Family Easter Celebration - 4yr old

This year, our family's Easter celebration spans over 2 days. We use alot of symbolic play.

We use this book The Story of Easter by Patricia A Pingry. It uses very simple language to communicate the reason for Easter. Then we enact Jesus' triumph entry into Jerusalem right up to Jesus's empty tomb.

Good Friday morning. We went out to look for 'palm branches' together, and we took turns to play the character of Jesus. The rest of us, play the role of the crowd who waves our palm branches and shouts 'hosanna, hosanna, Jesus is our King' and sang Hosanna by Carl Tuttle.

The song goes like this: Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest. Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna in the highest Lord we lift up Your name With a heart full of praise Be exalted, oh Lord my God Hosanna in the highest!

Then Daddy tells us why we need to be close to God. It is so that Jesus can make us good and help us to do the things we cannot do ourselves.

But when we become naughty (Sin), we get further from God. so when we snatch toys, or tell lies, or hit someone, or speak rude words, we get further away from Jesus. And when we don't have Jesus, it makes us sad.

(And daddy would pull the other chair further as he illustrates a sinful trait, and ask tot to try of ways to go over to Jesus (daddy) who is seated on the other chair by not stepping in the sea full of sharks!)

BUT, Jesus came and died for us! And took all our naughtiness away and make us clean. And because of that, He made a bridge for us.





(cushions 'as bridge' )
















(tots walked over bridge and was greeted by 'Jesus' (it was daddy really playing the part *wink*. Both tots got a big hug from daddy. Daddy said now that they are close to Jesus, Jesus can protect them, and help them.)




















Friday night, our family went to church for a time of prayer and reflection. We walked through a chronological each 'station' leading up to Jesus's cruxification. Life-like props were set up for The Triumph Entry, Table of the Lord's supper, a basin with water for washing of disciples feet, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the eventual betrayal and cruxification of Christ. Adults confessed our sins on a piece of paper and nailed it on a block of wood representing the cross that Jesus died on. It was awesome.

On Saturday, our family got some goodies to prepare to bless our little friends we have invited to church the next day.

We got some plastic eggs and stuffed marshmallow in it.
Then mummy wrapped it up and made a little bookmark to go along with it. We also created a little bird nest (using bronze raffia strings) with the eggs perched up in our little tree at home.

Tot and Mummy had a short conversation on why bird's eggs are used to symbolize new life. Tot asked me when are the hatchlings coming. Then he tells me about ants laying eggs. I had to keep from laughing.















Resurrection Sunday. Our friends came to church with us and we were delighted to have them.

We spent an afternoon playing and chatting with them at their home.

















Sunday night, Daddy had a surprise for us. We re-read the Bible. We pretended to be the disciples who would go look for Jesus on the third day. Suddenly we saw.... an empty tomb and a piece of linen!!

(using a camping tent)

We use our torch light to shine upwards, pretending to see a glimpse of an angel who would tell us that Jesus is alive. We end by singing "Celebrate Jesus and Arise by Brendon & Cathie, International school of worship.

Arise: A is for all you done for me, R is for really do believe, I is for inside where I breathe, S is for son who sets me free, E is for everything you are, my Lord, my God, my King, my all. ...



We played a game of opposites. Mum says "If we are weak... God will make us ...?" Tot says "Strong!" Mum says, "If we are scared, God will .... ?" Tot says "Protect us!", Mum says, "if we are ill, God will ..... us?" Tot says, "Heal us!" That's because Jesus is alive!




















To see what we do for Easter in year 2010, go here.

Back from Hiatus!

Language Arts/Social: We watched a Black Light Theatre performance brought in by Act 3 from Argentina, entitled; Circo Fokus Bokus. Beautiful colours and skillful puppetry enhances the gentle story of 5 friends who were roped into a circus to perform quite by accident. KB enjoyed the character of a juggler the most.




















KB's first scrap-book craft!
This was a homeschool co-op on scrap-booking that was surprisingly fun for me but especially for KB! There were about 6 kids altogether. The fact that KB did 80% of the craft all by himself is what made this session so special. He chose and painted all the three cardboards, chose two variety of fancy papers, picked a photo, chose the stickers, did all the pasting and select the title "I love you" to go with the photo. And mummy just tied the knots and string the three pieces together. We intend to use this art of scrap-booking to create note-books for topical study in the future. On the way home, KB said "my craft very nice leh". Very delighted boy.






































Free play/imagination: KB tried to create a slope. I got him a mitten for fun and I guess that got him inspired as well. A cardboard is easily a child's BEST toy. He had so much fun trying to build it in such a way it would hold him, but as any child would, he also enjoys tumbling.





























Writing/Reading: KB really likes scribbling so he naturally likes writing too. We start by writing all the letters of his name. Doing word family of '-at' to start. We're using Ruth Beechick's The 3'Rs, and beginner readers from Bob Books to complement Ruth's method.




Experiential learning/field trips: Learning how yarn comes from cacoon! KB gets to watch how cacoon is first boiled and the thread spun to create raw yarn that was rough to the touch.

The world through Theo's eyes

It is amazing how Theo makes connection to what he experiences and see in the day and then expresses it in his own way.

