Alphabet Tracing Prewriting Activity For Preschoolers On DIY Chalkboard Wall (VLOG)

Pre-Writing skills are needed before any letter formation or other handwriting skills are mastered. The little muscles of toddlers & preschoolers are first prepared by involving them in lot of fine motor activities before any formal writing work. Tracing is one of the popular prewriting activity & I am sharing one of the many methods of tracing here - tracing on the blackboard using a wet paint brush. Read on & watch the video to know the why & how of this technique. This was completely child-led in my case. 

This is my 33 month old son doing tracing work on the DIY chalkboard wall using a wet paint brush. Listen to the audio in this video below where I talk more about the how & why of this tracing technique. This was in response to his repeated comments - mumma I dont know how to read & write, please teach me! And this is because we read a LOT of books everyday. I never planned to introduce tracing activity to him this early but since this was completely lead by him, I went with the flow.



We have done tons of fine motor & practical life activities in the past 2 years that has prepared his hand muscles for writing.

You might also want to read about prewriting exercises for toddlers HERE.

You can find the YouTube playlist of our literacy activities HERE & I will keep on adding new videos on teaching reading & writing.

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How To Make Toran With Leaves - Montessori Inspired Activities For Kids For Dussehra

Dussehra is here & I love to involve my preschooler in the festivities in a hands-on Montessori inspired way. If you are looking for activity to do with your child this Dussehra, this post is for you. I will also share some more activities in the coming days that you can try out. Traditionally we make toran out of Mango leaves & hang it on our main door. Check out how your child can make a toran step by step. This is a great practical life activity, enhances fine motor skills and is engaging too!

First we went out to our society garden to hunt a mango tree. We found it but I could not reach the leaves. So I offered my son to settle with Ashoka tree leaves & he agreed. I got a branch from that tree. 

Here my son is plucking out leaves from the branch. It is a fine motor activity. It is not easy for a preschooler to do this exercise :)

You might also like these Montessori inspired activities that I did with my son last year for Dussehra.

Then I gave him a punching machine and showed him how to punch a hole in a leaf. He found it a little difficult to hold a leaf in one hand & press the punching machine using another hand because the machine was a little hard to press. So I held the leaves for him in between the punching machine & he pressed & punched the leaves one by one. Punching is again a fine motor practical life activity.

You might also like this ultimate compilation of Indian mythology books for Dussehra & Navratri festival for kids.

Then he laced the leaves into a fancy thread one by one. Again a fine motor activity.

He was so happy to make a toran finally :) he held it with pride!

He insisted to put the toran on our main door. Since the length of the toran was not enough, I just taped it on our main safety door at a low height :) He helped me cut the tape using scissors. Using a scissor is a great prewriting activity and he is loving using scissors these days!

So here is our toran made by my 2 year old son!

Do share what activities you did with your child this Dussehra!

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Storytelling - Pratham Books - Kottavi Raja & His Sleepy Kingdom - #Pbchamp

Pratham Books has this wonderful initiative One Day One Story where all over the country, one book is read to children. The K Junction registered for this wonderful opportunity and became a #pbchamp to tell the story of "Kottavi Raja & His Sleepy Kingdom".

Kuhoo Gupta had a wonderful time telling the story of "Kottavi Raja & his sleepy kingdom" by Pratham publishers as a part of their one day one story initiative to 30+ kids. The kids really enjoyed the session and she was so happy to listen to their lovely words while they were going back - "mam bye bye", "mam mazaa aaya", "mam acchi story thi", "mam aur games khelein?"

 

She conducted two activities after the story telling session -

• She pretended to be Kottavi Raja who could finally sleep well after so many days. Divided the kids into 3 teams and every team was supposed to arrange themselves into a height-wise line without making a sound or else Kottavi Raja will wake up. It was hard for the kids to keep quiet and do the needful. There were giggles and whispers.

• Now all the children were supposed to pretend as sleeping and they were made to sit in a circle. She gave each team a paper and a crayon. Every child had to draw something on the paper with eyes closed and pass on the paper to the next child in the team. At the end we saw papers of all three teams and they had some wonderful artwork drawn randomly by every kid eyes closed. Then they told her, "I made this sun, I made this mountain, etc etc".

All in all, a fun and satisfying experience with these little curious enthusiastic bunch of kids .

Event powered by Pratham Books
Location and logistics partner - Little Wings International, Pune

Thank you partners for making it happen.

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How To Make Eco-friendly Ganesha Using Kitchen Ingredients At Home (With Kids) (Vlog)

For the upcoming festival of Ganesh Chaturthi, I made an ecofriendly and totally compostable Ganpati idol at home using kitchen ingredients along with my 2 year old son. Watch the video for the recipe of the dough and step by step process to make the idol along with your child. Kids love such activities & it is a great sensory experience for them.

This is the first time I did sculpting and that too with a toddler helping me out!;)

We did not just create an idol, we created beautiful memories to cherish in the years to come :)

Happy Ganesh Chaturthi :)

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Preschool Math Activity - Count The Suns - DIY Number Flash Cards

Math isn’t always fun and games...but it can be! This DIY Math game is sure to catch your preschooler's fancy & attention. Today, we are featuring a simple yet fun Math activity for preschoolers, which is powered by this wonderful educational resources website education.com. Counting is one of the most essential skills for preschoolers to acquire in preparation for kindergarten, so let us dive into a hands-on counting activity using DIY flash cards.

ACTIVITY - Count the Suns: Number Flash Cards

Want to make number skills second nature to your child? Try these cheerful, "sunny" number flash cards! As she enjoys the wonders of math, she'll also get a positive boost from these bright-looking, sun-shaped cards!

AGE GROUP

Preschoolers (2.5 Years +)

SKILLS ADDRESSED

Counting, Reading, Writing

WHAT YOU NEED

• Card stock or other thick paper
• Scissors
• Circle-shaped template (try a large coffee can or the top of a cup)
• Markers

WHAT TO DO

1. Ask your child to describe the shape of the sun to you. Explain that you'll be making the flash cards in the shape of a circle to look like the sun. If she can, help her trace ten separate circles onto the card stock.
2. Next, cut the circles out with scissors. (Most young kids need adult assistance for this step.) Allow her to try cutting on her own first. If she doesn't get the hang of it right away, simply trace extra circles.
3. Now, have her draw a sun shape onto the first circle card. Encourage her to be creative and make rays in different colors, or add in clouds.
4. Turn the card over, and help her write the number one.
5. Finally, repeat for each number up to ten, making the corresponding number of suns on one side, and then writing the number on the other.

After all ten cards are complete, use these sun-shaped cards to reinforce basic number concepts. Have her count the number of suns on the front of the card, and say the answer aloud. For added fun, make two sets of the cards and play a memory or matching game!

MORE ABOUT EDUCATION.COM

Education.com provides learning resources in over 20 countries and six continents. Their digital resources, tools, and learning materials are developed by educational experts to incorporate leading pedagogical practices. They are useful in any type of teaching moment and many can be used to support national education standards. Their mission is to empower parents and teachers to help their children build essential skills and excel.

Their FREE Math games are interactive drills that work on the same skills as pencil-and-paper practice: counting, numbers, shapes, and basic addition and subtraction. Filled with kooky characters that kids will love, these online math games are a kid’s math practice dream. You can find more such Math games HERE.

If you also have any activities ideas for toddlers / preschoolers / kindergarteners, then we would love to feature them on this blog! Shoot us an email using the contact form HERE along with a brief about you & your idea & we will get in touch with you soon!

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Do not forget to follow us 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!

Hope to see you around. Happy Parenting!

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