Lessons Kids Learn with Farm Pretend Play

It all started when I began preparing for my second child’s first birthday party.  We chose the farm as a party theme.  Then, I used the theme as inspiration in coming up with games and activities during the party.  Our guests loved the theme and the games.  But I guess our kids loved the theme so much that months after my second child’s first birthday party, my kids are still playing and enjoying farm-related games and activities inspired by the games we played at my son’s farm-themed birthday party.  You may click here to read about our farm-themed birthday party program in detail.  Our farm party theme turned out to be a seedbed of many wonderful pretend play scenarios and home school lessons.

The kids actually started learning about the farm even before our second child’s birthday party.  We had been reading books about the farm to them and they really enjoyed it.  Their curiosity about the farm was intensified when we started preparing the materials and props for our farm-themed kiddie party.  We bought plaid tops and farmer hats, plastic fruit and vegetable toys and baskets.  We made farm-related crafts and art projects.  You may click here, here, here and here to see some of them.  We sang and danced to the music of songs about farm animals.  I also taught my kids the barn dance.  My youngest son (the birthday boy) loved it very much especially the tap-tap-tap and clap-clap-clap portion of the dance.  My kids and I still use our costumes and props when we play at home.  It makes us enjoy our pretend play even more.

Here are activities/scenarios that they like to imitate and the lessons they learn while engaging in these activities.

Planting and Harvest time – Reading books about the farm paved the way for our discussions about life on the farm.  One of the things that I was able to discuss with them is the concept/law of the farm that when you plant, you harvest.  But it takes some time before you can harvest.  So, it would be good to be busy with something else while waiting for harvest time.  One time, we drew a farm scene in a manila paper.  My eldest son asked me to draw the vegetables in our vegetable garden.  He and his younger brother colored it.  Then, I scattered the plastic toys in the house and gave each one of them a basket.  They went around “harvesting” fruits and vegetables.  This was similar to the game we had in my youngest son’s birthday party where the kids raced to harvest farm produce.  Talking about harvesting and planting enabled me to introduce farm machines as well.  I read books to them showing these things.

Farmer’s Market – Through our farm pretend play, I was able to share with my kids that farmers sell their farm products in the Farmer’s Market.  They love this pretend play!  Since my youngest just turned one, he’s the customer most of the time.  My eldest is the farmer selling his produce.  Sometimes, he also pretends to sell other farm products like eggs and farm animals.  They use play money in their transaction.  My eldest gets to practice his Math skills in counting, addition and subtraction.  He also gets to practice his writing skills because he puts up signs in his stall.  He learns about the farm business as we play.  My youngest learns to identify objects through their pretend play and to differentiate between fruits and vegetables.  Sometimes, he helps his brother set up his stall by separating the fruits from the vegetables in the display.  We like playing “bring me” games with my youngest son, too.  We’re delighted every time he brings us the correct fruit or vegetable.

Restaurant in the Farm – This is also one of their favorites.  They pretend to cook the vegetables that they harvest from their farm.  Then, they pretend to make fruit shakes.  I teach them simple recipes as we pretend to cook dishes using their plastic toys.  It helps my eldest to become familiar with the ingredients of some dishes.  We use some of my youngest son’s books and pretend they are our menu.  This pretend play teaches them that when they plant, they will not go hungry because they can cook what they harvest.  Moreover, it influences their real food and drink choices.  Pretending to eat fruits and vegetables at play prepares them for mealtimes.  Kids also get to practice their Math and Applied Math skills in this activity as they pretend to run their restaurant.

Caring for farm animals – One of the games we had at my son’s birthday party is to ask the kids to help the farmer/birthday boy to gather his animals back in the farm.  Two teams raced to round out the animals and bring them back to the big red barn.  At home, we read more about farm life.  We talk about where the animals live on the farm, what they eat, what they do, etc.  We also color some cut outs or coloring pages.  Both of my kids loved imitating the sounds that farm animals make.  Sometimes, we imitate their actions, too.  Recently, we went to a zoo where they saw farm animals too.  They enjoyed that field trip very much!

