Our Connie Doll

Fanny

'Fanny' by Holly Hobbie is one of my girls' favorite books.  It is about a little girl names Fanny who wants to have her own Connie doll for her birthday.  Connie doll is Barbie-type doll with thick mascara and blushers and superficial and all-glamorous dress.  But her mom says no because she doesn't "like the Connie dolls look. They're just too...much.", and so Fanny makes her own Connie doll.  She replicates Connie using glue, scissors, fabrics and whatever she has in hands.  But it is not Connie she made, but Annabelle,- a companion doll she always wanted. Annabelle has real yellow yarn hair, with pink pajama top and the widest grin a doll could ever have.

Inspired by this book, my girls decided to make their own Annabelle. It was fun to find out that their two hands and creative left brain can actually turn a plain canvas into the best doll! 

Iesha painted her doll.

Iyra dried out the painted canvas.

Iyra chose the googly eyes for her doll.

Iesha painted her doll in pink and red and blue.

  

Their own Annabelle dolls.

Does Orange Sink or Float?

Does orange sink or float? That was the big question for our recent experiment (not so recent-lah, it was four months ago, hee forgive us). I asked the girls their guesses whether the orange sink or float. All of them answered that the orange will sink. The answer is not so simple as it is. So we decided to find out the answer. 

What we need:

1. An orange

2. A bucket of water

What to do:

 1. Fill a bucket with water. 

 2. Place an orange in it.

 3. Observe whether the orange sinks or floats.

 4. Then take the orange out and peel all of the rind away.

5. Try the experiment again, and see if the orange behaves any differently! 

Results:

The unpeeled orange sink, while the peeled orange floats.

What really happened?

It is because the rind contains little picket of air, which essentially keep the thing afloat- but when they're gone, the entire piece of fruit simply submerges! Iris simply similarized the orange as a person who swims with and without the life float. Brilliant simple comparison!

How to Get the Kids Involve in the House Chores

Getting them involve? Honestly, I always have hard time doing this. Frankly speaking, I am kind of nagging mother when it comes to doing chores. I know that it would give a negative spin in 'nagging' term, but well, yes I nag a lot. I believe that nagging would make them stay focus and understand of what they are doing.

I have tried some of the tips and tricks on how to get the kids do the house chores. I have read a few articles on it and I have tried some. Honestly, the tips works few times, but most of the times, it just didn't work. So take your time and try new tips and tricks. It is best actually to teach them to do chores at the early age and try find out what are the suitable chores at the particular age. Don't force, just nag.:p

So here are the tips that might pretty work for your kids. Let's try!

1. Stop the show
2. Time your child's performance
3. Consider giving kids an allowance
4. Use structure
5. Don't turn chores into punishment
6. Use a reward system

For further reading on each point, please refer here.

In Loving Memories

A duckling and the two chicks

Our beloved teeny-weeny turtle

They have lefts us, but the memories remain. We missed you guys.

Clean Up the Beach

A beach clean-up activity

We have moved somewhere in East Coast Malaysia, where the coast have always have beaches nearby. And so our new home, with the beach only 15 minutes by walking. The girls are so excited knowing that they can be the beach girls in an instant.

Who does not love beach? With the comfy sand, and the music of the wave and the sky and the birds flying, what are not to love? But sadly, 'our' beach is not as clean as it should be. There were litters everywhere. We can see the rubbish deco-ed the coastline. And it made the girls so sad they decided to have their first comprehensive environmental education activity by themselves.

They started to gather all the rubbish they found. They were sad seeing the mountain of rubbish they collected. They started to think the 'what if'. "What if the fish think the plastic bag as jellyfish and eat it?",  "What if the mermaid collect all the bottles and polystyrene plates and furnish her castle with those things? When the litters finally pollute her castle?".

It was an unplanned activity, thus we did not bring any big plastic bag to put all those rubbish. Don't worry our new friend, "Miss Ariel" (they named the beach after their favorite mermaid), we surely come again any time soon. Till then, take a good care of yourself and don't worry, we will make up you later. With our best mascara and blusher. :)

Here are some tips to organize a beach clean-up (Source: Here)

Before Clean-Up

1. Pick your location
2. Contact your crew (family and colleagues)
3. Get supplies (gloves, litter bag, closed-shoes)
4. Keep safety in minds (of broken bottles, etc.)

