Play for All! [Part 3 of COVID Series]

Hello readers! I've been a bit behind with writing up blog posts these past 2 weeks, but we have a really special treat for you this week! My dear friend Jamie, who is also a mother of 2 and an elementary educator, agreed to be a guest blogger to share some wonderful, accessible ideas for all of you! Hope you're all encouraged by her creativity and resourcefulness to use things at home for play and learning 😀

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Hello! Jamie here, guest blogging this week to share some easy play ideas for your little one that’s: 1) Free 2) Easy to set up and clean up and 3) Open ended. Open ended meaning the “toy” can be used in multiple ways, leaving it up to the child to decide how to play.

These three qualifications are important because this pandemic has, if anything, heightened the imbalances and inequities of time, energy and resources for parents. Amiright? Flashback to when Justin Timberlake complained he had it rough when he fled to his multi million dollar home in Montana with his family and parents around the world rolled their eyes at him.

Idea 1: Pillow tower

My son M one day decided to collect all the couch cushions around our home and build towers with them. Each pillow is of varying sizes, plumness and flatness. It was fun to watch him solve which pillow worked best as a foundation and which didn’t. He quickly learned that using the cylinder cushion was a bad idea. The best part of this activity for him was jumping on the tower as it fell down. He did this all. Day. Long. The best part for me was how tired he was by bedtime. Win win.

Idea 2: Playing with loose parts 

M is a huge fan of loose parts play. Loose parts are defined as “Materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up, and taken apart and put back together in multiple ways. Loose parts can be used alone or combined with other materials. There is no set of specific directions for materials that are considered loose parts. The child is the direction.” (Penn state, Early learning Extension)  

M almost always plays longer, more independently and more imaginatively with open ended loose parts than with expensive, fancy toys (Unless they are trucks. Trucks will always win in his mind.) There are some gorgeous, wooden loose parts sets out there. I particularly love anything that Grapat makes, but they are super pricey. These fancy loose parts are wonderful, but I personally think the best loose parts can be anything around the home-collections of buttons, shells, cut up straws, marbles. M and I love collecting loose parts in nature on our walks-rocks, acorns, leaves, etc..

Today M played with a collection of extra sponges that I had. Here’s a quick summary of the evolution of his play:

1. He first used them as bricks to build a building

2. Then they became cakes that he served to me. 

3. Then they were stones to build a road. 

4. Lastly he used these sponges later to “wash” his muddy trucks in his sensory bin. 
   
   

That’s a lot of mileage for some sponges just laying around the house!

Idea 3: Upcycling

Upcycling is very near and dear to my heart because 1) I’m Asian. I hate waste. 2) I’m an early educator. Every elementary school teacher has a collection of recyclables that they’re saving for an exciting project. 3) I love the challenge of trying to figure how to reuse items. A huge shout out to my husband Rob who puts up with my growing recyclables collection. 

A few days ago, I saved our yogurt containers from Trader Joes (I love the design on these!) and laid them out on the table before I went to bed. The next morning M immediately went to the yogurt containers and began to pretend to serve them to Raffi his lovey. Then he made a structure for his monster trucks to jump over.  

I’d love to hear if your child loves playing with garbage as much as mine. Give it a try-wash out the recyclables, put it on a confined play like a tray, bin or crate and see what happens and how your child will use it. You might be surprise.  :) Thanks for reading!

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Jamie is currently a literacy consultant for early educators and a former 1st, 2nd, 3rd grade teacher. She’s a mom of two-Momo(3) and Ella (3 months).

3 goals for homeschool preschool + a special giveaway!! [Part 2 of COVID Educational Inequality Series]

do the paper decorations look familiar? we just recycled them from Silly Bean's birthday decor!

Welcome to Little Mouse's Colors Homeschool! We decided to call our preschool year "homeschooling" and Silly Bean even decided on this cute little name for it, but we are basically doing what we've been doing and not necessarily doing any lesson planning or anything, just more of the same 😅

Here are 3 goals we are going to be focusing on this year, and most things we'll be doing will likely fall into one or more of these categories!

