Our mandarin week

Last week, i didn't do any planning for babydoll. These days i am too exhausted & i just whip out household items whenever i can.

 

 

 

The other day, i turned over our laundry basket and gave her a packet of straws. She was kept busy with inserting the straws through the basket linings. :)

 

I sat her in the bumbo seat (yah, she can still fit comfortably in it) and shove her a set of stickers. She peeled off the stickers one by one and stuck them on the chair. It sure kept her quiet & contented!

 

As for sonshine, it was our Chinese theme week. Like always, i took out our assesment book.

 

He worked on comprehension. He had to read each sentence and check if they are correct by looking at the corresponding picture. (I had to read & explain some words to him)

 

Another new area i have started is the Chinse oral bit. He isn't very confident in speaking and let's not even talk about speaking in Mandarin! So, i think it's best i start him off now.

 

The theme we worked on was 'Living room'.

 

 

 

He learnt some key words relating to the theme.

 

 

I made this mini flap card to show him how to pair a word to other characters.

                              

 

Lift the flap, you get another word with another meaning.

 

After he was familiar with the words, we refered back to the picture & i made him describe it using the words he learnt.

 

I think we did a few more workbooks, but i can't remember, :P

 



Playtime with babydoll

Here are more activities i did with doll.

 

 

 

Before you throw away that empty tissue box, ask yourself if you can convert it into a plaything for the tot! It was "All things round" theme, i dumped anything with a circular shape in the box for doll to dig her puny hands in.

 

I made a sensory bag using zip lock bag.

 

The bag lasted to a ripe old age of ... 60 minutes. That's when babydoll decided it was way more fun to poke the bag with a pencil causing mini holes to appear on the bag.

 

Playing with big brother's marble race and watching the ball roll down the structure.

 

 

Her daily activity. The crayons and pencils are readily available and well within her reach. She goes over to the table anytime she wishes.

 

 

I thought it was time to take out my montessori kit for her. Here, she is matching the shapes. Not wanting to overwhelm her, i took out 3 shapes only.

 

She blew me away with this one. Her visual perception is really good. She is able to match most of the cylinders into place at one go.

 Sorting Melissa & doug shape  blocks by colors. I am pleasantly suprised she could match the colors though she tend to get confuse purple for blue.

 

Of course, she gets lots of nature & outdoor.

 

Not forgetting sand play!

"Mess"-merize

 

We had a bit of spare time before her nap today, so i decided to give her some sensory play- with paint!

 

 

 

I poured some (washable-of course) paint on a tray and gave her a paint brush.

 

 

She was cautious at first, just doodling with the brush. But the moment i threw an ice, yes ice, in the tray, her fingers dived right in for the colored ice.

 

 

And then she got really friendly with Mr paint, while mummy was cringing and trying very, very, very hard not to be bothered by the mounting mess.

 

 

And then she got so chummy with Mr Paint, she decides to smear her arms with it. Meanwhile, mummy's face became more crumpled as she stifles a "aaaAAAAaaaahhhhh...noOOooooOOooooOOoo!!" 

 

 

 

Really enjoyed herself all at the expense of mummy. At least this mom had the wisdom to do this while big brother was at school. Otherwise she would end up with twice the mess!

 

And then doll decides to walk around the house with her newly painted blue arms. That's when mom said 'Show's over honey!'.

 

Curtain closed!

Dough thing

 

It's playdough time!

 

Besides the usual squishing and squeezing, these were other ways we played with the dough.

 

 

Babydoll inserts each chip onto the dough (eye-hand coordination).

 

Trying to slice the dough. She managed to make a mess...

 

 

And pounding the dough with a toy hammer (with some squeaky noise)!

It's a fine job

I've been randomly giving the doll some fine motor skills & eye-hand coordination related activities. Actually, i don't think she needs any practice.

 

 

This is my favourite activity because its cost nothing! Sonshine couldn't do this till much later but doll does it with ease. She dropped coins after coins like a pro.

