Fire Engine Truck, Far and Little Container Truck, Taufik.

Taufik has a huge a fire engine ladder truck which he received as a gift from Uncle Rehan, Auntie Samira and his hug-and-fight buddy, Mahnoor. He also owns - as part of his rather varied collection of vehicles – a Toy’s R Us container truck, which is a small sized replica of the real thing.

Yesterday, he was playing quietly by himself in the bedroom when I walked in search for one thing or another. I overhead my son talking to himself, as he was on the floor pushing his Toys R’ Us truck closer to the enormous fire engine truck, “Hi Far, I miss you so much Far.” “Hi, Taufik I miss you so so much too.” responded the fire engine truck to the little container. “I hug Far.” Said Taufik as he inched the container truck as close as he could to the fire engine truck.

I ran out of the room laughing to myself and quickly shared the little pretend game, that Taufik was playing all himself in the bedroom.

"Can't we have a conversation?!"

Kim had been travelling non-stop pop these last two weeks, he leaves on Sunday, comes back on Saturday and leaves again on Sunday. The first week he was in Australia, then now it’s Canada.

It’s upsetting. Terribly upsetting. We’ve agreed as a policy that Kim would never travel on the weekends, and that he would return from his business trips before the weekend, latest being Friday night of course.

So to my chagrin, not only was he returning late Saturday night, his flight was now delayed for 12

bloody hours! Meaning the whole Sunday would be gone too.

When Taufik and I finally had the pleasure of having Kim back in our company, I was just bursting with all sorts of little stories to share with him. I so enjoy our chats. But little did I realise that our son too was dying to chat with his Far.

I was in the midst of telling Kim excitedly that it is indeed possible to have ASTRO here in Thailand, provided that we drag our own decoder to Bangkok. Excited as I was suddenly I realised that I had to raise my voice significantly to be heart. Our son, sitting not so quietly on my lap was singing “A, B, C, D….” at a higher and higher pitch. Attempting to prevent any conversation taking place between Kim and me, effective he was too. I was positively annoyed with my little smart brat.

:”When I am talking to your Far, please do not interrupt me.” I told him firmly. “Do you understand me sweetheart?” He nodded his head and said, “Yes, Mommy.” I said to Kim, “I am so upset, can’t we even have a conversation?” Kim laughed his head off.

Five minutes passed uninterrupted. Then Taufik buried his nose in my breasts and said, “Sorry Mommy. Sorry for talking.”

Now how could I resist such a charming and sweet little boy, MashaAllah.

(The picture above is of Taufik blowing bubbles by the pool at William's b'day in September 2006)

Numeracy Puzzle Game

The numeracy puzzle game can be played to further deepen your child's understanding that the number symbols represents sum of objects. You can play this game once your child is rather familiar with counting up to six.

I don't know how this game is supposed to be played in the classes at Taufik's school. So I make up my own game.

As you can see in the picture above, there are two layers, the first layer (green foam) has dots, single dots till dots of six. The second layer, the purple foam, has the numbers on it. You need a dice.
Take turns rolling the dice with your child. When your child rolls the dice, make him count the number of dots on the dice. Then find the corresponding dots on the puzzle board (green foam), choose the correct symbol representing the number of dots and place jigsaw puzzle number on the puzzle.

Then it's your turn. Do the same thing.

Your child learns how to count, that a symbol represents a number of things, and at the same time exercises his motor and coordination skills.
Good Luck!

p.s. I made my own foam dice, make it big so that it's easier for your child to count each dot.
l

Teaching Your Toddler Numbers & Sum of Objects

I went for the Numeracy Talk at school and saw some of the equipment they had used to teach children in the classes. One of these is a very easy to make apparatus. They had used cardboard that had been laminated, but I had chosen to make mine out of thin foams as you can see from the picture above.

The object of the game is to help the child connect the fact that numbers are symbols which represent sums of objects.

I dont know exactly how it is played in the classes, so I made up my own game. I laid out the six dotted cards randomly as above, and lined up all the green numbered cards below in no order. Taufik then is shown how to play the game.
First he counts the number of dots of which ever purple card he likes, like the single dotted card. He counts as 'One', then I ask him to choose the correct green card representing the number one.

