Mix and Match Robots

My son wanted few Robots for his pretend play.So,I gave him printout of robots and asked him to stick it in unused cardboard.

Later, the same Robots were used for our mix and match game.

Things needed

Unused cardboard

Printouts of Robot /anh picture of your child’s choice

Glue and scissors

How we played

Ask the child to stick printouts of Robot in cardboard.Cut each card board in to three pieces.You will have total 9 pieces of carboard

Mix all three Robots in a tray and ask the child to match each robot accordingly.

This diy game hardly takes time.It can be prepared in less than 5 minutes.

#games

Our Tamil New year Celebrations 2017

Today,April 14,2017,we celebrated Tamil new year in our house. Tamil New Year’s Day is also called as Varusha Pirappu or Tamil Puthandu .It is celebrated in the beginning of Chithirai-the first month in the Tamil Calendar year. On this day we greet each other by saying “Puthandu Vazthukal” which means Happy New Year.

How we celebrated our festival

We started our day by seeing Kanni in the early morning. Kanni means auspicious sight.We decorate the Kanni with rupees ,coins,fruits ,vegetables ,gold& silver jewellery.Gold and Silver can be kept based on the family situations. We can always develop our own unique ways of welcoming the Tamil New Year. It is believed that if we start our day by seeing auspicious things, god will bless us with prosperity and success throughout the year.Then Panchangam will be read by elders in the family.There is another belief that, on this day, Lord Brahma started the creation of the world.

We wear new clothes,elders in the family will give gift / cash to younger ones in the family. We have great festive food with lots of varieties.Among all menu,Mango Pachadi is important menu in this festival.

About Mango Pachadi ( Important Menu in this festival)

Maanga Pachadi or raw mango pachadi is a must in the menu. It is dish made with raw mangoes, jaggery and neem flowers. Because of the ingredients, this dish tastes sweet, sour and bitter.

It implies meaning that we have different colours in our life,we have to face everything from success to defeat,ups and downs.Life is not the same all the time.We have to consider all the different feelings in the same positive aspect and accept them.

Its never late to make a new beginning in life,we believe that the first day of the year is the perfect time to start a fresh life and to leave behind the past and to begin fresh as if we are born on the day of the new year.

Now coming to the activities we did on this tamil new year day.The whole day was family time with lots of fun and the child was involved in each and every thing of the celebration.

1.Poo Kolam ( Rangoli using flowers)

He has interest in rangoli.So this time,I asked him to try doing rangoli with flowers as he loves to do new & different things.He did his Poo Kolam in his own style with whatever flowers available at home.According to him,he has made large ,medium,small circles using flowers.

2.Pretend play as fruit seller

I told him that we do new financial transaction on tamil new year and narrated to him about it.So,he started to collect all the fruits and pretended him to be as fruit seller and was selling fruits for family members and filling the piggy bank with money ☺☺

3.Coin man

With the coins that was available with him,he made a coin man.

4.Coin map

I gave different types of coin to him and asked him to observe the coin.He had to tell me what he could notice in each coin.I penned down in a paper.

5.Tracing the Coin

He traced all sizes of coins in a paper using pencil.

6.Coin Print.

Each coin was dipped in water colours and print of the coin was made in the paper by the child.New colourful art using coins.

7.Observe the Lord Brahma

I gave him colour print out of Brahma and observe the picture.He had to tell me what he observed in the picture.I also shared few facts about Brahma to him

7.Magic trick with rupee

My son loves magic as it has lots of fun.This trick needs just any two denominations.Keep the rupees in the position as shown in Step 1,then roll it as per Step 2.Then step 3,unroll it.The main trick of this game depends on how you roll it.

You could notice the rupee has flipped.You can see the difference by observing the image in step 1 and step 3.

To be honest,there is no magic in this but the way we naturally unroll the rupee,flips in the process.But for kids,it is a magic and will be enjoyed for sure.

Overall,we loved welcoming tamil new year in our style.

 #tamilnewyear2017celebrations 

 

Emotions game

My son got hurt and he started to cry as he was in pain.Two unknown persons who was passing the way ,took a pause in their walk to pass a comment on my child.Why are you crying after being a boy? Boys don’t cry.He gave an answer ,Its paining ,so I m crying.They didn’t stop with that,they added he will be called as bad boy if he cries and they moved on.

I did not prefer a wrong impact on my child’s mind,so I created this emotion game  to make him understand ,either it is boy or girl ,uncle or aunty,grandma or grandpa,birds or animals,we all are free to express our emotions provided it doesn’t hurt any one.

We played two games relating to emotions

1.Guess the emotion.

I had drawn face in paper.I gave set of eyes and mouth to child (I took print out of eyes and mouth from Google images)

Then I expressed different kinds of emotions on my face,the child had to guess the emotion and assemble the eyes and mouth accordingly.

