Letter "B" Book

"B" Based Activitiy - Bossy

In the morning, Sophie tried to run away when I was changing her clothes for school. I tried to grab hold of her but ended up pulling the plush toy (Goofy) in her arm instead.

Sophie : Mummy, don't pull Goofy's hat!

At school, a younger toddler dropped a glass and broke it while Sophie was having a snack.

Sophie : I told you (to be) careful... see the glass (is) broken!

"B" Based Activitiy - Baa Baa Black Sheep

After being “rejected” and told to “come back next season”, Sophie practised hard and finally managed to sing the “Baa Baa Black Sheep” with minimal glitch.

"B" Based Activitiy - Breakfast

The focus was on breakfast and self-feeding last Monday. Papa has always been more tolerant and forgiving when food mess is concerned. And I thought it would be great if he could take over the breakfast so that I do not have to watch Sophie make a mess. Breakfast is also good for training since we often easy food that can be spooned or picked up easily.



The focus today was on “bread” for “breakfast” as one of our “B” based activities. Clearly, I am much less willing to let Sophie feed herself. I was concerned with her oily fingers and eating habits. Although I tried to control myself, I could not help it at times. Of course, I did not know Papa had the camera on…

"B" Based Activitiy - Big Red Barn

We started on "Big Red Barn" almost a week ago, but it took me so long just to complete just the cover. Then I had a bit of problem searching for pictures online so we finally finished it today.

I decided to keep it simple this time. I merely want to introduce some barn animals and their babies. However, I included actual words this time because I notice that Sophie is starting to name letters in words. I think she is beginning to see words as strings of letters. Although she cannot read, it is quite an important step towards reading.

Although "Old MacDonald Had A Farm" has nothing to do with a barn, it talks about barn animals and Sophie loves it. However, we did read Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown. It is interesting how it captures her attention even though it does not really appeal to me.

"B" Based Activitiy - Buttons, Butterfly & Letter B (Jumping Clay)

It has been quite a while since we last did any threading. Sophie was not very keen and frankly, neither was I. However, I thought it would be good to see if she could actually thread better now so I let her try today.



I came to realise that I have not been giving Sophie enough affirmation and encouragement in her learning. She often feels more motivated if I make it fun and give her lots of cheering.



This is probably the best time for Sophie to learn anything or brush up her motor skills. Prior to this, we were quite frustrated every time we tried because she was just not ready to master the skills. Now, it only takes a few attempts for her to master the skills.



First attempt at threading and Sophie tried to “change the subject” by singing and doing everything else. Even when she did manage to thread a few, she was still hoping that I would let her off.



Sophie also likes to “mess up” deliberately to avoid making mistakes. So, I tried to break the task up into tiny bits (one hole at a time) to make it more manageable for her.



In the end, I had to make it game, asking her for “help” to complete the task. I would try this again to see if her confidence has got better after this.



Until today, I still cannot get Sophie to complete the letter with jumping clay. She would do a little and leave me to finish everything. But it is ok for me.

"B" Based Activity - Blotchy Butterflies

This was supposed to be an easy piece of work. After all, you just put some paint on a piece of paper and fold it over to create a symmetrical blotch. However, Sophie never fails to make a seemingly straightforward task extremely challenging… for me!



Fortunately, she was very enthusiastic and reasonably cooperative. She loved the “butterfly” effect. And she became a little more willing to follow my instructions because she wanted to create the pictures.



Although Sophie was getting better with the task, she also gained more confidence in the process and insisted on having her way. She put a lot of paint on to the paper so much of it got pressed out of the paper in the end.



In order to resolve that problem, I had to give her bigger pieces of paper. It was great that she started doing it her own way, putting paint further and further from the centre fold line. She also created some designs instead of simply leaving paint on the paper. I liked it that she checked with me before going through the steps.




After a while, I realised that Sophie was trying to put ALL the colours onto the paper. I was uncertain if the effect would be good, but I decided not to stop her… more like I gave up trying actually.



Although I took many video clips, we only took around 10 – 15 minutes for the entire session. It happened too quickly for me to process any thoughts. As I watched the clips, I realised she was slowly learning the way to do it right. Yet she was also bold enough to try out new ways and challenge me as she grew more confident. Indeed, Sophie never ceases to amaze me at times.



I hope she would watch these clips when she is older and appreciates her own learning process. Perhaps, she will also have a better understanding of her own learning style and use it to her advantage in the future.

"B" Based Activitiy - Counting Bears

We are still learning to count. It is really frustrating for me when Sophie would not work with me.

"B" Based Activitiy - Beanbags

Sometimes, I wish Sophie was "easy" to teach like some children who learn by staring at flashcards. She is constantly teasing and playing so it takes a lot of patience and understanding on my part. On good days, we managed it well. On others, we ended up crying in each other's arms.

"B" Based Activitiy - Teddy Bear

When we did it in schools, we had photocopier to enlarge the pictures of animals. Usually, the children would colour the A3 version, cut it out and stuff it with newspaper. For Sophie, I had to draw the outline of a giant bear for her. Since she does not like to colour, I had to stuff the bear first before handing it over to her for painting.



It was great to see her work on the bear. She likes bears and the idea of making a “teddy bear” excited her. When we were done, she walked around with the “teddy bear” like how characters in storybooks carry their teddy bears around (by the hand).

Letter Of The Week - B (Balls & Bears / Bubble Wrapper)

Sometimes I forget that Sophie has gone a long way since we first started doing art and craft work. She used to be clueless about the work so she just applied paint on any surface I put in front of her. Now, she knows what I ask of her and she can communicate with me better.



Of course, Sophie is still very playful and she tends to mess around with the paint. However, she definitely knows what she wants to do (if she has the motor skills). Sometimes, I find her talk very amusing.

Nothing beats watching her work with an intense look on her face. Sophie loves stickers so she had little issue with pasting "balls" and "bears" on the letter.

I was hoping to do more while we could so we did "B" concurrently with "b". Ah Gong and Ah Mah was around when Sophie was working. They were a lot less tolerant when mess is concerned and they prefer to direct more. Thus, I find it a little hard to manage everyone in this session.



Initially, I had wanted Sophie to make bubble wrap prints but they did not turn out well. So I let her paste the bubble wraps on the letter instead. Sophie was obviously unimpressed by the glitter bits I had added in the paint since she kept shaking it off her hands.



It was funny that she would whine so much just because she knocked her hand against the table. She was putting on a show for Ah Mah, I bet.

"B" Based Activity - Building Bears

I stole the idea from Play School (Australian Network) although they made dogs instead of bears. I thought it was quite fun to stack them up so I drew paper “bears”, glued the eyes on and added the snouts. Although they was not difficult to make, it took me a while to complete everything.





Sophie scribbled on the “bears” using crayons. She used to hate colouring but now she seems a lot more accommodating.



Nowadays, Sophie is able to appreciate and enjoy the fruit of our labour better. We played with our “bears” and she loves stacking them up




I am glad that Sophie is willing to put away her crayons (if she has done enough with them). Occasionally, I had to use creative ways to motivate her but in general, she can do it when she is told.

At The Farmyard

Papa did this painting with Sophie in the morning. The scary red figure in the middle is a scarecrow, by the way.

"B" Based Activity - Bottletree Park

We had some time in the morning today, so we took Sophie to Bottletree Park at Yishun. We thought it would be nice to take a leisurely nature walk.

Unfortunately, we were all sunlight and heat intolerant. It was far too hot for us and Sophie was not very keen to explore either. In fact, I think she was developing a cold so she seemed lethargic and grouchy.

"B" Based Activity - Behaving Badly

What can I say?