~Mathematics~ Numbers 1-10 (Subtraction)

Today my Six was eager to learn. And so we did Mathematics as i had promised him. He has a deep interest in the subject, therefore i have to find more creative ways for him to learn so that he wont get bored. He's thenkind of boy who wants more and more and more!!!!

Making use of all the unused toys, i successfully created a learning programme for my own kids. But i do need to find coloured pebbles and other items for our lessons in the near future.

I do not want to push my Six. Still sticking on to the level numbers 1-10, and soon will move on to 1-20. By then, i will have to get more sensorial numbers.

Next, i decide to start reading with my Six. He has yet to blend the ketters and it is and extra effort for me.

Stay tuned.

~Colours & Shapes~ Phase 1

Finally I am done with all the laminating and cutting, for now. But there are still more to be printed out and so much more to explore with my boys.
Today i managed to distract my Three with an activity. Introduction to colours!! I merely made use of the coloured construction papers that i had (u MUST HAVE A HUGE SUPPLY OF COLOURED CONSTRUCTION PAPERS COZ U WONY KNOW WHEN YOU'LL HAVE IDEAS), drew out shapes, print and laminate them, and i just digged whatever unused items that i have in the kitche and there goes...wala!!! My very own DIY Colours & Shapes learning material suitable for my Three to learn.

Firstly, i inroduced to him the colours. I decided to start off with only 5 colours-blue,red,green,yellow & orange. More colours will come in future.

Next, i explained to him how to do this colour sorting game. He is a fast learner. He mastered the game in just no time.

Later on he could'nt resist from holding the bigger storage and was busy helping himself putting the right colours into the designed coloured storage.

This is an interesting game which will make your kids sit still for a while. Just keep him busy. I managed to distract him with the gamw for about 15-20 minutes. And yess!!!! 15-20 minutes of keeping a toddler busy is really an achievement for me!

Next, Introduction to Colours will be continued..this time will be hands on sensorial activity! Playing with colours!!

Stay tuned for more :)

~Simple But Fun!!!~

It has been awhile.. oh yes... still doing lots of research for home  preschooling activities for my boys. There are indeed lots of awesome and fun DIY activities from a few website such as themeasuredmom, livingmontessori, learning4kids... the ideas from these SAHM (stay at home moms) are truly a wonderul and creatively fun and suitable for home preschooling activities. 

Like an activity that i did today. My Six had to finish up his shool work and my Three was distracting us with his antics. And i recalled one of the activities that i had read from one of the blogs or websites of those SAHM, i decided to implement one of it today. I only need a maskinh tape n a crayon. Since my Three was so engrossed with his toycars, i made a racing track for him. Soon later his big brother joined in the fun and they played happily but still squabbling once in a while. The idea was originally to have the maskin tape on the floor but still being a typicall Malay SAHM who cant tolerate messiness, i taped the masking tape on the floor mat. Yhe boys still had their fun and enjoyed their race. They even used the crayons to mark their starting and finishing point of their race. I will update more if the DIY activities without spending a single ringgit or sen. Simply make use of the items you have at home and get started to be creative!!!!

Stay tuned for more!!! ;)

~Learning Alphabets~

I was pretty much attracted to http://www.themeasuredmom.com. I had experienced a couple of writing activities for beginners, including the Montessori way, the Phonics way and many more. Each has their own strength and i ahve to admit all are good and superb. Although they have different beginning activities, but they have ONE thing in common which is, beginning from the easiest to the most difficult level.

In this website that i shared a link above, this awesome mom begin her writing with the easiest alphabet beginning from E, F, H, I, L, T, V, W, X, K, M, N, Y, A, Z, C, O, G, Q, B, D, J, P, U, R and S.
This was practical as kids normally likes to begin from easy to hard. Hat will develop their brain and skills.

As you can see, my Six was more settled compared to my Three. My Six was already familiar with the alphabet therefore he finished it in no time. But soon afterwards, the lego pieces transform to a gun!
Below is my Three's workpiece :

My Three needed guidance and so i guided him throughout the activity. If you noticed, he pits his lego pieces in any ways he liked it to be. But after seeing his brother's work, he corrected them on his own and finally he finished it!!!!
I guess i have to continues this acitivity with him again but with more fun items for him to arrange and maybe also edible things such as raisins and mnms maybe..

Stay tuned for more!!!! ;)

~Sensorial Learning~ January Week 2

Learning has never been more fun coz it is always fun especially with kids. Most of the times you develop creativity after observing these kids doing their work.
I found out that my Three loves running errands for me and also he actually loves being occupied, although he gets bored easily with an activity and he'll start pulling me to attend to him. He is an attention seeker. So i had to make sure that he gets really busy. From the website http://www.themeasuredmom.com, I absorbed plenyy of ideas and creative activities but somehow due to time constraint i have yet to prepare all of it. But i do make use of things that i already have at home for tfese learning programmes.

