Lessons Learnt Journal » imaginative play

Lights Activity Box

Pauline — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:58:27 +0000

It’s 3 o’clock. I wish for that long awaited ding ding ding of the home bell, signalling the change of guards. Rest.

There is no ding ding ding of the home bell for the stay at home mum. There used to be the blessing of the afternoon nap, but my preschool twin boys no longer subscribe to it. A cup of tea used to be my quick three o’clock pick me up. The effects of that are wearing off at an exponential rate.

At those 3 o’clock moments, I’m desperate for some sort of play that’s engaging for the kids, and requires minimal input and supervision from me. Tah dah! I would like to introduce our light activity box.

Gather all sorts of light related toys and gadgets into a box.

Torches, lanterns, coloured cups to stack on top of lights.

We even placed our toy periscope in our light activity box. The mirrors inside the periscope are fun to bounce light off. My kids are too young to grasp the science behind that – (but one day I anticipate the question shall arise.)

It’s simple but intensely engaging. My favourite type of play – (and the kids love it too).

Another KISS (Keep It Short & Simple) play idea.

N&M: 3 years 8 months
E: 1 years, 7 months

Check out other Short & Simple play ideas.

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Playdough Aliens

Pauline — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:09:03 +0000

I’m fortunate to have a very gifted preschool teacher as a friend. She asked how my day was. I rambled on about what a disaster my planned activity with the kids today turned out to be. The phrase, “What was I thinking?!” was repeated many times throughout our conversation. She reminded me of the KISS principle – Keep it Short & Simple.

Playdough Aliens is KISS to its core.

Materials:

Playdough (2 months later, our original cooked playdough is still going strong!)

Big googly eyes

Coloured matchsticks

Fuzzy pipe cleaners

I love it.

The kids love it.

You’ll love it.

KISS

N&M: 3 years, 8 months
E: 1 year, 7 months

Check out other Short & Simple play ideas.

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Chinese New Year Dragon Marionette

Pauline — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:55:54 +0000

Food, large family gatherings, fire-crackers, more food, red money packets, new clothes, new haircut, more food and of course lion or dragon dancing accompanied by ostentatiously loud festive drums. Chinese New Year. Families gather. Bright colours are everywhere. The food is unbelievably good and bountiful. Being Chinese has its perks.

This year (2012), Chinese New Year falls on Monday, 23rd January. It’s the year of the dragon. I made three Chinese Dragon marionettes for play in light of the festivities to come.

Materials
Disposable cups
Coloured paper
Glue gun
Fishing wire
Needle
Buttons
Christmas baubles
Goggly eyes
Pipe Cleaners
Long craft sticks
Black and red felt
Red, orange and green craft foam

Method

** I used my glue gun throughout the whole project as it made the craft more secure and is much quicker to work with.

1. Cover all the disposable cups in coloured paper.

2. Make part of the dragon’s head by inserting two Christmas baubles into a cup, then sticking goggly eyes on the baubles. The open part of the cup will be where the snout and mouth of the dragon will be placed (in Step 6).

3. Using fishing wire and a button as an anchor, thread cups together forming the dragon’s body. At the end of the body, thread through the first part of the dragon’s head (made in Step 2).

4. Thread through a new piece of fishing wire (with a button as an anchor) between the dragon’s eyes. Attach this fishing wire to a long craft stick, enabling the dragon’s head to be controlled by moving the long craft stick.

5. Attach new pieces of fishing wire to various parts of the body and tie these to long craft sticks, enabling the dragon to be used as a marionette. I used two long craft sticks per dragon. This may be varied, depending on how long your dragon marionette is.

6. Cut half a cup for the dragon’s snout/mouth. Cover the bottom of the cup with black and red felt for the mouth. Glue the snout and mouth to the first part of the dragon’s head.

7. Cut dragon “frills” out of craft foam and attach these to the dragon’s head.

8. Twist pipe cleaners around the dragon’s body for its legs. Cut foam feet for the dragon and attach it to its legs by poking a small hole through the foam and tying the pipe cleaners around the feet.

Enjoy playing and Happy Chinese New Year!

N&M: 3 years, 7 months
E: 1 year, 6 months
K: 1 month

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the original cooked play dough: a must for any hospital stay

Pauline — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 07:36:05 +0000

The newest addition to our family decided that she couldn’t wait any longer. She “came out” as N and M would say, seven weeks before her expected due date. With great joy we introduce K, our early bird.

Juggling life with four kids under 3.5 years was going to be tricky enough. Little did I know that we also had to add to that the challenges of a premature birth with Ks arrival. My parenting journey so far has taught me to “go with the flow”. Surprising things happen and there’s little gain in “trying to ski uphill” as my obstetrician so quaintly put it.

With little K in the NCIU, we had to figure out ways to keep N, M and E happily occupied within the small confines of a hospital room. Enter play dough. Thankfully I had made a batch of new play dough just a few nights before K decided to arrive. After trying a few play dough recipes, I am convinced this particular “original” cooked recipe is still the best. It’s got a great texture (not too sticky or dry) and importantly it has a ridiculously long shelf life (if kept in an airtight container).

The Original Cooked Playdough

Ingredients
Makes enough playdough to fill a 1L container.

1 cup Flour
1/2 cup Salt
1 tablespoon Cream of Tartar
1 tablespoon Cooking Oil
1 cup Water

Directions

Combine all dry ingredients and mix.
Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix.
Place in a large pot and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until it forms a ball.
When the dough pulls away from the pan and the wet parts begin to look dry, take out the dough and knead it until smooth.
Once the dough has cooled, add food colouring, glitter, extracts, etc.

Here’s how we played with our play dough

Rolling Play Dough Balls
Great for hand strength, using both hands together and hand manipulation skills.

Cutting play dough using scissors.
Teaching kids the ‘thumbs up’ rule when using scissors makes it easier for them to learn how to use scissors.

Flatten play dough between two lids.
M came up with this idea. Great for hand strength, using both hands together and hand manipulation skills.

Placing match sticks into the play dough.
Great for hand and finger strength, hand manipulation skills and practising the pincer grip.
E came up with this. He made a birthday cake (with lots of candles) to welcome K into our family.

After playing with our play dough, we all went to visit little K in the NCIU.
K spent her first 18 days in hospital and is now home with us, much to our delight.

N & M: 3 years, 6 months.
E: 1 year, 5 months.
K: fresh out of the womb, under 1 month.

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