Out in the real world

Added this picture pie book to our Ed Emberley's collection. We've made caterpillars, birds, and more birds! The instructions are clear and easy to follow. I think it's great to see that all forms are made up of simple shapes. Did you know that even the human figure is made up of several shapes?

Labels: sarahSays

When you're homeschooling, your school is not just about what reading and writing. I will sometimes help Ibu with the housework chores daily like sweeping the floor, baking, cutting the vegetables and a lot more. Sometimes kakak get jealous when I told her the exciting thins I do when she's at school. I have a year and half more before I enter a public school but I will enjoy myself in the meantime. Homeschooling rocks!

Labels: sarahSays

We got our very own vending machine although it's made of cardboard. The vending machine can 'dispense' snacks (you can make one that dispense drinks or even both!) as long as there's someone in the box. The person inside the box needs to wait for the customers' coins and his/her choice. We got this one from a charity playdate which we didn't (unfortunately) managed to join because we were very sick. We sure didn't want to pass any germs to our little friends. But from the pictures that Ibu took, the event sure looked very very exciting! I wish we can join such events next time.

Labels: sarahSays

Everytime we go to nenek+atok's house, we will surely turn their house into our mini playground. Well, actually we turned the house upside down. :p It's rather messy actually with tents and foam mats. We even 'hijacked' Umar's little car and drove it around the house. I hope he doesn't mind! hehe. We always look forward to going to atok+nenek's house.

Labels: sarahSays

We just discovered a new playground at Bishan! It's situated at Junction 8 and not many people aware about this play area too since Ibu's friends were surprised when they found out. It is an outdoor playground and Ibu thinks it looks more like a cage. haha. It's interesting actually. It has slide and climbing structures inside it. The upper part was more for older kids so unfortunately we can't really accessed that part because we are short. It's fun for first timers like us but I think we got bored after a while although there were other play features we can play at the playground. I still prefer those old-school playgrounds with swings, slides and roundabouts.

Labels: sarahSays

This recipe for corridor paint is so easy. You just add water and colouring to cornflour and you get a batch of creative fun in just a matter of minutes. It washes off very easily (although it leaves some stains on the floor and takes some time to wash it off...eeks!!!) and it's not harmful to the environment because cornflour is all natural and biodegradable. It was love at first sight for us. The colour is just so vivid. Unfortunately Ibu only had a bit of pink left so that's the only colour you see here.

Labels: sarahSays

Ibu recently went for a Montessori Maths workshop and taught me the concept of odd and even numbers. I don't know what the heck they are but well, the cookie crisps were delicious! :D

Give, the clear concept of Even and Odd in mathematics to the children at the age of 4 years old, seem quite difficult. But, there is no doubt that It is considered the best age to teach Even and Odd to the child. The ability to count, to compute and to use numerical relationships are among the most significant gifts to human mind. Without any doubt, that little children are attracted to the science of numbers at the very early age of life.

In Montessori, the child is taken from the concrete experiences and ideas to the abstract one. There is also a progression of difficulty… simple to complex. First, the child uses the material to make his concept clear about anything in mathematics problems, after that he becomes expert in the field of mathematics without using any material. Same like that the concept of Even and Odd is given to the child with the help of home-made as well as Montessori-made material both in the school and at home.

from montessoriexpert.com

Labels: sarahSays

Ever since we found out that the Singapore Botanical Gardens is just a few MRT stop from Bishan, we have been frequenting this place quite a few times. We never got bored of this place because there's always something new to see everytime we visit it. Kakak didn't come with us unfortunately because she's at school. It was a pleasant surprise to see a few swans swimming in the lake. The hot weather didn't dampen my spirit and I had a fun time running in the vast space. I collected some rocks for some observations.


We also discovered some trees that produce fruits like bananas, chikus and sukuns. Although I wasn't familiar with any of them except the bananas, it was a very interesting trip. Kakak should really join us one day!

Labels: sarahSays

Did you know that orange juice is my most favouritest drink in the whole wide world...especially freshly squeezed ones! mmmm...yummy!

Labels: sarahSays

Port of Lost Wonder is the newest Sentosa attraction for little people aged 3 to 10 years. We had to pay a bit for the entrance fees and those who want to be in the water area, must wear proper swimming attire. There were not so many people because it was a normal schoolday for normal school kids. Well, except for kakak, whose school was closed for the day. :D

There was the water playground with a HUGE pirate ship right in the middle, a waterspray area, a sandplay area, some cafes and a space for little kids to play in. We didn't really explore because we were just too excited to be in the water playground. It was amazing!!! kakak looooved the water bucket so she always hang out near it and rushed to be under it whenever the bell ring. As for me, I prefer to hang out with Ibu at the fringes because that's where I am safe from being splashed. Ibu did coax me to try the slides but I hate water splashing on my face so we slid down only a few times. We went home after grabbing a bite at the nearby McDonalds. We will definitely be going there again...insya Allah!