He is able to do this because he already knows how to count from one to fifteen and I have been counting with him objects since he was six months old. By the time I showed him that '1' meant one object he took it very casually, and grasped the concept with no problems at all.

Here you can see, that he had counted two dots and selected the correct corresponding symbol. Start with three cards first, 1, 2, and 3. Make the lessons very brief and enjoyable, and keep it away once he has completed it once, unless your child wants to do it again of course.

Good luck!

(To go a step further check out the number puzzle game, coming soon.)

Step by step instructions if your child doesnt know numbers at all.

1. Take the one dotted card out and count out loud with your child.

2. Take the '1' card and say 'One'. Ask your child to repeat after you.

3. Put the cards away.

4. Next time, repeat the above steps for numbers 1 and 2.

5. The next time do the same, for numbers 1, 2 and 3.

6. Repeat this game whenever there is a quiet and calm moment until your child is familiar with 1, 2 and 3. Count everything around you that comes in 1, 2s and 3s.

7. When your child knows 1, 2 and 3. Play the game as I have done with Taufik.

Do this until your child can count up to ten or more if he's not bored.

Is it flu or just your run of the mill cold?

Yesterday Taufik began sneezing. I suspect he caught whatever disease Mai had when he had a close encounter with her at the playground. Tonight, Taufik is down with low grade fever, runny nose and slight cough. He is off to bed as we speak. I had whipped out my stethoscope to check his lungs and so far they sound clear. InshaAllah, his asthma is not going to be affected too badly.
(Will replace picture with Taufik's as soon as I catch him snuffling into a tissue)

And to think that we are due to fly off to Malaysia on Tuesday. I think I might probably have to delay the flight somewhat. The cats at Ampang would absolutely aggravate his lungs problem.

Once again Taufik will miss school.

The thing is, is it flu or just the cold?

To find out if your child has the flu or just the cold, check out what Parent Center has to say, my ultimate child resource by clicking on flu or cold.

Love,
Nina

Kids Arts & Crafts Resources - Download-A-Dinosaur

The latest addition to the list of fun things you can do with your kids on 'Kids Arts & Crafts Resources' is the Download-A-Dinosaur. Click the link to see how you can make gruesome dinosaurs for your little 'uns.

Numeracy for the Young

Two Little Teddy Bears

This is an adorable online storybook that engags the children to count the number of bears in the bed. It deals with numbers from one up to six. (Courtesy of Story Place)

Numeracy

Taufik at the moment is 2 yrs and 7 months. He has just started school and recently I went there to meet his teacher Ms. Helen to see how he is progressing. At the same time, it was numeracy week at Park Place. I was told that Taufik is ahead of his peers in language (English), numeracy and general knowledge. He is an observant child whose consuming passion is reading books.

At this stage Taufik knows how to count up to 15. He understands that each number represent a sum of objects. He understands that the symbol 1 represents 1 thing and 2, two things and so forth. He knows all his basic shapes and recognise them in the things around us. I am about to begin showing him that the things around us are made up of different shapes.

Because he is ahead in class, I feel that to keep him interested I should provide some challenges at home. Therefore my interest in learning how to further develop and enhance Taufik's knowledge in numeracy. Sites that I find illuminating are posted below with comments. I am also including any home made games and lessons that I found to be helpful in Taufik's development.

Nina, 15th October 2006

Mathematics for Toddlers



A good introductory write up telling you how you can introduce mathematical concepts to your young child. With links and instructions for different areas dealing with maths.
(Link: Mathematics for Toddlers, Courtesy of, Home Education, UK)

Teaching Your Toddlers Numbers & Sums of Objects.

The object of the game is to help the child connect the fact that numbers are symbols which represent sums of objects. Click here to take you to the lesson or click the picture.

Numeracy Puzzle Game

The numeracy puzzle game can be played to further deepen your child's understanding that the number symbols represents sum of objects. You can play this game once your child is rather familiar with counting up to six or more. Click here or the picture to take you to the lesson.