I plan to bring them to a real farm this summer.  I’m excited to see how they would react as they see real farm animals in action and different fruits and vegetables that we usually talk about in our farm pretend plays.  I’m sure they will find that experience fascinating as well. 

School is already over for most kids but it’s still possible for kids to keep on learning this summer.  These kinds of pretend plays can mean hours of fun and learning for your little ones.  Try them and have fun with your kids pretending to be on the farm!

Here are some of the books we have about the farm:

• The Three Little Pigs (with house and finger puppets)
• Clifford’s Animal Sounds
• Big Red Barn
• On the Farm
• Farm (Lift the Flap)
• Click, Clack, Moo, Cows that Type
• Animals by Brainy Baby
• Fruits and Vegetables Lovely Mini Padded Board Book
• Farm Animals (A Mini Magic Color Book)
• Farm cloth book by Fisher Price

* This was originally published at Smart Parenting Online. 

7 Benefits Kids Get from Pretending to be a Doctor

One of my eldest son’s favorite pretend plays, aside from his all-time-favorite of playing store, is pretending to be a doctor.  He would borrow some of the things we have in the house that he often sees in his pediatrician’s clinic or what he sees doctors use during our visits to the hospital (i.e. cotton balls, band-aids, digital thermometer).  Sometimes, he uses other household items and imagines them to be doctor’s things.  Recently, I bought him his own set of doctor toys to help him get into character during his dramatic plays. 

He used to pretend doctor before with me, his dad or our maids as his patients.  Since I have already given birth, his new favorite patient now is his baby brother.  He loves to imitate what their pediatrician would usually do during our visits to her clinic and do the same things to his brother.

I encourage pretend play a lot in our household because I recognize the many benefits that it gives to kids.  I was inspired to mentally take note of the specific benefits that kids get from pretending to be a doctor a few weeks ago while playing with my son.

Let me share some of them with you in this article.

1.     It allows the child to put himself in his doctor’s shoes, try out doctor duties, and consider the possibility of becoming one in the future.  When a child imitates what a doctor does to his patients, the child gets to experience being a “doctor” even for a few minutes or an hour.  His pretend play somehow transports him to the future.  It allows him to imagine himself as a doctor and carrying out doctor duties.  This kind of pretend play can actually be the child’s first step to walking towards his dream profession.  One of the questions I ask my son when he pretends to be a doctor is if he wants to become one someday.  He would always say yes.  I think it boosts his confidence as well that he can indeed become a doctor when he grows up.  I think he also likes what doctors do that’s why he likes to imitate them and become like them someday.      

2.     It makes the child more comfortable with visits to the doctor and the procedures usually done during these visits.  Although my eldest son is not afraid of going to his doctor’s clinic, pretend plays help him become more comfortable with whatever will happen during our next visits especially if he would have to undergo procedures he hasn’t experienced in the past.  Our pretend plays serve as simulations of what can or will happen next time we go to the doctor.  For kids who are afraid to go to the doctor, this kind of play can allow them to experience and realize that doctors are our friends because they help us to become well and that going to the doctor can be pleasant.  Therefore, they need not fear or cry every time.  This kind of dramatic play can help make kids become more cooperative next time they go to the doctor’s clinic when they simply need to drink a vitamin or medicine, or you need to clean their wound.

3.     It provides an opportunity for the child to role-play different medical scenarios including basic first aid and other medical emergencies.  Kids thus learn not to panic when these situations happen and learn how to handle them in the process.  Moms and Dads can use these pretend plays to teach kids what to do when they or someone else gets wounded, injured or sick.  That way, kids can learn the basic concepts of first aid or at least be oriented through play of what to do or whom to call during medical emergencies.  Knowledge of these basic life skills equips the kids even through play and lessens their fear of these medical emergencies since they somehow know what to expect and do during these situations.     

