Sticker Groups

About a month ago, the little girl started peeling and pasting stickers on her own. I thought that that was itself a developmental milestone that she had achieved. The pink, blue and purple stickers were pasted on randomly and I didn't think anything about it. I was just glad that she could do it independently and was totally absorbed at it.

Peeling and pasting stickers

Her first sticker craft

And then about two weeks later, I wanted to occupy her with some sticker activity again since she loved it the first two occasions with the stars. I took out a marine sticker sheet with sharks, angelfish, turtles, starfish and whales on it for her to paste around the dolphin she had painted.

At first, I noticed a few whales that were clustered together and a few starfish on the other side of the paper. I asked her why she did not want to spread them around the paper. But she continued at it and was totally absorbed so I let her be while I continued with some cutting for her craft. Then after a while, when I realised what she was doing, I was so so glad that I had not stopped her. She was grouping the animals into groups around the dolphin with very clear clusters for each group. Subhanallah! 

Clusters of marine animals around the dolphin

Then a week later I tried it again. My husband had painstakingly cut the tarantula which the little girl had stamped with her animal stamps. I thought since I have bugs stickers, I could let her paste the stickers again. I wondered if it was just a fluke or if she would group the stickers again. But right from the get go, and I observed her this time round, it was clear what her goal was. The butterflies, dragonflies, spiders and other bugs were clearly grouped around the spider in clear clusters.

Clusters of bugs around the tarantula

Before all these, I had in the past tried to do some grouping of objects with her according to colours or types which she was never too keen. And I didn't want to push it when she didn't show interest and so I left it at that. But this discovery with her sticker groups tells me something very profound - that a child will do something when he/she is ready. It's not that I don't already know that or have not read that before but I need to be reminded and the little girl provides me with constant reminders.

Thank you Allah for the reminders. I pray that He keeps me steadfast in my upbringing of the little girl based on my beliefs and principles and that I don't buy into the hype or "norm" of pushing the little girl beyond what is developmentally appropriate for her.

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!

Art in Progress

Recently, I discovered that the little girl loves to colour and paint and of course that was such a lovely surprise. We had started with fingerpainting when she was younger but then came a point when she had grown icky of paint. She would touch it for a while, then she would keep asking me to wash off the paint. I had heard of children who loved to paint when they were younger then outgrew it and I was sad if she was one of them.

Finger, foot and sponge painting

Then one day, we went to Za's place for a playdate. One of the things that the kids did was to paint with brushes. It was then that I had an epiphany that if I were to buy brushes for her, then the little girl could still paint without having to touch the paint. Why didn't I think of that earlier?? Duh!

Art corner at Za's house

And so I bought those jumbo brushes from Melissa & Doug (You can get them with free shipping) and the rest, as they say, was history. The first time she painted with brushes, she went on and on and asked for more paint. After a while, she wanted to hold the paint and so she held the paint in a plastic container with one hand and painted with the other. She looked like a little artist! Sorry, this mummy gets excited quite easily. And of course, my choice of canvas was the bathroom wall so that I could wash off the mess easily.

Painting with brushes for the first time

But after a few weeks, I felt that all that art should not go to waste and I felt like keeping her masterpieces. It felt harder and harder to wash off her artwork on the bathroom walls and so I decided to print colouring pages for her. She could paint them, or colour them with crayons, and then I could keep them.

 Coloured with crayons (Done by her except for the sealion's ball)

Coloured with chalk (I smeared the chalk for the butterfly after she had coloured it to even out the colour)

"Bloodied" bugs as her choice of paint for the day was mostly red, with a little bit of green

Those are the raw pieces that were coloured and painted by her. I thought we could do some craft on those pieces before displaying them and so out came my white glue, craft punches, coloured papers, and whatever else that were in my craft box. And here's the outcome after I had cut and pasted them onto coloured papers, and decorated the pieces with the little girl.

Paint with craft punch flowers

Paint with self-adhesive foam sailing boats

Crayon with craft punch stars and pipe cleaner for the snail (Our version of The Snail and The Whale)

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 

Those are the finished products so far from our Marine and Bugs themes. I have a few more pieces that are waiting to be decorated but I shall keep them for lazy stay-in days with the little girl. 

Mega Bugs

Since we are currently in the midst of a bugs theme for our reading corner, I thought a trip to Megabugs Return! at Science Centre Singapore would be very apt. And why not make it more fun by having a playdate there? So a playdate we had, with Sha and Sya.

