Mother’s Day is coming soon. Looking to do something special. Try your hand at a candy bouquet. This lollipop flower craft is very easy to do.
Step 1: Select either patterned paper or a plain colored one. I chose a plain color coz’ then the kids can add their own decoration and write special messages. Draw a dot for the center and then draw the outline of a flower and cut it out.
Step 2: Using a blade, make a slit at the center in the shape of an “X”. This should give you a fairly good opening to stick the lollipop through.
Step 3: Cut out 3 hearts. You can do this by folding a strip of paper (4 inches wide, 11.8 inches long), draw half a heart and then cut it out.
Punch a hole at the bottom of the heart.
Step 4: Line them all up nicely and insert the lollipop through the holes. Put some glue to hold them together. I also tied a ribbon to the base to help keep the petals up. You could probably add some more curly ribbons to make it look prettier.
When I attended Kindermusik classes with my kid a few years ago, the teacher would put up on the walls the words of the music we sang. I thought what a great idea! It’s a great way to make our children’s environment rich with literature. Colourful nursery rhyme posters on the wall will be visually stimulating for our children.
It is a great help for us parents as well. Just imagine having a few spare minutes in between chores or whatever; just sing to baby some nursery rhymes while pointing to the posters. It’s like a “hit and go” activity when you don’t have time to sit down for a good reading session together.
I like this idea too because it allows you to introduce nursery rhymes or action rhymes that you may not be familiar with. Sometimes you find an interesting rhyme someone has shared on the net. Put it up on the wall so you can refer to it as you sing or recite to your children.
My 2nd son who is learning to read often uses these posters to practice his reading. He is familiar with the rhyme and so feels confident when he reads the words.
AND if your DH is like mine (who is not very good with nursery rhymes), these posters will help him get it right
This site called Northumberland Grid for Learning is a great resource for free printable nursery rhyme posters. They also have sequence cards for a follow up activity.
For older kids, you can fill up the wall with their own work by having them color pages of nursery rhymes. DLTK can help you with the coloring pages. First-school.ws is another good resource.
These are some I have on my wall. My children all enjoy doing the one that goes:
“Pat your head
And rub your tummy.
Touch your toes….
And hug your mummy!”
Each book is based on a famous nursery rhyme. The pages on the left is the nursery rhyme. The pages on the right have bigger, bolder and simple words and serve to build the child’s vocabulary and reading skill. The nursery rhymes make it a great way to share books together.
In my efforts to teach KokoD Bahasa Malaysia, I try to get him to master certain phrases at a time. I usually choose phrases that he can immediately use in a daily conversation. The recent activity we had, the focus was on food. The goal was for him to master the phrase “Saya suka makan…” (I like to eat…) and “Saya tak suka makan…” (I don’t like to eat….)
Here is the outline of the activity we did: Step 1 - I took one of those pamphlets they give out at the supermarkets and cut out pictures of food such as chicken, fish, prawns, vegetable, banana, apple, bread, cake, etc…. Step 2 - Then I wrote on a piece of paper the names of all those food and left spaces for him to glue the pictures to match the names. Step 3 - After gluing all the pictures, I had him go through the list and put a tick/check for foods he likes to eat and a an ‘X’ for foods he doesn’t like to eat. Step 4 - Now the oral practice begins. Going through the list once again, he had to say the full sentence of “Saya suka makan…” (for foods that he put a tick/check) and “Saya tak suka makan…” (for foods he put an ‘X’). For example, he don’t like vegetables so he would say “Saya tak suka makan sayur.” Step 5 - Stick the list up on the wall so he can practice everyday.
This activity was stress free. My son enjoyed it and more importantly, he learned something.
One way to encourage children to read is to show them how their reading skill can help them in their life. Show them when, where and how reading can benefit them. Don’t isolate reading to flash cards, worksheets and books. Rather apply their reading to real life events. Here are some ideas:
Reading at the Supermarket.
Next time you go grocery shopping, give them a list of words to find. To make it more interesting, put those words into a bingo card. It could be words from product labels, aisle banners, special notices, brand names etc…. Another alternative is to have them make an A-Z list of words in a supermarket. If they see a word or thing that starts with A, they either write it down or just put an “X” next to the letter “A”.
Read the Newspaper or Magazines together.
Read to your children interesting news from the newspaper or magazines. Cut out words from the pages to form their own sentences. Or give them a list of words and have them do a word search. Maybe you found a wonderful recipe in a magazine, try it out together. Check out the t.v. guide and decide if there is anything worth watching. Laugh at the cartoons. Cheer on your sports team.
Read the Bills.
Show them what the water bill, electric bill, telephone bill etc… looks like. What kind of information is given. See if they can find the amount you are suppose to pay. Talk about the different ways you can pay e.g. write a check, online bank transfer, cash.
Read Signboards.
When travelling on the road, read out loud the signboards. My daughter likes to play a certain game with me. She will see a certain word on the signboard then she’ll give me the abbreviation and ask me to guess what it is. For example, she’ll ask “what does K.S. stand for?” Kuala Selangor. Or “what is S.A?” Shah Alam.
Show your children how reading is a living skill. Teach them the practical side of reading. Take reading outside of the classroom.
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