One such activities that i had done is the sensorial activity which is to develop fine motor skills in kids. This activity is inspired by the practical life activity in the Montessori Education. 

Activity : Spooning

I was preparing lunch one afternoon when my Three getting restless. And so I merely took two coloured IKEA bowls and a red spoon, and also a tray. Spontaneously i scoop some grains of rice and place in the red bowl. I showed my Three that he has to use the spoon to transfer the grains into the yellow bowl. He did it with full enthusiasm. He repeated the activity about 2-3 couple of times. But soon after that, he started using his fingers. And i suddenly got in mind that i am training him to eat nicely with no food spills around his plate, therefore i took the opportunity to train him that this spooing activity, he has to spoon the grains carefully and not let hte grains spill onto the tray. And if there's grains spillimg in the tray, he has to use his hands to slowly put the grains away.
These activities somehow has 2 in 1 outcomes. First, you get your child to develop fine motor skills. Secondly, you get to train him/her to eat nicely and mannerly with no food spilling a over the plate and table. Sometimes i had to clean up the entire dining!!!
I am fussy and i admit i still cant tolerate messiness during eating time. Guess i have to work on that -_-

On the same week, while doing the laundries, i decided to get my Three involved. He was smiling from ear to ear when i told him to get his basket of laundries. 

In an early childhood education, it is perfectly allright to get your kids involved with practical life activities. Rather than we go   telling them "go do your stuff mama is busy.." so and so..(i did that before n realized it isnt good), it would be better for us to make them feel that they are part of it. 
Kids like running errands and trust me in that ;)

We can never be perfect espceically when it comes to educating our own children. I have learnt from past mistakes that it is souh better for us as parents to in fact we actually learn from our own children. They taught us patience and creativity. 

I owe my kids for that and that is why i am staying at home now as i do not want to owe them any lost time in the future. I wanna be with them and make them know that i exist in their lives.

Stay tuned for more of my entries :)

Home Learning Centre

After reading up plentiful of blogs and websites on home schooling especily focusing in preschooling, the urge for me to set my own learning corner was exploding that i cant wait to buy these and those and that n many many more!!!
But somehow i came to think that we don't have to spend so much. We just have to look around and find out what can be done. And so i did!!!!

From the website themeasuredmom.com, my passion was driven terribly to develop my learning corner. I know i cant follow everything but at least, i may take the ideas and create in my own way.
And so i cleaned and brought out my old chest of drawers. And i started to label out with old stickers that i had before. Although the items and learning materials are not all complete but at least i can still get started.

Drawer first from top was labeled with a shirt sticker. This is our Language cards and items. Noticed that i have prepared my pink, blue n green boxes for my Six preparation to standard one.

Next, second drawer from top was labeled with a star sticker. This is our hands-on materials.

Next, our third from top drawer is our stationeries and art & crafts items. It is labeled with a butterfly sticker. My Six knows where to find his stuffs.

Finally, our last drawer is our Sensorial and Mathematics storage. There are balls, toy cars, marbles, toy fishes and numbers. We labeled this drawer with a flower sticker.

Well, although it doesnt look as perfect as the westerns did wih their home schooling programmes, i dont really mind coz i did it with what i could afford and the main important things is the implementations and activities are almost similar. Alhamdulillah :)

Stay tuned for more ;)

~Recycle & Reuse Part 2~

I never knew that being a stay-at-home mom is even much more busier than going out to work. Coz when you're at home, nothing seems complete. 
I have started with a few fine motor skills activities for my Three. He was getting restless during my home tutoring programme therefore over the weekends i was able to dig up more used toys and items to be used for my Three home preschooling. I hoped that these activities will benefit my Three and keep him busy so that he forgets about me when i have so much to accomplish. All these ideas ideas came from my reading on a website which i will place a link later on.
Activity One - 'Through the hole'

Recycle items : 
Kitchen Towel Roll
An empty box
Small balls/small toycars/marbles etc

Anything can be thrown into that hole. As long as it fits the used kitchen roll, there should'nt be a problem. At first i only gave him small balls and the toy fishes but later on he was more interested to thrown in his toy cars. Not wanting to distract n take away his focus, i let him be. He was playing for about 15-20 minutes and that was kind of an achievement on our part :)

Activity two - 'Slide me in'

All you need is a used tissue box and cut out in small onlong sizes. From the website that i read, they used pipecleaners and a colander. But since i dont have a similar colander therefore i used whatever that i have in my kitchen. The objective of this activity is to develop better fine motor skills. My Three was frustrated in the  beginning that he couldn't slid in any of the small pieces through the colander but as he tried harder, he started to enjoy the fun and
 thrills of the activity.

My Three enjoyed these activities but not as much as his big brother
had enjoyed it. My Six was asking for more and i am workimg on more activities of his age. You can do the same activities too!!!
Just click on to this link and you will find out more fun and creative activities by amazing mothers.
http://www.themeasuredmom.com

Stay tuned for more of my activities with my heroes :)