#SoulfulSaturdays is an attempt to put out weekly, simple to consume knowledge bits, help people understand the concepts of holistic living, spirituality, healing, meditation & the likes. Let us try to understand the super science behind menstrual practices in this article. It is a TEDx talk by Sinu Joseph.
So, I just watched this video and this just fits so well with our weekly rhythm of discussing spiritual stuff on Saturdays. So this knowledge had to be shared.
I highly recommend watching this video for both men and women. This lady Sinu Joseph has so beautifully articulated it.
I will be happy to discuss anything mentioned in the video if you have doubts. And happy to hear your views too about menstruation in the comments below.
Drop me a message via contact form HERE or email me at thekjunction[at]gmail[dot]com if you want a consultation session (skype or phone) on chakra balancing, energy healing or meditation.
See you next week!
Love, Light, Peace
Kuhoo
This post first appeared on this group - "Our Earth & Us - Striking The Right Balance". I am gaining some good karma by sharing my knowledge & experiences with this group members.
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With the recent rare phenomenon of Super Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse, kids have been pretty amazed with the eclipse phenomenon. This is a perfect opportunity to make a hands-on model & activity showing how exactly the solar & lunar eclipse occur. This DIY solar system model is super simple & you can make use of things at home to make it. This is a perfect Astronomy starter for kids.
Solar system models are a great way to demonstrate how an eclipse works, and can be constructed with varying complexity for all ages. By setting up the sun, moon and Earth, parents and teachers can demonstrate the phases of the moon as well as an eclipse.
Things Required
Sphere 1 - Sponge ball or yellow smiley ball or an orange
Sphere 2 ( smaller than sphere 1) - Ping pong ball or lemon or small thermacol ball
Wire that can be bent easily but is stable enough. I used pipe cleaner
Aluminium foil
Red gelatine paper
Stack of books or an elevated platform
Something to put the sponge ball on, I used a diya lying around at home
Torch
How to Setup
Sphere 1 represents the earth & sphere 2 represents the moon. I used a sponge globe for sphere 1 and a small thermacol ball for sphere 2.
Wrap aluminium foil over sphere 2 so that it reflects light falling on it in a better way. Moon reflects the light falling on it. This step is optional though.
Pierce a little hole & insert the wire (I used pipe cleaner) into the earth, bend it at right angle, then again bend it at right angle & then insert it into the moon. Align the wire such that earth & moon are in front of each other with their equators aligned horizontally. Refer the picture for clarity.
Place the earth on a stand, I used a diya
Take a stack of books or an elevated platform (I used a small stool) & put a torch on it. Torch represents the sun. Adjust the height of the book stack such that the torch light falls at the equator of the earth.
Switch off the lights of the room & switch on the torch.
With this setup, you can explain first how the earth goes round the sun by moving the earth manually.
You can also explain rotation of earth & tell how days & nights happen when sunlight falls on a specific part of the earth.
Now by taking the moon round the earth, you can how how differently the moon shines at different alignments because of the angle at which sunlight is falling on it. You can explain moon phases with this setup.
Now to explain lunar eclipse, you can align sun, earth & moon in a line respectively. Of course you have to revise your own concepts first before you start explaining verbally about this setup, kids have deep strange questions!
In a similar way, you can explain the solar eclipse as well.
To show the blood moon in some sense, you can take red gelatine paper and put it in front of the torch. However this is not the real explanation of blood moon. It occurs because earth’s atmosphere absorbs all the colours in the spectrum instead of red & hence very little percentage of sun’s rays (in red spectrum) reach the moon during eclipse & it appears to be red.
Hope you liked this simple to set up activity to explain earth’s rotation & revolution, moon’s revolution, moon’s phases, lunar & solar eclipses.
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Kids learn the most by experiences & experiments. And it is best to answer their day to day questions by relevant activities whenever possible. Read to know how I answered my toddler's bunch of questions about rain during the rainy season. In this simple DIY science experiment (STEM), he understood why does it rain. Let us honor & fuel the curiosity of these little ones!
Watch the video below to see my 27 month old son doing a simple science experiment to understand why does it rain. This was in response to his tons of questions about rain during the rainy season! This is a super sensory fun exercise & a hands-on science experiment - STEM for kids.
