I have been showing Maya flash cards and plastic toys of vegetables and fruits since she was little. And now that she is much bigger with stronger immune system, we frequent the fresh produce section in mall. Actually, this is the only way I can convince her to sit in the trolley. She loves to hold, touch and smell the fruits and vegetables. This makes learning so much more fun for her. Not only does it make her happy, it makes grocery shopping for me so much easier now.
I had a little extra time the other day when Maya was in deep slumber so I decided to make a beaded flower. I will continue with this project much later. For now, it will just be a single flower on corks table top decoration.
Just the other day, I was in Daiso, the RM 5 shop with Harry and Maya. I just couldn't stop myself from buying the appliqués. As usual, I had no idea what I was going to do with them, but I just couldn't live without them. Many days later, which is today, we made them into finger puppets. We used them to play " Simon Says ." Little girl had so much fun twirling, jumping, shaking and learning about different parts of the body with the finger puppets. Thanks to BuzzBuzzBee puppet and Teddy puppet, Maya was all worn out and ready for bed. :)
Items: Felt, thread, needle, appliqués and fabric pen.
Method: 1. Trace two fingers width of your child on the felt with the fabric pen.
2. Cut 2 pieces of felt with 5mm of allowance.
3. Sew the appliqué to one side of the felt.
4. Put both the blank back piece and appliqué piece together and sew the side with blanket stitch.
Thanks to the influence of her father, Maya has been asking me to make pirate hat for her bear, Pinky Boo. I have been thinking day and night for the fastest and most effective way to make the hat with the things I already have. After much thoughts, I decided to use colorful foam sheets to construct the hat as it is rigid enough to maintain its' shape.
Items: EVA foam sheets, cross stitch thread, felt buttons, sewing needle, pen, ruler, scissors and a measurement tape,
Method: 1. Measure the wearer's head. I decided to use Maya's head measurement instead just in case she wants to wear it.
2. Divide by two and draw on the foam sheet. Cut two sheets.
3. On another piece of foam, draw the skull and crossbones. Cut.
4. Assemble all parts by stitching. Use the felt buttons as the eye sockets for the skull and sides of the hat.
Daddy left for work today and Maya is all sad about it. Since morning, she has been asking," Papa, where?" And when she heard the front gate opening, she got all excited, dragged me to the door and shouted,"PAPA!" Sigh... I had to explain to her that Papa will not be back today. To cheer her up and to take her mind off her Papa, there was a long list of activities lined up for her. One of it was making caterpillars and butterflies from art scraps. Glad she liked it. In fact, she played peekaboo with her caterpillars. I showed her a visual dictionary on butterflies before starting the craft. Couldn't take much picture today as Maya was not very camera friendly. :P
While shopping, I stumbled upon this glossy plastic bear that can be drawn on with a whiteboard marker. Apparently it can be drawn on, wipe off and redrawn. I thought to myself, this is one great way to teach Maya about different facial expressions! Needless to say, she fell in love with the bear at first glance. Managed to draw a few expressions and explained to her before she decided to take over the creative control to teach me where the eyes, ears, nose and mouth of the bear should be. Knowing that I should not create any negative thoughts in Maya about the bear, I let her be and joined in her game instead. :) There will definitely be a next time for me to continue this session. I always remind myself, to nurture Maya positively not forcefully. I don't want my little girl to grow up with fear and resentment towards learning.
Recently, we have been doing more outdoor activities instead of indoor. After seeing how much Maya takes to her hermit crabs and fishes, Harry and I decided that it's time for us to have a trip to Aquaria KLCC again.
We made sure she had her nap and meal before going there. Just in case, we also brought along extra snacks for her to chomp on along the way. Maya had much fun this time as she is much older now. In fact, we had a hard time trying to coax her to leave. I must say, this indoor aquarium has improved a lot. The care takers are really serious about their job. Kudos to staffs of Aquaria KLCC! Keep up the excellent job!
The baby room in Aquaria was simple but very thoughtful. It has a tap that dispenses warm water and cold water so you can give your child a quick wash down after the trip in the deep sink. And just in case you need a more complete baby room, just walk over to KLCC. There, the baby room has an attached bathroom with a toddler sized toilet bowl, breast feeding area, functioning hot water dispenser, changing tables and a small play area for the kids.
Needless to say, Maya was all worn out after the trip. Well, we all were.:P We just didn't have enough energy to walk Kinokuniya book shop after that. Though she wanted to go in, but Chawamushi vs Kinokuniya on a near empty stomach...definitely Chawamushi. Guess we have to do Kinokuniya on our next trip down to KLCC then. :)