Similarly the child expressed emotion,I had to guess the emotion ,whether it is happy or sad or surprised and soon ,then assemble it accordingly.

We talked lot about expressing feelings while playing this game as he is very much aware and understands about all emotions.

2.Feel to express.

This was in form of story telling,we created our own story with emotions.We used emotion magnets for this game.In short ,how people reacted to different emotions and how they create bias over different genders.

There was a day when all the emotions decided to freeze to ice and hide their feelings.Then came heart and explained to all emotions that you all are free to cry when you are hurt whether you may be boy or girl or anyone.No need to hide your feelings for sake of others. Feel free to express unless it doesn’t hurt anyone.Heart rescued all emotions from ice and they were set free to express their feelings anytime.Everyone said thank you to the heart.
#games #emotions 

Colours hunt game

This game was played at three places,inside our home,within our building premises and in the park.You can play this game when you are introducing colours to toddlers too.

I took plain paper and whatever colours were available handy,I have added to the paper.Handed over the paper to the child.

He had to identify colour and bring objects according to the colour.For example,if it is red colour,he had to bring red colour object.It can be anything in red colour.Similarly it was done for all the colours.

The same game was played in house,our building and in park.Other kids joined playing this game and it was super hit among kids of all age groups.It became team activity in park.

#games #colours

Tumbling Pom poms

Here is a super duper game which aids in developing fine motor skills ,concentration and hand eye coordination.We love playing tumbling monkeys game and I used the same idea for tumbling poms poms.

I had container with holes sideways which was brought when I was newly married.I used it for various activities since my child was a toddler.Today,the same container was used for this game along straws and poms poms.

How we played

I asked the child to insert straws from one hole to another hole .He had to continue doing the same from bottom to top.When it’s done,I placed few poms poms on top.

Now the child has to remove each straw carefully one by one without making the poms poms fall to the bottom.

You can replace straws with pipecleaners too.

If you like this game,please do try with your child.

#games #finemotorskills #concentration #handeyecoordination

Know your body game

Today we played game titled Know your body.This game was played in a group with kids aged around 3 years to 6 years.This game aids in creating body awareness in the child.

How we played.

All the children sat in a circle.Ball was passed from one to another by singing a song as mentioned below.

“Eyes to see

Ears to hear

Nose to smell

Mouth to eat

Hands to work

Legs to walk and here we pass the ball”

When I blow the whistle,whoever is having ball in the hand will pick up a lot and perform whatever written in it.I read it for little kids.

For example,Touch the floor with your index finger.Clap thrice and many more . All the children participated with great enthusiasm and enjoyed the game.

#games #5years #bodyawareness 

Memory game

Today we played super quick simple diy memory game with whatever available at home.

We just used paper cups and things that are available at home.

How we played:

I just kept randomly few things as clip,eraser,pom pom,grass,dinosaur,cellotape.The child had to tell name of each item.

 Then I covered those items with paper cups .The child had to tell those items which he had seen in the same order without removing the paper cup.

Similarly,I changed different things in the game but the procedure was same.I ,even kept the same materials in different order too.

My son enjoyed playing this game very much.We played it for long time.

#games #memory #concentration

Lemon and spoon

Guess,most of us would have played this game during our childhood.One of the oldest and lovely game played in all ages.I specially love this game and I recalled my childhood days while the little ones were playing today.

I introduced this game to my son and his friends.The whole building was full of laughter and giggles.

I gave spoons to little ones without sharp edges and since it is summer,we had lots of lemon at home.By keeping it in mouth and hands at the back,each one had to walk from one end to other end and make sure that lemon donot fall on the ground.

A simple game which has so many benefits. It improves concentration, balancing skills and develops patience too.

Overall ,it was very much entertaining and fun.

#games #balancing #concentration

Fun with gloves

My son’s friends had come home for play.All the little ones are fond of blowing the gloves game.They love it so much and  and keeps them engaged  for long hours.I had seen this in dad lab few months back.

Things needed

Paper cup

Straw

Gloves

How to play

Cover the top of paper cup with glove and put a hole towards the end of paper cup so that you can insert the straw.

Then give it to child to blow it.Once the child blows with straw,the gloves will rise up.

It is all time Superhit with my son and his friends.Please do try with your child and have fun.

#games #blowing

Potato Man

While sorting vegetables,we found two rotten potatoes.Immediately my child told me he wanted to do Potato man.He was set in to action as morning times would be busy with routine work.

He has used water colours,potato and bottle caps.He has painted potato using water colours.Loved his potato man and enthusiasm.

With another potato,we did potato stamping.He was creating a imaginary story with potato man.

We don’t follow any specific timing or any approach to do any activity,we just do  when we feel to do it.

#art #imagination #5years