Goodnight Moon Storytelling Basket

Oh my, Goodnight Moon is one of my kids favourite books and I can’t wait to share with you the contents of our storytelling basket!  I assembled it over the weekend and both Vito and Mavi are having fun tinkering and exploring the objects. 

I read this book everynight. It’s calming, relaxing… makes them ponder of what’s out there in the night, letting them observe their room and the silence of the night.  And may I just say, there is so much love in the story.  The old lady as I would always say to the boys, is lovingly watching her little kid going to sleep, just like most Mommies do!

So this is our storybasket  where I placed all of our objects and the book. I put this on the top of the shelf. Some of the items here are small so I need to assist and supervise whenever they play with it.  Items here were from the following Playmobil playsets:

• Playmobil Dining Room
• Playmobil Children’s Bedroom
• Playmobil Master Bedroom

The clock was from Amazon, the moon is a DIY, the kittens were from Safari Toob Domestic Cats  and the bears were from Learning Resources counting bears.

Now, we’ve read this book a hundred times LOL. Vito knows this by heart.  So he knows each of the objects in the book and he was quite fascinated that he gets to see them and touch them personaly! Take a look at our three little bears sitting on chairs, the comb, brush and the bowl full of mash!

He obviously loves the bears!

But his favourite of all was the clock! Now I highly suggest that you read the book to your child first.  Give it a week of reading before starting the storytelling basket as there might be times they’ll get distracted of the toys. When that happens, just allow your child to play with it for as long as he wants.

Vito can’t take his eyes from this clock so we have to pause and explore this. We talked about the numbers and hands and he was fascinated!

I hope you like this post.  It  will give you an idea on how to put fun into your reading time.  We previously had the Papa Please Get the Moon For Me and it was also a hit!

Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus, Instagram or Twitter for updates!  More learning materials at Pinay Homeschooler Shop.

Pin this for later!

Small World Play: Giant Pandas

Early this year, when everything in Amazon was on sale, I got this one of a kind Panda and the Bamboo Forest Playset from Playmobil.  I’ve been eyeing this for months since last year and I was lucky enough to chance this set on sale! Giant Pandas are one of those animals that are in the endangered list and I think somehow, by having this playset at home I can introduce this beautiful animal to the kids, talk about their characters and habitat.h

PS. We’ve visited a lot of zoo, but we haven’t encountered a Giant Panda.  We didn’t chance upon them in Singapore Zoo either.

We love the the Panda Playset!  The bamboo, tree, hilltop and bridge plus the panda family!  It’s a perfect playset for our little pandas to play with their Moms and Dads.  In setting up the tray, I added a felt craft paper (grass) and a few more figures from Safari Toob to create a community of pandas.  Mavi assembled everything in this Melissa and Doug wooden tray.  Note that the Playmobil pandas are much bigger than the Safari Toobs’.

The boys love the bamboo objects included in the playset.  We talked about what pandas eat and in what environment they thrive.  We also discuss about bamboos and where we can find these. 

Vito loves the small cave in the playset.  He “hides” the pandas there as he counts them.

Day and night, this is Vito’s favourite play material.  He plays with this in the morning while I’m busy preparing Mavi for school.  Just make sure to keep an eye on those baby pandas, they’re quite small and toddlers tend to put them in the mouth or throw them anywhere in the house.

Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus, Instagram or Twitter for updates!  More learning materials at Pinay Homeschooler Shop.

Pin this for later!

How We Learn Colours These Days

We finally started our colour toddler basket last week wherein we put red objects in the basket for learning colours.  We started with the colour Red, the colour of Valentines Day and Chinese New Year

There are so many versions of this basket, sometimes they are called discovery baskets or treasure baskets wherein Mommies gather specific or themed objects and place them in a basket for the baby and toddler to explore.  Now what makes our version different?

