Montessori Activity: Advanced Mystery Bag Game

Building a mirror-image sculpture designed by Yang Li with items from the Mystery Bag.

Age: From 2 years 3 months old

Activity Duration: 15 minutes

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Number of Players: 2

Objective(s):

1. To stimulate the children's keen sense of touch.
2. To teach the names of objects and broaden the child's vocabulary.
3. To teach team work.

How to play?

1. Fill 2 sets of 15 different items into each drawstring bag.

2. Call an item and instruct the first player to find the object from her bag by touch without peeping in.

3. Instruct the first player to display the object on the table.

4. Instruct the second player to find the same item in his bag and display the object on the table in a mirror image.

5. Repeat until all the items called are displayed in a mirror image.

6. Clean up by asking the first player to put the named item and place it back into her bag.

7. It is the second player's turn to put the name item into his bag.

8. Repeat until all items are placed back into the bags.

Additional Information:

The traditional Montessori Mystery Bag game is losing the novelty appeal to both Amy and Joshua (2Y3M6D). It is getting too simple for them. My friend, Yang Li, invented this game and the children had a lot of fun playing this game during our "Fun with Chinese" Class with Toddlers yesterday.

I was very impressed with the mirror-image "sculpture" the children have made. Later, based on instruction, one-by-one, they put back the items into the mystery bag and everything is cleaned up in a fun and orderly manner.



All the items are now kept back into the mystery bag, well done, Amy & Joshua!

Montessori Activity: Transferring Ice-Cubes

Age: From 1.5 years old

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Objective(s):

1. To train the child’s fine motor skills.
2. To stimulate the child's sense of touch.
3. To teach the concept cold.

Materials:

1. 2 bowls
2. Approx. 10 - 12 ice-cubes
3. 1 Tray

Directions:

1. Demonstrate it to your child by transferring the ice-cubes by hand slowly one at a time.
2. Encourage and let your child try it.

Additional Information:

J (2Y3M6D) tried this for the first time this morning. I wished I have let him play with ice-cubes when he was a baby, but better late than never.

Montessori Activity: Scooping Ice-Cubes

Age: From 2 years old

Activity Duration: 5-15 minutes

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Objectives:

1. To train the child’s fine motor skills.
2. To stimulate the child's sense of touch.
3. To teach the concept cold.

Materials:

1. 2 bowls
2. Approx. 10 - 12 ice-cubes
3. 1 scoop (I use the Chinese steam boat ladle)
4. 1 Tray

Directions:

1. Demonstrate it to your child by transferring the ice-cubes slowly one at a time.
2. Encourage and let your child try it.

Additional Information:

J (2Y3M6D) tried this for the first time this morning. I wished I have let him play with ice-cubes when he was a baby, but better late than never.

Let Baby Play with Ice-Cubes

Age: From 3 months and again from 6 months when Baby shows interest in holding things and banging things.

Objective: To stimulate baby's sense of touch

Additional Information:

At 3 months, Baby is too little to play with ice himself, but you can let him touch ice-cubes to stimulate his sense of temperature.

Lesson Plan: Prayer - 3rd July 2011

FIBC Nursery (0-4 years old)

Date: 3rd July 2011, Time: 1.30 – 2.30pm

Theme: Hannah's Prayer /God hears me, God hears people talk to him when they pray

Key Bible Verse: Psalm 55:17: “I will pray morning, noon and night and He will hear and answer.”

Teachers: Elaine, Allan & Teddy

1.15 – 1.30pm: Preparation Time

• Teachers to arrive 15 minutes earlier to prepare and set up the room.
• Bring a jug of water.
• Mark Attendance.

1.30-1.45pm: Craft Time

Craft: Making Prayer Jar

Materials:
1. Empty cleaned jam, nut butter or baby food jars with lid
2. Clipart with a child prayer printed with the words “I Can Pray”
3. Fun stickers such as stars, etc.
4. Pictures of prayer items or 4 small pieces of paper for the child to draw
5. Crayons/pencils
6. A ribbon

Directions:
1. Give each child a jar and tie the ribbon around the neck of the jar.
2. Help him put one of the provided “I Can Pray” clipart labels on it. They can also use other stickers to decorate their jar.
3. Print out pictures as prayer items such as mommy, daddy, grannny, granddad, your church, your country, people who are sick, the poor, a good sleep, etc.
4. Let your child choose approx. 3 pictures of the prayer items he would like to pray for and ask him to put them into the jar.
5. Each morning or evening during bed time prayer, take out each of the picture from the jar and pray together with your child.
6. Suggest that your child to try and pray by telling him that praying is like talking to God.