You can find the entire playlist of our STEM activities HERE & I will keep populating the playlist when I add a new STEM video! And do not forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel so that you never miss a new video.
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-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
STEM is an acronym for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. STEM toys encourage kids to learn more about these different subjects by applying each to the real world. They make education exciting for kids and help to develop key skills. STEM toys focus on creativity and problem solving skills and present clear goals which help kids to learn while having fun. If you are wondering which STEM toys to present to your toddler, preschooler or kindergartner, here are some awesome Science, Engineering & Maths toy recommendations for the little scientists.
What Are STEM Toys?
STEM is not just about learning Science, Technology, Engineering or Maths, it is about a combination of any of these four areas that when combined, produces more logical thinkers and creates adults who can be ahead in their lives, not just in jobs that are related to science and technology, but in other domains too. In other words, it helps in creating innovators and doers, rather then just followers.
STEM learning actually starts at the age of 7 but the foundations are laid in the very early years of a child's life. Playing with STEM toys from an early age, whether it’s science toys, engineering toys, math toys or technology toys, can have a lasting impact on a child’s thought process and approach to problem-solving and creative thinking, no matter what vocation they land up in.
I do not want to say that STEM toys will make kids into future inventors, programmers, or poets. Boiled down to the basics, STEM toys tend to emphasize creativity, logic, problem solving, and experimentation. Great STEM toys don’t instruct kids, but engage them. These toys are open-ended, adaptive, flexible, provocative, and, most importantly, fun.
The Rise Of STEM Toys
STEM education in schools is now as much a part of the curriculum as English or social studies. There have been some variations like STEAM (“A” for art because creativity is a must in life to excel) and STREAM (“R” for reading because it is one of the foundations in child's learning). This STEM movement is also picking up with parents at home as they try to give exposure of STEM toys to their kids to teach these critical concepts during early years.
STEM toys are fun & facilitate real play. And that is what a child needs at the end of the day - PLAY. Play is the work of the child & it is through play, children explore & figure out the world around them. Play is also very important for their skills like gross motor, fine motor, cognitive, social & emotional. STEM toys help support this philosophy.
What To Look For In STEM Toys & Awesome Skola Toys Recommendations
STEM toys need not be fancy all the time. According to child development experts, you should look for these qualities while buying STEM toys -
Interactive- It could be a toy to assemble body parts to form an animal figure like this Nesting Hen toy or a simple car set up like Cascade Car toy. The process of building or creating something, taking it apart and rebuilding it in a new way, can facilitate deeper learning and brain development.
Nesting Hen - To balance unevenly sized and weighted eggs in creative ways on the hen. Children get a chance to think of creative ways to balance eggs on the back of the hen. This augments fine motor skills and improves dimension awareness, thus developing their concentration levels. By balancing the eggs, children achieve greater dexterity. Nesting the pieces in this toy helps in developing fine motor skills. It is a simple activity that helps children focus on sizes and dimensions of objects leading to effective spatial analysis. Stacking uneven and distinct objects helps children understand the correlation between sizes and weights. Pairing, size gradation and name games enhance children's awareness of shapes as a property of objects. One can do nesting, name games, gradation, patterns, balancing, abstract pairing & lot more with this toy.
Cascade Cars - To track the movement of the cars as they cascade down the stepped slopes. By letting one or more cars roll down from one slope to another, children learn to focus on moving objects and track the movement. Following the movement of the car improves visual tracking among children, which is essential for improving their reading skills and abilities while playing any physical sport. This toy also leads to awareness of motion and movement as children watch and analyse the movements of the cars as they roll down the slopes. As they push the cars further or hold them back, they understand the impact of their actions on the speed, motion and time factors of the cars. As children begin to develop their visual tracking skills, they get ready to understand the cause and effect phenomenon.
Child-Led - Even the greatest STEM toys in the world won’t be of much value to your child if he has not interest in that particular area of learning at that point in time. One should observe the child & understand their sensitive period of learning & see what types of toys and activities your child gravitates to and follow their lead. For example, if your child loves blocks, stock up on basic wooden building blocks or construction toys like Mosaic Nuts & Bolts, which teach basic engineering concepts.
