As promised, here are two offers from The K Junction for your kids :) I have teamed up with Skola Toys & Creative Express to give you all an exclusive 15% discount on all of their wooden toys, Montessori toys & activity kits!
Head on (and pls join if you haven't yet joined :) ) to my facebook group HEREwww.facebook.com/groups/thekjunction - to check out the details like their product range, discount code & validity in these individual posts -
Republic Day marks the day when India’s constitution came into force in 1950. It is a great time to do some India themed activities with kids to help them know & explore more about India. So let us see some hands-on Montessori inspired activities & crafts that you can do with your toddlers, preschoolers, kindergartners & elder children!
While it is a national holiday, let us make sure we show our kids the flag hoisting ceremony somewhere & tell them about the Republic day parade that happens in front of India Gate in Delhi. And these can be used as conversation starters for more activities that give them a hands-on experience about the entire celebration.
My son is 23 months old now & I have designed few more India themed hands-on activities for him. All of them are not Montessori inspired but they are all hands-on, educational & engaging.
Let’s get started!
India Themed Books
First things first! My son just LOVES books. He can go on & on reading books for long. So I searched & grabbed some wonderful books on India.
Matching States Of India
Though at this age, he would not understand what exactly a state is but this becomes a great visual discrimination activity for toddlers in general. My son loves matching activities & this one is more challenging than others he had done in the past. This printable is from mummadiaries.com & the foam pieces of states are from the India foam puzzle board.
Matching State Animals
Toddlers in general have an affinity towards animals, at least my son has. We can take this opportunity to introduce state animals to them. I have used the same printable used above. The activity is to match the animals seen in the printable with the animal figurines. Another awesome use of figurines!
Learning Regional Dances
I have used this India foam puzzle in a different way in this activity. I bought this sheet of Indian dances from a local stationary shop, the ones that are used in kids project work, 5 Rs each! Cut some of the main regional dances & laminated at home to form cards. The activity is to put these cards on to the right Indian state. It is a great way to expose kids to the rich cultural diversity in India.
Architectures Of India
I saw this sheet depicting various architectures of India in the stationary shop & this idea came into my mind. I bought two copies of this sheet. I laminated one sheet as it is & cut individual pieces from another & laminated them to form cards. The activity is to match them, again a great way to expose kids to the grand architectures we have in India.
Rhythm Sense With National Anthem
Music is great for kids & adults alike. Why not introduce rhythm along with our National anthem this Republic day? You can sing Jan Gan Man & play any percussion instrument like drums, dholak, maracas along with your child. Remember your school days; the PT drum was also used for Jan Gan Man? We can replicate that at home too, right! It is great fun for kids to play music instruments. Even if you do not have any instrument, your kitchen’s utensil & spoon would serve the same purpose!
Pretend/Free Play & Gross Motor
I made this setup of the Republic day parade using my son’s building blocks & some army themed figurines I had from a pretend play set. It has army tanks, soldiers etc. I have also put the regional dance cards here depicting the jhaankis that every state’s people put up in the parade. I will let this be a free play session & let him explore this setup. He has been asking so many questions these days, what is this, who is this, where did this come from, etc. So I am sure I am going to get a lot of questions out of this setup as well. And questions are great as conversation starters to build upon their existing vocabulary & knowledge base. I am also going to do this gross motor activity with him – doing the march-past – left right left. He now knows what is left & what is right. So this should be fun!
Indian Tricolor
Boys and vehicles are inseparable I believe. They can never get enough of vehicles. For that matter, I have also seen many girls obsessed with cars J My son can easily throw a tantrum in a toy shop seeing ANY kind of a vehicle. So this time, I thought of making our Indian tricolor using his vehicles. These days, he is into this sensitive period of lining everything he sees - vehicles, pillows, vegetables, anything. So we made this tricolor using his vehicles.
Flag Making & Coloring
We also made India flag using ruler (his current fascination) & Stokmar block crayons (a typical Waldorf art supply). Take a look below.
Air Show Painting
We also simulated the air show that happens usually in the Republic Day parade. I used the mixture of flour, water & food color & created the tricolors - safron, white & green. Then he poured the paints on the paper & used the jet planes miniatures to form patterns with these colors. We talked about how fighter planes fly in the sky & make patterns with these colors.
Hope you liked these ideas!
Wish you all a very happy Republic Day. Jai Hind!
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Makar Sankranti is the first festival in India for the month of January. It marks a significant movement in the zodiac – the arrangement of the earth’s dial around the sun – the movement brings about a change in the way we experience the planet itself! The festival is celebrated by various names & rituals in different parts of the country - Makar Sankranti, Lohri, Uttaraayan, Bihu, Pongal. It also marks the harvest season.
