Category: At Home

Go go go go..we are on a SEED adventure

For the month of April, we are embarking on the “Seed” adventure. We will be out and about to check out the seeds in our neighbourhood and beyond. These two books help us to kick-start our “Seed” adventure! A quick search on YouTube led us to this very interesting video about Seed Dispersal. httpv://youtu.be/zbQ1jWl3AOM After… Continue reading Go go go go..we are on a SEED adventure

Organizing space for our toddler

Toys and books were all over the house! Such a mess! New member in our family means more storage space to keep her stuff which accumulates as she grows. Though at only one year old then, she has already quite a handful of toys (mainly gifts and hand-me-down) and children books from friends and I.… Continue reading Organizing space for our toddler

Dot loves to watch us cook – from the preparation of the ingredients to the actual cooking of the food. She gets to watch the step-by-step process of preparing a dish.

When she is at grandparents’ house, she always asks to be carried to watch how grandma cuts the vegetables, meat, fruits and how she cooks. Step-by-step, I will explain to her what grandma is doing . Many times she wants to help cut the vegetables so grandma will  sometimes gives her some leaves to feed Lewis, our late rabbit or some to play with. She is very curious – wanting to have a hand in what grandma does in the kitchen and watching how the delicious food is prepared and cooked in this part of the house.

Recently, grandma put a few fish into the hot cooking oil to fry and she exclaimed excitedly, “Fish swimming.” So hilarious!

During the Christmas festive, our family usually bakes cookies to give to our friends. Dot watched how the dough was placed on the baking tray and then put inside the oven to be baked. This year, dad made a “Hello Kitty” cookie especially for her and she was so excited and happy.

Baking together with Dot will be in my to-do list this year. 

Cooking with young children can be messy but it can very fun together.

Learning how to cook helps our children to learn :

  • about healthy eating, food and nutrition,
  • to read food labels and measurements in recipes,
  • to refine motor skills,
  • about safety and hygiene,
  • problem solving and life skills

A lovely 3-minute video  to end this post –  a group of creative friends in Saari explored making crepes together, made mistakes and yet at the end enjoyed themselves very much. Enjoy!

Would love to hear your stories on cooking with your young children here.

 

Reference: Why cooking lessons are good for children?

 

Her grandparents went on holiday to the cold Harbin, China and bought a few Russian dolls as cultural souvenirs. They make good sensory activities for children and Dot loves to play with them as she finds it fascinating to see a doll with many dolls within. She called them, “Baby”.

It is a fun  activity for her to discover about different sizes, train her motor skills when she try to fit the head and the bottom together, logical thinking and most importantly she loves playing with them.

I will be there guiding her on how to put the small doll inside a bigger doll. She will then learn to follow my instructions. Sometimes I will just let her discover her own mistakes and then she tries again and again. When she manages to keep all the dolls as one, her face beams with pride and joy.

Sometimes she will pretend play with the dolls.

It just puts a smile on my face when I see her child-like joy.

 

Dot’s aunt gave her a little fish tank with five little fishes in late September 2011. J and I were a bit hesitant then as we did not know whether Dot would be able to handle them with ‘care’. Seeing her excitement when she saw the little fishes, we relented and she had her little fishes brought home safety.

We teach Dot to feed the little fishes twice a day and she has been happily doing it so far. Caring for little aquatic pets teaches Dot responsibility.

Once, she dipped her little dolphin, a plush toy, into the water, probably thinking that it could swim!

Some of the fishes we had did not survive and J decided not to buy anymore fish. Instead he decided to catch some little fish from the canal near his parents’ place. We went and caught a bag of little fish and some snails to fill our almost empty fish tank.

All of us are so happy to see our little aquarium brimming with life again!



I am very fascinated by the little snails. Once I spotted one of the snails literally diving to the bottom of the tank. I have never seen a snail dived! So amusing!


Today I see jelly-like things on the aquatic plant and realize that they are clusters of eggs, most likely laid by the snail.


I am eagerly waiting for the arrival of the little ones but what are we going to do if our little tank is full of baby snails?


We’ll see!

	


	


					



	
	

		


Dot is a fan of Signing Time – she loves the music, watching the babies doing ASL (American Sign Language) and interacting by moving her hands and body.


We introduced ASL (American Sign Language) to her when she was about 8-month old when a friend shared with us about Baby Signing Time. She could communicate with us even before she could speak – she would sign “milk” when she wanted to drink milk.


Now we still watch “Signing Time” together, limiting to 30 minutes to one hour per day.  She still enjoys learning new signs, words, moving her hands and body with the music. Sometimes I will just sign to her without speaking and she knows what I am trying to communicate. Loving it!


She learns a lot of new words from Signing Time and it helps a lot when we read to her.


The good thing is we can borrow Signing Time DVDs from our libraries.

	


	


					



	
	

		
Dot enjoys fishing these little wooden fish.


She learns to group similar colored fish by fishing them one after another. To help her to understand the significance of numbers, I will always read out the number of fish she caught.


Fishing requires focus and hand-eye co-ordination to get the fish on the magnetic hook. Her face always beams with joy when she finishes her catch –  to her is a great achievement – and sometimes she celebrates with a little dance!


 


 


 

	


	


					



	
	

		
Recipe:


2 cups plain flour


1 cup salt


1 cup water


2 tbs. olive oil


2 tbs. cream of tartar (this makes the dough last longer)


Mix these together and warm them in a pan on the stove. Let the mixture cool down a little and then form it into a ball before kneading it for a few minutes. Remember to soak the pan immediately before the remnants become caked on. Food colouring can be added.


The dough will last for a few months as long as it is kept in an airtight plastic box to prevent it from drying out.


I read The Wonder Years and saw this recipe. I tried making this dough for Dot to play and the texture is good to make balls, figurine and so on. After playing, I left it in the fridge and the following day it is still good to play.


It only takes less than 10 minutes to prepare the dough. Give it a go!