Entrance to Megabugs exhibition

It was the little girl's first trip to the Science Centre, with more to come I hope. For me, every trip to the Science Centre, either on my own or with students, reminds me of my primary school days. I had a wonderful form teacher from P4-6, who was also the teacher in-charge of the Science Club. She used to drive a few of us in her car, back then when it was possible without all the red tape now, to the Science Centre after school so that we could do our Science projects for the Young Scientist cards. 

I'm very, very sure that my passion for Science started then and it was because of an inspirational teacher who went out of her way. Mrs Angela Khoo, I still remember you after more than 20 years! I'm looking forward to the day when I can show my 11 badges and certificates for having completed 11 of the Young Scientist cards. Back then, there were only 12 cards to complete, unlike now. Yes, I'm very proud of my badges till now!

Returning from memory lane and back to Megabugs. We saw giant bugs (what else?), both static and animatronic, and of course, the little girl wanted to touch them all. There were signs everywhere not to touch the exhibits but what's the fun of just looking and not touching, right? It's not like the mega scorpion would sting or something. Not all children are visual learners.

Big bugs everywhere

When the little girl met her friend, she was busy colouring some bugs at the colouring booth. She joined her for a while, but then got distracted by the mega bee, praying mantis and grasshopper nearby. I overheard a parent telling her child that she could take some colouring pages to colour them at home. Even free colouring pages have to take home, huh? No wonder there were very few left.

Colouring together

Apart from the giant bugs, there were some live ones in glass enclosures - Madagascan hissing cockroaches, crickets and stick insect. I was happy to point out the stick insects to the little girl and how they blend in with their surrounding to escape detection from predators. She had asked me about the insect before when she saw it a book. I can't say I was as excited about the hissing cockroaches but I didn't want to show it. The little girl was the least bit scared. She asked if she could touch them. Yikes!

There were big informative panels on the life cycle of insects too. I didn't know that a 4-stage life cycle (butterflies, mosquitoes) is known as a complete metamorphosis while a 3-stage cycle (grasshopper, cockroach) is known as an incomplete metamorphosis. Hey, I learnt something new after teaching about life cycles for ten years!

A complete metamorphosis

Then there were the preserved insect specimens on display which again reminded me of my primary school days. One of the projects for the Young Entomologist card was to make an insect display with, I can't remember, 10 or 20 insects. So I did just that in a big Rocher box, complete with cotton wool to lay them on and pins to stick them down. I think I was one of the very few who was admiring the specimens. Even the little girl wasn't interested in them.

Bug specimens

I think the highlight of the Megabugs exhibition for the little girl was crawling up and down a carpeted slope like a fly. The two girls were totally hogging the place and were at it for quite some time. There were 2 pairs of "fly shoes" with Velcro-like material at the bottom for them to hold onto as they crawled up and down the slope. The thing is, we didn't even have t tell them what to do with those "shoes". They figured it out themselves and had lots of fun and giggles together. Watching them play just warms by heart.

The cutest flies around

Then we went to the Omni Theatre to watch an IMAX movie, Flight of the Butterflies. Although all three toddlers fell asleep halfway through the 40-minute movie, but the mummies enjoyed it tremendously. It was a moving story of the greatest and furthest migration on Earth, that of the Monarch butterfly. I don't know about Sya, but Sha and I definitely teared during the movie. If you happen to be at the Science Centre, this movie is a must-watch.

After their nap in the theatre, they were rejuvenated and continued playing outdoors. Thankfully Sya had told us about an outdoor trampoline and so we headed there for some jumping around. Then we went to an open space where the girls had a sing-along session with Sha with a bugs theme. Sha is definitely one creative mummy when it comes to on-the-spot lyric making, unlike unmusically-talented me. 

Singing together

After singing, dancing and running around, the little girl didn't want to let go of Sha's hand. She kept calling her, "Aunty! Aunty!" and asked to hold her hand or be carried by her. I love that she interacts not only with the kids, but with the adults that she's familiar with too.

Not wanting to let go

Now that we know of the fantastic outdoor play area at Science Centre, we will definitely be back. It would be nice to see the water wheel in action (the water source had been turned off then) and explore more of the area. In fact, we didn't enter the main Science Centre building at all so a few more visits are definitely in order for us to look at the exhibits, run around outdoors and get soaked at the water play area. Science Centre playdates, anyone?