 

 

Stacking shape rings.

 

 

Plucking out cloths peg. I say plucking out because she hasn't quite get the pincer grasp skill to do this effectively yet.

 

 

This is another of my favourites. Scooping cotton balls with a spoon. Again, doll surprise me with this one. She did it well. Is it a girl thing? The boy was very slow in his fine motor skills....

 

 

And lastly, slicing fruit toys with a toy knife.

 

 

 

She play puzzles!

I have put up a couple of puzzles on the shelf for babydoll since she was like 10 month old. But she would just take out the each puzzle piece and strewn them all over the floor.

Recently, i discovered she can do something new!

She has learnt to put the puzzles into its right places by matching the pictures! I would pick out a piece and ask her 'where do we put this?' or i might say 'where is the pig?' (whichever animal piece i am holding). She would find the matching picture (there's a corresponding picture under each loose piece) and promptly put it in its place. Most of the times, she can't quite fit the puzzle into the slot but at times, by some magical luck she can.

This is another puzzle that she loves. Her favourite pieces are the grapes and strawberry! Like the above puzzle, she's able to match the pieces to its place.

YAHOO!

All about babydoll @ 14 months old

Her favourite word: mama, mama mamaAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!! (Yes in that exact manner). She first uttered 'mama' at 10 month old.

Her favourite things are 'ba ba' which can mean 'balloon, ball and birds' all starting with 'B'!

Her other favourite thing is 'ka ka' for shoe.

She loves shoes and would insist i try on shoes for her when we're out shopping at the shoes department :I.

She also says 'na na!' for 'No, no'

She says 'ge ge' (or something like that) for 'kor kor' (big brother)

She understands two-step instructions like 'pick it up and put it back' or 'put it back and close the (drawer, door)'. I am loving this because i get to engage her help at times!

She points to things that attracts her; she can point to her body parts & fruits etc when asked.

She understands when i say 'Mama is going to the toilet', she would drop all that she's doing and start walking & pointing at the bathroom where i'd do my business.

She knows to head toward our reading corner when i say 'read book time!'

Or when i say 'let's go', she would wave and start to head toward the door or to me.

Recently, she seems to tell me after doing her 'big business'. She would look at me and say 'baba' while pulling her diaper.

Awwww, my baby is growing up too fast!

I am also a tad dissapointed that she isn't showing signs of reading (yes, i can see all you people rolling your eyeballs, here let me help pick them up for you).

:D

 But that's because i realised sonshine recognised a list of words at 14 month old. I know, i know, each child is different. I do realised that i have unconsciously put on sonshine's cognitive learning curve on her. Here, i have to remind myself that it would be a different route with her. I have had it too easy with sonshine since he absorbs information very fast & effortlessly.

So my journey with babydoll might be alittle different, ok maybe even difficult. :I

But then again, to be fair to her, i haven't put on the same diligence on teaching & reading with her as i had with the boy. This i blame sonshine's school! I am spending my time ferrying him up & down; it really breaks any momentum.

Anyway, time to buck up mama! :)

'Homeschool' for babydoll

Here are some mini activities the girl has been entertained with. Mainly to exercise her eye-hand coordination & fine motor skills.

Transferring clips into an empty milk bottle. The mouth of the bottle is rather small which is makes it tricky. So babydoll had to tilt each clip upright in order to slot them in. She surprised me with this one, she did it with much ease.

I slit a tiny 'coin' slot on an empty carton box and gave the girl some toy coins to insert them into the box. Again, i thought this might be a little challenging for her age but i was proven wrong again. It was too easy for her that she got a little bored with this activity very soon after.

She was more delighted to find the coins in the box and would much rather i let her play with the box opened!

I was busy playing Monopoly with the boy & didn't pay much attention to her. I left her with a box of sweets and when i checked on her, she somehow managed to find another box & decided to transfer the sweets from box to box! This kept her entertained for quite a bit! It once again tells me that sometimes we really don't need to prepare loads & loads of activities for the toddler- they are curious enough to create their own, meaningful ones too!