Vito is good in colour sorting activities but still a hit or miss when it comes to naming the colours.  It would have been easier if I assemble the objects myself but I realized that Vito will learn much more if HE DISCOVERS and ASSEMBLES the objects by himself with my assistance.

Yes, Mommies! Don’t assemble the basket on your own, do it together with your little one. It’s fun, engaging and they will love doing it for you! As Mavi described it, it’s like Easter egg hunting or treasure hunt.

To start the activity, we earlier had a painting activity to re-introduce the color red.  You can also do colouring activities using red crayons or pens.

The next day, we did a red colour hunting at home!  We roam around the house, open drawers here and there in search of objects that are red.    During the activity, I would ask Vito something like “where’s the red block?”, “is this a red train”, “can you pick up the red duplo”?  Then we placed the objects in the basket and let him play with it for as long as he wants.  When not in use, I just place the basket in the shelf.  Just side note, Vito tends to scatter them around the house, so the objects are in a ziploc.  Whenever he wants to play with them, he would ask me to open the plastic.  This will keep the objects intact and your sanity as well!

Items that we have discovered in the house that are red:

• Playmobil Children’s Train Set.  We got this for free!
• Red disk from Wonderworld Disk Stacker
• Red soft block from B Toys Squeeze Blocks
• Red felt craft paper from local store
• Strawberry from M&D Fruit Set
• Red tweezer from Learning Resources Jumbo Tweezers
• Red duplo from LEGO Amazon

Make sure that when you play with your kids, always use “red” as an adjective like “let’s play with your red train”, “can you stack your red block?”  This will further familiarize your child with the colour and associate the word “red” to the colour itself.

For more toddler activities, click here or visit my Toddler Board on Pinterest!

Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus, Instagram or Twitter for updates!  More learning materials at Pinay Homeschooler Shop.

Small World Play: Ancient China

Gong Hi Fa Cai!  It’s the Chinese New Year tomorrow and Mavi and I are currently learning about the Ancient China  (using STOW Vol 1 as read along book). With these, we set up another small world play which is inspired by the history of China.  Here’s what Mavi and I assembled.   Last month, we assembled an Australian Outback-inspired small play and it was a total hit!  This month, the boys are enjoying their free play with our new small world tray!

First, Mavi and Vito painted the newspaper with green and brown. This will be the base of our Great Wall! Painting is one of those activities that kids love to do together!

We placed the newspaper (once the paint dried) at the bottom of our wooden tray then stuff it with small world figures and materials from our Safari Toob collections, LEGO and Playmobil.

What’s in the tray?

You will first  notice our country profile card with the dragon.  I made this card for Mavi to read whenever he plays, and I added a dragon, as this is one of China’s famous icon and symbol.   The dragon is part of the Playmobil Advent Calendar which I got Mavi last year.                      

Qin Shi Huang and Chinese Buddha. Qin Shi is the first emperor of China and the country was named after him (the figure is part of Playmobil Advent Calendar) and the Chinese Buddha is from Hong Kong. 

                                                 

Other objects we added were

 the dragons from Safari Toobs

 the Giant Buddha from Safari Toob Landmarks

a DIY flag of China

the Great Wall of China made of LEGO (Mavi made this)

the rest of the items from Playmobil Dragon Advent Calendar.

Here’s Mavi loving the dragon. We were discussing the role and meaning of the dragon in China’s culture and tradition.

Vito loves our tray too! The tray is good for one to two weeks.  It is placed on top of the shelf for the boys to easily access and play with the figures as long as they want to. 

What a successful collaboration from Mavi, Vito and I! They enjoyed playing the materials that we have in the tray, most especially our dragon!  History, geography and imaginative play all rolled into one!

If you are interested, we did several China-related activities before.  You can click this (part 1) and this (for part 2).

Follow us on Facebook, Pinterest, Google Plus, Instagram or Twitter for updates!  More learning materials at Pinay Homeschooler Shop.

Don’t forget to pin this for later!

