Value Bookshop’s Reading Notes

Need activity ideas for a children’s birthday party? Why not include a story telling session? I’m sure it will be a hit with young children, especially if you rope them in to join you in the story. You could choose a well known fairytale such as The Three Little Pigs or The Three Billy Goat’s Gruff. Include in actions that they can do along with you or have them recite the repetitive phrases.

Here are some examples:

• The Three Little Pigs - have a group play the wolf and let them say the two lines “little pig, little pig, let me come in” and “I’ll huff, and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down” (then let them blow with all their might). Another group play the pigs that have the line “not by the hair on my chiny chin chin.”
• The Three Billy Goat’s Gruff - ask the children to stamp their feet when the goats go “trip trap trip trap” over the bridge. Then ask them to put on their meanest, ugliest face when the troll says “Who’s that trip trapping over my bridge.”
• The Gingerbread Man - Have them chant the ever popular “run, run, as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, I’m the Gingerbread Man.”
• The Enormous Turnip - Modify the story a bit by including the children’s names. Have them form a chain pretending to pull out that enormous turnip. At the end, have them all fall down.

Here is another book that will be fun to read to a group of kids.

Select about 2 story books and sandwich some songs and action rhymes in between.
You want to instill the love of reading in your child, then show them what fun it can be. Show them that books are as fun as other party games. Want to take the birthday party a step further, have kids dress up as their favourite story character.

I know some of you take your kids to story telling sessions at libraries or playgroups. It’s a fun activity right? So, as you make out your party “to do” list, don’t forget to include a fantastic book reading or storytelling session.

Need some help in reading aloud to a group of kids, this video may be of help.

BabyD has started his prewriting journey. He will often reach out for a pencil and make scribbles on paper. In fact, one of the first words he learned how to say is “paaaa-pa” (we know he is saying paper coz’ he will point to it). As much as I like to encourage his prewriting skills, I am also into damage control. Meaning, “don’t write on my table or books baby!” But babies are babies and they can’t help themselves. So, the next best thing is ……. MAGNA DOODLE!

Okay, it’s not exactly the real Magna Doodle. These are cheap magnetic writing boards that usually don’t last long coz’ they are flimsy. Anyway, it cost me RM5.90. This cheap fun has been good entertainment for my children during the loooong car ride back from the recent Chinese New Year holidays. I’ve also used it to do spelling exercises with my older girl. She would spell the words I asked for on the Magna Doodle and then turn it over for me to see. When she got it right, I would go “ding ding ding” (like a bell). If she got it wrong I would make a different sound. It added that little element of fun coz’ it was like a game show.

I absolutely love this thing. I think it’s one of the greatest thing ever invented. Now my baby can scribble all he wants without me worrying he might accidently draw out of the paper onto my desk. If he decides to pop the pencil in his mouth, I don’t freak out coz there’s no lead. No need to feel like I’m wasting paper.

Magna Doodle! It’s an excellent prewriting tool.

I recently started to teach my 4 year old son some Bahasa Malaysia because very likely he will be going to the same kebangsaan school as his sister. With K, I pretty much rushed her to learn the language in one year. Not a good idea. That’s why I told myself that I need to start earlier with kokoD. I think 2 years should be enough time for him to be sufficiently fluent in the language.

Anyway, current lesson is about “Rumah Saya” (My House). The lesson involves learning how to name the different rooms in the house e.g. bilik air (bathroom), dapur (kitchen), bilik tidur (bedroom) etc…. Here are four activities that I did with him:

1. Sat down and had him help me draw out the plan to our own house. So he had to think what are the different rooms in the house and where they are located. After that I wrote down the names of the rooms on pieces of paper and he had to label the drawing (glue the words to the corresponding places).
2. To add to his vocabulary, we talked about what people do in these rooms. I kept it simple by getting him to associated one word to each room. For example, tidur-bilik tidur (sleep-bedroom), mandi-bilik air (bath-bathroom), masak-dapur (cook-kitchen) etc…. After which I would write the name of the room on a blank piece of paper and had him draw out what he would do there.
3. Did a word matching worksheet. He had to match the names of the rooms to the correct verbs.
4. Treasure hunt. I stuck clues in the different rooms around the house. Each clue would tell him where to go to find the next clue. For example, “Pergi ke bilik air. Di atas cermin” (Go to the bathroom. On the mirror), “Pergi ke ruang makan. Di bawah meja” (Go to the dining room. Underneath the table.”) The treasure was what he likes best, a packet of Cheezels

These are just some learning activities that I want to share. You can use it to build your child’s vocabulary and reading skills. Use it to teach your child a second language, be it Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese, Spanish etc….

What’s the formula in making a gifted child? According to research, intelligence is influenced by a person’s genes and also the environment. There’s nothing we can do about genes, so let’s talk about the environmental influence. With the right stimulation, the brain can develop new neurons and interconnections, resulting in increased intelligence.

Parents should be aware that a supportive environment fosters many aspects of intelligence. Here are 10 ways how you can enrich your child’s environment that will stimulate their intelligence.

1. Show Love and Boost Their Self-Esteem
   You have to be careful how you talk to your children. Choose your words carefully. Are you building them up or tearing them down? Do you make your children doubt their abilities or do you make them feel like they can achieve anything? I’m sure you will agree that it is easy to pick our children’s faults. Seems effortless right? Decide today what phrases you can use to make your children realize their self worth. You could say things like “that’s a very good question”, instead of saying “don’t talk so much.” Help your children belief in themselves and they will be able to work to their full potential.
2. Breastfeed Your Babies For Optimal Brain Development.
   Mother’s milk contains essential micronutrients for brain development. The longer you breastfeed your baby, the more the brain is nourished. Danish researchers found infants who were breast fed for 9 months were smarter than infants only breast fed for two months.
3. Provide Proper Nutrition
   Children have a knack for gravitating towards junk food — foods full of sugar, fat and high salt content. It is very tempting for parents to “bribe” their children with these treats. However, junk food does nothing for brain development. You may get your children to be obedient temporarily, but you are doing them a greater disservice. Examples of brain food are omega-3 fatty acids found in fish, egg yolk, wheatgerm, vegetables, peanuts, fruits, and vitamin B complex. Feed your children the right kind of food and you will be able to boost their IQ, improve their memory and increase their concentration.
4. A Proper Breakfast Improves Attention At School
   Have you heard that breakfast is the most important meal? There is a strong correlation between between breakfast and mental alertness. Did you know that children who consume nutritious breakfasts have better memory? It also helps them concentrate better and absorb more information during class time. A child with no breakfast or poor breakfast may become irritable and distracted.
5. Get Your Children Involved In Exercises and Sports
   Exercise not only benefits a child’s intelligence but helps to build personality too. Research conducted by the University of Illinois showed that fitter children performed better academically. Physiologically, exercise improves oxygen intake, blood circulation, immune stimulation and neural transmission. Exercise also effects children psychologically and sociologically. Fitter children display higher self esteem. And those who participated in organized sports exude more confidence, more cooperation, and spontaneous leadership.
6. Give Children The Opportunity to Learn Music
   I’m sure you’ve heard it before, that musical training improves a person’s IQ into adulthood. Long-term research by the University of Toronto supports this statement. They found that the longer the child studied music, the higher their IQs as adults. Music students also had better academic achievements throughout their educational years.
7. Give Video Games a Chance
   Not all video games are bad. Some actually do enhance mental acuity. Research by the University of Rochester found that certain video games improved sensory perception, strategic thinking, and pre-planning skills. The video games that created positive mental improvements had an educational element that improved motor skills and enhanced memory. I guess that means instead of eradicating video games entirely, we just have to be highly selective of the games our children play and impose stringent rules on video game time.
8. Encourage Mind Games
   As part of you family entertainment, play games that need creativity such as building blocks, Lego, jigsaw puzzles, win-lose-or-draw or charades. Board games are good too like chess, monopoly and checkers. Let’s not forget brainteaser games such as Sudoku, crosswords, boggle, cryptograms and riddles. Apart from being fun, they function to improve intelligence. Yes, even yours! Specifically, they are wonderful tools to stimulated better decision-making, smarter analytical thinking, and more accurate problem solving.
9. Cultivate In Your Children The Love For Reading
   Reading improves both creativity and logic. Reading also increases left and right brain intellectual growth. Read aloud to your children often, even if they can already read. Encourage them to also actively read books on their own, whether silently or aloud.
   Fill your house with both fiction and non-fiction books to improve creative imagination and logical, sequential thinking.
10. Nurture Your Children’s Curiosity
    Nurturing curiosity creates an open, absorbent mind. I know sometimes it can be annoying to constantly hear your children ask “why?”. Plus the fact that learning usually goes hand in hand with “mess” can be quite stressful. However, curiosity, the urge to seek knowledge, is essential to improving intelligence in children. Therefore, do give room for safe exploration. Also, don’t just feed your children with answers, teach them where to find answers too. Try to include in your yearly calendar 1-2 educational outings. Identify new skills that your children would like to learn and support their hobbies.