4.     It helps the child practice his communication skills as he pretends to talk to his patients.  Pretend scenarios give us insight into what the child understands about the situation he is trying to imitate.  His words and how he talks to the other kids or people he is playing with allows him to manifest his communication skills.

5.     Pretending to use doctor tools helps increase the child’s vocabulary as he learns the names of the different things used by a doctor.  One of the things I did with my son when I bought his doctor toy set is to tell him the name of each item in his medical kit.  I also told him and explained to him the different uses of his tools.  After some time of playing doctor and using his tools, I eventually hear him use their names as he refers to them during play.

6.     Pretending to write on prescription pads enables children to practice their writing and spelling skills.  During one of our play times, my son got a pen and a small pad of paper.  He said he will write the name of the medicine and vitamin for his baby brother.  I took that as a cue and an opportunity to encourage him to write his full name as well with the word doctor before it just like in his pediatrician’s prescription pad.  He liked the idea instantly.  That has been our daily writing practice in the past weeks.  There are days when he would copy the word doctor and write it in his pad.  But there are also days when he would try to write words from memory aside from his name.  I also searched the web for coloring pages on doctors and printed some so my son can practice his coloring skills too.  You may click here and here to check them out.

7.     It teaches the child empathy for people who are sick or who are not well and encourages and inspires the child to do something to help them.  Through these kinds of pretend play, kids can learn to be extra caring and sensitive to the needs of people who are sick.  Moreover, it allows them to practice the ideal behavior around sick or frail people and in clinics or hospitals.

I plan to buy my son some children’s books about doctors too and maybe a small scrub suit or lab gown that he can use during his pretend plays.  I know that these would further enhance his imagination during his pretend plays.  If you happen to know some good children’s books from our local bookstores or stores that sell small lab gowns or scrub suits, please leave a comment so I can check them out.  Thanks!  Now, I need to get back to our clinic and be my little doctor’s assistant.

* This was originally published at Smart Parenting Online. 

How to Play a Simple Sight Words Game

One of our learning goals for our second child this year is to help him read more sight words. The other day, I made a simple matching game for him using sight words. He and his older brother loved playing it. This encouraged me to continue using it yesterday but with a new set of sight words and a twist.

Let me share what we did. It's actually very simple so anyone can easily do what we did.

1. First, I typed a number of sight words using Word per page and printed them using bold and big fonts on a bond paper. I typed 4 sight words per page so my son can easily read the words even from afar. You can also print them on cardstock or board and laminate them to make them last longer. I was just experimenting. That's why I used bond paper but I think I will make sturdier versions later.

2. I cut the paper into strips to separate each sight word from the other. 

3. Then, I put some masking tape at the back of each strip of paper.

4. Our first game the other day was match the sight word with a body part. I initially wanted my 4-year-old to stick the strips of paper on his own body parts. But his older brother wanted to play with him so my eldest son volunteered to be part of the game. The boys had fun playing! My younger son enjoyed sticking strips of paper on his big brother. My eldest son had fun playing with his younger brother while helping him learn to read sight words about body parts. This is one of the reasons I love homeschooling. It provides many opportunities for family members to bond, have fun and learn at the same time.

5. The following day, I printed a new set of sight words. I did the same steps I mentioned above (steps 1 to 3). This time, these are sight words for what he usually sees in our home/house.

6. After putting masking tape on the strips of paper, we stuck them first on a wall. 

7. Before starting the matching game, I asked my 4-year-old son to spell and read each word first. Since he could not read them yet, I helped him by sounding out the letters and teaching him how to easily decode them and I read them for him too. After spelling and reading each one, I asked him to turn around before starting the matching game.