* If your child is old enough to draw, give him pieces of paper for him to draw the things he would like to pray for and ask him to put his drawings into the prayer jar.

You can also let your child put out the labels and glue it onto the jar.

Tips:
If you print two sets of prayer item pictures, you can use it for a matching game. Turn all the picture face down, and ask the children to each take turn to turn two pictures randomly. If the two pictures match, he gets to keep the pictures. The child with the most set of pictures win.

Contingency Craft: Tracing Hands

Materials:
1. Some blank papers
2. Crayons

Directions:
1. Let the children trace their hands on a sheet of art paper.
2. Tell the children that they can use their fingers to remember how to pray.
3. Over the thumb, write "Praise".
4. Tell the children to start the prayer by praising God in words or song.
5. Over the first finger, write "Thank you".
6. Tell the children that they can thank God for something He has done.
7. Over the second finger, write "Confess".
8. Tell the children that, in prayer, it's good to tell God the things the child has done wrong.
9. Over the third finger, write "Ask".
10. Tell the children they should ask God for the things they need, including food and asking for forgiveness for the things they confess.
11. Over the fourth finger, write "Intercede".
12. Tell the children that they can close the prayer by asking God to help others who need Him.
13. Put the picture up where it can be seen and remembered. When your child has it memorized, she will have the steps in prayer with her all the time.

1.45 – 2pm: Snack Time

• Gather the children to sit together in a circle.
• Sing the “Say Grace Song”

2 – 2.15pm: Lesson Time with Singing

1. Have the children bring their jars and sit in a circle on the floor or on chairs.
2. Start by singing the song "Read the Bible, Pray Everyday".
3. Explain that praying is about talking with God.
4. Explain to them that God tells us in His Word to pray and that they can pray to God any time.
5. Introduce the key Bible Verses with hand motions.
6. Have each child pull out pictures from his/her prayer jar and pray for what he/she has drawn.
7. Teach them how to fold their hands, bow their heads, and close their eyes while they are listening to the other children, and when they say their prayer. If a child does not want to say anything, do not force him or her.
8. Reassure the children that it's OK to tell God the things they do something wrong.
9. Close with the song “Whisper A Prayer”.

Bible Verses: Psalm 55:17

Introduce the key Bible Verses with hand motions and song (movements are helpful for remembering words to a prayer) as follows:

• Whisper a prayer in the morning (Put your index finger to your mouth to whisper, fold your hands to pray and stretch both hands out high)
• Whisper a prayer at noon (Put your index finger to your mouth to whisper, fold your hands to pray and open wide both hands)
• Whisper a prayer in the evening (Put your index finger to your mouth to whisper, fold your hands to pray and put both palms together to your ears to indicate sleep in the evening)
• To keep your heart in tune (Both thumbs pointing at each other near your heart)
• God answers prayer in the morning (Raise both both hands up to indicate God, fold your hands to pray and stretch both hands out high)
• God answers prayer at noon (Raise both hands up to indicate God, fold your hands to pray and open wide both hands)
• God answers prayer in the evening (Raise both hands up to indicate God, fold your hands to pray and put both palms together to your ears to indicate sleep in the evening)
• So keep your heart in tune (Both thumbs pointing at each other near your heart)

2.15 – 2.30pm: Game Time

Game: The Silence Game with Sound Bag

Objective(s):
1. To quieten down the children to understand the verse “Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10.
2. To teach the children that God hears our prayers
3. To train the child’s attention to sound

Materials:
Gather items and place them in a bag. You might choose things such as:
1. Harmonica
2. Whistle
3. Baby crying doll
4. Bell
5. Hour glass

Directions:
1. Gather the children and get their attention.
2. Have the children close their eyes and remain perfectly still and listen. Say the verse, “Be still and know that I am God”.
3. Pick an item from the bag and play it for the children (Be sure to turn your back so that peeking eyes will not wander.)
4. Place the item back in the bag and in a whisper, ask the class if they can guess what they heard. If they were wrong, play it again. If they were right, move on to the next object.
5. Put everything back to the bag.
6. Encourage a child to lead by picking an item from the bag and play it for the other children.

2.30 – 2.45pm: Clean up Time

• Clean up together and sing the song “Time to Clean Up”
• Sterile toys with wet wipe

2.45pm: Parents pick up kids
• Inform the parents about the prayer jars and have them pray with their child everyday.

