be a good help if they are allowed the chance!

Preparing their own meals:

Kids are really enthusiastic about being able to help in the kitchen as well, and when they prepare their own meals, they definitely feel proud and tend to be more keen in eating the food they prepared! 

Young children can help to spread butter or cream cheese on slices of bread, or help in the simple mixing of ingredients like eggs and flour. Any mess can be cleaned up, but the experiences our children learn for themselves are definitely worth it!

Meanwhile, this list is still growing as C discovers she can do a lot more things on her own in future!