Bugs Reading Corner

We are now one week into the blessed month of Ramadan and have moved on to a new theme for Ramadan and Eid. Here I'm sharing our monthly theme that has just ended and we enjoyed it so much that I felt a tinge of sadness as I was keeping away the books, bugs and other materials. But then when the little girl woke up and saw the new set-up at her reading corner, she said, "Nice!" and started to choose a book for me to read. Thanks for making it all worth while, dear!

Without much ado, here are pictures of our reading corner as well as our activity corner. I've decided to add an activity corner to our theme so that the little girl can go to it to play independently when I need some time to get ready.

Our bugs reading corner

Our reading corner was made up of fiction and non-fiction bugs-related books, bugs toob, chunky bugs puzzle, and wind-up bugs. I'm super grateful that Za had lent half the books to me, along with the bugs toob and wind-up toys as she had used them for her own bugs theme. 

 Our bugs activity corner

At our activity corner, we had mega bugs from Mustaffa Centre, magnetic bugs puzzle, glow-in-the-dark bugs toob, magnetic beetles from Science Centre, wooden bugs and flower lacing beads, magnifying glass and jumbo tweezers, and a magnet.

And now to the activities that we did and there were lots! They were mostly spur-of-the-moment kind as I usually try to avoid too much planning in advance so as not to create unnecessary stress (and work!) on my part. We did lots of reading and the usual such as reenacting the books with toobs and playing with her bugs puzzles. Truly, there is nothing she enjoys more than books and puzzles.

Books and puzzles

Making books come alive 

Removing puzzle pieces with a magnet

 Putting back the puzzle pieces

 Playing with the chunky puzzle

Spider meets farm animals at her reading corner

Islamic knowledge

From the book Quran Stories for Kids, we read the story of Prophet Sulaiman who had heard the army of ants as they were escaping. One of the ants had warned the rest to get into their homes so that they would not be trampled on by mistake by Prophet Sulaiman and his army. But the Prophet was gifted to understand the languages of the animals and so he had heard the ants.

And from the book 10 Kisah Haiwan Dalam Al-Quran (in Malay), we read the story of the termites who had eaten the wooden staff that was supporting the body of Prophet Sulaiman. The termites, not knowing that he had passed on, came to greet him, as he could communicate with animals. But after several attempts, and not getting a reply, the termites got hungry and started eating the staff. After days of eating, the staff gave way and the body of Prophet Sulaiman slumped to the ground. Only then that the Jinn knew that he had passed on as they were working tirelessly.

Reading the story of the ants

Messy play

Then there were the messy play in the bathroom as this mummy hates cleaning up mess. The little girl had not played with the water beads for quite some time as she used to squish them to smithereens and I hated the cleaning up after that. But she surprised me by not squishing them now. Instead she enjoyed scooping and pouring the water beads into containers. She is also very fond of playing with her new cooking set and is crazy over ice now. So I put those together for some ice play in the bathroom before her bath. 

Scooping and pouring water beads and bugs at the water table 

Cooking ice and bugs 

Basic Science concepts

We got to do some play related to magnetism, heat and light too. The concept of heat (melting) was covered with the melting ice and the little girl discovered about magnetic push and pull as she played with the magnet and magnetic beetles. We talked about light and shadow as we played with the torchlight and glow-in-the-dark bugs.

Playing with frozen bugs

Light play with glow-in-the-dark bugs 

Playing with magnet and magnetic beetles

Basic Scientific skills

I wanted her to acquire some skills too, such as classifying and observing. On the light panel, we grouped the bugs into transparent containers as some of them come in twos or threes. She wasn't really keen on it, but it was a start. She was more keen on observing what she called "big bugs" with the magnifying glass so we talked about the body parts of insects and that insects have six legs.

Grouping bugs on the light panel 

Observing parts of bugs with a magnifying glass

Art & craft

Colouring pages are a staple in our house now as the little girl enjoys colouring and painting them. You can read up and see more pictures of her works here. After the usual painting or colouring, solely done by her, I cut up the pictures, paste them on coloured papers and we decorate them together to make them display-ready. She is happy to see the final products and I think it spurs her on to do more art.

We made some bugs with pipe cleaners too though that activity was more mummy-centred. But the bugs delighted her and so I obliged, though I do try as much as possible to keep the activities child-centred.

Paint with craft punch maple leaves

Paint with stickers

Chalk with self-adhesive foam flowers

Chalk with self-adhesive foam butterflies and paper cut-outs

Making bugs with pipe cleaners

Fine motor skills

The little girl has been very interested in my scissors since she sees me cutting her art work all the time before pasting them onto coloured papers. So as not to have a perpetual tug-of-war with her when it comes to the scissors, I bought a set of child-safe scissors for her.  I thought it would be easy for her but it took a bit of practice before she could coordinate her fingers and cut independently. Even then, I would have to hold the paper for her as it has to be perpendicular to the scissors before the plastic blades can cut it. 

And the jumbo tweezers, which came as a set with the magnifying glass, was a hit with her too. She used them to pick up the bugs after some practice too as the tweezers were quite hard for her little fingers to manipulate.

Cutting with the straight and zigzag scissors

Picking up bugs with the jumbo tweezers

Busy book

Then on lazy nights, she busied herself with the activities at her busy book which was hand-made by a fellow mummy friend.

Lacing through numbers loops

Zipping and counting ladybugs

Phew! Didn't I say we did a lot of activities? Well, we went bug-eyed for a month and now we've moved on to our new theme for Ramadan. May you have a blessed month with your family!