Wooden Building Blocks - 50 wooden coloured blocks of different shapes and sizes to build fascinating structures. This toy happens to be one of the most creative toys that children of all ages can enjoy. These colorful, wooden blocks grab their attention, making children imaginative as well as logical while building different shapes and objects. Constructing with different shapes to form new shapes, sorting, classifying and pairing enhances children's understanding of geometry and creativity. Constructing with wooden blocks of varying geometric shapes, is fantastic for developing fine motor skills. By applying their knowledge of shapes, children get a better understanding of how shapes can have multiple dimensions and numeral values associated with them.
Mosaic Nuts & Bolts - It is a smart toy that combines high dexterity with creativity. The fact that it uses equilateral triangles & rhombuses to create patterns inherently increases the understanding of geometric construction. There is no "prescribed outcomes". The child is free to innovate and create patterns. A practical life toy that uses nut and bolt mechanisms to create a whole range of designs.
Open-Ended - Whether a simple set of building blocks or a multipurpose step tower for stacking, counting, sorting & gradation, or a rainbow stacker, the list of open-ended toys is endless. Toys that can be played with, disassembled, reassembled, and interacted with in a variety of ways are enjoyed by kids of all ages because they work with such toys differently. All this help kids to enhance thrier creativity, exploration, and a deeper understanding of rules, patterns, logic, and how things work.
Rainbow Roofs (Stack & Nest) - Stack, nest and arrange rainbow coloured roof shapes in various ways.Children explore the magic of creating different forms with this toy - a train, a sofa or a building! Nesting the pieces in this toy helps in developing fine motor skills at a very young age. Stacking the individual pieces makes children dexterous and hones balancing skills. Playing with the toy enhances their awareness of colours in a concrete manner and various name games hone children's memory skills. Children also gain knowledge about the rainbow in the form of VIBGYOR.
Step Tower - Stack the step tower to learn ordinal numbers through quantity, dimensions & colours. The toy is a beautiful stacking tower that uses colours, width and height to form different steps ranging from numbers 1 to 10. Stacking these steps help children connect dimensions with quantity. This toy also enhances thinking ability and encourages creative exploration. Step Tower helps children develop ordinal counting skills. It also assists the child in getting a deeper understanding of the correlation between dimensions and sizes of objects and quantities. This toy hence successfully fuses the understanding of sensorial properties of colour and size with numbers.
Toys With Direct STEM Aim - Some STEM toys have a direct aim such as Maths concepts but the key here is toys are supposed to be played. So make sure you choose a toy that teaches the concepts in a playful,creative & engaging manner and not in the rote way.
Peg & Add- Add numbers between 0 and 10 using coloured pegs on wooden decagons. A self-correcting toy, Peg and Add, forms the perfect link between numerals, object counting and addition. Children can add numbers between 0 and 10 using pegs and no matter what combinations they try, they will always find the right answer. It also helps them read addition problems in an equation format. Using pegs makes the abstract arithmetic procedure of addition very concrete, making children enjoy it as they soak it in completely.
Skip Counting Tshirts - Skip count miniature t-shirts sequentially by hanging them to dry on a pole. As children begin playing with this toy, they build a strong foundation of number patterns and sequences, thanks to the numbered T-shirts. Children associate better with an everyday task of drying clothes and enjoy hanging T-shirts with certain fixed patterns on the rod. The geometric symbols help them learn how numbers can be skipped in a pattern, setting a firm base for multiplication.
Scroll & Multiply - Scroll perpendicular mats to slot pegs in rows and columns for multiplication. Children uncover more arithmetic secrets with this toy. As they scroll away the screens based on the rows and columns, they learn to count and add values based on the pegs fitted in the empty slots, which in turn helps them learn multiplication. The toy also exposes them to the numerous multiplication combinations that can be created and helps build logical reasoning. Multiplication is an abstract concept that most children do not visualize but learn by rote. Multiplication by counting and adding gives the child a clear understanding that multiplication is repeat addition. Using pegs for counting and to learn multiplication involves fine motor skills and ensures higher accuracy of results, simultaneously enhancing their writing skills and pincer grip. Children can also use the toy to learn division with the help of physical cues. Performing multiplication and division with this toy helps them understand that the arithmetic processes are the opposite of each other.
