#106 Juicy stars and crescents.

This was what the little babe helped prepare for our Iftar today, the 9th day of Ramadan.

#105 Our very own Olympics @ home

So the little jumper was up and jumping about in her London 2012 Olympics tee so very early this morning. And what better way to channel all those energy? By having our very own Zaralicious Olympics in the comfort of our home ;p

Activity 1: Our first game was for the little athlete to throw the colourful beanbags into her tent. She was told that she could throw the beanbags into either the circle (of the tent) or the door of the tent. She seemed to prefer to throw the beanbags through the door.

Activity 2: Next up, the beanbag relay whereby the lil athlete got to pick the beanbags – one at a time – from her tent, ran across the living room to the windows where she would place the beanbags on the teddy cushions.

Activity 3: In the next relay, the little babe was required to get the beanbags from the teddy cushion and arranged them in a pile as depicted below:

Activity 4: Next up, the beanbags were thrown back into the tent, but this time round, they were thrown into the circular opening of the tent. She would smile widely and cry: “I did it!”

Activity 5: Well, I didn’t plan this for sure but she was trying her luck with her glyder at home; which is a no-no!

Activity 6: Post-lunch, Mommy prepared this for the little babe: “The Five Colourful Rings”; but I guess she was tired from the very sporty morning that she didn’t quite fancy this activity today.

Activity 7: Energised now after a short nap, the little babe was back on her feet and repeated the activities we had done earlier on her own; screaming and self-cheering were included.

Activity 8: Balancing a beanbag and a ball on her head – an activity not directed at all – wrapped up our little Olympics for the day.

#104 One Starry Night

As we wind down for the day, the lil babe had a quiet time refining her fine motor skills – peeling off stickers from the film layering and pasting them on the dark night sky.

#103 Draw Me The Sun

And d lil babe ended up colouring Mr Sun in shades of orange and yellow.

#102 I Paint Stars

With five star cut-outs, five different colours and five types of brushes, the little babe set out on her own task – painting these stars. Yet, she still preferred using her bare hands and leave her handprints on the stars 🙂

#101 Hey, Mr Sun!

Hey, Mr Sun, Sun; Mr Golden Sun; Please shine down on me!

And that was what we did with the story board and the felt animal characters (plus a grandma). The little babe would place her tiny hand in the feely bag and take out an animal character. She would then place her little finger (‘cos each character is finger puppet) in it and start singing.

“Hey, Mr Sun!”

Hey Mr Sun, Sun; Mr Golden Sun, Please shine down on …

“Please shine down on grandma.”

“Hey, Mr Sun, Sun, Mr Golden Sun …”

“Please shine down on …”

“Mr Frog!”

And Mr Sun got very busy shining down on all the other animals!

The singer-storyteller and her props!

#100 A Starry Evening

Every Monday, the little babe attends her Music/Movement class @ OMS and since we are starting on a new theme this term, I have decided to tap on the same theme for our zaralicious activities for the coming weeks.

During the first session, the little babe enjoyed herself with a number of familiar songs like “Mr Sun” and “Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars”. In the evening, before bedtime, we had our very own starry session, not forgetting wearing her pajamas with stars, nothing less 🙂

And this was just so apt as our bedtime story for the evening:

Eric Carle’s ‘Draw Me a Star’ is simply brilliant! Even at our first reading, the little babe could start a new page with the repetitive ‘Draw me a …”. And at the end of our activity, she was even seen ‘reading’ the book on her own!

We started off our activity by talking about that very big and colourful star on the cover of the book and getting her to point and talk about the colourful stars of different sizes on her pj!

She even looked out into the dark sky to see if there were any stars!

“No stars. Stars hiding.”, said she.

We then moved on to read the book and sang “Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars” at this spread of “many stars”.

“Draw me …”

” … a STAR!”

“This is Mommy. This is Daddy.”

“Draw me cloud and rain.”

“Draw me a cat.”

“Draw me a rainbow.”

“Draw me a tree.”

“I want draw star.”

And of course, she got to do just that!

#99 Big Shapes, Small Shapes

This activity does not only get the child to name the various shapes, but also helps the child to refine his/her fine motor skills as the child is required to insert the small shapes within their respective bigger shapes. Reinforcing colours can be another objective too.

#98 Of Triangles and Circles

A fan of Team Umizoomi, she is no stranger to triangles and circles. Hence, this activity seems easy peasy for the little babe.

After inserting the small triangle and circle within their respective big shapes, the little babe got to match the cardboard shapes their matching beanbag shapes.

#97 Simply lines

Zara was first introduced to this book when she was about a few months young and till today, each time she gets to ‘read’ the book, it’s like as if, she’s seeing the book for the first time! I guess it must have been the various tactile opportunities in the book.