Wednesday 31 August 2011

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Pretend Play: Ironing



Joshua asked to play with his iron today. I am not sure what the educational value of this activity is, but at least it taught Joshua the concept of ironing and helped his imagination with pretend play. Joshua had some fun with it, and he certainly knew what to do with it - ironing his own jeans. He was clearly mimicking his dad very well, although we don't remember him ever seeing Florian ironing. But there is a limit on how long you can play with an iron. He played with it for at most only 5 minutes. I bought the toy iron for 5 DKK (1.16 SGD or 0.97 USD) a the flea market.

Monday 29 August 2011

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Montessori Activity: Hammering Nails/锤打钉子



Age: From 2.5 years old

Activity Duration: 5 - 15 minutes

Objectives: To train fine motor skills

Materials:

1. 1 cork board
2. Nails
3. Wooden hammer
4. Shapes with holes to insert the nails

Directions:

1. Show your child how to insert the nail into a shape and hammer into the cork board safely.

2. Encourage your child to try, but supervise closely.

Additional Information:

J (2Y5M25D) tried it today and loved it! Initially, I thought J would be too young for this, and that this could be a little unsafe. But J was very good in being careful and using it the way it is meant to be used. It was no problem at all. J tried this again on 8 October 2011.



Saturday 27 August 2011

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Montessori Activity: Stringing Medium Beads/Snor Perler/穿珠子[chuān zhū zi]


Age: From 2 years 3 months old

Activity Duration: 10-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Objective(s): To train the child’s fine motor skills

Materials:

1. 1 handful of color wooden beads
2. 1 string
3. 1 tray

Directions:

1. Show your child by tying a knot in the string.
2. Show your child by picking up the string with right hand and moving the bead from left to right.
3. Encourage your child to try.
4. Remove the beads and repeat the activity if your child is interested.

Special Warning:

Supervise closely with the string. Remove and store away immediately after activity.

Cost:

A packet of colourful beads: 10 DKK (2.50 SGD) from Tiger
A roll of string: 14 DKK (3.30 SGD) from Søstrene Grene

Additional Information:

J (2Y5M22D) tried this today, and could hold his interest and complete all the beads. He spent more than 15 minutes on this activity today. His attention span has improved a lot, since he started Montessori activity almost 6 months ago.

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Montessori Activity: Pouring & Funneling "Milk"




Age: From 2.5 years old

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 3 minutes

Objective(s): To train the child’s hand-eye coordination skill

Materials:

1. 1 milk packet recyled
2. 1 funnel
3. 1 - 2 cups
4. Water (half filled in one of the jug)
5. 1 small towel (to wipe dry the tray)
6. 1 tray or stand

Directions:

1. Show your child how to pour the "milk" from the packet into the cup.

2. Encourage your child to try.

3. Demonstrate to your child by pouring the water from the cup through the funnel into the milk packet slowly and repeat.

4. Encourage and let your child try it.

Additional Information:

J started to practice pouring water when he was 2 years old, and he is very good at pouring water from jug now. He pours himself water during snack time. However, it is more difficult to pour milk from a packet into a cup and J also got tired of pouring activities, since it is no longer challenging. I recycled the milk packet and let him practice pouring "milk". He (2Y5M22D) did well today. I think I will let him practice a little more, before I allow him to pour himself real milk from the milk packet. This activity costs almost nothing, and brings a lot of fun and self-fulfillment to the child, knowing that he can pour himself a cup of "milk" for himself.

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Montessori Activity: Scooping Pasta



Age: From 2 years old

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 3 minutes

Objective(s):

1. To train the child’s fine motor skills.

Materials:

1. 2 pots or containers
2. 1 ladle
3. A handful of pasta
4. 1 tray

Directions:

1. Demonstrate to your toddler by scoping the pasta from one pot to another.
2. Encourage and let your child try it.

Additional Information:

J (2Y5M22D) tried this today for 15 minutes and he enjoyed it.


Friday 26 August 2011

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J Summary (2Y5M22D) - Came Up with Creative Ideas at Play

Today I went to pick up J, and asked the teacher whether J had played well with the other children (J had some problems, because his Danish was not as advanced as the two other girls his age in his class, and was ostracised a little. They refused to play with him.) She said J was playing very well, and that J was "meget dygtig" - very clever. I was surprised and I asked why she said that. She said that J contributed with unique and innovative ideas, when playing with the children.

I truly that that the Montessori activities I do with him at home have helped with his creativity. I wanted to tell the teacher that, and that maybe they should also do Montessori activities with the children, but didn't. I don't know how Danish teachers will take it. They will probably think that I am a "kiasu" freak with a blog.

