Creation Week #2!

This week we were supposed to focus more on God's creation of man. However, there was a quite a change in our schedule as E was away at a camp and I substituted 2 days of Learning Time with outings instead (I had to get out of the house!).

The first outing we went to was the Borders clearance sale at Suntec. My good friend JR came along with Han and me and I was very thankful for her company! There were many books on sale and I managed to get 7 books for $32. My favorite buy is Waddle! : A Scanimation Picture Book which I got for $5.

It's not normally a book that I would get for Han as it does not focus on reading and it's a pricey book without the discount, but I thought it's a good buy for a book that can capture a curiosity of a toddler ! I was very proud of Han because she managed to queue along with us for close to 2 hours for payment (yes, the horror of clearance sales!). She was pretty grouchy at the end of the queuing, but was quickly pacified with a warm delicious dinner that filled all three of our cold, hungry stomachs. It was a positive experience to bring Han out! Thanks JR for being a great babysitter and company!

The second outing this week was a play date with Han's close cousin, Ian. I always enjoy bringing Han for play dates with Ian. They share great chemistry as they are regular playmates every week at my in-law's house. My sis-in-law, Ian, her helper, Han and I had a whooping good time (for the kids especially) at the roof top playground of Vivocity . It was a nice fellowship chatting with my sis-in-law and we ended the evening with a great dinner. I thank God He held the weather for us throughout the whole time, especially when I was making my way back home from the train station! Han was sufficiently tired out by 2 consecutive days of outings and she slept early and well :)

I thought these 2 outings greatly tested Han's patience in staying on her pram, our good trusty Maclaren Techno XT. She had to stay on it for at times long stretches of time as I was alone travelling with her to and fro venues via the train. She did very well and I am very thankful to God for that! 

For the rest of the non-outing days, we resumed our  Learning Time. I made an extra effort to keep asking Han the learning thematic question, "Who made everything?" Now she answers quite accurately, "God". :) I decided to shift the focus on God's creation of man to next week instead as I wanted to reinforce the idea of God creating all things.

So in everything we did this week, I made special reference to God being our Creator. These are the learning activities we had this week.

God made the fruits and vegetables!

Fruits/ Vegetables sorting (all materials from Daiso)

God made mice and flowers! Han is doing puzzles daily now. Found this great puzzle which has a replica picture at base for guidance. I love it! It really encouraged Han to enjoy puzzles more! I drew the outlines of the puzzle pieces using a marker as I think it facilitates the process for Han better.

From Toys R Us

God made colours and shapes! This set of shape recognition and matching is simple and encouraging for toddlers. Great for them to experience success.

From Toys R Us

Lastly, the most memorable and satisfying learning she had was the Alphabet Train activity.

Alphabet Train Puzzle (Bought 2nd hand )

 Previously, she could not have enough patience to last through piecing all the 27 (26 alphabets + 1 train head) pieces together. Today, she showed remarkable improvement by piecing together all the pieces in 1 sitting! I discovered the secret to sustaining her interest was to make a song out of the whole activity : " The letter A is in the alphabet train, place the letter A next to here.." Repeat for all letters with my own silly tune that amused Han greatly. Haha.

I decided to improvise on this learning by bringing out her wooden alphabet blocks.

Alphabet Wooden Blocks (bought 2nd hand)

 Han successfully placed 8 matching alphabets on top of corresponding alphabets on the alphabet train. She really enjoyed herself and so did I! We ended the activity by marching around the long alphabet puzzle, to me singing the ABC song for several times! Han loved it and kept giggling!

Cheers to learning!