Tried and Tested: Playmobil Native American Superset

*** contains affiliate links *** 

I was able to get some really great deals during the Black Friday sale. One of which is the Playmobil Native American Superset.  As I mentioned earlier this month, Playmobil is one of the open-ended toys that we love and consider “educational” due to its historical figures and environment.  This Playmobil set will be perfect for our American history study next year.

What’s inside?

As you can see, the packaging and organization of the items are very much similar to LEGO’s.  The contents are packed into separate plastics just like LEGO.  Just be careful when you open them as some accessories are too small (well, not as small as LEGO).  I like the Playmobil boxes, they are sturdy and can be reused as storage boxes. 

Though it comes with an instruction pamphlet, Mavi still needs assistance setting up the environment.  Assembling the environment can be sometimes tricky, thus an adult’s assistance is needed just to be sure.  But I love the Playmobil environments!  They are not easily detached or broken.  Most of it comes with a base which gives the child a real feel of the environment. Our Native American set is perfect for habitat tubs as well (with extra materials of course!).

The Setup

How beautiful! You can’t have a toy that’s as detailed as this these days and that depicts the life of Native Americans!  The attention to details of Playmobil is totally impressive! 

Mavi decided to paint a backdrop and this is how it looked like.  The playset comes with a totem pole, a beautiful teepee, plants, tree, a horse and a beautiful canoe.

It has 3 native american figures: a tribe chief, and two members.  Look at those bodypaints and the details of the costumes.  They come with accessories too!

I love that they have a tribe chief, and his headdress is super cool!  Mavi was like “so they made that with feathers? I’d like to have one!”  He has his own staff with feathers to signify his status in the tribe, and the figures sit well on the horse.

Vito’s favourite is the canoe and he loves playing with it while singing the “Row row row your boat” song.  My husband thinks that the best item in this set is the canoe, the shape and the design is totally awesome!

The figures snap on the canoe, brilliant!

And look at the teepee…  the artwork is impressive.  It is made up of a cloth-like material, which I can guarantee you that it won’t get ripped easily. It is securely fastened in the bars, though it was a bear to assemble it.  I was thinking that we can design our own teepee int he future, using the existing teepee as a pattern. Another amazing activity for the kids!

Here’s Vito playing, I took this picture with Mavi in school.  I couldn’t get a descent photo when both boys are playing.

I’m naming and identying ALL  the objects in this set for his vocabulary and here he is enjoying the word “skull”.

He calls this figure “Daddy”.

The Verdict

I highly recommend this Playmobil set! It also comes with a lot of accessories like pipe, bow and arrow, oars, head dresses, bonfire, shield and a lot more!  The material is just exceptional!

Our Favourite Toys for 2 to 7 Years Old

**Contains affiliate links**

“As parents and grandparents, we think that we are showing children we love them by giving them things.  In fact such practice, in and out of itself, may send them the wrong message.  Children may conclude that if people give you things, they love you.  If receiving things tells you that you are loved, the next logical step is to measure self-worth by what you have, not by what you are.  The reality is that very young children can only truly love one doll, one stuffed animal, and a few toys at a time. This experience provides a basis for adult life where one must learn to cherish one spouse, one family, one life, instead of fantasizing that it is possible to ‘have it all’.”  - MONTESSORI FROM THE START

We don’t have a lot of toys at home.  Mavi just like two kinds of toys: LEGO and dinosaur/animal figures, that’s just it.  All through the years, I don’t splurge nor buy toys as we don’t have the budget for it. I consider them as luxury so I just gave toys to Mavi as presents on his birthday and Christmas.  But because we “home” school, I purchase learning materials that my kids see as “toys” but in reality they are NOT really toys.    And because I am frugal, I buy toys that they can grow with, MULTIPURPOSE and something that they can play together.   So let me share with you the kids’ favourite things in the house.  These are the toys that we have in the house, except for the ones in my “wishlist and basket”.  These toys are being played day in and day out by the boys.

