Toss the ballon. Read the letter.

I introduced a balloon tossing game on a previous blog post, which was published on March 6th 2015. That was a group game. Two groups of kids toss a balloon to each other and try to tell the alphabet letter that was attached to the balloon.

This is another balloon tossing game.  The child is instructed to toss the balloon with her hand and tell one letter at a time when she toss the balloon.  This is a great and simple eye-hand coordination activity.  However, it can be not too easy.  The child has to locate the balloon and hit the balloon with her hand.  At the same time, she has to spot one letter and read it out loud.  If things are happening all at the same time, you know it may not be easy to handle.  It doesn't mean that the child cannot do the activity.

So can this activity be modified? Of course!!  These are the things that you can change to make it a little bit easier.

1) Size of the balloon: Make the balloon bigger.  Therefore, child can track the balloon and toss it easily.

2) Less number of the letters on the balloon: Do not write so many letters on the balloon.  Less number of letters will be easy to spot one at a time.

3) Draw shapes: If child did not master all the letters yet, start with different shapes.

4) Use colors: You can write letters with different color markers.

5) If you want to make it more fun or more sensory, you can drop some beans or uncooked rices in the balloon.  It will make some sounds each time your child toss the balloon.

Enjoy playing~!  

Let Them Be Messy!

Over the last weekend, my son asked me to set up the coloring activity for him and his little sister.  My son is almost 4 years old.  My little girl is turning 2 in June.  Their age tells you a lot, right?  Then, I said "OMG" in my mind.  Without seeing it, I could tell that they would definitely get messy.  It means I have to do the cleaning more than I usually do.  Oh~well...

Here he is.  He did some abstract drawing first. Then he mixed those colors with his hands and feet and stamped them on the paper.  After that, he walked around the living room without wiping the colors on his feet. How worse could it be?!! By this time, I just sit back and watched him enjoying the activity.  I also took these pictures. :)  

He picked up the heart shape sponge and started to stamp it on his feet. He said "Mommy, Mommy, look!" "It's a heart shape." "I'm giving love to my feet!"

He picked up a paint brush and drew the letter "X" on his hand. Then he said, "Mommy, Mommy, Look! Letter X"

He enjoyed drawing, coloring, telling shapes, and writing letters, mixing colors, and getting messy all over the living room.  He also helped me cleaning the living room after he was done.  

This is not the way that I would play with my kids during my session in school.  But it doesn't mean that they cannot play like this.  In fact, I strongly suggest this type of unstructured activities for home.  Don't worry about cleaning. Think about having fun with your child and watching him/her enjoying the activity. 

*If you decide to do this messy activity, it's better to do it right before the bath time.  Let them be messy and then throw them into the bathtub.  

Enjoy time with your child!     

Enjoy Learning: Sand Writing

Sand writing is one of the popular therapy activities to improve handwriting skills. It also helps with remembering letters and words by giving different feelings on the fingertips.  And it is fun!

1. Parent writes first.

Have your index cards ready and draw lines to help with writing alignment. Then you (parent) write a letter or word with a pencil lightly for your child to trace the letter or the word. 

2. Child traces the letter/word with different writing tools.

Child will trace the letter or the word a few times with different writing tools such as a pencil, color pencils, crayons, and different color markers. Please encourage your child to start writing at the top line and to trace it neatly.

3. Trace the letter/word with liquid glue.

If your child is done with tracing the word, use the liquid glue tracing it one last time. This step is not too easy and you can give some help here.  If your child wants to do this part, let him or her try it.  If it gets too messy, you can always start from the beginning. 

4. Sprinkle sands over the glue.

Before the glue gets dried, sprinkle sands over the glued letters.  This is fun part and it can get messy.  Children love playing with sands and love to get messy too. 

5. Let it dry.

Let it dry for a few minutes.  Depending on how much glue you used, it can take longer than a few minutes. 

6. Practice tracing

After it is dried completely, have your child trace the letter or the word multiple times with his/her fingertip on the writing hand. Spell it out loud while tracing each letter.  It will help your child with remembering the letter or the word.

 Let's get ready to be messy and have fun with your child.  Enjoy learning!