8. I asked him to get one strip of paper at random from the wall and stick it to the right object at home. All the sight words I printed yesterday pertained to objects except one. I included the word baby to make it more fun. ;) Mateo already knows how to read and spell the word BABY but I wanted to include it still because I saw how much he enjoyed having his older brother participate in the game. This time, I wanted him to enjoy it with his baby brother. :)

We will be playing with these sight words in the next days until my 4-year-old son masters them. Then, I'll add more sight words as we progress.

What do you think of this game? Will you try it with your child too? Let me know how it goes.

6 Ways to Maximize Your Visit to the Manila International Book Fair (#MIBF2015)

The 36th Manila International Book Fair is here again! Do you have plans to visit the book fair? Book lovers like me usually look forward to this yearly event and mark our calendars so we don't miss it. There are many exciting things that happen every year at this fair: book launches, storyteling sessions, book signing, meet and greet with authors and illustrators, seminras and workshops and BIG discounts from publishers! 

Photo source here.

I love going to the bookstore. The prospect of finding good books to read make my heart beat faster. hahaha Thus, going to the MIBF where there is a sea of books makes me feel ecstatic. ;) 

So, with two days left of the book fair, how do you make the most of your trip to SMX? Let me share some ways based on my previous visits in the past years.

1. Get FREE tickets to the MIBF through the bookstores or publishers who will be exhibitors at the fair. You don't need to spend on tickets. Publishers and bookstores usually give away free tickets either at their branches or you can download from their websites. We got our free tickets this year from Fully Booked BGC. 

For example, you can print this ticket from OMF Lit and present it as your FREE pass.

Here are some links where you can download FREE tickets to MIBF 2015.

Adarna House
CSM Publishing
JesCom
St. Matthew's Publishing

2. Make a list. Make a list of topics where you plan to get new books. Then, check out what books (old and new) you'd like to get for these topics you have in mind. Or if you have book titles already that you are interested to buy, make a list of book titles.

3. Check out publishers for promos and events. Once you already have a list of topics or book titles, I suggest that you check out the websites or social media accounts of the publsihers of these books on your list. That way, you would know if they have promos like discounts or book bundles for the books that you like. You might also find interesting activities related to the books in your list like book launch or book signing, meet and greet with the author or free pass to special events by the publisher for those who will buy copies of their books.

Here's an activity by Scholastic for the Geronimo Stilton series.

Check out my post about Geronimo here.

Here are some examples of promos you might want to avail of.

Source: OMF Lit's Facebook Page.

Here are some book launches you might find interesting.

The official book launch of this book by one of my brothers from CYA
will be on Sunday. Grab a copy if you are a leader! Launch price is P325!

This is the first book of my friend Jomar Hilario.
It will be launched on Sunday together with other new titles
from Shepherd's Voice Publications. Take advantage of its P250 launch price!

4. Get the exact location of the publishers whose booths you want to visit. Get their booth number as well as their location. You can find this at their websites or social media posts also or at teh entrance of SMX where this is usually posted. This helps you plan your route around the book fair. Believe me, if you haven't been to the past MIBFs, you can easily get lost and overwhelmed and forget where you want to go or what you really want to buy. This brings me to my next suggestion.

5. Set your budget. After considering the promos, you need to edit your list of books that you want to buy based on how much you are willing to spend for your visit. It might be difficult to stick to your budget once you are already at the book fair (especially if you are a bookworm like me) but having a budget would at least caution you or remind you not to buy too many books or all the nice books that you will see. What you can do is make a list or mental note of the nice books you'll see and plan when to buy them. Make them part of your next shopping list or wish list for Christmas for example. You can also ask the publishers or sellers if they will have future sales and promos in their stores or branches. This will give you an opportunity to save up for these future promos.  

You can get this discount couplon when you post a photo
of yourself at OMF Lit's booth. 

6. Enjoy the experience of going around the book fair. The place might be crowded especially during weekends but you can still enjoy going around the venue by taking your time to browse through aisles and aisles of books and other educational materials that you will see at the MIBF. 