Language Development

The teacher also told me that J's Danish has improved in leaps and bounced and are now rather on par with the other Danish girls.

Do I regret to insist on 3 languages with J? No, I don't regret, though at times, I do feel with lots of insecurities. That is when I take it to the Lord in prayer. He calms me, when my heart fret. Yes, it will be tough for J. He is born in a family of half-Danish, but by God's grace, he will be able to go through this challenge. It is very important to me that he is fluent in Chinese, English and Danish, in order to communicate with my parents, Singaporeans and Danes. It is tough... but I will press on... Am I crazy? Should I give up? No one understands except Daddy. Not the Danes, not my in-laws... but I will take courage and persevere on in this long road of trilingualism. I sometimes do feel very alone in this journey... but I will go on...

Wednesday 24 August 2011

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Lesson Plan: God Is Good - 28th August 2011

For those who live in Copenhagen, you are most welcome to join us for the nursery class at FIBC:
Lesson Plan
FIBC Nursery (0-4 years old)
Date: 28th August 2011, Time: 1 – 2.30pm
Concept Area: God is good
Bible Verse: Psalm 73:1 “God is good to us.”
Teachers: Elaine, VK and Stephen
12.45 – 1pm: Preparation Time
·         Teachers to arrive 15 minutes earlier to prepare and set up the room.
·         Bring a jug of water.
·         Mark Attendance.
·         Fill in Food Allergy Alert Chart for new children

1-1.30pm: Activity Time


Activity Station 1: Fishing ABCs

Objective(s):
1. To get to know the fishes
2. To introduce alphabet that God created

Materials:
1. 1 Basin filled with water
2. 10 – 15 Plastic fishes
3. 1 fishing rod
4. 10 Jar lids
5. 1 Tray

Say: “God created the alphabet and fishes. God is good. God gives us language to talk to each other.”


Activity Station 2: Cutting Food

Objective(s):
1. To train the children’s fine motor skills
2. To teach the names of different fruits and vegetables created by God

Materials:
1. Cut food toy
2. Plastic knifes

Say: “God is good to us, He created food to nourish us.”

Activity Station 3: Making Animals and People with Playdough

Objective(s):
1. To train children’s fine motor skills
2. To provide opportunity for the children to show their creativity

Materials:
1. Playdough
2. Cookie shapes mould

Say: “You are learning to create things with playdough. God created all things. Gpd is good. God enables you to play with playdough and be creative.”
 
Activity Station 4: Cutting Pictures with Scissors

Objective(s):
1. To train the children’s fine motor skills
2. To increase the children’s vocabulary with words from the magazine’s pictures, at the same time linking to God’s creation and the concept area God is good.

Materials:
1. Magazines with food, household items, etc.
2. Children scissors
3. Construction papers with Bible verse written on them.
4. Glue

Say: “God created all things. God is good to us. He provides us with clothes to wear, food to eat, etc."

Activity Station 5: Matching Family of Farm Animals (Contingency Activity)

Objective(s): To get to know the names of the animals that God created

Materials:

2 sets of animal family cards to match

Say: “God created all things, God created all the animals. God is good. God gives us mommy and daddy”.

Activity Station 6: Transferring Stones with Tongs (Contingency Activity)

Objective(s):
1. To train the children’s fine motor skills
2. To provide sensory experience playing with God’s creation - water

Materials:
1. 2 bowls
2. 10 stones
3. 1 pair of tongs
4. 1 tray

Say: “God is good, He created all the rocks and stones.”

Activity Station 7: Puzzles (Contingency Activity)

Objective(s):
1. To train the children’s fine motor skills
2. To stimulate the children’s brain development

Materials:
Puzzles for children from 1 – 2 years old.

1.30 – 1.45pm: Bible Story Time with Singing

Gather the children to sit together in a circle.

Bible Story: Creation (Genesis 1 – 2)

A long time ago, there was nothing at all. (Show an empty box covered by a piece of cloth as darkness. Depending on the mood of the children, make a cover over them with a dark bedsheet to signify darkness)
But God was there. The first day, God said, “Let there be light!” (Show the number puppet 1 to represent first day and remove the cloth from the box to provide light)
The light He called day. (Shine a torch light to signify light and put it into the box)
The dark He called night. (Cover the box with the piece of cloth again)
The second day, God made the sky. (Show the number puppet 2 to represent second day. Show a cloud and put it into the box)
The third day, God made the land with plants and the seas. (Show a transparent container of sand and rock. Show a small pot of plant. Show a bottle of water and put them one-by-one into the box)
The fourth day, God made the sun and the moon. (Show a big sun and a big moon and put it into the box)
The fifth day, God made the birds and fishes. (Show a toy bird and a toy fish and put it into the box or do the hand sign)
The sixth day, God made the animals and the first man and woman. (Bring out all the animal figurines and a man and a woman)
On the seventh day, God rested. (Show the pillow)
The creation was complete and God said, “It was very good.”

