First Visit to library

Today was one of the memorable day in our life.This is the day where my child has stepped in to library for first time.My son is book lover.Love towards the book comes naturally.I still remember the day when he was around 7 months old,he picked up a book in the shop.

When I purchased it,he was so much happy and smiling to see the pictures in the book.Most of the time of my childhood,i spent in the library.I was member in several libraries in my town.I carry a pride when I carry my library card.

Books are our friends forever.I am glad that my son loves book.I could see it in his eyes when we visited British library today.

Till date,i used to buy books whichever I find appropriate through online.Few books,he used to like and others he wouldn’t show interest.

This made me to take my child to library.I want to respect his decision and allow him to  chose the book of his interest,feel the books ,get physical access to books.

There is huge difference between buying books from book shop and accessing books in the library.

Library is one of the  place which develops your reading skills,vocabulary,exposure to different varieties of books under one roof.

One of the renowned library in Pune is British library.It is located in Ferguson road and is over almost 50 years.

Still the excitement ,happiness,surprise,smile which I saw in my son’s face is within my eyes.I don’t know how to describe it but it is very precious.

Best place for book lover.Happiness lies when my child observed each and every section in the library with full of joy.Without I uttered a word,he walked towards the each and every book shelf to look at their collections.

He chose the book of his interest from the shelf and started to read of his own by sitting in the place.After reading the book,he kept it in the place.

He took another book and start reading it.He also asked me to read a book for him.

Photography is not allowed but still I captured one photo as it was priceless moment and I wanted to record it forever.First expression is always the best expression when it comes very naturally.

Let me share the details about British library.

It is in Ferguson Road,just opposite to Hotel Vaishali.

You are not supposed to carry any thing inside the library except purse.

Visitors has to fill the form /pass and return it back while you come out from library.

Non members are allowed only 20 minutes but fortunately we spent more than 20 mins.May be ,they allowed us as it was our first time.

Kids section are in the ground floor with lovely table and chairs,seater in form of dice.Neatly arranged and accessible to child to select of his choice.Beautifully decorated with toys so that to attract kids.They can play with soft toys too.Overall,it was awesome,my son was not willing to come out of the kids section.I have promised him to bring him often to the library.

In the first floor,they have section dedicated to management and other books with computers.

In the second floor,they have books relating to fiction,literature, art and many other things.

They have separate section of reading room in each floor.

Unfortunately they donot have separate membership plan for kids but they have membership at three levels.All membership fees are valid for only one year

1.Rs 1100 for adults aged 18 years 

2.Family membership- it costs Rs 3700 for a year for entire family where all members of your family can access to all the books in the library.

3.Online library for Rs 1100.

You get only online access to all books

This library have access to both physical and online access to books.They provide magazines,DVD.You can find all books relating to english exams too.They conduct English language courses to develop communication skills in English for adults and young learners.

Overall,must visit place for book lovers.

Pic : from Google baba

Our Evening at Amanora

My son had Xmas party in his school.He had lots of fun.He was very much happy because for first time ,he met Santa Claus.He told me that Santa didnot come by his Sleigh and reindeer.Santa came by jeep.
Before I answer him,he answered me,he told me Santa Claus cannot come in Reindeer to Pune.

Very curiously,I asked him.why Santa Claus cannot come by his Sleigh.

His answer made me dumb.He told me there is already traffic jam near my school and parking space will be full.If Santa Claus comes with big sleigh with reindeer,there will be no place to park his vehicle.If he parks sleigh outside,other people cannot walk in road,everybody will be pressing horn and we cannot celebrate Xmas party.Jeep is small and he can keep it inside the school gate.

Phew.😁..This was his answer 

Then in the evening ,we went to explore around our city .We visited Amanora Shopping mall,which is in Magarpatta ,Pune.Among all the malls,we like this place as it has open space and spacious.

His happiness doubled when he met Santa Claus at mall.He gave hifi to Santa and greeted each other.He was so happy to receive chocolate from Santa.He kept it carefully in his pocket to show it to his dad after reaching home.He walked around the mall with Santa claus.He was very much excited to see big Reindeers at mall.He was observing the Xmas tree

For the first time,we enjoyed Christmas Carols.He spent time in playing with other kids,exploring the rides like boat ride,jumping on trampoline,toy train,panda ride ,car and other fun rides.Last but not least munching favourite french fries in McDonald’s.

A day well spent by mom and son.

Knock the Snowman

Here is an interesting game which kids will love very much.The idea ,I got from my friend Berkha Oberoi Gambhir.Earlier,we used to play by just hitting the paper cups by ball.Snow man concept idea got it only through my friend.

You just need three things

Paper cups

Black pen

Ball(plastic ones)

What you have to do

Take the paper cups ,draw eyes and mouth using black pen

Then ask your child to keep the cups  in such a way that three snowmans are at bottom and two snowman above the three cups or in the middle and one snowman on the top.

