Tag Archives: 2 years old

Puffy paint is fun!

After using water color for some time, I needed to do something different for our art class at home. Homeschooling can make a mother smarter because she has to find ideas to do at home with the kids. I bumped into the puffy paint idea in Pinterest and it’s pretty simple.

Ingredients are:

Elmers glue, shaving cream, food coloring, paint brushes, plastic containers and paper.

We mix the glue and the shaving cream in similar proportions in a plastic container. Then move into smaller containers to make different colours with the food coloring.

Once the colours are mixed, it’s time to do some imaginative works! I’m teaching my kids to have some fun by putting texture on their painting.  Joshua decided to do a butterfly, while Anna and I did some flowers!

Butterfly by Joshua

Flower by Anna

Flower by Mommy Mit

To dry this puffy painting will take 24 hours. So don’t be in a rush!  We had so much fun in painting and in cleaning up the containers and brushes! 

This activity is worth trying at home. Both my 4 year old and 2 year old had a blast!

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Math concepts for 2 year olds

Posted in Teach at Home by

I have been contemplating about teaching the concept of Math to Josh. He can already tell numbers 1-10 and he is exploring 11-20.  Looking at numbers helps memorizing the look and shape of the number. But how about the concept of the number?  He sort of understands because we count the picture items on number books. 

 
I am praying I will be able to teach him addition and subtraction soon. But first, I must establish his understanding of what the number means.  We try to count things like his cheese and pomelo.

So I decided to do a game with Josh. I will put a number card and an empty container beside the number and a bucket filled with blue bead balls. The game works like this… I must put a number card and then he must put the corresponding balls by counting. Then if he correctly gets it, he gets pieces of his favorite snack. (Ok, it’s chips and I know some moms will debate how bad this is for my son. I agree with you… But for example sake, please bear with the illustration).

 
When he answers correctly he gets a reward! 

  

Of course, in the beginning I needed to coach him how to do it.  I did it about twice until he did it himself. The trick here was to just let him do it himself.  When he holds the balls and gets to count them, it helps in grasping the concept. We have to keep practicing so that he would get better and better. If we keep at it we can start doing math concepts such as addition and subtraction soon. I am looking forward to that day! 

  

The incredible twos…

Posted in Insights by

You have heard the line — “terrible twos”. They associate this with children at the age of two. It describes how rowdy and difficult it is to care for a two year old. Their energies are just bursting and they are more independent. At two years old, toddlers are more expressive of their feelings, especially when they protest and whine. This is also the age of understanding the word “NO” and use it alot.

As Joshua turned 2 years old his understanding and ability to communicate amazes me. I love this age! He is able to verbalize what he wants and what he does not want; what he enjoys and what he dislikes. Joshua can tell us what hurts and if he experienced something bad. Unlike when he was younger and where we would try to guess how things were. He is learning to reason and to explain things. At this age, he also realizes when he is wrong and sometimes he has difficulty saying sorry.

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Of course, since he is also more independent, he often wants to try things for himself. He wants to put his own milk in his bottle. He wants to get his own snacks. He wants to set the rules on play. Since he also communicates more, there are also lots of negotiation going on. It can be amusing and sometimes annoying. Hahaha!

There are those days where he gets lazy to talk and decides to cry his way to what he wants. Or throws a fit because we said “no”. Then my patience gets tested and I demand from him a different behavior. I have to remind myself, Joshua is just 2 years old. He is just a baby and I forget that at times.

So far, there are more incredible moments than terrible ones. It’s been such a great opportunity to watch this boy grow. I’m learning to also relax and really exercise patience. All thanks to my incredible 2 year old!

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