To reinforce the learning, at the end of the Bible Story, as the children: "What did God create on the first day?"

Creation Sensory Tub
If there is time, take out the sand, stones and the life plant, and let the children play with the other contents in the creation box as a "Sensory Tub"

Bible Verses: Psalm 73:1 “God is good to us.”

Introduce the key Bible Verses with musical instruments, hand motions and songs as follows:

·    God Is So Good
·    God Is Good, All the Time

1.45 – 2pm: Snack Time

·    Gather the children to sit together in a circle.
·    Say: “God is so good to us, He gives us snacks to eat and water to drink. Let’s say grace together.”
·    Sing the “Say Grace Song

To reinforce the learning, at the End of the snack time, ask the children: "God is good to us, what can you do to make God happy?" Answer: Help mommy and daddy at home. Help my friends. God will be pleased to see you be a good boy or girl."

Game: Memory Verse Activity

To help reinforce the learning, play the memory verse activity by asking the children to one-by-one repeat the verse of the day.

2 – 2.15pm: Clean up Time
·    Clean up together and sing the song “Time to Clean Up
·    Sterile toys with wet wipe

2.15 - 2.30pm: Physical Game

Game: Musical Chair

Say: "God is good. He gives us friends to play musical chair with."

2.30pm: Parents pick up kids

References:
- My Read and Rhyme Bible Storybook by Crystal Bowman and Cindy Kenney
- The Rhyme Bible Storybook by L.J. Sattgast
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Parent Newsletter



August 28, 2011
We hope this helps you to keep up with the education your child received at the nursery this Sunday.
Dear Parents,

This past Sunday, we were privileged to have 12 children at the nursery. We would like to share with you what we did this Sunday. We hope it would help you to reinforce the learning throughout this week with your child.

Concept Area
This week we focus on God – God is good. We illustrated God's goodness to us through His creation.

Key Bible Verse
The Bible verse used is Psalm 73:1 - God is good to us. You can recite this verse to your child at home during the week.

Bible Story
We told the story to the children about God’s creation from Genesis 1:1 – 2:1. You can read about the story (children’s version) here:

Songs
We planned to sing the song God Is So Good and God Is Good, All The Time, but we did not manage to do it. However, you can learn it here and sing it together with your child at home:

Activities
We hope this helps you to keep up with the education your child received at the nursery this Sunday.
We did activities that touched on God’s creation such as animals, food, water, etc.
For preschoolers 2-4 years old, we had an activity station with pictures of food, clothes, flowers, etc. where the children could cut and paste onto a paper printed with the key Bible verse and letting know that all things are created by God. We also had a station where the children fished for fishes and letters. This activity was a big hit with the children. We tried to teach them that God created fishes, letters and language. At the playdough station, the children learned to create things with playdough. We had a station with farm animal figurines with matching cards. got creative While they were working on the activities, we repeated to the children that God created all things, God is good. The children also get to learn about the vegetables and fruits that God created through cutting plastic food activity.
For toddlers 1-2 years old, we provided them with wooden baby puzzles and some wooden toys, but the plastic food cutting toys proved to be the most popular!
At story time, we told the story of God’s creation in 7 days using simple props such as number puppets. We started by using an empty box covered with a piece of cloth to signify that there was nothing in the beginning, which attracted the children and gathered them to sit around in a circle on the floor.
After the story time, we played the memory verse game, by asking the children to repeat Psalm 73:1 one-by-one.
Thank you for entrusting your child with us.
In His Service,
FIBC Nursery
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Songs
God Is So Good
God is so good (3x)
He’s so good to me.
He answers prayers (3x)
He’s so good to me.
God loves me so (3x)
He’s so good to me.
He took my sin (3x)
He’s so good to me.
Now I am free (3x)
He’s so good to me.
God is so good,
He took my sin
Now I am free
He’s so good to me

Video Demonstration:

God Is Good, All the Time
God is good, all the time
He put a song of praise, in this heart of mine.
God is good, all the time
Through the darkest night, His light will shine
God is good
God is good, all the time

Video Demonstration:

Say Grace Song
Thank you for the world so sweet, Ho Hum
Thank you for the the food we eat, Yum Yum
Thank you for the birds that sing a-ling-a-ling
Thank you God for everything, Amen!