1. Cultivate curiosity, wonder, and a love for learning: aka asking questions about anything and everything, figuring out how to research to find out the answers (whether it's the library or asking a friend who knows a lot about it, etc.), noticing things in the world around us.
2. Read tons: whether it's me reading books out loud, audio books, story podcasts, or Silly Bean practicing his reading, whether it's in English or in Chinese, or telling our own stories.
3. Create opportunities for social interactions: meeting up with friends (socially distanced, outdoors), talking to new neighbors, trying to talk to some kids we see at the playground, etc.

As I've been talking with friends with similar aged kids, I also wanted to share 3 things to keep in mind if you're trying to "homeschool" your preschooler this year:

1. Homeschool doesn't have to be fancy like what you see on Pinterest. Truly. I'm a part of a few homeschool and toddler groups on Facebook, and I keep seeing posts from some parents who do really amazing things with their learning spaces, learning activities, etc. but to be honest, you don't need all of that to do a great job with your child. What I think matters the most is your presence and your interaction with your kid(s)!
2. Don't take our "schedule" as the authority of what a preschool schedule "should" look like! While routine is important for kids to feel secure and know what's coming, every kid is just so different. You are the one who knows your child best, what their ups and downs are throughout the day, when they get hangry (it's really a thing!). There really isn't a right or wrong schedule, whatever works best for your family. Plus at this age, they should be playing the majority of the time! Apparently "teaching time" for preschool aged kids should only be 15 to 30 minutes a day anyway so if you are planning lessons, make them short and don't get too frustrated if your kid's attention span is short! (the activities I shared above only lasted about 15 minutes tops before Silly Bean got disinterested and walked away!).
3. It's totally okay if your kid wants to do the same thing every day. Yes, they are still learning, and yes it's totally fine! Silly Bean got an Africa puzzle for his birthday a few weeks ago, and has still been doing the puzzle at least 20 times a day since then, and always says he is looking forward to playing the puzzle again tomorrow. You don't need to force your child to do all these other activities because you think they are supposed to be doing it. You can use that as an opportunity to extend their learning with that particular interest. So for example, we asked Silly Bean which African countries he was interested in learning about, and borrowed some books from the library about them. We thought about what friends we have who have been to Africa or who have lived there or currently live there, and are planning to do mini "interviews" with them (still trying to figure out what that looks like for a 3-year-old!). 

I'm not much of a systematic planner when it comes to all of this so you won't see any spreadsheets or worksheets here, just some activities we come up with here and there. Again, with COVID, I think a lot of inequalities are being exposed with the whole homeschooling/schooling from home bit. Some families may not have access to materials or toys that you see on other blog posts or articles about homeschool or learning-from-home ideas, or don't have the time to search Pinterest or prep an activity because they are working one or two jobs, or maybe are raising multiple kids and just don't have the time. We want to share some ideas in this post that should be easy, low or no prep, and the materials should be easy to come by.

The other day, Silly Bean refused to go outside. I really try to get him out for at least an hour a day, so I quickly came up with this idea that we should go collect sticks to make Little Mouse a house. Silly Bean loved the idea so much we were out the door in a jiffy! Little Mouse is this little finger puppet that Nanny and Grampy gave Silly Bean a while ago but he has recently liked it a lot. This was the end result!

I just glued the sticks together in a triangular prism shape (it was supposed to be more cube-like but we ran out of sticks, oh well), glued a bunch of leaves on the top and the front to make a door, found a little rock outside and stuck it on, and voila! It only took about 15 minutes or so to put it together, and now it sits on our little table.

Another quick and easy activity that we introduced today as a part of "choice time" is beading.

I guess this is what you'd call our learning time--I give Silly Bean a choice of 2 activities where I assist him in practicing a skill; so far I've come up with beading and cutting practice (just cut up some strips of scrap paper and put it in a jar with scissors). I think the materials should be accessible for most--I just got a bag of pipe cleaners and a bag of pony beads from a local craft store across the street, but I'd imagine they'd have it at the dollar store as well!