Labels: sarahSays

Kakak didn't have any school last week so off to the zoo we go! We also got some discount zoo tickets. :D Unfortunately Ayah couldn't join us because he had some urgent work to complete at the office. :( Nevertheless we sure enjoyed ourselves although Ibu was very very tired (she said!) because she had to pull the wagon with us in it. hehehehe. It was our first time in the wagon and we were excited (jakun!).

Ibu also did an activity bag for each of us to do at the zoo. It consisted of a passport and some ink stamps. We had to keep our eyes open for the animals printed in the passport and we had to stamp the page whenever we spotted one! It's like a game of 'I spy with my little eye'. We also made our way to the waterplayground, the main highlight of the trip. Our little friends were there too. We had such a great splashing time with them. I wish we can visit it again!

Labels: sarahSays

I learnt about primary colours and mixing them in giant test tubes to get secondary colours. Do you know what the primary colours are? They are red, blue and yellow. These colours can't be created by mixing any colours together. But you can mix these colours to form secondary colours. For example, you can mix blue + yellow to get green and red + blue to get purple. And then there are tertiary colours like when you mix a primary colour with a secondary colour.

Confused much? :p

Labels: sarahSays

Besides learning about alphabets and numbers at home, I also help my Ibu a lot with the housework. Sometimes I help Ibu with some baking, sweep the floor or hang the clothes. One of the biggest challenge to Ibu is to homeschool me and keep the house clean to a certain standard. At times I make the mess and will leave it to do something else. This makes Ibu very angry and I will clean up after she nag. :p

Labels: sarahSays

Made these ants with pegs, pompoms and pipecleaners with Ibu. These were used in our story of prophet Sulaiman alaihissalam who can understand languages when others cannot. I must ask Allah to grant me this ability so that I can tell the ants not to crowd the dining table so much! I can feed them if they ask nicely. :)

Labels: sarahSays

We borrowed "Banana!" by Ed Vere and I thought it's a fantastic book. First of all, it teaches the basics of manners. The red-shirt monkey wanted a banana but the blue-shirt monkey refused to give it to him till he said "Please?". There is mainly just one word in the book (Banana) so any kid of my age can probably recognise the word after a few reads. hehe. "Bananas?"

Labels: sarahSays

I am playing our own game called "Guess the moshling!". A great game to play with our huge moshling collection. I am blindfolded first and then had to guess the moshling in my hand based on their textures and shapes. Some are pretty hard while others are quite easy to guess. One must know their moshling for sure!

Labels: sarahSays

We visited Ibu's friends during Hari Raya just now. Her house was HUYUUUUUGE with many storeys. I had a fun time going up and down the staircase while Ibu and her friends chatted in the kitchen. There was even an entertainment room where anyone can play any (playstation and nintendo) games they'd like. wow! We also had a blast eating the generous spread of goodies (which Ayah will disapprove! hehe). We went to Nenek Ros' place after that but not before getting ourselves sweaty at the playground. Yes, even in our baju kurongs!

Labels: sarahSays

I have a favourite baju kurong thanks to my nenek Ros. It's blue with polkadots. I looooove this sooooo much that I will wear it everyday if I have a choice. I got my chance yesterday. Since kakak had to wear baju kurong for her Hari Raya celebration at school, I also wear mine before fetching her. I even got a matching tudong for it. Ibu got it from Ulfah Hijab on facebook. They have a trademark hellokitty-like bow on each of the hijab they designed. Aren't they cute??

Labels: sarahSays

I had a playdate with Hamna just now. Hamna is my neighbour and she's not even 2 yet. Ibu had mixed some painting solution using cornflour, water + food colouring and wé did footprint painting. This is my first time soooo it's very fun! Usually we only used our hands to paint. I dipped my feet inside the paint and walked across the paper Ibu had pasted on the floor. We did our activity at the corridor because it would be cramp'y inside the house. However Hamna preferred to soak her feet inside the coloured solution. She even had a taste of the yucky solution when we did out hand-stamping next...hehe.

Labels: sarahSays

It was love at first sight when Ibu showed me this puzzle. It is a 3-layered puzzle. The bottom layer depicts frog spawn and two tadpoles. The second layer is a tadpole turning into a frog and the top layer is a beautiful frog. Ibu got this and a couple of other George Luck puzzles at a closing-down sale at Forum and they are amazing!

George Luck puzzles are educational jigsaws made from wood from a sustainable source. These award winning puzzles help children develop shape recognition, manual dexterity skills and hand-eye coordination. Many of the puzzles have several layers, which adds both complexity through an added dimension and an aesthetic quality not found in conventional jigsaws. They are manufactured by laser cutting which makes each puzzle very precisely engineered.George Luck wooden puzzles are finely cut with engraved detail. The pieces are stained and lacquered to last for many years from generation to generation as family heirlooms.

Labels: sarahSays