Keep few balls in the basket or tray.Ask the child to knock the snowman using the colourful balls.It can be done as group activity.The child has to maintain sufficient distance from paper cup snowman

Benefits of the game

Improves balancing

Increases concentration

Develops hand eye coordination

Loads of fun.You can make it more interesting by singing songs.We loved playing it so much.

Our Xmas tree

I always allow my child to explore in his way.Each child is unique.When he is involved in doing anything,I allow him to do it in his style.Here is an example of doing Xmas tree in his way.

1.Xmas tree painting.

This was our first Christmas activity.Painting a Xmas tree.

Things used

Waste card board

Water colours

Star stickers

My child painted Xmas tree using painting brush in the cardboard.After it dried,he sticked star stickers.He loves painting very much.

2.Xmas tree using  earbuds

We do tracing with earbuds.I will share about it in a separate post.On such day,as I went to attend phone call.He had cut the earbuds on both sides.This was the outcome when I came back to the room.

3 Xmas tree with vegetables.

He loves to sort the vegetables after we come from the market.He has done Xmas tree using vegetables while sorting it.He has used curry leaves stick for the trunk of Xmas tree

I leave my child freely to explore.Boredom is also very much needed.It allows the child to think and imagine.As parents,we can always guide whenever they really need it but we need not instruct them in each and everything they do.Whatever the child do need not be perfect.Imperfection is perfect in my eyes.Appreciate every effort put by the child.I don’t modify or do any changes to his work.I love and admire the way he does.

My little hero’s Santa

My son is very fond of Santa Claus.He wanted to do Santa Claus painting.Only through him,I came to know about a character Mrs Claus.He told me how Mrs Claus helps Santa always and she helps Santa in wrapping gifts and preparing cookies.This painting was done when we started our Christmas activities,I just remembered to share it.

Now let me share how my little hero did Santa Claus painting.

Things you need

Waste Cardboard

Water Colours

Glue

Cotton

Procedure.

In the waste cardboard,he painted with light rose for Santa’s face.Then for cap,he painted with red colour.

Then for beard,i asked him to apply glue below Santa’s Chin.Then asked him to stick cotton as beard.

My little hero’s Santa is ready 😊😊

Pretend Play

All time favourite game of my child is Pretend play.Many of them do ask me how do you manage your kid all alone at home without any help.I do all my household chores without any maid and I manage things on my own from very beginning in my style.

The credit will go to my child.I always used to give him age appropriate activities in whatever work I do.According to his cues and interest ,I take it further.

Even till date,one of all time favourite game of my son is Pretend play which comes to my rescue.

Pretend play builds imagination in the young minds.Most of times,i am stunned and surprised with his imagination and his conversation during his play.

He would be a reporter,filling petrol in petrol bunk,news reader,barber,sweeper,security guard,garbage collector,waiter,zoo keeper,mechanic,dentist,veterniary doctor ,traffic police,police,pilot,astronaut ,teacher and list will never end.

Trust me,its very big list.I find quite tough to recall too.I never asked him to do pretend play.It comes through observation from the child.A child will imagine a stone as his car ,marbles as children.

Let me share what he did today , otherwise I may forget it tomorrow as he would have taken different avatar.

While I was working in kitchen,he engaged himself in ANIMALS XMAS PARTY.

He had kept few of his animals and his Xmas tree painting ,then Santa.

It went on for very long time by singing songs.Yes,he was singing song about baby Jesus,I don’t know from where he learnt.He was playing music in his keyboard and all the animals were dancing in the party.Santa Claus came with gifts to give to all animals.Then snacks were served to animals in the party.Animals played musical chair.All animals were wishing each other and many more.

Once Xmas party pretend play was over.He transformed to Santa Claus.He walked and danced like Santa.He knocked the door when all his toys were sleeping since there are no chimney in our house,he came from the main door.He kept gifts for all the dolls.He was using his bicycle as Sleigh.

In fact to my surprise, today he took few chocolates with him while going out for cycling.It was not for him to eat, he gave those chocolates to needy kids and said them merry Christmas.He said to me that I m Santa and I gave chocolates to boys and girls as they donot have chocolates.I was speechless by his act.Its our everyday routine of doing cycling and never asked him.to do so.

Reason for sharing with you is please do encourage pretend play when your kids do,it is very good in child’s development.All kids will surely do pretend play in everyday life.I have personally seen few parents who stops their child when they are playing with their imagination.

Pretend play not only helps in imaginations,develops empathy,social and emotional skills,thinking skills,language skills.Give them sufficient outside exposure,allow the child to observe what’s happening around them.Your child will make you proud one day.

Story Telling with Giant Dice

Today,we did simple story telling with our diy giant dice.My son was aware of nativity story of Christmas as we did our story telling few weeks back.I will share about it in another post.

Actually, I thought to utilise this activity to improve sequencing skill which is very important in child’s development.