I have tried to incorporate the essence of these various celebrations in the activities that I set up for my 23 months old son. I had set up Montessori inspired shelf works & we also did some hands-on activities apart from the shelf. I am sharing few pics below but it would be much better if you watch the two videos below to know & understand more about what we did :)
This is the Montessori inspired shelf work video
And this is the video of all the hands-on activities & crafts we did on this festival theme.
We experienced Lohri bonfire & also made a painting craft of the Lohri bonfire with twigs & paints. We also went to the cowshed & fed cows to experience Pongal rituals. We washed the cow figurine with colored water & learnt about color mixing in this process. Then we worshipped the cow. To experience Uttarayan, we went kite-flying & my son enjoyed a lot. To celebrate the harvest festival, we also learnt how ploughing is done in a hands-on way using his tractor miniature. And my son also planted wheat seeds to welcome the spring.
You can check them out all in this video below.
Hope you enjoy the activities & the video :)
Babychakra.com also featured my set of activities as a part of their toddler learning activities series, you can read my article HERE.
If you do not have time to watch the videos, here are very few pics of all the fun we had celebrating this festival!
Do let me know how you celebrated this beautiful festival :)
Do not forget to follow "The K Junction" on Facebook page & closed Facebook group, Twitter and Instagram for day to day updates that might not always find a place on this blog. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to know more about our early learning journey, DIY & Montessori & Waldorf inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
A sneak peek into my toddler's current bookshelf - 10 book recommendations for toddlers & preschoolers! He is 23 months old right now & LOVES books. I rotate books in his bookshelf when I feel he is bored with those books. Have a look at the video to add some more books in your toddler's collection
Did you know you could use that tape lying in your stationary items for learning for your toddlers or preschoolers? Here in this video are few simple, cheap & quick ideas to use a simple colored tape to enhance skills like gross motor, fine motor, prewriting & much more. Not to forget, creativity, free play & pretend play brings out the most of any learning activity in kids :) So go ahead & try this out & do let me know how your kid liked it!
Motherhood is full of questions of various sorts, very important question being which products to use for my baby. My son is almost 2 years old now & we have been choosing his products very carefully, be it a soap or shampoo or oil or toys or clothes or diapers. We as a family try to be as close to nature as we can. Our kitchen has a good share of organic stuff like organic milk, organic pulses, aata etc. We use natural products for our skin, even for we adults. We use cloth diapers instead of disposable ones.
And now, watch this TEDx video if you haven't yet!
When we were purchasing products like oil, shampoo, soap etc for our son, we were shocked to see that the so-called baby products also had so many chemicals in them. Read my full post HERE about the toxins that might exist in baby products & why we should #readthelabel before we buy anything for our children. One fine day I got to know about this new brand called MamaEarth that is Asia's first MadeSafe certified brand & claims to be 100% toxin free. I was so happy to receive this premium kit of MamaEarth's 4 awesome products (courtesy : IMC & MamaEarth). I have been using their products for the last 3 weeks now & I must say very happy with them. And now this calls for an honest review from my side! So here it goes.
The best thing about MamaEarth is that it was started by parents like us! When they (Ghazal & Varun) were researching & selecting products for their little bundle of joy, they were shocked to see that so many baby products had toxins & that was when came up with the idea of developing products that are completely safe for the babies. You can read their story HERE.
MamaEarth is the ONLY toxin free, MadeSafe certified brand in India & Asia! Their products go through all the required tests and meet the safety standards. The MADE SAFE (Made with Safe Ingredients™) seal means that a product is literally made with safe ingredients that are not known or suspected to cause human health or environmental harm. It’s the first nontoxic certification to apply to products we use every day, so that for the first time, you can find things that are safe to use on your body, with your families, and in your homes.
They have almost the entire range of products a parent would need for 0 to 5 years - Shampoo, Massage oil, Moisturising lotion, Body wash, Diaper Rash Cream, Sunscreen lotion & insect repellant. MamaEarth products are available at Amazon & FirstCry.
My Review
This is what I got in the MamaEarth premium kit. Each of the products is dermatologically tested and contains the MadeSafe seal.-
A beautiful carry bag - Once I opened their parcel, I was super impressed by their packaging & this beautiful bag! It is so lively in color & quality is great. It can easily accommodate some quick baby items when you are on the move.
1 bottle of Massage Oil - A blend of sesame, coconut, olive, almond, jojoba & lavender oil, it is very light on the skin, spread nicely, absorbs well & works great for my son's dry skin. The bottle has a press pump nozzle which ensures there are no accidental spills even when your toddler grabs it from your hand to play around ;) yes my son does that! I love the heavenly (natural) smell of the oil, it forces me to hug & hold my son for longer & keep kissing him, haha!