Our Lenten Journey (2015)

Lent has started! It's almost the second Sunday of Lent and I praise and thank God for the wisdom and grace He has given me and my family to continue our Lenten family traditions and to start new ones.

I consider this is a miracle because I have a newborn baby whom I breastfeed on demand. I thank God for sustaining me and giving me energy to lead our devotions and activities. I thank God also that it seems that my two older boys are enjoying our activities.

Let me share what we have started so far. 

Ash Wednesday was a full day in our home.

We changed the curtains and throw pillow cases changed into lavender. We also changed the cover of our altar into the same color.

  

My eldest son made Lenten banners.

My two older kids made the Alleluia banner and hid it.

I asked my eldest son to write "From: Jesus" in the gift tag
and on the opposite side of it, "salvation" and "eternal life."

We started using the Lenten calendar I printed the day before. For alternative Lenten Calendar ideas, click here.

Lenten Calendar from Catholic Icing blog.

The kids dropped coins on our alms box (a cereal box turned into a coin box covered with purple paper and with the word ALMS written on it).

I declared that for the entire season of Lent, our family will fast on our favorite dessert: ice cream and chocolates. So on the night before Ash Wednesday, my husband and I had a brief Valentine date at a nearby ice cream store. ;)

We've started observing the abstinence of meat on prescribed days like Ash Wednesday and all Fridays of Lent. I put to use the 4-week Cycle Menu Plan for Lent that I made . Click here to go to my post about meatless Fridays of Lent.

And since we love music, we started reviewing and singing songs usually sang during Lent. Last week, my eldest son who can play the piano oido and who is starting to learn how to read notes learned how to play the song Hosea.

We went to Mass on Ash Wednesday and had ashes on our foreheads.



It's our baby's first Ash Wednesday!

As part of our new Lenten tradition, I have started reading the Bible or Bible stories from the kids' Children's Bible over breakfast. Then, I reinforce with a bit of storytelling as well when I read from my Bible.

After our storytelling and Bible reading, I sometimes ask the kids to make a drawing based on the story that they just heard. Sometimes, I ask them to color coloring pages about the stories that I told them. I also ask my eldest son to answer some worksheets related to our topics. Sometimes, he answers word searches, mazes, questions or fill in the blanks worksheets. I search the internet for ideas. I also get some help from the Holy Heroes site for inspiration and activities. I choose only what I think my kids are ready to do at this time/age.

Just like in the past, I reinforce these lessons and stories by letting them watch some videos on our topics/Bible heroes/characters. One of the recent videos I let them watch is about the 10 Commandments.

The kids so far are enjoying these activities. I hear them a lot talking about the Bible characters and stories we have discussed so far. Sometimes, these stories become the theme of their pretend plays. 

We have also resumed our night prayers as a family. For a while we just listen to the kids say their night prayers in the past months after I gave birth then we send them to bed to sleep. This Lent, we started praying again with them after they say their night prayers.

Lent is indeed a season of grace and I thank God for His grace that is new every morning. His grace is what enables us to keep on keeping on in our faith walk. It's what enables us to be faithful even after we fall and make mistakes along the way. It's His grace that reminds us of His unconditional and steadfast love. It's His grace that gives me encouragement to continuously strive to be more like Him in all things, especially in parenting my kids.

This year, I do not have a new verse to guide me throughout my Lenten journey. I have decided to stick to the verse that I adapted years ago. I believe that I need to be reminded of this verse a lot so I can grow closer to living it out. My verse for Lent again this year is: "Slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."

I pray that God would continue to bless the rest of our Lenten journey.

A Birthday Party Inspired by the Book Go, Train, Go! and Thomas and Friends

A few weeks after we celebrated my eldest son's 5th birthday last year, we celebrated my younger son's 2nd birthday. Since the celebrations were close to each other, I planned for something low key. Our goal is to simply celebrate his uniqueness and this milestone.

