Acquiring the Mandarin language.. reading and writing part 1

First mama provide some guidance in the 田字格 with  highlighter, then I just guide him with the three strokes, and viola.. he can write the word quite independently. 

Writing Chinese words is not about repetition, children need to understand 字体结构. Which is why I highlight the box with yellow highlighter. 笔画 is very important for writing! You can start exposing your child to 笔画 from 3-4yrs old. Writing can start when they are ready.

Remember when it comes to learning Mandarin, 听说读写 is the key to learning.

And when it comes to pencil gripe, I suggest you can expose your child from 3-4 year old. But as all children develop differently, I also suggest you can also expose them to the following activities to improve on their fine motor skills so it can help them in pencil gripe later on.

Some of the many activities

1. Sensorial play with boiled pasta or uncooked rice (from 6 months)

2. Sand or water play (from 12 months)

3. Threading with large beads (from 18 mths due to safety)

4. Squeeze pegs (from 18-24 mths)

5. Play dough - I made my own and they are for sale at my Etsy shop (search for adorablesco) - (from 18-24 mths)

6. Push pipe cleaners into cardboard with holes (from 12-18 mths)

Aren't you amazed at how young your child can start and build their fine motor skill?

Have fun!!

Sent from Connie's iPhone 

Learning 听写 the visual way..

I'm writing this post with a heavy heart. Because my eldest had just made me very upset. Long story about that. Then with a very upset mind, I had to teach Dora Chinese spelling. And seriously I had to flare at her. Whether she is the one who triggered or not, it does not matter anymore. Anyway today I'm sharing a method for #teacherconnieactivities #visuallearners as it helped Dora in tackling her Chinese spelling with more confidence. 

I'm serious. This is Chinese spelling for Pri 1 kids. 

They have 8 words in total, some 汉子，some mixture of hypy and 汉子. And my daughter usually score 20-50 marks only. I’m not saying this is not good but i find it too complexing for a 7yo to handle. Don't tell me the "it's always like that" theory Cos I don't buy that story. But whatever the outcome is, always and also look at the process of learning. This is our first week using this square and line method for Dora. Hope this will help her find a easier way out to differentiate and learn her Chinese spelling better! Have fun trying!

Sent from Connie's iPhone 

One last minute surprise for the kids.. Legoland Malaysia..

It was a rather hasty and last minute decision between 3 mummies that all (almost) their kids ended up with a good surprise to Legoland!

And in order to save the hassle of driving, we booked a Malaysia MPV to come fetch us at 745am (yawnnn) as we were worried of the holidays-anticipated-jam along the causeway.

And so after an hour of jam and after breakfast, we reached Legoland at 10.30am!

Us!!

Isa very enthusiastic about car rides this time.

 Isa in action! Here we go!

We waited an average of 30 minutes for the ride. But I would say you would need enough manpower and some strategies to go Q for a ride.

This is like the best souvenir for the kiddos.

And anyone knows what is class D?

Dora in da shark.

Mei mei.. you must learn how to dramatise more like Papa..

Dora and I in the boat ride!

See the tomato face?

Love our similar haircut :D

And someone is tall enough for MANY rides..

Liked I always say.. I will never save on this rental for strollers.

We rented one despite bringing one of our own.

And here it is, the single one will cost you RM$40 for a single and you are required to pay a deposit of another RM$40.

Doubles would cost RM$80 and deposit as followed.

And spinning cups make the children so happy!

And one of our strategies is when we have enough manpower, not all adults have to be on the rides?

At the entrance of some dungeons.

And dont ask me why Isa is posing such.

Dora is just into posing into a muscle girl.

And post lunch rain made me whip out raincoat.

And so another strategy is to bring raincoats for the kids as umbrellas are heavy to carry.

Isa was trying to swallow the mist from the fans nearby.

And so Dora followed korkor "swallowing" the mist.

But mei.. there is no mist.

Love the miniland section of Legoland.

And we literally combed only half of it as we only had about 5 hours for it as our transport came and picked up at 4pm and this includes lunch.

I would say quite a achievement for us.

Till the next round for more updated pictures.

Sensorial play for children under 12 months..

Many of us always run out of ideas fast when it comes to playing with the little ones.. we are all wary of that what chemical, what toxic, what colouring.. so many a times, we tend to fall into the trap of using the electronics. Not that electronics are not good, but I believe that if we can introduce them at a later stage, we should just try to push it to a later stage.

Anyway I have been quite inspired by a friend of mine, who is doing many interesting activities with her little one at home and of course this one that I picked is one of my favourite as preparation time is only less than 10 minutes yet it kept lil I engaged for more than 20 minutes!