Today he was playing 'boat' in a small cardboard, then he tore it up to make a 'giant plane' and whizzed it in the sky. I asked if he would like to paint little windows on the plane, but he didn't. He tore the wings and folded up to make little houses. Then he tells me he wants to paint the house.















(The transformation of his cardboard took place too fast, so quick I didnt had chance to grab my camera, but I witness every single delightful moment before my eyes and this was too precious to miss for any mummy. This was what was left after the boys went to bed.)

This is Theo's version of "Fire". Wonderful use of colour tones as a fire would have. Great observation.















This is the first story he had painted! A milestone indeed. Aged 3yrs, 8mths.
He tells me this, "The black circles are flying fox, the red colour line is a safety belt for firemen to slide all the way down. The red and orange is a fire, the green circle is sparklers, then there are some grass beside it. And an orange one is a helicopter hovering over the fire to put out the fire."
Impressive description of a story.




















(Theo does not attend art classes nor is under any instruction to draw. These are all spontaneous drawings purely initiated by him.)

Random year-end activities - Yr2010

Dec 2010 flew by too fast for us to document our activities. Our major activity is our Advent Calendar. Theo learnt that each day has a number date assigned to it and was patient enough to wait each day to reveal the picture in the window.










Pre-writing He also started doing mazes on Kumon aged 3,4,5. This was an extension of pre-writing practises after he had mastered a very steady grip few months ago. Now he is having fun.
















Science
We did some colour mixture experiments which made Theo very excited about colours he could use.















Theo visited the dentist for the first time! He was so not posing for pictures. Look at what he is holding! Mummy got him a little turtle to hold on to, in case he was afraid. Theo was SO brave. Kudos to So gentle and so friendly Dr Tay. I think she spent a good 10mins chatting with him and that really put him at ease. After the session, Theo told me, "Mummy, the dentist gave my teeth names lah... ahahah... I don't like it... he also said some are "Michael, David... aiya, so funny. He also counted my teeth mummy."




















some unforgettable sleep poses














Morning prayer (boys just hav'ta have some actions!)
And he now likes to end his night by having everyone say "Good night and sweet dreams!"

Theme "Solar System"

Both boys had taken ill for about 2 weeks, with Elias being admitted for 3 days. But we still thank God that we manage do some activities at home inspite of that.

Social



















A leisurely boat ride at Clarke Quay with a friend.

Celebrating daddy's birthday at Sentosa with cousin. Then blow candles at home. :)

































Math
Sorting and counting
This is an excellent activity to do with two young tots. Little brother (23 months old) was learning to match coloured pipe clean with the same coloured cup, while KB was sorting colour and counting sticks per cup. The cups are randomly placed in the same room. Each child is required to look for the coloured cups to match the pipe cleaners they are holding. After playing for awhile, I observed that they tend to remember where specific coloured cup is placed.




3D imaging
using Magna tiles, KB was able to construct various dimensional objects. A wonderful independent play toy that helps him see things in 3D. KB enjoys this tremendously.














Sort according to colour and size
We do this using recycled egg carton. Mummy trimmed the sides of the carton packaging as it was very sharp. Considering the beads which was so small and varied, KB did this ever so patiently, sorting all the beads steadily.
















Sort according to 'patterned' or 'solid'
These were actually mummy's fancy paper from Japan, but was used for another sorting activity that KB enjoyed.




















Pretend Play
KB set up his "Pasah malam" stall with mummy encouraging him to 'categorise' his food items and cutleries. pre-math activities learnt through play.
















Large motor + lifeskills (take turns)

Year-end is always so filled with cloudy skies and so much rain. We did not like to stay indoors much in the morning but had no choice, so this trampoline were handy in helping both boys burn some energy. Plus we were able to hone in some character while learning to take turn to play this exceedingly attractive 'toy'. We used the timer and each boy was allowed 1 min on the trampoline.














Theme "Solar System"
Delight-learning

Science
Solar system. This is the theme we took for the month. KB has taken an interest in the galaxy feature on mummy's galaxy S and we decided to extend his interest for fun.

We did a giant 48-piece solar system floor puzzle and talked about the earth we live in with this soft-as-pillow globe. A real treasure with young kids as we could literally hug the earth and KB could look up the countries easily with an adult. We also read books that talked about the sun, moon, planets. It was fun.









Art & Craft














We did a giant solar system complete with the 9 planets, including dwarf planet Pluto. Then we used coffee filter paper to create 'planets' with its various colour and distance to the moon. Idea taken from here. It was simply awesome watching the water spread on the coffee filter paper. Then KB used white paint, an old toothbrush and a recycled ice-cream stick to create tiny stars in the galaxy (see picture). KB did the stars, planets and mummy helped to cut the paper (Not that easy for a 3-yr-old as coffee filter paper is rather hard). Then we had the 'planets' pasted in the solar system with the nearest planet to the sun to the furthest. We talked about 'nearest' and 'furthest' and mummy could not resist throwing in some 'sight words' for fun.






















Art & Craft
Printing with balloons
We used the three primary colours to create opportunities for colour mixing




















Painting on transparent plastic sheets
Seeing colours on both side of the plastic sheet creates a new perspective of looking at art.


















Cooking
Apple pancake. KB helped to shake the pancake mixture and spread whipped cream on pancake. What a delightful breakfast.











Outdoor
Flying kite amidst November rain. One of our playground moments.



















A trip to a local nursery