So,I again utilised our unused visiting cards.I numbered the cards both in figures and words from 1 to 6.

Then I wrote different titles on each card in the following manner

1.Angel

2.Mary and Joseph

3.Bethlehem

4.Baby Jesus

5.Shephereds

6.Wisemen

We played two games with our giant dice.

First game was Story Telling in Sequence

The child has to find the number in dice in order from 1 to 6.For example first he has to find number 1 and then pick the card which is titled number 1 and start telling the story with the word.In our game ,first card was angel.He started by saying Long time ago,there was an angel.God told the angel to go to a village and pass on the message to a girl.

Similarly he has to find number from 2 to 6 in the dice and pick up the card accordingly,continue his story based on the card heading.

Once he picks up all 6 cards,the story comes to an end.This was our game.

This game helps in counting in dice,then picking up the card according to the number.Learning numbers in words,narrating the story in same order develops sequencing skill.

Then we played another game with same dice and cards.This time,the child has to roll the dice,whatever number comes in the dice,he has to pick up the card according to that number and talk about the topic.

For eg,if the child gets number 4 when he rolls the dice,he has to pick up the number 4 card and talk about baby Jesus in his own sentence.

This activity develops cognitive skills,builds vocabulary ,helps in development of speech.You can do it on  any words or topic and ask the child to frame sentences.

Diy Fun Giant Dice

Recently my son was introduced to board games.We used the dice for several purposes.He liked counting on the dices.He came up with the question why the dice is very small? Why there are no big dices in board games? These questions made me to think why don’t we do dice by our own.

While was thinking about diy dice,i came across the post by Neha Khanna of Pearl buds about procedure to do diy giant dice.It was really very good and simple idea .I modified it according to our requirement since it would be done by my child.

Things we used

Face cream empty box

Colour paper

Glue

Dot stickers

Colourful adhesive tape

You know,most of the time,we try to do our best with materials available at home only.I noticed my face cream box in my shelf,it looked like a dice shape to my eyes.

My son was excited ,when I asked him shall we do big dice .He brought our stationery items box ,messy mat.He kept everything ready.

I asked him to stick colour paper on the box with glue.He covered the entire box with colour paper.I helped him to stick the adhesive tape as border to the dice.

Then as per my instruction,he sticked dot stickers from 1 to 6 .

Our colourful giant dice is ready.

SEVEN WONDERS PARK

Yashwantrao park is popularly known as Seven Wonders park.It is located in Sahakarnagar,Pune and very close from Swargate.It is just opposite to Rajiv academy.

Bagul garden and Seven wonders park are very close ,it’s just a walkable distance.You can visit both the parks on the same day.

The beauty of this park are replicas of Seven wonders of the world.A good place for kids to know about the Seven Wonders.Its very neatly maintained.

It is the place where all the Seven wonders of world are exhibited under one roof .They are very realistic and appealing.The park has following exhibits

1.Tajmahal

2.Pyramids

3.Colosseum

4.leaning tower 

5.Stonehenge

6.Eiffel tower

7.Statue of liberty

Apart from that ,there is 4D show which they conduct in evening.We couldn’t see the 4D show as they had very long queue.

There are replicas of Bal hanuman,jungle boy ,Ben 10 which kids would love certainly.

Entry fees are around 20 rs for kids aged above 3 yrs and adults.

This park would be totally different experience and exposure to kids.

You can have quick glance of photos in my YouTube link.

Bagul Garden Pune

Bagul garden is one of the beautiful place for the kids to spend during weekends.We visited this place on Sunday.When you visit this garden,you can visit simultaneously Seven Wonders park which is very close to Bagul garden.

I came to know about both the parks through my friend Surekha Jadhav.We have visited earlier Seven wonders park few months before but we visited again as my son wanted to visit Seven wonders park.

I will share about Seven wonders park in separate post.

Bagul garden is located in Sahakarnagar and it is close to Swargate.

The speciality of park is replica of all animals.Kids will love it for sure.They are allowed to sit on the animals and can take photos

The park also has a “museum” dedicated to Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. In the basement ,they have auditorium.which has many photographs.

In the first floor,its a art gallery .There are many photographs of Bollywood actors and national leaders.My son was very happy to see Mahatma Gandhi and other leader photos . 

Here comes the most interesting part in second floor Bhool bhulaya.You can see skeleton ,graveyard and other scary replicas .The room would give scary effect to some kids.There is scary mirror maze which is quite interesting. Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed inside the museum.

There is small play area for kids where they can enjoy playing.

One more attracting feature in the park is laser water fountain show which we missed to see since they start very late in the evening around 7.15

Outside the premises,you have other rides for kids and horse riding too.My son enjoyed and loved horse ride.
You can visit the park in the evening from 4.30 to 8 pm .

Among several parks in Pune,this is also one of the good park to spend with kids.

You can have quick glance of photos of Bagul garden in the below mentioned link