References:
http://ministry-to-children.com/i-can-pray-preschool-lesson/
http://www.teachableheartministries.org/files/prayerjarlabel.pdf
http://ezinearticles.com/?Teaching-Your-Preschoolers-to-Pray-Morning,-Noon-and-Night---A-Scripture-Lady-Activity&id=4215623
http://www.allaboutprayer.org/how-to-teach-children-to-pray-faq.htm#ixzz1OcUJDSmi
http://www.suite101.com/content/prayers-for-young-children-a19131
http://www.suite101.com/content/prayer-bible-lesson-plan-ideas-a30027
http://childparenting.about.com/c/ht/03/04/How_Teach_Child_Pray1050364166.htm
http://www.psscentral.com/
http://www.bgct.org/texasbaptists/Page.aspx?pid=662&srcid=459
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7ywmlv8Hu8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH5ajWfdH3g
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Parent Newsletter

July 3, 2011

Dear Parent

Theme

This week’s theme is God Hears People When They Pray.
Your child will bring back a Prayer Jar we make during the class where he/she will draw a picture of something he/she would like to pray for. You can use it at home to help your child to pray.

Bible Verses

The Key Bible Verse used is Psalm 55:17. You can recite this verse to your child at home during this week.

Here are a few more Bible verses on prayer which you can use with your child at home:
• Ephesians 46:10
• Matthew 6:9-13
• Isaiah 58:9

Song

We sing this song "Whisper a Prayer" with hand actions. You can learn it here and sing it together with your child at home:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7ywmlv8Hu8

We hope this helps you to keep up with the education your child received at the nursery this Sunday.

Thank you for entrusting your child with us.

In His Service,
FIBC Nursery

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Songs

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!

Whisper a Prayer

Whisper a Prayer
Whisper a prayer in the morning
Whisper a prayer at noon
Whisper a prayer in the evening
To keep your heart in tune
God answers prayer in the morning
God answers prayer at noon
God answers prayer in the evening
So keep your heart in tune
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scgJzYBEaGY&NR=1

Read Your Bible

Read your Bible, pray everyday,
Pray everyday, pray everyday
Read your Bible, pray everyday
And you will grow, grow, grow
You will grow, grow, grow
You will grow, grow, grow
Read your Bible, pray everyday
And you will grow, grow, grow

Neglect your Bible, forget to pray,
Forget to pray, forget to pray,
Neglect your Bible, forget to pray,
And you will shrink, shrink, shrink
You will shrink, shrink, shrink
You will shrink, shrink, shrink
Neglect your Bible, forget to pray
And you will shrink, shrink, shrink
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfScu505a2o

Time to Clean Up

Time to Clean Up (2X)
Boys and Girls (2X)
When we are good helpers (2X)

God is glad (2X)

J Summary (2Y3M5D) - Loves to Sing, but hates all types of food!

Moral Development

It is a struggle in this area. J refuses to say "please", when requesting for things. Very often, I have to withhold the thing, until he says "please". This is a power-struggle that I have weighted the cost, and decided to take the battle. I am evaluating myself, whether we have been consistent ourselves in saying "please" and "thankyou". It may be reflective of how we ourselves are lacking and have not been a good example. So I am trying to be more conscious in the development of this area in ourselves.

Teaching a child, I have realised, is a mirror image. In the midst of teaching the child, I often realised that I have to teach myself first - from singing to moral development. It is a very humbling experience to realise that I still have so much to learn. I need to be back to being a child and to learn the basics of life. I guess, God in His wisdom, by making adults parents, is giving an adult like me a second chance to start learning from scratch.

It is slipping with the bedtime prayer and the Bible verse reading, as J prefers to invest the time in singing. This is an area that I have to put in more efforts. I will try to learn more songs that incorporate bible verses, lessons and prayer. One of my projects is to make a list of all Bible verses useful for children, and start memorising them myself.

Life, as a mom, is extremely busy, and at times filled with insecurities and feeling of lousiness. Why can't I do things better! Why did I make that mistake AGAIN! Why can't I be more patient! Why did I lose my cool! Oh no, I didn't manage to make dinner today!

I need to pray for wisdom, grace, strength and God's constant forgiveness to carry me through each day and try again.

Loves Singing and his Teddy-Bear

I notice a very sensitive period right now towards singing. J loves to sing, and would sing along with me. It started about a week ago, I think. He gets the tune right, but the words are still not clear. But it is getting better and better, and the leap came at 2Y3M exactly.

Unfortunately, I am not so creative, and I am always singing the same few old songs. I tell myself that it is good for children to have repetition...ha ha, but I should try to keep up and teach him new songs.

