I started off with Sophie's dinner (yes... bad timing), giving her slices of apple in hope to engage her five senses (touch and taste). And of course, apples were mentioned in the story I was going to read her. After dinner, I took her to her playroom and read her the story (instead of her bath, bad bad timing). That went okay, she was a little restless but still manageable... Then I took out the picture of the tree and the pieces of apples and leaves... A point of no return - bad place to do the activity. Sophie was so used to freeplaying in the room that she could not even understand what I wanted her to do. Instead of pasting the apples on the tree, she tried to pluck them out...
I panicked a little, not knowing how to carry on the activity without appearing desperate (I failed...). So, I showed her how to paste the apples and leaves on the tree. Of course, Sophie had other ideas (not interested at all!) and started crawling away with the thermometer (how did she get hold of that?) after kicking all the pieces of paper away.
That's it! Bad bad bad choice of materials... I should have used stickers instead of my DIY "apples" and leaves with double-sided tape at the back. It was hard to peel and difficult to stick on for Sophie. Laying the pieces of paper around was not intelligent at all... In the end, I had to peel all the "apples" and "leaves" first and hand them, one at a time, to Sophie and guide her where to paste them. All the while with her in my arms... What a disappointment! I wonder what she has learnt in the process?
I had to show her what to do...
End product - My Apple Tree (with some apples and leaves falling...)
Sophie's mommy, good try, and don't give up. Did you paint the tree? nice job! I see two things going on here. Seems like your objective is to get Sophie to "take, aim and paste". You may want to try using felt cloth cut into tree and leaves and apples and they should work perfectly well too. If your objective is to get Sophie learn about apples, then you may want to spend a couple of days to just have apple days activities with real apple so that she can relate the concept of apple to the fruit itself. For me, I am toward language based, so hasn't tried hand-eye coodination with E yet. I want him to grasp the concept first. I used to read "Ten Apples Up on top" by Dr Seuss to E many times since 3 months old, and I showed him the real fruit many times when we go grocery store, let him feel touch, smell and taste. Now he will say "Apple" whenever I ask him "what is this?". Not that I am expert, I am also learning with him. Just to share my experience, anyway kids learn differently, there are no hard and fast rules on how they learn. U did a great job, and keep trying.
ReplyDeleteyes, I am sure she learnt in the process. Any activities is a learning process for them. Don't see them quiet, quiet, their brain is like a sponge! Can absorb tons of knowledge! Just have fun doing activities with her, and don't worry too much otherwise it will become a stress for you. I am sure Sophie has learned in one way or another. Good job, Sophie and mommy!!
ReplyDeleteI like the apple tree. It looks so nice. Too bad I am hopeless in Art. Hee... I cannot even conduct a proper Art lesson for a P1 class. That's how hopeless I am. =p
ReplyDeletewow! Love the apple and tree! It's a very fun activity, but I think maybe more suitable for Phoebe's age ? A little chim for Sophie. I think if Phoebe was there, she would have enjoyed it thoroughly!! :)
ReplyDeletewow! Love the apple and tree! It's a very fun activity, but I think maybe more suitable for Phoebe's age ? A little chim for Sophie. I think if Phoebe was there, she would have enjoyed it thoroughly!! :)
ReplyDelete