Skola toys helps in preparing a child for STEM learning. Skola’s ultimate aim is to improve fine motor skills which certainly helps in engineering, but more importantly using fingers helps children think clearly and enhances concentration and cognitive ability which is a direct STEM requirement.
As discussed above, cascade cars toy helps a child to understand cause and effect. This is where a child is exposed to science. It helps a child to register concepts, process and comprehend them.
Colour Wheels toy encourages children to use fingers to rotate wheels and then find the matching colours which involves examination, observation analysis and discovery. You can watch the unboxing & review of Color wheels toy in this video below.
To summarize, these common principles of exploration, open-ended play, analysis, discovery, examination, and most importantly the presence of the PLAY element is true for all Skola Toys and hence creates thinkers, innovators & doers in the long run!
Disclaimer : This is a sponsored post but the views shared are honest and solely mine. I believe in using the products myself before putting up the review or opinion about them here.
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-inspired activities for kids, kids books & toys reviews and much more!
I am an ardent Montessori follower & by now you must have known that I follow Montessori (combined with other philosophies) with my son at home. We do Montessori inspired activities at home, we have a Montessori shelf where I keep his activities & he absolutely loves his shelf. We do have some Montessori materials at home & I am always on a look out for Montessori inspired toys.
What exactly is meant by Montessori inspired toys? Or What makes a toy a Montessori material?
Made up natural materials like wood, glass, ceramic etc
Simple looking with no flashing lights, buzzers or whistles
Realistic looking, for example, no cartoon characters printed
Have "control of error" - Self-correcting nature of the toys which means that if the child has put anything in a wrong way in a certain toy, he will himself be able to notice that due to the self-correcting nature of the toy.
Fosters independent play
Has a specific purpose for the child, for example, it may work on the child's fine motor skills, dexterity, sensory inputs, language, gross motor skills, life skills, cognitive skills, creativity, science, maths skills etc.
I just want to take this opportunity to share with you a great brand that I recently found, which makes Montessori inspired wooden toys - SKOLA TOYS.
The team at Skola Toys believe that play leads to exploration, exploration leads to discovery and discovery leads to learning. Toys like these stimulate the child's senses by opening up a fascinating world of colours, shapes, numbers, alphabets, science, geography & more! Skola Toys are designed for children between 0 & 8 years, and are self-correcting that enable children to learn independently without adult intervention. They have specific learning objectives that are achieved through a natural process of playing - that constitutes their unique Skola Learning Grid.
Skola Toys are made of wood that have a natural appeal to a child & result in the child being engaged with the toy for long periods of time. The paints used are child-safe too.
I have these two Skola Toys that we love - Stacking Gears & Snowflake Threading Toy. You can watch the detailed review of both of them in the videos below.
Do not forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more such videos on toys & books recommendation & review, Montessori inspired activities & parenting.
You can explore more of these awesome Skola Toys on their website HERE. They also have a Facebook Page that you can follow HERE. You can also get an exclusive discount of 15% on all Skola Toys (for a limited period only). Just visit my facebook group HERE & the pinned post has the discount code. You need to use that code when you shop from their website HERE directly.
I hope you found this post useful. I will be posting more about Montessori materials in the future. Until then, Happy Parenting :)
Self discoveries of a toddler, do I really need to teach him or even interfere? :) I'm just sitting back, relaxing and enjoying the observations and conversations of this curious mind!