 

I was at first torn between two themes or two books, both of which are my youngest son's favorites. The first book is Go, Dogs, Go! and the second is Go, Train, Go! I decided to make it mainly a train-themed birthday party with Thomas the Tank Engine as inspiration. But I also included a dog in the cake design since my son loves dogs and there's also a dog in the book Go, Train, Go!

I was supposed to write this blog post last year days after the party but I got busy with so many things. Since my younger son's birthday is just around the corner again, I've decided to finally write/finish this blog post.

Let me share how I made his birthday last year memorable and according to the theme that he loves.

I started mindstorming months before his birthday. I jotted my ideas in my online notebook. Then, close to his birthday, I finalized the details and started working on them or executing them.

I contacted the same cake supplier who supplied my eldest son's cake and cupcakes during his Rockstar party. I like relying on the same suppliers once I find good and trustworthy ones. It lessens my stress due to uncertainties.

I also contacted the same caterers/food delivery service: Amber for spaghetti and pork barbecue and Chooks-to-go for the roasted chicken. We ordered beef caldereta from Goldilocks. For the ice cream in cups, I reserved and bought them from the minimart near our house just like what I did during my eldest son's birthday party. I also bought pichi-pichi from a nearby branch of Don Benito.

The cake and cupcake table set up with the birthday banner minus the toy train
and the ice cream in cups which should be in the no mud cargo truck. ;)

Food delivery services are party life savers!

I bought the other sweet treats and the contents of the loot bag from the grocery just like in the previous parties I organized.

Below are the additional treats we served which were inspired by the story in the book. I arranged them in such a way that they would look like cargoes being pulled by Thomas the Tank Engine. The toy train is my birthday gift to my son. It doubled as décor on the day of the party.

Additional treats: Sticko logs, biscuits covered with milk chocolate (from cows),
and cocktail hot dogs. Not in photo are the chocolate ice cream in cups (no mud!)

Loot bag contents

I sourced other lot bag contents from different malls. Looking for Thomas the Tank Engine items is not as easy as finding Lightning McQueen items. When my eldest son's birthday party theme was Cars, my mom and I did not have a great time looking for giveaways. They were in abundance. There were many choices. But with Thomas the Tank Engine, the stocks were limited and I had to visit several malls to check which ones have these items. Thank God we eventually found some items at Market Market and Festival mall in one of our visits.

 

I was glad that we found Thomas the Tank Engine paper plates and cups, too! Then, I bought blue plastic cups for the adult guests. We served ice tea and minute maid juice to the adults and ready-to-drink juice to the kids.

As for the invitation, I just made one myself and created an event in Facebook where I invited immediate family members, ninongs and ninangs and close family friends. I emailed the e-invite to those who are not on Facebook frequently. I also sent text messages to make sure that guests got my email or saw the Facebook event I made.

Here's the invitation I made on Power Point.

It was a good thing I found a Thomas the Tank Engine Happy Birthday banner. I just made additional decors in line with the party theme like signs and food labels. These were inspired by the posts I read in the internet.

I ordered balloons and rented tables and chairs from the same supplier I got for my eldest son's birthday party. I'm really glad to have discovered that there's a supplier/provider for these items within our village. No need to pay extra charges for transportation costs and they can easy deliver. No worries about traffic or delays.

It was just a small/intimate party but we enjoyed our time together. My husband was still in Sweden that time so we used Skype to let him "join" in the celebration.

Mateo with his Ninang Raquel.

Mateo with his Ninong Pete and Ninang Ana.

After singing the birthday song to Mateo and letting him blow the candle on his cake, we had our early dinner already.

I did not prepare games anymore. I only prepared coloring pages related to the theme and crayons to keep the kids occupied while the adults mingled and chatted with each other. Then, Mateo and I read the book Go, Train, Go! to our guests.

The Thomas the Tank Engine coloring pages kept the kids busy.

Mateo entertained his guests by reading to them Go, Train! Go!

