Letter D - Part 1

There are so many things to do and learn about Letter D. It has been a slow week (s) cos I did not want to stress Kimi, being well aware of the change of school environment which he is going through.

Well, trust a mother's instincts? Although Kimi is well-adjusted in school and happily playing & learning with his new little friends. I think he is going thru some sort of stress. Cos he is not as keen as before in learning and throwing quite a bit of tantrums.

So, I kept learning to short bursts. Hopefully, we can both settle down soon. We may be stopping alphabet learning temporarily as I hope to spend the month of December doing Christmas-y learning things. Well, let's see how first...

We were lucky that one of the learning days, hb was around so I let the 2 boys jammed and Kimi learnt that D is also for Drums and there are many different kinds of drums. I think Kimi liked this best? Keke!

I stumbled upon this book, Five Little Ducks by Ivan Bates. I would highly recommend this as it is a fun book. Instead of reading, you can sing and it also also teaches counting. Kimi is not like speaking loads but he suddenly counted from 1 to 3 and in a meaningful way too, not by rote memory.

Why I say this? Cos there were 3 shapes on the bath screen and Kimi used his fingers to point at each piece and counted with it. You can listen to the song here and play the game with your little one. I did not make the craft but used rubber duckies - I was lucky I had 1 red and 5 yellow ones!

We also played "Pin the Donkey's tail" where I printed out pictures of Donkey, Dog & Dinosaur but "removed" the tail. I used velcro to stick on. Showed Kimi 10 seconds and had him him stick the tail back to the respective animal. It's both a memory and sorting game.

The following are a mish-mash of things accumulated for the last 2 weeks. Basically, we learned about and did the following:

1. Subjects
   Durian, dates, dragonfruit
   Dogs, dinosaurs, ducks, dragonfly, donkeys
   Dice(s), Drums (Percussion instruments)
   
2. Reading List
   How Do Dinosaurs Say Good Night – Jane Yolen & Mark Teague
   Dino Pets – Lynn Plourde
   Five Little Ducks – Ivan Bates
   What’s Up Duck – Tad Hills
   I’m A Duck – Teri Sloat
   Fun Dog, Sun Dog – Deborah Heiligman
   Playful Puppy – Lisa Alderson
   
3. Exploratory Fun
   Did crafts like Clay Duck Painting & played with Dragonfly Balloon at the Children’s Garden Carnival
   Visited a dog farm
   
4. Alphabet & strokes practice, etc
   Letter D in big and small caps
   Vertical and horizontal strokes
   Learning about number 1 and what is same and different (workbook)
   
5. Sensorial science
   Touching & tasting fruits
   Learning about the life-cycle of a Dragonfly
   
6. Matching & ESP game
   Using Dinosaur themed cards
   
7. Refining fine motorskill
   Transfer pouring of Dices into containers
   Learning to cut with scissors
   
8. Linking Memory
   
9. Craft
   Making a paper-mache durian
   Making a paper Stegosaurus
   
10. Flashcards
    Types of Dinosaurs, drums

Learning about a Durian and what is spiky and soft. Touching, squashing and smelling it and of course loving it! Hmm!

Learning about the life-cycle of a Dragonfly, rolling and cookie-cutting the play-Doh and having a go at the keyboard after playing with the Drums

Kimi doing his leter and stroke practice using the latest workbooks I bought at Popular Fair. It's so cheap and good! In the middle pix, Kimi learnt about the number 1 and the concept of same and different. A very cute workbook about maths!

Kimi's favourite game! Transferring the dices! He is so tickled and happy whenever all of the Dices fall into the containers. Having a go at matching Dino cards and Linking Memory game.

Our craft Dinosaur which came from a craft book bought at Popular Fair at only $3! It's easy enough for toddlers to handle but you will need craft glue rather than UHU as the cardboard is rather thick and heavy so doesn't really stick well. But the spikes may be a little tricky - just need to cut the slits slightly longer and that will do the trick and allow stubby fingers to insert.
Our completed Dino craft - a Stegosaurus. Kimi playing with his craft and the figurine.

I have a stash of expandable toys of different animals. I know kids love these stuff cos I do too so whenever I see these, I will buy and keep and take them out when the time is right. So, out came this expandable egg which after soaking up water will crack open to reveal a Duckling. A more 'interactive' way to learn about hatching of eggs.

Sadly, this egg seemed 'defective' cos even after soaking for more than 24 hours (and at the right temperature, initially). It still did not 'hatch' as well. I must feedback to the staff cos I buy from this store quite regularly. A little disappointed and upset but Kimi was more than happy to squeeze and play with it! See, different expectations! Haha!