Shadow
A (my 2 years old son, walking after dinner in the society premises along with me) : mumma, shadow shadow! [And he walked along, the shadow disappeared and shifted to another position because of the new street light positioning]. Mumma, shadow gayab! Oh, shadow is here now! [And he walks ahead and continues to discover how shadow size and positions are changing]
Music Instruments
He takes out all the music instruments he has, from the polythene and does some research on each one by one carefully listening and engrossed how the same instrument makes different sound when played with hand or stick, when hit on the leather or wood, etc etc. This goes on uninterrupted for some 15 minutes and then he arranges the instruments in some fashion and asks his dad to play dholak and he chooses to play the manjeera. My home grown bhajan mandali )
Indian Classical Music Concert
We managed to take our son to an indian classical music concert last weekend - Panchatattva - that had maestros like Pandit Jasraj, Sanjeev Abhyankar and the likes. He attended the program for 1 hour 10 minutes to our SHEER surprise. BTW thanks to Surekha for her post, I pushed myself to bravely decide that my son is old enough to attend a live show. He particularly saw solo instrument performances of tabla, mridangam, kanjeera, flute and some vocals. The experience was so enriching that after we came back home, he wanted to again attend the concert. When asked, he enacted how do you play a flute, a kanjeera, a mridangam, tabla. As a musician myself, what could I have asked more for!
Wood And Fire
We did a bonfire at home on our terrace with family as a part of holi celebrations... Holika dahan. He observed and commented that after burning wood, it is finished! And became black powder. Smoke is rising from fire. Some great science lessons coming in for free :)
Awareness About Air
He has been telling us about air since long now, for example fan is giving air, AC is giving cool air, air is blowing (while playing outdoors). But today while travelling on our bike at night, he said, mumma cool air, I'm enjoying it mumma. And then the bike slowed down and he said mumma air is finished now. Again when the bike gained speed, he said, mumma air has come back again! He was beautifully making connections about the relation between the speed of the vehicle and the impact of air.
Toddlers are everyday surprise packages! Their curiosity and ability to learn from anything and everything amazes me :) We need to follow the child's lead, give them ample opportunities & exposure & enjoy!
This is Day 17, second last day of "18 Days Of Christmass-ness" series, presented by The K Junction in collaboration with BabyChakra. We are almost at the end of this series. The goal of this series is to have lots of fun & bonding with our kids & explore the festivities around us this December in the form of Christmas & New Year themed activities! Hope you have found this series useful for your child. Of course, you can come back to it any time of the year to do these activities!
HERE is the landing page of the series if you have missed any activity in this series!
DAY 17 - Today's activity is MONTESSORI NEW YEAR CELEBRATION
Works on science, language & gross motor skills.
Tweaking the traditional Montessori style birthday celebration to celebrate birthday of Mother Earth.
Here is an example setup (Image Source : BlossomVine). I am yet to do it for my son, will update this post with our own set of pics :)
For more details on what materials to use, how to do the activity step by step, age group, tweaking the activity for younger & older kids, time required for setup, if you can replace some materials with what you already have at home & related resources - Visit my detailed post on BabyChakra
Pregnancy is the time we take utmost care of ourselves. We eat right, we breathe right, we sleep right. We know how tender & vulnerable our little one is inside.
And, after the baby is born, we rush to the chemists & buy those baby products like soap, shampoo, powder, cream, oils, wipes, lotions etc, the best brand that we can.
In all this madness, we forget, Infants and their skin are so tender! In fact, the first three years of a child’s life are very crucial as far as health is concerned. The immune system and central nervous system are still immature and developing. We should be wary of what chemicals we expose to the child for obvious reasons.
It is sad to see that some baby products which claim to be natural or organic or baby friendly are not really good for the babies. They contain harmful chemicals. We see the brand name of the product on the front, flip the bottle/box to see the price but, do we check the product for its chemical composition! Rarely do we #ReadTheLabel!
Click HERE to read my complete article on Indian Moms Connect that lists 10 toxic chemicals (best avoided) that one should check especially while buying baby products!
I bet you would want to keep this very important information handy while buying products for your baby next!
It is never too early to introduce children to science. Toddlers with their curious minds are like little sponges, waiting to absorb everything they experience. And since science is all around us, why not introduce them to it early on? Watch this animal excavation activity that your child would love!
Science experiments need not be complex. Even something as simple as observing how salt helps to melt ice faster is an amazing experience for kids. So here is a fun way to learn this concept and have a gala time!
My son kept himself busy for so long in this activity that it gave me a much-needed breather. I even happily managed to capture his antics on the camera. He played, explored, observed, experimented and learnt a lot with this simple exercise.
Below is the video of the activity & in action :)
Click HERE to read the full account of this activity. It has been featured on BabyChakra!
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!