1 bottle of Moisturising daily lotion - It contains Shea butter & Jojoba oil & is again very light on the skin, gets absorbed very easily & yet very moisturizing. My son has a very dry skin & a combination of massage oil before bath & this lotion after bath works great for him, even in this winter season where the air is very very dry here in Pune.
1 bottle of Insect repellant - It has a natural blend of essential repellent oils like Citronella, Peppermint and Lemon eucalyptus with a base of Soya and Castrol oil, 100% natural & Deet free. It can be sprayed & applied to the skin & your child is free to venture out in the park with mosquitos around!
1 bottle of Shampoo - A gentle, tear free shampoo with a ph suited for baby's skin. It contains coconut based cleansers and Jojoba oil to nourish the scalp. I liked the touch & feel of the shampoo. It leaves my son's hair soft & smooth.
In general, this is what I loved about MamaEarth products
Safe & certified by an international authority so we can be assured we are giving the best to our babies
Excellent quality products
Very natural, mild & sometimes no smell in the products. I loved this fact because that actually means there are no perfume additives that might be harmful for the baby. And I love natural smells! Ah, not to miss, all this helps retain the smell of your baby, which is heavenly, especially with newborns :)
Very competitive pricing - their products are priced at 299 INR each, which is not at all high for the quality & certification it comes along with.
Lovely packaging as I mentioned above. And different animal cartoon pictures on the products make it interesting for toddlers too ;)
If you still have more questions or doubts about their products, HERE is a big list of FAQs.
Conclusion
It is finally such a relief to have a 100% natural & safe brand around for our little ones & I cannot thank enough to Ghazal & Varun from MamaEarth for this venture. We loved the products & would surely recommend these to the fellow parents. Go ahead & give safe & 100% natural products to your children :)
A small but significant step in making our little ones more independent, responsible, confident & self-sufficient 😊 We started with a ceramic cup for his milk last week. He is 22 months. It was completely led by him.
It started when I gave him mud clay figurines during Diwali for decorating them on the killa. I told him it's made of mud n easily breakable so be careful while handling. He played beautifully with them. One figurine accidentally broke while playing n he realized what it means to break n the consequence that he won't be able to play with it. He then started asking for our tea cups (ceramic). I gave him telling they are breakable n he handled them beautifully. He used to take them from the kitchen slab, play n give me back happily. Then one day he said he wants to have his milk in papa's tea cup. I gave him n he happily drank it by himself! This weekend I got a ceramic cup for him exclusively n he was super happy 😊
Its all about trusting them & respecting their demands, of course under supervision & danger limits.
I cannot count the reasons why I love Montessori 😊
Toddler tantrums can be very hard to handle for parents! They start from sometime around 18 months or so & usually go on till 3-4 years of age. Also called as terrible 2's, these little beings are famous for doing random things at random times with no reasoning in most cases. They cry, complain, scream, hit, kick, throw stuff and what not, and we adults are sometimes clueless to what they are up to. We lose our calm sometimes, do something which we ourselves regret later. I have not seen any parent who has not had his/her big share of toddler tantrums!
The K Junction in association with Cedarwood Afterschool Program, recently conducted a workshop for parents on Handling Toddler Tantrums. It was very well received & the parents went back with lots of pointers & homework to do on how they can cope up with the situation in a better way.
Sharing some of the content of this workshop so that my readers here can also use it to their benefit. Of course there is nothing like discussing everything in person & elaborating the bullet points in details but still, this could be a starting point if you are looking for some answers in handling the situation at your end.
What Causes A Tantrum
Communication needs
Battle for control
They are having a hard time & seeking our help
To seek attention
Reflection of parents/caregivers
Incorrect expectation from parents
Toddler Brain Demystified
Toddler's Neocortex, thinking part of the brain, that does higher order thinking, is NOT developed fully & it's development continues through the mid 20s. Functions of Neocortex include
Self awarenessž
Logic & reasoning
Ability to control impulses
Understanding consequences
Problem solving
Empathy
Attention
žUnderstanding & interpreting emotions
Handling Tantrums – What Does Not Work
Leave them crying for some time
Ask them to stop crying/whining
Explain/criticize what wrong they did
Punishments
žTimeouts
Explaining consequences
Rewards
Ask them to apologize
Become embarrassed yourself
Handling Tantrums – What Works
Understand the reason
Acknowledge the big feeling & let them cry assuring you are there for them
Give a tight hug
Keep calm & use calm voice
Unconditional love
Talk It Out Gently!
To conclude let us understand that
žWhen they are throwing a tantrum, they are not giving us hard time, they are having a hard time!
žGive them appropriate control in daily lives, set a routine, understand their needs, avoid tantrum provoking situations & give unconditional love
Our kids require us most of all to love them for who they are, not to spend our whole time trying to correct them
And I end this article with some brilliant quotes that we parents need to be reminded frequently :)