AH! The milk bottle again! This time it made it's appearance with colorful poms poms!

Little sister hard at work, transferring each pom pom into the milk bottle.

I LOVE the Ikea stacking cups! I bought it for sonshine and took them out again for the girl. It is such a cheap & simple toy; even the boy is intrigued by it- still! (Ok, this has nothing to do with the sheep...it is there for visual pleasure).

I stacked the cups up and let babydoll push them down. She also helped me stacked the cups- great for her eye-hand coordination & fine motor skills!

All in all, i am delightfully surprise by her (fine & gross) motor skills. She is definitely way, way much, much, faster than her brother was. I remember i was pretty frustrated watching him do fine motor skills related activities- thank God that's all over!

A few of her favourite things...

Home teaching babydoll isn't going on much. I have to juggle between chauffeuring the boy to and from school, her naps and running errands and my erm, own personal shopping. But then again, at this age, it's all about feeding her curiosity and lots of exploring.

Still, there are a few activities i do with her daily- or at least i try my hardest to.

One of her all time favourite things: reading books. At times, i can find her sitting contentedly flipping her books. I am very pleased that she can sit through as i read 5-6 infant books to her. In fact, she often get upset when i stop reading, just like sonshine! Also like her brother, she would often pick a book from a room and attempt to crawl to me with the book in her hand. It's very endearing sight to behold.

Her all time favourite book!

Each time her eyes lay on this book, she would immediately pick it up, cruise or crawl up to one of us and look us with all eagerness and say 'EH!" translated as 'read!'. She is not satisfied if we just read once through. We would have to read at least 3 times over consecutively before she allows us to put the book down.

Another all time favourite book, Barnyard Banter by Denis Fleming.

Thanks to my mom, who first started reading this book to her. Since then she cannot get enough of this book. I had thought the book text was too long for baby her age given their short attention span. But she surprise me by sitting through the entire book and still ask us to read another round for her.

Oh gosh, you don't know how i have to stop myself from rolling my eyes or sigh whenever she hands me these two books. I'm so tempted to hide the books to keep my sanity but i really should celebrate her love for books.

I've been doing Glenn Doman flashcards with her. I think i've been quite successful with her. Or at least she is now sitting and focusing on the cards as i flash without fidgeting. She seems to enjoy the session more and more too. But i haven't been consistent because we've had numerous interruptions such as illness (i had mastitis, she had viral fever right after). I am hoping things would pick up again this week.

The other flashcards i am doing with her is Photographic speed memory. I used sets of pictures cards and flash at her at high speed. Seriously, i do not know if it really helps with memory. But my niece and sonshine went through it and their memory is..well like photographic. I honestly do not know if its nature or nurture. If anything, at least the flashcards help to train her ability to focus and up her attention span. Oh well, there's no harm, there's nothing to lose, so why not?

So this week, I'm showing her cards on different types of balls.

And sea animal cards.

I don't have time or inspiration to set up toys for her to practise fine motor skills. I read somewhere that there's no need to deliberately buy or set up toys for the baby because the natural environment is full of opportunities for them to explore with their fingers. From my observation, i tend to agree. Babydoll has been creating her own activities like taking things out/ putting things in boxes, Sonshine's school bag, containers etc.

Just the other day, i was sorting out Chinese wooden dominoes for sonshine, putting one block at a time back in its box. Babydoll was watching me and began to imitate me. She picked up the dominoes and put them into the box one at a time. Just like that, an activity was created for her!

But above all, she enjoys ransacking her brother's toys especially the Tomica carpark set. It keeps her entertain for awhile. A few days ago, she discovered a small compartment in the toy and attempted to slot toy cars in and watch them pop out. How cute.

And these are a few of her favourite things! Oh and not forgetting calling me 'MAMA!' awwww....