Lastly, we wanted to do a special giveaway of a mini preschool kit to either parents/caregivers in need (however you define that)-- whether that's for yourself, a neighbor or friend you know who could be blessed by this, or maybe a friend faraway who you're thinking about! To enter the giveaway:

• share this post (either by sharing the Facebook post or by copying and pasting the post link) to your social media and tag a friend who could be encouraged by this blog post
• and subscribe to the blog (on the main page, there is a sidebar on the right where you can enter your e-mail address)

Silly Bean will pick a number at random and we'll announce the winners on Friday!

Talking, Drawing, Writing [Part 1 of the COVID Educational Inequality Series, Silly Bean Style]

Happy September, everyone! How many of you have kids going back to school this/next week? How many of have districts doing hybrid or completely remote learning for the time being? Are any of you going to opt for homeschooling for the year instead?

Today we're going to kick off a series that highlights the inequalities that this pandemic is bringing to light with regard to education, but also provides some simple ideas that should be more accessible to all (with materials you probably have at home, minimal time spent preparing, etc). As I've been reflecting on our family's situation, I'm really grateful that we can even afford for me to be a SAHM working part-time, and that our situation in that regard has been the same as pre-pandemic. I have the ability to give Silly Bean my undivided attention during the day, and we also don't have to worry about whether he is doing virtual learning or not, whether he is meeting in person or not.

But this isn't the case for everyone. For parents, single parents, people who are working full time from home and have littles at home, people who don't speak English, people who are working a job or several jobs outside the home--the whole education system in this season isn't set up for them. It makes me think about how homeschooling really is a privilege. But it shouldn't have to be, because every parent cares about giving their kids the best education, giving them the attention they need, but our current system doesn't necessarily make that possible. 

There are still others who aren't in this boat but are still wondering what to do to fill the hours when their kid (or multiple kids) aren't doing remote learning since the virtual school day is "shorter" than if they had been in school. If you fall into either of these groups, or anywhere in between, this series is for you! We want to share some easy peasy low-prep activites you can do with your toddlers/preschoolers!

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One of my favorite memories growing up is lying in bed with my mom and making up little stories together before going to sleep. We would tell them orally and unfortunately I don't remember any of them, but what I do remember is that magical feeling of painting a world with our words for our characters and co-creating it with my mom. It was probably then that I knew I wanted to be a writer.

For one of my early childhood education classes, we read a book called "Talking, Drawing, Writing," which is about how storytelling, or basically talking, is essential to children learning to write later on beyond kindergarten.

Foremost, though, is valuing the child through storytelling: "Because inviting children to talk about themselves and about what they know honors who they are. They don't need a picture. They don't even need to know how to write letters. They don't need a spectacular event to share. They are valued for themselves, for using the words they have to say what they know." (p. 15) In these times with our kids at home, storytelling can give us an opportunity to affirm our children for who they are and the things they understand (or think they understand!) about the world, and to build relationship. It doesn't take any prep, really--only a listening ear, some open ended questions, and some affirmation!   You don't even need to write anything down--just take a few minutes to really be present with your toddler/preschooler!

Silly Bean and I have been enjoying telling little stories about his stuffed animals (his Elmo in particular, who he calls "Mo Baby"), and it's been really fun. Similar to pretend play, I see how Silly Bean is processing the world around him and his understanding of how things work.  We don't usually record many of the stories because he is still young and I don't want Silly Bean to focus too much on product, just the process, but here is a story we captured in writing and drawing so that we could read it over and over again, and so Silly Bean could feel proud about his story and be encouraged to create many more!