  

I believe that birthdays should be celebrated even in simple ways because it's one way of showing our gratitude for the gift of life and for celebrating the gift that the person is in our lives. Birthdays happen only once a year. It's a great opportunity to make our loved ones feel extra special, important and loved! (Of course, we should strive to make them feel special, loved and important every day.)

Time flies so fast! In a week, my son Mateo will be turning 3 years old. Watch out for my next post where I will detail my preparation for his 3rd birthday party. It's a construction-themed party this time! 

 

Letter of the Week Activities with the Letter B

It has been a B as in beautiful week with the letter B for me and my sons last week!

 

Let me share with you the activities that we had.

 

1. Finger-painting of letter O by Mateo - We always kick off our Letter of the Week Activity with finger-painting by my 2-year-old son. It's very simple but effective, relaxing and therapeutic.

 

 

2. Painting the Life Cycle of the Butterfly - I already had this idea right after we bought a copy of the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. But I had to postpone it for some time when I have decided to do Letter of the Week activities with my sons. Having the letter B as our Letter of the Week was just the perfect time for it.

This was made by Mateo.

 

 

Here's how we did it step-by-step:

     a. I folded a bond paper into 4 parts/quadrants. Each child was given his own bond paper.

 

     b. I painted my son's hand with green paint using a brush.

 

     c. Then, I helped my son press his hand on the first quadrant of the bond paper.

 

     d. Next, I helped/guided my son as he dipped one finger on green paint again and made a series of dots that are joined to each other like a caterpillar.

 

     e. After finishing the body of the caterpillar, I helped/guided my son in dipping another finger in red paint and in making a head for the caterpillar.

 

     f. While waiting for the leaf (hand print) and the caterpillar to dry, I helped/guided my son again in painting a cocoon using his fingers. I helped/guided him in dipping his finger on brown paint and pressing it on the bond paper to form the pattern of a cocoon.

 

     g. We cleaned his hand/fingers first before painting them with his chosen color for the wings of the butterfly. I used a paint brush to paint my sons' palms.

 

      h. Then, I helped each child press his palm gently on the last quadrant. You can use both hands/palms to stamp hand prints for the wings or you can just use the same hand to do that. If you use the same hand though, you need to coat the same palm with paint again before pressing it the second time. 

 

       i. I waited for the paint to dry to add details to the caterpillar, an egg on the leaf hand print and additional colors and the body and details on the butterfly.

 

       j. Once dry, I helped/guided my son as he dipped his finger on white paint and pressed it on the green leaf.

 

       k. I assisted my son in drawing the eyes, smile and antennae on the caterpillar.

 

       l. I helped/assisted my son in finger-painting the body of the caterpillar and eventually finger painting and drawing the additional details.

 

This was made by Yanthy.

Note: My eldest son worked independently on this art activity. He would simply watch what I was doing with his younger brother whose hand I am holding/guiding most of the time. I asked him to imitate what I was doing and I would just intervene if necessary. ;)

 

I explained our art activity briefly, relating it to the story in our book. We capped our painting activity by singing the butterfly song that we learned from one of our helpers. It's actually spelling out the word BUTTERFLY. :)

 

3. Making a Bulldozer Toy Out of Paper Cut-out - I recently found and bought a book from the Book Sale that's about Diggers. It's an activity book about construction toys and areas. I was delighted when I saw it because I know that my sons would like it. In one of its pages, there's a bulldozer toy that can be cut-out and formed. I proceeded to cut the parts of the toy after we finished our painting activity on the life cycle of a butterfly. The boys were very happy to play with the paper bulldozer as soon as I finished it. 

 

 

4. Reading books about Things that Start with the Letter B - Aside from reading the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar, we read books about bulldozers, buses, bees and stories from the Bible. As usual, we used props (their toys) as we read the books.

 

 

5. Serving and Eating Food that Start with the Letter B - Some of the food that we had starting with the letter B last week were the following: banana with peanut butter wrapped in tortilla, beef balls, eggnog biscuits which my sons imagined to be hosts (Body of Christ during their pretend play of the Holy Mass), and bangus or milkfish sinigang.