Time to Clean Up
Time to Clean Up (2X)
Boys and Girls (2X)
When we are good helpers (2X)
God is glad (2X)
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Pretend Play: How to Turn Household Garbage into Toys for Your Child?


Joshua simply LOVES his ktichen set, which we bought from the flea market. It is probably the best investment I have made, as he plays with it almost every morning, making food for the teddy bear and the toy dog for months now. Thus, I am spending some time to think of how to expand his stock and selection without spending too much money.

You don't have to spend money buying those expensive wooden food toys. The next few pictures show how you can recycle household garbage and turn them into interesting toys for your child, when you combine them with some of your child's toys. It provides free-of-charge play... well, almost :-)

I recycled the bread package for Joshua's plastic bread toy, and he loved it. It made the plastic bread toy much more real and life-like.


Here are Joshua's plastic pieces of bread coming straight out from the bread package:


After we have finished eating the cheese, I recyled the cheese pack and put Joshua's rubber cheese toys into it. Joshua finds it very amusing. He now has his own "cheese" complete with real cheese packaging.


After drinking the milk, I washed the milk carton and recycled it for Joshua. He can play pretend play by pouring milk into his toy cups and serve it to his teddy bear.


Don't throw away the pasta package the next time you finish a pack. Save a little of the pasta in the package and include it in your child's pretend play kitchen set stock. You can also turn it into a Montessori inspired activity for your child to scoop the pasta into a pot with a ladle :-)

I recycled the ham package for Joshua's plastic salami and ham toy. It made the plastic salami toy much more real and life-like. Joshua was very excited, when he saw it and played with it immediately.


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Montessori Activity: Cutting Magazine Pictures with Scissors/Skæring med Saks/使用剪刀 [shǐ yòng jiǎn dāo]




Idea from my neighbour Yang Li

Age: 2.5 years old

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Objective(s): To train the child’s fine motor skills

Materials:

1. 1 pair of scissors for kids
2. 3-4 pages of magazines with pictures of food, household items, etc.
3. 1 basket to put the cut pictures (optional)
4. 1 tray

Directions:

1. Demonstrate to your child by cutting the out the pictures on a page with the scissors slowly one by one.
2. Then assist your child to hold the scissors with thumb and fingers in the handle himself and have him practice opening and closing the scissors.
3. Hand your child a page from the magazine and encourage him to try cutting.

Additional Information:

J is starting to be bored with cutting papers with scissors, although his scissors skills can still be improved. Thus, I have replaced the papers with pictures from the magazines, so as to bring back some some novelty to this "old" activity. Of course, at this age, don't expect your child to be able to cut out the pictures perfectly, so long as he is having fun.

Updates 10.9.2011 (2Y6M5D):

J asked to cut with scissors today and he worked on this cutting activity for 30 minutes this morning - the longest ever. As he gets older, he has more concentration and spend a longer period of time on an activity, practicing and practicing and practicing, repeating and repeating and repeating, which was really nice.

On a busy day, when I am not so prepared with activities, instead of having to spend time drawing lines for him to cut, it is very easy to just pass him some pages of the advertising papers and scissors. One can't be a perfectionist with Montessori activity, especially for a working mom like me.

Daddy FECS was cutting J hair, while J was cutting the magazine, while sitting on the potty, while mommy got to do other things like blogging... killing 4 birds with 1 stone. One of our best attempts at multi-tasking thus far, but it gets easier with J getting older (2.5 years old) and able to do more things by himself.






Monday 22 August 2011

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Montessori Activity: Transferring Marbles with Tongs




Age: From 2 years old

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 3 minutes

Objectives:

1. To train the child’s fine motor skills.
2. To teach the concept of squeeze and release.
3. To teach the names of different colours.
4. To teach counting.

Materials:

1. 1 water-colour pallet
2. Approx. 5 - 7 marbles (keep it simple, not too many)
3. 1 small container
4. 1 pair of tongs
5. 1 Tray

Directions:

1. Put the marbles on the pallet's slots and transfer it into a container with tongs.

2. Transfer the marbles back to the pallet one-by-one with the tongs.

3. Encourage your child to try.

Additional Information:

J (2Y5M17D) tried this activity today and he could do it well without much struggle. Then he got bored with it :-(

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