One of my best finds this year is this absolutely amazing learning material from Beleduc. Just like Grimm and Shleich, Beleduc is a German company that produces high quality wooden learning materials that are designed for kids of all ages. I absolutely love this puzzle because for Vito, he is just playing a game but little did he know that he is actually learning!
Creating Shapes with Geomag
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Learning about Geometric Shapes
Sunday, April 24, 2016
To start our Shape Unit this week, I want to share with you Vito’s current favourite learning material! This amazing product is from Learning Resources and both of my boys has been using the activity sheets for days!
How to Introduce Space and Planets to Toddlers
Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Earth & Land Theme List of Materials
Friday, April 8, 2016
Here are all the materials and resources that we will be using in our Earth/Land Unit for the month of April. I prepared this list for those who wanted to follow our activities and those who are inquiring about the materials we are using.
FREE Alphabet Cards
Tuesday, March 29, 2016
Fish Theme List of Materials
Monday, March 28, 2016
Here are all the materials and resources that we will be using in our Fish Theme for the month of April. I prepared this list for those who wanted to follow our activities and those who are inquiring about the materials we are using.
Vito’s Favourite Counting Material
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Vito is 28 months old.
Odd as it may be, but Vito loves numbers and counting more than letters. Yes, I find it odd because Mavi was into letters at his age and started to learn spelling by the time he’s 2.5 years old. It amazes me on how they can be different!
Anyway, I wanted to share with you this beautiful wooden number peg board I recently bought from a local store (materials are from Europe) and Vito loves this! A precious piece of math material that teaches little children to count and practice hand-eye coordination at the same time! I wanted to buy the Montessori Math Spindle, but when I saw this, I knew this is way more better (and a lot cheaper)!
Our Spring Season Picture Cards
Monday, March 7, 2016
Spring is just around the corner and I’ve been thinking about the activities that the boys and I can do. I was very much inspired by Deb’s post on Spring Season Cards, so I borrowed the idea of printing pictures that relates to spring and we will be using them for the follwing:
- introducing the season of spring to Vito
- creating stories using the picture cards
- inspiration for crafts
- inspiration for outdoor activities
- St. Patrick and Easter activities
- farm animals and their babies
- animal life cycles
Having Fun with London Playsets & Cards
Friday, February 26, 2016
*** contains affiliate links ***
We are all in love with our wooden London Playset/s which we acquired recently. It’s so precious and beautiful that I can’t seem to take it out the bag!
Now how do we use these figures?
Learning the Parts of the Human Eye
Saturday, February 20, 2016
It’s Mavi’s midterm break and we decided to look into the parts of the human eye! We examined our model unit this morning which we bought last year from the local store. It’s so perfect and goes along so well with our Human Eye Nomenclature Cards and Booklet.
Study of Ancient China
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Few weeks ago, Mavi and I were learning about Ancient China. I decided that this year, we’ll be focusing in country-based studies rather than continents. Last month we worked on Australia, and because of Chinese New Year being celebrated during February, I guess this month is the best time to conduct Chinese-themed activities.
Hands-on Learning: Biomes of Australia
Thursday, January 28, 2016
A few weeks ago, while were doing an Australia Unit, Mavi and I talked about the animals in Australia and in which habitat they belong. We’ve done this years ago but it’s always nice to revisit and add a little depth in the topic.
Practical Life Activities for Toddlers (24 Months) and {Learn & Play Link Up}
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
History Timeline Cards: Ancient Times
Monday, November 30, 2015
Up in the Shop is our World History: Ancient Times Timeline Cards and Booklet. The file includes the following:
- 40 timeline cards of the ancient times (occurred between the period of 5000BC to 500BC). The timeline cards has
- 40 definition cards for each timeline card
- 3 pages of timeline sheets can be connected to form as a guide. The pages are in A4 paper size.
Hope you like it, enjoy!
Our Favourite Toys for 2 to 7 Years Old
Thursday, November 26, 2015
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“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!