 

 

6. Bible Verse Writing Activity - This is part of our Catholic ABC Program. Aside from the art and reading activities that we have each week, I make sure that I introduce a Bible verse to my sons, particularly to my eldest son. I use this activity as an opportunity to practice my eldest son's listening, writing and spelling skills. Last week, our Bible verse was taken from John 6:51.

 

 

7. Playing with Toys that Start with the Letter B and Pretend Play - The boys played again with their construction toys that start with the letter B (bulldozer, backhoe, bike). After tracing his finger on the letter B puzzle mat, I removed the letter B and filled it with my son's building blocks. Both of my sons love playing with building blocks! They can play with these toys for hours, imagining scenarios and creating them using the building blocks. They also played bowling , basketball and my younger son played with his smaller balls.

  

Aside from their favorite pretend play with building blocks (wherein they pretend to have a parking lot/building), they also pretended to celebrate the Holy Mass. My eldest son pretended to be the priest most of the time, doubling as musician/pianist and choir sometimes. My younger son pretended to be a reader (lector/commentator), parishioner or Mass-goer, choir member and sometimes priest also. He enjoyed pretending to receive Holy Communion (he liked the eggnogs!).
 

My eldest son pretending to be a priest giving Holy Communion to our helper.

My toddler pretending to carry the Bible
during the entrance procession at the start of the Mass.

 

8. B as in Bethlehem Craft - This craft activity is in line with our Bible verse for the week as well. I learned while I was researching for the most appropriate verse for our letter of the week that Bethlehem means house of bread. That discovery affirmed my plans to make our DIY Bethlehem/Nativity décor. I recommend that you read this interesting article about Jesus as the Living Bread that came down from heaven and how perfect that He was born in Bethlehem.

 

I did the same DIY Bethlehem décor/craft using popsicle sticks with my toddler which I did with my eldest son last year.

 

Let me share the steps as well for this craft:

 

     a. I simply asked my son to paint 6 popsicle sticks with green paint.

 

     b. Then, I asked him to paint 1 popsicle stick with white paint, guiding him to leave a space for the face of Baby Jesus.

 

     c. We set aside these popsicle sticks to air-dry.

 

    d. I then painted cream colored paint to serve as faces to the yellow and blue popsicle sticks as well as the white popsicle stick. I let these air-dry once more.

 

     e. While letting them dry, I drew and cut out a star from a scrap of bond paper.

 

     f. I asked my toddler to squeeze silver glitter glue all over it. Then, we let it dry once more.

 

    g. When all the popsicle sticks were dry, I glued them to form a stable and inserted the sticks that represent the Holy Family. I broke the sticks that represent Mama Mary and Jesus so that they would be shorter than the stick that represented St. Joseph.

 

    h. When the faces that I painted were already dry, I drew the details using a sign pen. I also glued the star on top of the stable.

 

We hanged this décor in our Christmas tree afterwards.

 

This year, I did a different Bethlehem craft with my eldest son. I asked him to paint a milk carton with brown paint so we can use it as stable for our toilet paper tube characters in our DIY Nativity set. My toddler also helped out in painting the parts of the manger for this set. Then, I took charge of making B as in Baby Jesus out of the other half of the toilet paper tube we used for the manger. I used left over yellow paper to cut out the hay for the manger.

 

 

9. Flag-making Activity - My sons made the flags of Bahrain and Bangladesh.

 

 

It has been another B as in busy week for us but it was fun-filled and blessed especially since our week was capped with the All Saints' Day party of our homeschool group where my sons came as San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila and St. Dominic de Guzman.

 

My two sons as St. Dominic de Guzman and San Lorenzo Ruiz de Manila.

 

Today, we kicked off our new letter of the week - the letter C! Watch out for my post where I will summarize and enumerate our activities this week!