And of course, read tons with your kid! I understand that may also be cause for access issues if you're in a town where your library isn't currently open... in which case, tell your kid tons of stories! Make up stories about their favorite stuffed animal or character. Tell your kids stories of when you were their age. Anything--the sky's the limit :D 

Just for fun, here's a picture just for fun of Silly Bean in me in our once-nursing-chair-now-reading-and-storytelling-chair! Silly Bean thought it was hysterical that his legs were hidden and my legs look like they belong to him in this photo ;P

What stories does your child enjoy? What stories do you like telling your kids? Would love to hear!

Bibliography:

Horn, Martha and Mary Ellen Giacobbe. Talking, Writing, Drawing: Lessons from Our Youngest Writers. Stenhouse Publishers, 2007.

"The Great Outdoors"

Don't let the title of this post deceive you; we have not been camping or on an intense hike or anything recently ;P But I did get asked by more than 1 person this week about how I keep my sanity. Aside from waking up early to have some quiet time on my own with God and continuing my daily running (more like jogging), our outdoor time (by "our" I mean me and Aindréas, and my husband as well in the times when he is able to join us on weekends or weeknights) has been absolutely essential. I don't know what it is, but whenever we are outside, the sunshine or the vitamin D or just being out with nature dispels all the tantrums, all frustrations, all the craziness... it's good for the soul!

The outdoors are great; being outside is great! We've been visiting local parks at off-peak hours (though I do recognize that not  all readers may feel comfortable in terms of risk level with going to playgrounds). One day we were driving in a nearby town and saw this park that looked really fun, so naturally we had to stop and check it out!

Of course since there the letter board, Silly Bean was enthralled 😁 He practiced climbing as well and sliding down the slide "all by my own." We had so much fun, of course we had to go back again!

(had to visit the letter board again of course!)

We've been "getting our exercise" every day--taking walks outside, practicing the balance bike, blowing bubbles or drawing with chalk in front of our house, playing in the kiddie pool, going to gardens or taking nature walks/mini-hikes. Also, sometimes I'll just bring random things to our back deck just so we can be outside playing them. Silly Bean was really into popping this bubble wrap the other day so I just put it over the fence, and Silly Bean had a great time popping bubbles after we ate dinner outside.

I think bringing things outside to play is a great way to enjoy the nice weather before the weather gets colder and the days get shorter!

Then last night we ran out during a storm and got to see a rainbow in the sky--Silly Bean's first rainbow, apparently! It was a sweet moment together as a family and just reminded me to delight in the simple things!

What outdoor activities have you been enjoying with your kid(s) lately? Feel free to comment and share!

A new hashtag! #thisis3!

This week, Silly Bean celebrated his 3rd birthday! I can hardly believe that it's been 3 years since we brought him back from the hospital. They say that the most development and growth happens in the 1st 3 years of life, and I sure agree. He was so little in his crib (now toddler bed), and now we're having full conversations in full sentences. He used to just lay on his back, but now he runs, jumps, climbs, balances, and is learning to ride a (balance) bike! 

For his birthday, our friends thought it would be fun to put their gift for Silly Bean by a tree and have him discover it (though, his little friend kept giving away the surprise! Oh well, Silly Bean wasn't listening anyway and was still surprised haha). Silly Bean was so happy to see a little red balance bike just for him! For months prior, he had been talking about how when he turns 3 he will learn to ride a red bike, so this was just perfect. 

slowly getting acquainted to the balance bike for the first time!

Hope he'll continue to persevere in mastering it!

Among other things for his birthday, Silly Bean got to see his family and friends, get a swimming lesson from Mama, have the foods he requested (Japanese chicken curry, roasted asparagus, Chinese-style garlic pasta noodles, roasted broccoli, zucchini cake and lemon cake), open so many presents (yes, I put some away so there are always new things to play throughout the year), and play with his new geography puzzle (we got a few of various continents and the one he picked to play with for now was Africa). It was a little sad because of social distancing so we didn't get to have a party with all his little friends, but I think Silly Bean was still pretty happy about the day(s) and about turning 3!