He is very attached to his teddy bear now. Every morning, when he wakes up, he would always remember to bring teddy bear down with him to sit at the dinning table and eat breakfast together. This goes for practically all meals.

He would bring teddy bear to sit on the toy potty besides him almost without fail.

He would bring teddy bear with him to his daycare and everywhere he goes. The interesting thing that the daycare teacher told us is, J has been very willing to share his teddy bear with other children. So I was glad to hear that he is so willing to share. We make sure that we bring the teddy bear along with us, when we go on vacation, otherwise, we wouldn't think what the consequences would be!

Nutrition

J has become a very picky child. What ever he used to like as a baby, he now simply refusing it most of the time - apple, banana, carrot, pumpkin, chicken, salmon, rice, meat, seeds, bread, etc. The only thing he is still willing to eat it faithfully is oatmeal, but he is eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, 7 days a week! I am telling myself that it is a stage that children go through, but am running out of ideas how to solve it.

There were many times, he refused to eat what was served on the table. He would kick a fuss and cry out loud, making me very exhausted, since we both just returned from a long day at work. Daddy and I am determined not to treat him like an Emperor, dishing out all different dishes hoping that he would eat one of the dishes. In fact, trying out this method never worked for us. J would point to another food, and I would bring it out, and he would turn his attention to another, and then he would still kick a fuss and refuse to eat.

We tried time-out to calm him down, and it has worked everytime. I am now ever more fully convinced that some kind of discipline action such as time-out is more effective, than trying to appease a child's growing wilfulness.

Language Development

Not so much note-worthy progress, except that there are more and more 3-word sentences in Chinese Mandarin. He loves repeating what we say right now. He can actually repeat them rather well, but I wonder how much of those sentences he understood!

Montessori Activity: Screwing & Unscrewing Jars with Lid

Age: From 2 years old

Activity Duration: 5-10 minutes

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Objective(s):

1. To sharpen the child’s sensitivity to sound.
2. To teach the concept of empty and full by shaking the jars respectively through sound.
3. To train fine motor skill by screwing and unscrewing the lids.

Materials:

1. 2 jam or baby food jars with lids, one filled with some dried pasta, beans or plastic pegs
2. 1 tray

Directions:

1. Unscrew the lids and screw it back.

2. Shake the jar with things, bring your hand to your ears and ask your child to listen.

3. Shake the empty jar, bring your hand to your ear and ask your child to listen.

4. Tell him the full jar makes a sound, and the empty jar does not make any sound.

5. Encourage your child to try by shaking both containers and listening to them.

6. Allow your child to play with it himself, unscrewing the lids, pouring the content into the other jar, screwing it and shaking it.

Additional Information:

I still give J iron and vitamin D drops in the morning sometimes (but sometimes vitamin pills). Yesterday, J (2Y3M3D) wanted to unscrew the cap of the bottles himself. He did it all on his own, unscrewed the bottle, dripped the drops into his spoonful of oatmeal (I was holding the spoon), and screwed back the caps tightly. So I realized that he could now screw and unscrew lids.

Taking the cue, I quickly went to set up this game for him to let him practice more screwing and unscrewing lids. He could screw it back, but was not so good in unscrewing it. I think the size of the jars posed a little challenge, compared to the bottles. but it was good practice still.

Montessori Activity: Bathing Baby Teddy-Bear

Inspired by The Education of Ours

Age: From 2 years old

Activity Duration: 15 minutes

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Objective(s):

1. To teach the child to care for others.
2. To teach the names of body parts.

Materials:

1. Teddy bear or baby doll
2. Wash cloth
3. Small baby bath tub (I use a plastic basket)
4. Water
5. Body shower cream

Directions:

1. Squeeze a bit of shower cream into the bath tub and fill it with water to create bubbles.
2. Put teddy bear into the bath tub.
3. Demonstrate to the child how to bath the teddy bear.
4. Invite the child to try.

Tips:

1. To make it more educational, while your child is washing the teddy bear, ask him to wash his head, hands, legs, ears, etc. so that your child learns to practise the name of the body parts.

2. Alternatively, you choose a part of the teddy bear to wash, and ask your child to name that body part.

Additional Information:

I got to know about this activity from The Education of Ours blog and I have always been wanting to introduce this activity to Joshua, but firstly I don't have a suitable baby doll and secondly I am the type who is a neat freak. I can't stand mess and wet floor, even if it is on the balcony. It did not occur to me that, hey, I could do this in the bathroom, and instead of using a baby doll, I could use the teddy bear!!!