NOTE:  ALWAYS SUPERVISE YOUNGER CHILDREN WHEN USING ANY OF THESE TOYS.  Do not leave them unattended.

FAVOURITE TOYS

LEGO, DUPLO and PLAYMOBIL.  Need I say more? These are the favourite in the house. We have plenty of LEGOs as this is Santa’s favourite present EVERY Christmas for 4 years!  And Vito’s Duplo and Playmobil were brought from the local store when they were on 50% off. I would never get them for a whole price! Vito is now snapping bricks together and loves the Playmobil people.  Both of my boys spend hours and hours playing with these toys.  They never get tired of them.  Perfect toy for creativity, concentration and developing fine motor skills!

For Playmobils, we have castles and pirates. They’re Mavi’s favourite toy and can play with them for hours!

My son loves the LEGO CLASSIC Bricks.  He doesn’t really like those with premade designs as he always wanted to design his own thing. So I highly recommend that you buy the basic LEGO BRICKS especially if you are getting your first Lego.  Having a plate is also good. 

 

 

miniLUK and BambiniLUK.  Mavi and I looooves this! We can’t get enough of answering all the booklets, especially those tricky ones!  I bought the Starter Pack and bought the advanced booklets separately.  There’s a version for younger kids, the BambiniLUK and some friend in Instagram said that they like it. Mavi is like “Mom, its making my brain tired LOL”

 

Montessori Botany  and Zoology/Insect Puzzles, Montessori Puzzle Maps.  I invested on these this year and it was worth it! I have puzzle loving kids, and Vito is currently addicted to them.  Aside from educational, these puzzles are also perfect for pincer grasp practice.  Mavi on the other hand is obsessed with my Asia and Europe puzzles.  He loves geography, loves to learn about countries and their locations.  Tower High Learning is my favourite Montessori shop as of the moment and this is where I purchase my materials.

 

Schliech Animal Figures and Safari Toobs are also an all time favourite in the house. The uses of these figures include imaginative play, learning about animals, habitat play, exploring landmarks and just about anything!  You see these mostly in my post!  When Vito was younger, I made him use Schleich animal figures because they are bigger but now that he has overcome his mouthing, he uses both Schleich and Safari Toob. Mavi is obsessed with dinosaurs, and he uses them now as characters for his homemade videos LOL.   Now he uses both types for play and learning.

 

 

Hape Uppercase, Lowercase and Number Puzzles.  With Mavi, I used the Melissa and Doug Magnetic letters (I still have them) and they were really really loved.  Now the problem is Vito mouths things and I made Vito use it, the sticker of the letters were removed.  So I looked for an alternative alphabet toys for us to use and I discovered these amazing puzzles from Hape. They are WORTH-IT! We love using them in anything, from learning letters, puzzles to stacking! Yes, Vito loves to stack these together! We also use it to sort out colors!  Multi-purpose indeed!  But if you have older kids, Melissa and Doug Magnetic Letters are as good as well. 

   

Because I love to cook (Asian and Italian), the boys also love to pretend cooking with me using these Melissa and Doug cooking toys.  They can play for hours with these!

M-cro Maxi Scooter.  And I just have to include this!! Because they play with this scooter in and out of the house! Mavi uses this to school and Vito uses this indoor for scooting practice. I love that it is sturdy and kids can easily balance!

And of course, nothing beats classic toys like balls, cars and PlayDoh!  My boys wouldn’t complain if they receive any of these this Christmas.

WISHLIST

Magnatiles. Rave reviews everywhere but I just couldn’t bring myself to purchase these tiles or can’t even justify it   Maybe when they’re 50% off I would probably get one for the boys!

Unit Block.  I know that the boys will love this as well.  They can build and create so many things with this but the price is just too much for me.  I still have to think about this a million times.

Beleduc Puzzles.  My puzzle loving kids will love these puzzle series, especially the Your Body Layer puzzles!