The last days of #thisis2

Happy August, Silly Bean blog readers! It's been a while since the last post and that's because we moved at the end of July! We are now homeowners of a 2-story townhouse in the same town as our previous condo, but we have a lot more space, and--most importantly according to Silly Bean--we have new carpet and we have stairs inside ;D It's been a crazy few weeks moving with a toddler that there hasn't been a chance to sit down and make a post (ie. every time I packed a box,  Silly Bean was enraptured by the things in the box and everything ended up becoming unpacked and extremely interesting, and my husband spent a lot of time fixing up the new place/cleaning the old place)!

What else has been new in our days?

We went blackberry picking at a local farm, which Silly Bean loved last year (well, we had guests over last year who went blackberry picking and he ate most of their blackberries ;P) so we went again this year. It's never pleasant with the August heat and the mosquitos (we were only there for 20 minutes tops, and I got at least 10 mosquito bites) but the fruits and the enjoyment that came with eating them for snacks for the whole week were well worth it!

More immediately in our neighborhood, we've been collecting leaves and making leaf prints and collages. We were inspired by an activity in a Curious George book we recently read about making a leaf journal.

And a more exciting thing that's probably the most recent--we finally took the railing off Silly Bean's crib and converted it into his toddler bed a few days ago. Silly Bean loves his "new" bed! He is growing up so quickly, which is bittersweet! T_T

This is the last days of #thisis2, as Silly Bean is turning 3 next week! 2 has been so great, even in the midst of the pandemic, of so many learning moments, funny moments, sweet moments, crazy moments--the journey has been so wonderful so far. Not sure what having Silly Bean as a "threenager" will be like... parents of 3s, former and present, share your insights and wisdom!

The Puddle Pail

Hello readers, have local libraries in your area re-opened already? Much to our great delight, our township's library started doing online reservations and pick-up services last week. Unfortunately, though, there's a five-book limit and we read an awful lot in this household! It's also difficult to figure out what's at the library because you need to have titles in mind to search availability. My good friend and I decided to do a book swap since her own Silly Bean is six months older and loves reading as well. It is super fun because get to borrow personally curated books and also choose books for our little friend that we think he will enjoy 😄

Silly Bean's friend loaned him a book called "The Puddle Pail," a very fun and colorful book about two crocodile friends who collect things in their pails (one collects more traditional things like stones, feathers, etc. while the other friend collects puddles).

Silly Bean enjoyed reading this book--it was the first time he was introduced to the idea of collecting things, as he has never been one to pick up tons of rocks and put them in his pocket on walks. Today we were trying to come up with an idea of another way to play outside--we have been doing the chalk and bubbles thing most days for half a year now (!?!?) and we really need something new! So we grabbed our pail from the water table, reminisced about "The Puddle Pail," and out the door we went for a new adventure!

 

We went to the usual places we go to on our (pretty much) daily walks, but with a different set of eyes. Instead of talking about how the pool and playground are still closed, we noticed a lot of large rocks in the area in front of the pool.

We filled up the little pail with rocks, but quickly realized it was heavy and difficult to carry without the handle falling out, so we did dump some out and looked around for other things to collect and place in our pail.

Sticks and acorns filled up the rest of the pail and was happily much lighter. Silly Bean became really interested in finding other oak trees in the neighborhood to find more acorns, and our hunt for oak trees led us to a mini forest that's very close to our condo but we never really ventured to. Silly Bean said, "Mama, I love oak trees because they make acorns for me! Why do you love oak trees?" My answer was, "Because they are tall and give us some shade." And on a hot day today, we were so thankful for the shade, especially because this collecting activity had us outdoors for a good hour and a half!

This little adventure was such a great analogy for me about the perspective with which we see things. Are we focusing on the negative things (like the pool or playground being closed every time we go to check if they opened yet), or are we looking with fresh eyes anticipating finding treasures in the small everyday things? As the pandemic continues to get worse in some areas, and in some states moving back a phase in terms of reopening, what is our perspective on it all? I am reminded that even though we may be walking around with empty pails, God wants to fill our pails with joy as we shift our perspective, a perspective of eagerness and expectancy in the midst of it all.