I hope you’ve found these 10 suggestions easy to apply, practical, and doable. You want to bring out the genius in your children, then start creating the environmental support needed to develop their intelligence.

You know the song “If You’re Happy and You Know It”?
Modify this song to teach your preschooler about feelings:

• If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands
• If you’re sad and you know it wipe your tears
• If you’re angry and you know it stomp your feet

Follow up by drawing different faces showing different emotions - happy, sad, angry, surprise, sleepy, scared. At the of the day, select one to put up on the wall / fridge to show what you felt that day. You can even make it into a file folder game. Use the different faces and match them to the correct words. If you’re not very good in drawing (like me!), look for pictures that you can cut out from magazines or print from the computer. You could also use your handy digital camera and take pictures of yourselves acting out the different emotions.

p.s. Not that easy getting the kids to show me different faces to reflect different feelings. All they want to do is laugh

A lot of times I hear parents ask “what to do with my child at home?” It can be exhausting coming up with ideas on how to occupy their time. Well, here is one activity that will be fun for your preschooler (and maybe even the slightly older children).

All you need is to lay down some paper on the floor (big enough for them to stand on), and have your child jump/hop from one paper to the next, according to your instruction. You can do it in a way that the paper represents stepping stones or islands that your child use to get from one side of the river/oceon to the other side. Children have wonderful imaginations, so go ahead and tell them about those crocodiles or sharks in the water. Heheheh.

What you lay down on the floor depends on what concept you want to reinforce. Below are a few examples:

• Colors - put down different colored paper e.g. blue, red, yellow, green etc…. Tell them to only use “red” to get across, or “yellow” or “green”. I think you get the idea.
• Numbers - lay down paper where you have written out different numbers. Shout out which numbers they must use to get across.
• Shapes - cut out different shapes e.g. circle, oval, triangle, square, rectangle, diamond. Select which shapes they must jump on to get to the other side.
• Alphabets - have paper with different alphabets written on them. Probably best to only have a maximum of 5 alphabets (ones they are currently learning), or maybe use alphabets found in their name. Call out the alphabets they must hop on to cross to the other side.

Another idea would be create paper that represent several concepts at the same time e.g. blue circle with the number 2, red triangle with the number 7 etc…. That way, you don’t have to create different sets of paper to teach different concepts.

This activity not only helps develop them mentally but also physically. After a while, you can let them play on their own as they make up their own rules on how to get across the river/ocean.

p.s. You might want to tape down the paper so your child won’t slip and fall.