The training teddy bear is getting very dirty, since Joshua brings it along with him everyday and everywhere also to his daycare. He brought it along with us for our vacation to the countryside last week. It is REALLY a high time to wash it.

Before I put the training teddy bear into the washing machine, I thought why not make it into a game? So this evening, I finally introduced this activity, and thus one more activity to cross off my list (I have to admit, I am a die-hard list keeper, and enjoy crossing items off list. It is sometimes not a good thing, as I am always thinking of all the things I have to do, instead of slowing down to enjoy life. I do hope to do better, but it is a real struggle).

J (2Y3M3D) enjoyed showering the teddy bear and playing with water today.

References:

http://educationofours.blogspot.com/2010/07/ultimate-baby-washing.html

2.6.2012 (3Y2M27D) - Giving Patrick a bath

Baked Stuffed Pumpkin

Serves 4

Preparation and Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
- 1 Hokaido pumpkin, hollowed
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 TBS cooking oil
- 250g lean ground beef 3-7% fat
- 1/2 red pepper bell chopped
- 1/2 cup frozen green peas
- 1/2 cup sweet corn
- 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
- 1/2 cup quinoa (cooked with 1 cup water, optional)
- a handful of pumpkin seeds or walnuts
- a sprinkle of low fat shredded mozarella cheese
- a handful of chives chopped for garnish
- salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 170°C (350°F).
2. Wash, hollow out the seeds and pulp of the pumpkin with a spoon.
3. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, fry garlic until golden, add onions and fry until golden.
5. Add ground beef and fry until brown, but not fully cooked.
6. Add red pepper bells and fry a few times.
7. Add green peas, sweet corns and sun-dried tomatoes
8. Add pumpkin seeds or walnuts
9. Add quinoa (optional)
10. Remove pumpkin from oven and stuff in the fillings as much as possible.
11. Sprinkle with cheese and put back into the oven for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
12. Sprinkle with chives

Additional Information:
I am tired of always making the same dish for dinner, and am running out of ideas what to make for dinner. Thus, it was nice to make something different for a change.

We bought the hokaido pumpkin from Arhus during our weekend trip. I made this for dinner this evening. Joshua has been very picky about food lately. He is only willing to eat oatmeal with goji berries and raisins, but nothing else. But he asked for more pumpkin and shredded cheese this evening, so that was a nice change.

Green salad with Soft-Boiled Egg/Grøn Salad med Æg/绿沙拉[lǜ shā lā]

Serves 4

Preparation & Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
- 250g of salad leaves
- 1/2 onion or 3 stalks of spring onions chopped
- a handful of baby spinach leaves
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- 1 red pepper bell chopped
- 1 avocado chopped
- 4-5 brown button mushrooms sliced
- 3 soft-boiled eggs
- a handful of pecan nuts or walnuts
- a few stalks of chives chopped
- 1 can of tuna (optional)

Dressing:
- 2 TBS olive oil
- 1/2 - 1 TBS squeezed lemon juice (optional)
- 1/2 tsp soy sauce (optional)
- Sprinkle of salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Mix all the vegetables, eggs (and tuna).

2. Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper last, just when you are about to serve.

3. Toss and mix well.

Additional Information:
This is Florian's favourite salad, especially on a hot summer day, when he has no appetite for hot soup or oven-baked food. It is rather quick and easy to make (apart from the soft-boiled eggs). I made this for dinner yesterday 5.6.2011. Joshua however doesn't like green salad :-( He had his breakfast oatmeal for dinner instead.

The raw onion or spring onions zest up the salad a lot.

It is a very simple dressing, but the olive oil together with salt and pepper give a lot of taste to the salad and bring out the flavour of the green. Whenever, I am running short of time to make fanciful dressing, I would stick to this easy dressing.

Montessori Acitvity: Nature-Themed Mystery Bags

Age: From 2 years old

Activity Duration: 5 - 10 minutes

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Objective(s):

1. To gives your child a fun way to practise in identifying and naming objects only through the sense of touch.

Materials:

1. 2 identical drawstring bags.

2. 2 sets of 5 different items from nature such as a leave, a stone, a pine cone, a hazelnut and a seashell.

Directions:

1. Get your child to hold one bag and you hold the other.

2. Put your hand inside your bag and select one of the items, bring it out, show it to him and say the name of the item.

3. Ask him to put his hands inside his bag and try to find the same shape, using only his sense of touch. He is not allowed to look inside the bag.

Additional Information:

J (2Y3M0D) tried this game yesterday with Daddy FECS, and he enjoyed it. He managed to take out the correct item.

References:

- Montessori Play and Learn by Lesley Britton