Tape project

My 2 year old son came home from a playgroup with a lovely artwork for his 4 year old sister.  It was a white paper painted with green paint all over.  He was very proud of his work.  My daughter very kindly, but unenthusiastic-ally said, "Oh, I like your green work" and put the paper aside. I suggested I cut up the paper into shapes of leaves while she draws a tree trunk so we can tape the leaves onto the trunk.  My daughter went to get a piece of paper and her crayon box--she was excited.

For this project we learned:
1. To reuse things creatively to complete a project.
2. To problem solve--- Which side of the leaf will I put the tape on? How do I roll that tape? Which would be the sticky side?  I modeled this to her twice, and allowed her to practice by herself.
3. Measuring--- Just getting the right amount of tape.  Estimating what "1 inch" or length of a thumb might be.
5. Counting--- We counted the number of leaves I was able to cut out from the green paper.
4. To improve fine motor skills-- It isn't that easy for those tiny fingers to pull just the right amount of tape from the dispenser using those pincer grasp.  The child will have to stabilize the dispenser with one hand, and use her dominant hand to pull the tape. While taking tape from the dispenser requires some force, rolling the tape with the sticky part out requires some gentleness using pincer grasp from both hands.  Therefore, being able to switch and regulate the amount of force, of taking tape and sticking it to the leaf, is an excellent fine motor skill.

My kids were very pleased with what they have accomplished TOGETHER!

Kale Chips

I'm sure a lot of you know this recipe, but it's one of my kid's favorites so I wanted to share it with everyone.  It's a great cooking activity that you can do with your kids.  It always makes me giggle inside when my kids devour the whole plate, because they think their eating "chips"-- hee! hee!

Ingredients:

Fresh Kale( It's easier to pick the smaller ones than the big leaves because you just tear the leaf off its stem with your hands--- excellent fine motor and sensory activity for kids)
Salt-- just a pinch
Ground Black Pepper-- a couple dash
Olive Oil-- just sprinkle

Pre-heat your oven to 320 degrees.
Pluck the leaves off the stem with your hands.  If the leaf is too large, you will have to remove the stem by folding the Kale to half and slice the stem off with a knife.
Lay them out on your cookie sheet.
Drizzle salt, pepper and olive oil and just mix it up.
Put in the oven for 15 to 18 minutes.
Take it out, let it cool, and enjoy the crispy healthy chips!

Laundry Time

Laundry time is one of those endless tasks that just needs to get done. The truth is, I don't really mind doing it, especially when they are my young children's clothes... But in the future, when I start seeing size S, M or L instead of a 2T or 5T on the tags of their clothes, I can imagine myself not being too happy when  I haven't delegated this task by then.

My daughter, who is 4, is at a stage where she loves doing things with me.  She wants me to go to the playground with her, read to her, play dolls with her, cook with her--- anything!  So, laundry time, is one of those times that provide us with endless "opportunities" to do something together.  It keeps her preoccupied in a productive manner, and WALLAH, the job is done.   As you can see, the  positive energy that I bring to the activity is a key element here!

She is always proud when the job is done!  She feels accomplished when she knows she has contributed to completing a task that is important.

I feel that the more children are accustomed to participating in doing chores, the more they are willing to help with many things around the house without being asked or "bribed" to do. I think that at this young stage, allowing them to "participate"--- not giving the entire responsibility to them, helps them build positive thoughts about doing house work.  It definitely has helped create a bond between us, for doing things together, and that alone is priceless.

For this laundry time activity, my we have learned...

1. Skill in one to one correspondence.  Counting the number of dresses she needs to hang, and collecting the same number of hangers that she will be needing---1 hanger to 1 dress.
2. Problem solving.  If the hanger doesn't fit into the top hole of the dress, how do I get it into the dress correctly? If the socks are inside out, How do I get the outside out?
3. Matching.  Match each sock to the correct pair.
4. Fine motor. Having to flatten out the socks, roll them tightly, then twisting the top to make the pair of socks into a ball so they could stay together.
5. Language.  "2 socks make 1 pair of socks."

Camping is cool!

Before we had kids, my husband and I used to go on camping trips just to relax for the weekend.  We have not done that since we got pregnant with our first child.  This summer, now that our youngest is 2, we have decided it was time to introduce our children to what we enjoy.  It was an amazing experience for our entire family.

Being outdoors, experiencing fresh air, picking up sticks, throwing rocks, making fire from scratch, cooking food using "real fire?", eating marshmallows all night, putting up a tent, watching the tall trees around us, going on a recyclable system bathroom, seeing bugs and mushrooms in the wild, playing outdoor games by a bonfire at night, and sleeping in a tent during a thunderstorm !!! ,----this is a full scale sensory overload for our entire family!

