Sandpaper Numbers

I made these small enough for little hands to hold, but big enough for little fingers to trace. Then I realised I forgotten about the "zero". I also improved on the sandpaper cards and attached velcro on the reverse. These cards can then be mounted onto another AO-size board with velcro strips. For starters, I got M to know the numbers and arrange them in ascending order. We will try descending order next.

Writing (Numbers)

A beginning workbook of numbers 0 (zero) to 9 (nine).

The numbers are outlined so that the child can pen in the strokes within the outlines of the numbers. Each page has the corresponding number of boxes below the writing squares, to encourage the child to count and put down the correct number of stickers.

I made the workbook A5-size for portability as M loves to bring this along everywhere she goes.

Foam Alphabet (lower case)

Price: SGD 5
Materials: Environmental-friendly EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate)
Dimension: 4.5cm (approx height of each letter)

What to do with the foam letters:

• You can mount use these foam letters onto thick cards, to teach your child the strokes of the lower case alphabet. They are certainly softer to the touch as compared to the original Montessori sandpaper letters (I will post my homemade foam-letters set once the project is done)
  
• You may improvise and use these foam letters for 'movable alphabet' activities with your child.
• Decorate the kid's room
  

Lacing

Practical skills such as tying and lacing promotes the development of fine motor, muscular and coordination skills. When a child masters lacing, the skill can be transferred to the many occurrences in our daily life. This will imbue young children with a sense of independence and self-confidence that they can do things without adult's assistance.

I gave M a wooden lacing cheese toy when she was 2yo, but she wasn't very keen then. So I removed lacing from our set and reintroduced M to lacing when she was 28months. There could be children who are ready at an earlier age, but most children would be ready at approximately 24-30mths old.

We use the following:
1) WOODEN LACING CHEESE (SGD 10)

This is one of my favourite lacing toy. It is made of wooden and is shaped like a wedge of
cheese. There is a long length of cotton twill attached to a wooden stub (with eyes to look like a
little worm I suppose). We take this out of the house with us or use it in the car (to make M sit
still in the car seat). It is a one-piece toy, so no pieces to lose or pick up after your child!

2) FOAM LACING SET (SGD5)

This set consists of two lengths of twill, one big piece of tree and six small pieces of flowers.
They are made of sturdy pressed foam and will last for a very long time. The other design is
'House'. Definitely value for money!

3) LACING LEAF & BUG (SGD 10) ---->SOLD OUT

This leaf & bug puzzle is actually rather challenging for a toddler. I have to admit I am the
one playing with this toy instead of M.
4) LACING FRUIT TREE (SGD 18)

This is my all-time favourite toy. The beautiful set is made of wood (and I do prefer wooden
toys to those junky plastic ones). It has many pieces of wooden beads shaped like fruits, for
lacing and tying onto two shaped panels, which you would assemble to make a 3D standing
tree. Seriously, one cannot get enough of lacing :-)

Tonging Set (18 months up)

Tonging was the very first activity I set up for M and it has since become her all time favourite!
Tonging is an important practical skill to help a young child refine her pincer grip and develop those fine muscles in the fingers. This prepare the child for fine motorskills such as writing in time to come.

Our tonging set looks like this:
I set up my 3-section plastic tray to feature 3 levels of difficulty. It is best to start your toddler with the largest pompom (green) to allow her to experience success with handling a pair of tongs. When you see that your child is proficient in using the tongs, proceed to give her the smaller pompoms (yellow). I also included ping-pong balls for variation of textures.

The tonging set (as pictured above) is available for sale at SGD15. Tongs may vary from picture.

M often revisits her tonging set and conjure all sorts of games with her tongs and pompoms and ping-pong balls. I had left M to her own device and she discovered 1-1 correspondance and sorted out the pompoms.

M also surprised me when she sorted out 1 small pompom + 1 big pompom into each of the 4-section tray.

Watch This Space !

I have a compulsive need to take pictures of everything, especially when it comes to activities with my daughter (I will refer to my daughter as M in my blog). Friends have been asking me about what I do with M ever since I decide to leave my teaching job. I wanted to focus on raising and teaching my firstborn (instead of teaching 30 other children). I have another blog which I write about stuff we do together and other random things. But it is really not focused and does not give credit to all the learning we have enjoyed together.

Hence, I created this blog specifically to share about what Mommy teaches M, and how you could do the same too. I will be uploading pictures of the materials I have developed for teaching M (and hopefully make some of them available for sale).