Growing up in the little island Singapore is one mean feat. Children from as young as 0 years old are subjected to the obstacles posed by the education system. When i first heard of pregnant mommies signing up to be on the waiting list of famous pre schools like Nanyang Kindergarten or St James, I was speechless! In fact, if you are reading this and your kid is already a year old, you can jolly well forget about enrolling in the aforementioned schools because the chances are darn slim! Having said that, all these have made me anxious and being an educator myself, I have to ensure that my child gets into a decent school with good culture. that does not necessarily translate to a school located along Bukit Timah Road. =)
New Year resolution no. 1 was to ensure that I was on top of things for lil bunnikins and one of which was to get ourselves enrolled! So yup, that has been done. We are now on the waitlist. Now I can only hope and pray that she gets accepted for I'm certainly not keen in searching and mulling through the process again. Meanwhile, to groom her into the first female prime minister of Singapore, I've embarked and panned out our learning journey. I'm a big advocator of learning through play. Maria Montessori said that by the age of 3, the child has already laid down his personality as being human. In other words, his brain is 70% developed. In my own words: OMG! There's not enough time now that bunnikins is close to 2!!! Red Alert! Ok, chill. We should never translate our fears and stress to the child. My aim to to enable bb k to grow and learn in a stree-free environment. Well, at least before she hits upper Primary when I'm so sorry, due to the impending PSLE, you'll have to be drilled by your mommy dearest unless MOE decides to scrape PSLE altogether which in my opinion isn't that great an idea. I've never quite revealed to friends, for fear that they may think i'm an overtly kiasu mother, that BB k has been in a playgroup since 9months of age. My main motive is for her to interact with other children and to socialise instead of facing her grandparents the whole time and watching some Mandarin variety show and listening to old songs! No grudges against them for their influence in Mandarin is essential too. But, the move was necessary as I needed more exposure towards English coz I'm the only one conversing in English and that certainly isn't enough! Being in that particular playgroup also enhances my chances of getting into the kindergarten which is a stone's throw away from my home, so that kills two birds with one stone. As much as I hate the early morning traffic to our destination, I guess this is the choice I've made and I'd better zip it.
At home, I try to do my part by providing her as much opportunities to learn as possible.
“The environment must be rich in motives which lend interest to activity and invite the child to conduct his own experiences.”
Afterall, they are like a sponge! Of course there were days when I felt really lethargic and lazy, I would just leave her to do more free play. That seems to happen pretty often. GUILTY MUCH! Not that easy to strike a balance between work and baby. Anywayz, below are some of the stuff which did:
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| Mirror Play. Discovering herself. Of late, she has been enjoying this activity particularly during lunch time! |
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| Paint work. This time on a paper plate snake. She absolutely loves texture and getting her hand messy. |
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| Things don't come cheap these days and seeing the absurd prices of toys, I decided to make my own to train her gross/ fine motor skills. It kept her entertained for minutes! But cleanup is a nightmare! |
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| Bunnikin's latest favourite activity- FISHING! |
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| Dot dot dot dot dot....this activity is particularly good for their fine motor skills. Bb k gets easily frustrated however when she's unable to stick the dots. I've a fiesty lil one here who doesn't seem to have the patience. hmm wonder where did she inherit that from? But I can only sit back and watch her frustrations coz that's the whole idea. She need |
“Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed.”
With that, I appeal to you to cast a vote for bunnikins on http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thinkers-Box/262872183484?v=app_471354186257500&app_data=entry_id%3D18672431%26gaReferrerOverride%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.facebook.com%252Fl.php%253Fu%253Dhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fa.pgtb.me%25252F7p1cDp%25253Fapp_data%25253Dentry_id%2525253D18672431%2526h%253DzAQFitW6b%2526s%253D1
Thank you!
