Hambali's Masterpieces

Hambali did his first 'human being' scribbled when he was 2 and a half years old.

Choosing Age-appropriate toys | 6-12 months old

I have promised a friend to send her an email on giving some suggestions the suitable toys for her 8 months old daughter as she wanted to avoid buying common types like doll for her little girl and wanting something that can enhance her daughter's development.

So, rather sent email, I think it is better I've shared that in here instead so others can benefit it as well. Read on.

Hanz's Note : Those toys featured here been with us for 6 years at most. Bought for our eldest child and being passed down for his younger brother and soon the newborn. One thing to remember, it is essential to invest toys that are durable and sturdy as it can last long and are not easily broken. Always check the safety standard but most well-known toy manufacturer will follow the standard safety and should be safe enough for your child. It is unnecessarily that you must get the same brand or the same toy like in the pictures. Those picture of ours are merely some guides and suggestions based on the purpose the toys being created.

6 – 12 Months
By this time babies are usually able to sit by themselves and are learning to crawl. They  will also be learning fine motor skills, such as pinching and grasping objects with just two fingers. So you’ll want to provide baby with a variety of toys to play with in all shapes and sizes to satisfy the growing curiosity and need to explore. Soon enough, they like to make things happen – they enjoy pushing a button and hearing a song, or seeing something light up. Having the ability to interact with their surroundings is very exciting and once they find something they like, they do it over and over again.

1) Sensorial & Fine Motor-Skill : Colourful objects that suits tiny hands with different textures on its surfaces should be selected by parents. Especially if the toys can be manipulated by twisting, turning, princing, grasping and pinching.

Note : This 5 textured balls manufactured by Playskool. Good for dexterity sensorial.

Toddler Class 2 | More Pre-mathematics & Fine-motor skills

Toddler Class with Mama continued last Sunday.

Started off a bit late as Hambali took forever to finish his breakfast. Papa did'nt managed to bring the boys to playground as both Papa and Abang Hanafi rushed off for wedding that noon.

Hambali started off with flash card for the first time and just the word for shapes, all 5 flashed each at 5 seconds.

Then, continued with collage activity.
Objective : Fine-motor skills through tearing and pasting on the designated shapes. Activity took about 15 minutes. Quite difficult for Hambali to do the tearing and I concluded he need to do this often.

Tearing old magazines into tiny pieces

Tips on Fun Water Play

To get your kids to love water, here's some idea that might be a solution. All these ideas applies to either toddler or preschooler:-

Adopting Montessori for toddler's motor skill (Part 2)

Activity #3 : Threading

Objective : Eye-hand coordination and improves concentration and dexterity

Adopting Montessori for toddler's motor skill (Part 1)

A bit of history on Montessori...

Montessori approach in teaching children was founded by Maria Montessori. Initially was meant for the handicapped children but after sometime, she realized it can be good too for any children. Montessori basically & partially stressed on motor-skill in learning & would utilised specially created tools for manipulation on specifically-purposed activity.

I, myself was fascinated by its concept but not really well-trained in this area. Somehow, I managed to get hands-on experienced before by working in Montessori preschool. I made a mental note on few activities they catered for their students and now I adopted some activities as part of my younger boy's activity.

These two are Baby Hambali's favourite activities!

Activity #1 : Pouring

Objective : Living Skills on pouring water (spatial skills)

Steps :
1. You just need two small plastic jugs about the size of your child can manage & few balls.
2. Show your child how this activity to be done one time only. Then your child can do the same.
3. After some time, you can replace the balls with smaller objects and finally replace it with water.

The ultimate objective for this skill is to pour water without any drops missed.

Activity #2 : Spooning

Objective : Living Skills on spooning (spatial skills)

Teaching English as a second language

Hanz's : This sharing was based when Hanafi was at the age between 5 to 6 years old. By now, the English language lesson for him has been some ongoing additional changes and extension, suitable for his ongoing progress.

To be honest, I did not use any specific syllabus or using any specific programs on educating my eldest boy, Hanafi, the English language. Neither do we send him to any English class. Basically, it dawned back to self-research, the available resources and the knowledge and experiences that I possess.

Exploratory action for toddlers

What is a toddler?

Toddlers age is about from 1 year old to 3 years old.

They are transitioning from one type of lifestyle to another, toddlers can be thought of as the "adolescents" of early childhood.They are in the transitional state between babyhood and childhood.Toddlers are no longer dependent babies, and yet they do not have the personalities or the thought processes of a school age child. They are beginning to seek independence, yet they require caregiver security.They are the rebellious, curious and information gatherers.

Classical Music is not only soothing but there's more to it!

I was introduced to Classical Music at the tender age of 16 by my ex-classmates cum good friend. At first, it did'nt make sense to me why she was so into Classical Music until I heard it myself after surrendered to her much coaxing. Initially, I could not tolerate with music without singing as at that point of time, music was another gateway for me to improve my English language grasp so listening to Roxette, Color Me Badd, Mariah Carey, New Kids On The Block managed to assist me so-so.

How to teach ABC creatively & effectively

How do you teach the alphabet to your child?

Singing the famous 'ABC Song'? Point letter in ABC book? Play the ABC videos to your child?

You are in the right track and those are the same things that I did previously with my elder son, Hanafi. Below are the tools that I've used for him and currently using it to Baby Hambali too.

 

The Idiot Box Can Babysit Your Child

People call it Idiot Box. True. If you misuse it.

But, use it wisely, you'll gain something out of it.

To parents especially, it can babysit your child while at the same time your child will be learning.

My google findings from WikiAnswers.com:-

Q:How do children learn best?
A:Everyone has their own, unique learning style, but most people fall into one of two basic categories:

* Visual Learners - people who learn best by seeing pictures and words
* Auditory Learners - people who learn best by hearing the information spoken

Homeschooling | Start-up Materials & Teaching Kits

I always wanted to teach my child ever since he was inside my womb. I've gain the self-fulfillment whenever he accomplish in anything, be it tiny little things. The joy in his face whenever he is feeling self-satisfied with what he learned is all that matters to me. That is why I always (most of the time) seek & look-out many materials that can help me to teach my child. At the same manner, me, try to be creative also create teaching materials too

Before this I slowly build up collection of books for my child & started the homeschooling process by reading to my child which is my firstborn, Hanafi since he was inside my womb. The reading continues gradually till now & plus he was learning a lot from watching educational vcds. Simultaneously, I started with other methods too by utilising all this materials one material at a time. The rule of thumb is age-appropriateness (child development studies in mind) & each steps of accomplishment my son achieve.

I love to share the materials that I invested specially dedicated to our homeschooling...