"Babies may be limited by their mobility and dexterity, but not their ability to interact with the world. Babies can enjoy the feeling of water in a pool or bath, take in the movement of wind on a walk, and respond to the sounds of music playing on the stereo. As babies become toddlers, they’ll want to feel a variety of materials, scoop and sort small objects, and experiment with the properties of cause and effect (i.e. what will happen if I dump this bowl of sand?)."

Credit

And who say play should be alone! 

See the video on how funny the episode can get..

And fun gets bigger and better when your siblings play with you!

The Animal Corner in Lim Chu Kang (Farmart)..

Early in the morning on a Sunday.. Mama Connie has some cheeky ideas in her mind..

Now where shall we go?

So she told 3 little kiddos,"ok! Let's go see animals!"

Isa and Dora,"Yeah!!"

Little to they know that this ulu ulu place is called "Farmart" and it is situated in Lim Chu Kang. It was the children's first time there though. (Ya dont ask me why) and there were all piped up with excitement!

You see.. lil I is a small adventurer.. Out of the 3 kids, he is always the one who always experience something different at the youngest age as compared to the two older ones.

So after a very LONNNNNNNNNNG car ride.. we reached!

Time check: 10:30am

The papa and his little girlfriend.

The mama and her littest boyfriend who could hardly keep his eyes open.

For a basket of feedings, it would cost you $5.

By default, the vendor will give you a bunch of spinach (for the goats), 2 packets of carrots/mini corns (for the rabbits), 2 packets of pellets (for the catfish, tortoise and toads) and a pack of sunflower seeds (for the birds).

Quite worth it right?

So KS Mama gave Isa a $10 bill for 2 sets.

At first, Isa was a little apprehensive. Note his distance from the cages.

Dora was not even feeding yet. She just pose with her carrots.

Even my helper also want to be part of the fun.

Dora was so scared of the parrots!

You can see from the way she kept herself etched on Papa's legs.

After a while, she still was not very convinced..

This was muchhhhhh later.

Isa, on the other hand, was getting more confident with feeding the animals.

In fact, he was all over the place and I just could not keep up with his pace. It was so difficult to catch shots of him as I had to carry the baby with the another arm.

Guess this was the most interesting shot I took.

Very confident and precise as you have to hold on to your sunflower seed firmly and close enough to the parrot so that it takes the seed off your hand.

Only the pellets for the cat fish were left.

Kiddos rounding up the session.

And it was getting hot.

"Hello did.. you want some corns?"

Naughty Mama asked.

And for obvious reason, lil I thought it could be food.

What's the more interesting thing in Farmart was that it has so many kiddy rides!

The carousel just caught my attention and it was only for $2! 

And my two older ones really enjoy the ride!

Till the next time.. we will be back!

Time check: 12pm

FARMART CENTRE IS LOCATED AT

67 Sungei Tengah Road, Singapore 699008
Tel: 65-6767 0070
Fax: 65-6767 4756

Get map directions here
Get bus schedules here
#Disclaimer: this post is not sponsored in any kind. Just a genuine sharing from Rayconniebaby

My bilingual child.. At 29mths

I'm actually not sure when this trait of Dora came about. Liked they say, learning should always starts from home so most of the time, I will try my best to speak to her in Mandarin but guess our helper also aids her English understanding as well. Strange thing is, she speaks to our helper in Mandarin and this has caused many funny situations at home. 

Keep it that way lil girl. I hope you will find passion in learning Mandarin just like me!

Different way to spell..

Despite being a linguistic child, Isa is not good in spelling.

We had tried many ways and here is one of them.

Acting it out!

Can you guess what word is this?

Each of the following is an individual letter each.

The clue: word is related to water.

Happy guessing!

Organising homelearning work for a 6 year old..

Am I the only one who is always having problem assigning work to a 6 year old child and he end up doing almost nothing? And often this happens even when I am at home.

Isa is a very outspoken child.Thus he can give me a long list of reasons. 

"I cant find the page!" checked.

"I don't know which book!" checked.

"I am tired!" checked.

"Mama... !" checked.

Grrrr...

I got inspired and thus adopted and thus modified a method from Dinomama's.

Maybe we can add a bit of colours and motivation to give Isa the extra push!

Here is what I did!

What you need: pens and post it pads

How long: 1-2 minutes

The usual amount of work I will assign to Isa.

See the sticky notes?

Checklist!*

I will work on this one further in another blogpost.

post it pads to indicate the exact pages to do.

my trustworthy post it pads that comes in different sizes and shapes.

The plus point: colourful thing attracts my lil man.

There you go!

So far for the past few days of assigned work, he completed them independently and now we are using this to work on a consolidated reward chart!

Let me know if it works for your child too!