How to keep your baby occupied for 20 minutes #2

Ah yes, his first session ever, with paint. He loved it! He left a mess all the way to the bathroom, leaving handprints along the way as I raced him to the bathtub, but we're doing this again, soon!

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Thankful Tuesdays: A full cup

Quite a few things have been a cause of concern the past month or so: baby J's growth (he's stopped growing again), Junior J's sudden insistence on having his room door open during naps and at night, leading to unsettled sleep for him, the household mold problem. We have had our hands very full, dealing with all these, and many a times have felt rather overwhelmed and drained.

But I was reminded when reading the Bible this morning to "Do everything without grumbling or arguing" (Phil 2: 14), and well, while life is full of problems to solve, our cups are also full of blessings. So I am so thankful for:

:: God, whom we can hold on to amidst life storms.

:: The blessing of our two little children, who are constant reminders to keep laughing, loving and learning.

:: A roof over our heads, especially in the cold winter months and on blustery rainy days.

:: Friends that keep you in prayer and are there for you.

:: The internet that keeps people connected, even though we may be halfway across the world.

:: Piping hot meals and warm woolly sweaters.

What are you thankful for this week?


<center><a href="http://makingmum.blogspot.com/search/label/Thankful%20Tuesdays"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ5TFIcFuNJ5fKnlD-Tueh7MbfoDLmkSiccVSG2aiAiPYVekzcr_NCpGbYT5JnktxjM3CNMDiG4PVEmp73HoRmyUEHOLWgVH4cZSe1KPPqHqPAJek4y__ytX8EKZASnKRFlM1ZcE6idaFk/s260/Rainbow.jpg"/></a></center>;

Monday Made: Our Chinese New Year Lapbook

We've been learning more about Chinese New Year and the Zodiac calendar last week, and made another lapbook! Again, we recycled book depository packaging, and covered the front with white paper. The boy has been experimenting with Blopens (these pens that allow you to blow ink out through them), and we used a dragon stencil to decorate the cover.

And here's the inside of the lapbook:

We learnt about the Chinese Zodiac, by reading a book ("The Great Race", by Dawn Casey) and watching two videos on the topic ("Chinese Zodiac Story", as well as part of Vol 3 from the Taoshu DVDs).

Then the boy pasted the animals (printed from here) to their correct names in English, and then he learnt their names in Chinese and pasted those down too. (You can get the name printables from our FB page!)

He then had fun spinning the zodiac wheel (from here) to figure out the years in which each family member was born (the years are pretty small so I guided him a little):

We then filled in a little flipbook with the details of each family member (you can print out the arrow for the zodiac wheel as well as the text for the flipbook using our printable), and also added photos for each member too!

And finally, we did a little snake to fill up the space next to the zodiac wheel, since it was going to be the year of the snake! Junior J did some messing around with paints, then added the tongue, eyes and scales when the paint was dry. :)

I'm planning to let Junior J take a couple of photos of various CNY traditions when the time comes (eg. receiving red packets), and we'll slot those photos into the red packet that we stuck in the lapbook!

Thinking Thursdays: Learning about polar animals (II)

So aside from those polar animal activities that I shared in the last post, Junior J also got to work his counting (using a penguin puzzle from here, which counts from 31-40), as well as the roll and graph activity from here (which got him so excited he threw the dice so many times that it split open!)

Activities aside, we read a couple of books on the Arctic and Antarctic:

:: North: The Amazing Story of Arctic Migration, by Nick Dowson
This was my favourite book of the lot. Stunning illustrations outline the migration of many animals as they head their way to the Arctic for the summer. I learnt quite a bit myself from reading this book to Junior J, and we loved pouring over the pictures. We'll probably be revisiting this book again for another thematic study!

:: Pipaluk and the Whales, by John Himmelman
We didn't manage to read this over here, but borrowed it from the library previously when we were back in SG. This story is based on a true incident where thousands of beluga whales were found by Russian villagers trapped in ice.  The villagers helped to keep the hole open for the whales, and eventually the whales were rescued when an ice-breaker cut a channel to the sea, and led them out by playing classical music!

:: Polar Bear, Arctic Hare, by Eileen Spinelli
This book introduces the many creatures that can be found in the Arctic through poetry, which I thought was a nice change from reading prose.

:: How Big is a Million?, by Anna Milbourne
Ok, this wasn't so much about polar animals, but I included it because there were seals and penguins! We revisited this book as Junior J loves reading about Pipkin the penguin, who tries to find out how big a million really is. Its quite a good book for introducing large numbers like hundreds and thousands.

:: Little Cliff and the Cold Place, by Clifton Taulbert
Little Cliff learns about the Arctic and wants to go there. Read about how his father manages to bring the Arctic to Cliff instead!

Do you have any favourite reads on polar lands? Have a blessed weekend, and we'll be back next week to share about what we were learning about Chinese New Year!

Thinking Thursdays: Learning about polar animals (I)

Hello! Here's some of the activities we did while learning about polar animals: 

:: Duplo block puzzles: I cut up these flashcards and pasted them on Duplo blocks for the boy to assemble!

:: Dot to dot puzzles: The boy simply loves dot to dot puzzles, so we did a couple of penguin ones (from here).

:: Identifying the beginning letters of each animal with a pegging activity (from here):

:: We did a feed the penguin activity, where I printed the penguins, laminated and mounted them on yoghurt containers. Then the boy was given pictures, and he was supposed to identify their starting sounds and feed the correct penguins! (You can get the penguins and the pictures from here.) He was really happy at the end of the activity, and declared that all the penguins were full, and managed to learn a little phonics at the same time. :)

Be back tomorrow to share more activities, as well as the books we read!

How to keep your baby occupied for 20 minutes #1

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Thankful Tuesdays: Right now

Recently, I made a decision to turn down some design team work. As I pondered over whether to take the offer up, the thought flitted through my head: if only they were older, and I had more me time. There are times where I admit I half look forward to being able to have more time to craft. Having no need to nurse a little one that still wakes up many times a night. Not needing to be an octopus during meals and have to feed two little mouths, plus my own. 

And then I am reminded that these times, right now, are so very precious. The times when the boys still want to hold my hand, and enjoy doing it. The times when the main word that comes flying out of their mouths is "Mama! Mama! Mama!". The times when they still retain that childlike faith and wonder. No amount of me-time spent cutting paper is going to be able to replace that. 

So I am thankful for right now. For:

:: A little heart that shows concern for the welfare of his animal friends.

:: The everyday messes that celebrate growth (and yes, he's finally growing after we took him off dairy and eggs)...

... as well as the messes that encompass learning:

:: The privilege to stay home and experience all that with the boys.

:: The times spent growing together as a family.

I am thankful for times right now. How about you? What are you thankful for?


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