During Clean-Up

1. Set up
2. What to tell volunteers
3. Document the clean-up (take photos, etc.)

After Clean-Up

1. Share your results (upload it in Instagram etc.)
2. Say thanks (to those who joined)
3. Encourage others to do so in future

Let's keep the coast clear!

Felt Popsicle Color Matching

This activity is so easy to prepare (for mothers) and is appropriate for several ages.  All you need is felt papers in several colours and popsicle sticks. If it's too easy for your kids, asked them about the flavour that could match the colours of the popsicles; e.g. green for broccoli, yellow for lemon, shocking pink for dragon fruit and so on.

You may cut a bit of the felt paper and hot glued it on the stick.

Iyra was trying.

Iyra checked her work.

Done!

Iris Goes to School

12th of January 2015 marked your first day of schooling, Iris. Here's your first step to a very long journey of "Assalaaa-mualaikum Cikkkk-guuuu!", making friends, borrowing-and-lending businesses of colour pencils, erasers and such, school-coop tours with classmates, bring home school works, annual camping of which I know you seriously can't wait, and many many other fascinating activities  you barely don't know the serious fun you could find in this school world. (It is so much fun that I wrote five lines without a full stop).

I wish you all the best. Be a good girl you always have to be (whoops I did Frozen). Kbai, have fun my dear Iris!

xoxo,
Mummy

Preface

Hi blog! Nice to meet you, again!

Word Sorting Activity

S-A sa, Y-A ya, saya. Forget that. Now everything is phonic. Phonological awareness is what a preschooler needs. In order to test phonic ability in Iris, I came across with this fun interactive activity. (Refer here for instruction). I chose easy word groups for Iris and she happily sorted it whilst sounding the words. I think I want to try this with Iyra and Iesha with picture groups instead of rhyming words. Enjoy!

Materials needed.

Iris sounded then sorted the words.

Iyra joined too. She passed the small flags to Iris.

Iris did it within 2 minutes. (Note: We may need to check the level of phonic proficiency of the children before the activity). 

Iris got one incorrect answer.

Then Iris worked on the phonics worksheet.

Read aloud: My Tawheed Book

I have listed few books to read during this holy month of Ramadhan with my girls. I read this book to them on the second day of Ramadhan. This book lays simple basic understanding of Tawheed. Tawheed is the importance of the correct belief with certainty in the Oneness of Allah. It is important to teach our children with the correct belief so that all of our actions will benefit us here in this life and in the hereafter. I didn't discuss everything of the book content, as I believe it is quite complicated for Iesha and Iyra to comprehend (or perhaps I didn't know how to simplify it). But trust me, the whole discussion about Allah with small kids is such joyful and lively moment. You will be surprise with the questions they might asked you. And of course you need to be ready with the answers, but if you don't, just admit and try searching the answers together. 

We purchased the book here.

For this verse, I explained that no matter how far we are, Allah can still hear and see us, and that distance doesn't affect it. He can hear what we said in our heads/hearts. He knows whether we have bad/ good thoughts. Iesha then whispered something and asked me whether Allah heard it. I said of course He did. Allah also heard the sound of the wind, the sound of the Pluto (this is Iris recent favourite YouTube video: listening to the sounds of the planets) and the sound of the worm crawling deep inside the soil.  They were so amazed with Allah's abilities, and so did I.

I read this verse and asked them the same question, "Who makes the heaven and the Earth?". And they replied in union, "Allah!". Then we discussed what are things Allah made, and what are the things human made. Iesha said firmly, "Manusia buat kereta, tapi Allah yang bagi idea." But with Iris, I need extra effort to answer. "Mummy, Allah kan pemberi rezeki. Dia buat fruits and vegetables. So manusia juga pemberi rezeki sebab manusia bake cakes, cookies. Mummy masak nasi. So manusia pemberi rezeki juga-lah?" 

We discussed about heaven for this verse. I simply explained that whoever did good deeds will enters heaven, but whom who didn't will enter a very hot hell. But how much wrongdoings we did, if we ask for Allah's forgiveness, He will forgive us. Oh Allah, You are so kind to us. Thank you Allah!