A twist on a classic nursery song.

We began singing the song with no change to the lyrics, you know that "One little two, little three, little Indians...." Not a politically correct song in today's climate but I grew up on it. So I happily taught it to my son.

Then we twigged it a bit to adapt to our needs better, instead of counting little Indians we counted little tractors. Fortunately or unfortunately we live within an industrial area and the Bang Na Trat highway is figuratively right before our doorstep. So we've got trucks of all assortments, construction vehicles of all sizes and types whooshing by us as we drive to and fro.

Taufik loves almost all types of vehicles, his current favourite being the coach bus and airplanes. One day I began singing the tractor song a little differently to suit to the tune of the song better. It went like this, "7, big 8, big 9, big tractors. 10 big tactors on the road. Yeah!" Taufik getting the idea after twice singing it this way, said "Something else Mommy!" And so we sang about "10 little taxis on the road, yeah!" Then it went to aeroplanes, at his own initiative. He sang to me one day to my surprise and delight, "7 large, 8 large, 9 large airplanes, 10 large airplanes in the ......(he paused for a little while struggling, knowing that airplanes are not found on the roads)...in the skies, yeah!" I gave him a resounding applause. And urged him on with fishes, which he sang, "10 little fishes in the water, yeah!"

Before we sang, we would decide on a subject matter, he would say, "What about....tuk tuks?" and then I would ask him, "are they large or little, big or small, huge or tiny?" And we would sing according to the answer he gave me.

And so it went on and on and on, just about everything was sang about. I am astounded at how well he categorized things. 10 bulldozers on the sand pit, 10 pencils on the table, 10 spiders in the playground, 10 frogs on the lily pad...and on and on and on.

Through this song he learnt so much, he learnt how to count, he learnt that different things and animals had different sizes, that they belong in certain places and in different categories. It is truly amazing how much he has learnt.

I thought I should jot this one down cause it's an educational gem that Taufik and I discovered and created together. Yeah!

Meddlesome Locals at Suvarnabum Airport

It was reported, in the soaking wet Bangkok Post newspaper I had rescued from the bathroom floor, that 'meddlesome locals' were causing congestion at the new Suvarnabhum airport. Any expat would have laughed it off knowing well that Thais can find fun and enjoyment in almost anything, when they choose to.

For me, I was particular perturbed by that report, for Kim and I (locals we are not) were planning to park ourselves at the side of the airport highway to watch the airplanes go by with Taufik. We were certainly a major cause of worry for the speeding traffic, but so were hundreds of other vehicles parked on the side of the road. Yes, the Thais came out by the hordes (or should I say, we, residences of the Samutprakan area?) - yes well - we brought out parasols, picnic baskets, straw mats, our most high tech video cameras and the whole jim bang gang, plus great great grandma and her ailing mom, fortunately left behind were, the stinking buffalos and bloody bleating goats!

I was proud to be part of this fun loving group termed by journalists 'meddlesome locals'. Yes I did the whole nine yards, parked myself by the side of the road with son too just watching airplanes go by. It was amaaazing! Kim and I also did the official Royal tour of the airport. Feeling a tad sad that we were not able to sample the dishes there due to the fasting month. But mark my words, we have every intention of doing a big Sunday eating marathon at the airport once Ramadhan is over.

Meddlesome locals are we? Well so be it, being Thai-ish in this way, is wonderful. Free in flight entertainment, or is it, ground flight entertainment? A happy son who is not busy doing karate chops on my neck and who absolutely gets to indulge in his biggest passion - airplanes. And a husband who finds himself feeling pretty pleased at finding the best spot along the highway. (Yes, he beat those street savvy Thai pick up truck drivers who have nose for the cosiest and most panoramic spots).

Most of all what I love about this latest episode in Thailand, is the level of tolerance the government has for us fun scavengers. No police were sent to send us off, no fines and other tickets, not a single soldier on the road, just peace and the occasional whizz of the airplanes taking off.

Nina