I truly believe that families benefit from being closer to nature.  I need not say more about the stress reducing effect this brings to ourselves and especially our children... see photo below.

This was my 2 year old's face during and after our camping experienced.  Ah, life is good.

I've got a million more things to add about our trip, but I don't want to sound like I'm trying to convince people to go.  I think the experience will speak for itself.  Happy camping!

Chinese Watercress!

I love doing food preparation activities with my kids because of some of these reasons:

1. My kids are truly engaged and excited about it.  For this reason alone, it is already half the battle.
2. There are so many lessons to learn from one activity (i.e. math, fine motor, sensory, organization, values, etc.).
3. It's an activity that both my kids (ages 4 and 2) could participate in, and learn from at their own level.
3. There is "fruit" to our labor--- we get dinner!

Today, we got stuck in traffic for a long time and it was 87 degrees out there! When we  finally arrived home,  I was having a splitting headache. I needed something to preoccupy my kids, and I needed to prepare for dinner.  It was one of those stressful afternoons for me....
So, I opened the refrigerator door and TA-DAH!  I found these beautiful Chinese Watercress! I put my kids to work! I took two big bowls out, and told my kids to pluck out the leaves from the stem.

From this food preparation experience, we learned:
1. Cooking: How to prepare Chinese Watercress.
2. Fine Motor: I always tell my kids to use their "helping hands".  I believe that one of the most important values I want to instill in my children is the ability to find purpose in what they do. And the purpose does not always have to be so big.  It may be as simple as putting food at the table, or as big as making a difference in the world.  Our hands have to move with purpose.  They are ours to do good for ourselves and others.
3. Cooperative Work: I believe that allowing our children the opportunities to have shared experiences with their siblings or peers will encourages them to become more aware of others.  It will also encourage social interaction, communication, and promote a sense of purpose and unity.
 4. Sorting Skills: I have asked my kids to put all the leaves in the metal bowl, and all the stalks in the clear plastic bowl.  You can consider this a "math" skill, or an organization skill.  Building organizational skills is a prerequisite to successful self-management and academic learning. 
5. Values:  When we sit together touching the plant, we learn to appreciate the food that is given to us.  We appreciate the people who grew them and brought them to us, and we appreciate nature that nurtures us. 

Food prep-- a life skill!

From today's experience, we learned:

1. Community integration: I always believe that having a sense of community and an appreciation for the people in our community is an essential value my children need to have.  Our conversation while in the store involved the farmers who planted the vegetables, and how we should not waste our food because people have worked hard to grow them and bring them to the market.
2.  Counting:  In this photo, I asked my daughter to pick 8 cucumbers.  She initially had 3 in the bag, so we had to do a simple subtraction which was "You already have 3 in your bag, and I need 8.  So 8-3 is?", and we counted with our fingers and got 5! Coming up with the right answer is not the priority right now.  The focus is showing her how numbers are used in everyday life!
3. Using senses (to pick the best veggies):  In this photo, I asked her to find the cucumbers that were firm and dark green.  I thought this was worth putting in here, cause it's such a mother to daughter moment, teaching her the tricks of the trade... and also for me to just give her the guidance but to step back and allow her to trust her own ability to make judgement of which would be considered a good cucumber.  Of course when we got home, not all the cucumbers were "firm and dark green" as I would like it to be... but... You get my point.

4. Food preparation:  It's a life skill. I believe that teaching our kids to be as independent as they possibly can is the best gift we can offer our children.  Allowing them to participate in food preparation can make children be more willing to eat the food they prepared, build self-esteem, and understand that doing things together is what a family does.
*I know many parents are nervous about the knife.  My daughter has been chopping veggies since she was 2, so I trust her more now in handling the knife.  But if you're nervous about it, start with a table knife.  Make sure you model the proper way of handling it.  Teach his/her to stabilize the food on the chopping board, and always be by his/her side to supervise safety (only safety. Let your child do the rest).
5.Fine motor:  Engaging in fine motor exercises develops a prerequisite skill for successful writing experience in the future.  It's also a life skill.  Having good fine motor also helps kids develop confidence in performing simple tasks like unbuttoning their pants, putting their shoes on, etc. 

6, Fractions: While cutting up the vegetables.  I showed her how to cut the mushrooms into cubes.  "First you cut the whole  mushroom into half, then you cut the half and make them into quarters. You see how they are 4 now?  When you put the 4 together, what do we get?--- 1 whole mushroom!"  She was excited to do her own math experiment, making a whole to half and quarters.  I think it's never too early to introduce math concepts in our daily experiences.