Mistakes...the 'cheap' ones are actually good

"You know, it wasn't your fault that you missed that hanky. It was the hanky's loss. Because you are perfect and you can never make a mistake." - A judge on a kids' dance show to a child who missed holding a hanky right during his performance. 

Listening to these comments made me think about what was being taught/modeled to a seven year old about ...ummm 'life'? What is wrong in making a mistake? Why can't he make a mistake? Wouldn't it make a child pressured about making it perfect all the time? Can't it lead to stress, anxiety, superiority complex? Won't it take away a chance to learn something new, something different, a possibility of failure and being ok about it, trying again and again and may be once again, working even harder, not giving up, inner motivation, asking for a help or guidance, thinking about inter dependency and so much more? 

I was clearly judging the judge. I probably was the same person before having J in my life. But as I am learning, it's ok to make mistakes and to work on improving, I chose to forgive myself );. But my notebook was certainly denoted with some serious notes. Some from the book I am reading currently, 'Kids are worth it!' - Barbara Coloroso.

• It is OK to make a mistake.
• It is OK to accept it and talk about it.
• Mistakes are for learning.
• Understand that blaming doesn't help.
• Accept the reality, it de-clutters mind off the negatives of the mistake, it gives enough space to think about how to solve the problem.
• Think about it, evaluate, write it down and think again how would you like to work at it, then write about it too and implement the plan. Writing helps.
• Trust a child with the ideas he thinks can work to improve, let him work on it and figure it out; help only when asked. 
• Allow him to experience natural consequences  of a mistake when appropriate (tricky, but our intuition can tell when to rush to rescue and when not to.)
• Always be there to listen and to offer support whenever needed.
• Let him make 'cheap' mistakes at younger age and practice solutions; he will learn lot more before it is time for us to really get worried about 'big' mistakes. The practice will make them think well before falling into the peers' "demands".

"Wisdom is knowing what to do next, skill is knowing how to do it, and virtue is doing it." - David Starr Jordan. 

Letter 'ર' = 'R'

1). રાજ: First time J sat with a jigsaw puzzle and spent over half an hour straight without asking me to join him was a miracle in itself. I mean, we are a team, no matter what we are doing, nothing happens alone in this house. To begin with our letter 'ર', I got this puzzle out representing, રાજમહેલ (a palace) and રાજકુમારી (a princess).

2). રંગ: There were lots of ways to explore colors. 

J sorted buttons to match with felt pieces, previously used for other projects. Playing with buttons was a sensory play in itself. He has been loving sensory plays lately.

We learned what colors make purple and stamped with an eggplant. We also used white to see how it made the purple lighter every time we added it. Although stamping wasn't his favorite work, playing with colors was something he enjoyed.

He clipped pins on coordinating felt pieces. I personally love to see his finger muscles and hand-eye coordination getting better every time. 

For the first time we learned to use a dropper. It was quiet a task to learn when to squeeze the top and when to release and patiently moving it to the destination.

3). રૂમાલ: I think we have half a dozen unused wash clothes lying in the drawer without any purpose. They are so tiny to be used for anything, but for this folding work, they were the perfect size. J enjoyed it so much, we found everything being folded into squares around us.

4). રસોડુ: Who doesn't like flipping through an IKEA catalog? Well, we do and designing our own kitchen was so much fun.

5). રેંટિયો and રૂ: Our miniature spinning wheel is one of J's favorite things to use. He was excited to make his own version. Later, we went on YouTube to see how cotton makes a thread in a spinning wheel and weaving threads together make clothes.

 6). રાજ્ય: We checked out the the maps of India and the USA to find out where we are from, where his grand parents live and where we are living. J shows much interest in maps and atlas, he looks everywhere on a map to find out Texas (he can't figure out the USA though), Gujarat and India. 

We did a pin poking work with our hand traced maps. It was too lengthy for him to work and lost interest after a while, so I thought he may enjoy stickers, but they were not fun either. We ended up with our cooperative apple maps (as J likes to name them) by switching in between pin poking and stickers together. It was fun, but I kept a note of keeping it to a simpler, smaller and well defined shape in the future. 

By the way, the maps are stuck on a foam board and the pin is the largest size push pin from a stationary dept of our grocery store. Before starting the activity, I showed J the sharp end of the pin, invited him if he would like to feel it and asked him to always put it back to a bowl provided when not in use. (We needed some reminders but were safe until it was put away.)

7). Forming letter 'ર' using foam pieces. It was more complicated for J, than letter 'ઘ' we did before, so we worked on it together and finger traced the letter several times to feel the shape.

8). This beginning letter sorting work was something he picked up by himself. I have noticed, this is his favorite work with English letters as well. I thought, I was mimicking a red popsicle stick (as we use for Sunday in our today tray) for રવિવાર, but I realized soon, I wasn't.

10). રાસ: For our gross motor activity, we played રાસ, our favorite folk dance form. To be honest, Letter 'ર' was an excuse to play રાસ, we can play it anywhere, any time on a beat of ઢોલ...

And we concluded our letter 'ર'.

Valentine's day work

In the beginning of the month we got to meet Salina Yoon, the author of 'Be a friend", thanks to the 'bookworm festival'. We read this book again and again and again. What a beautiful way to kick off our everything valentine's.

1). Healing hearts: Our first work was a practical life activity of putting 'band-aids' on a wound. We used masking tapes and a cotton ball to place on the wounds on a boy. I chose masking tapes instead of actual band-aids for practice, so we can move on to the real ones without wasting (they are too sticky for J to handle right now), in the future. 

Material used: a paper, color pencils, cotton ball, masking tape, marker, used sticker back to place our healing heart 'band-aids'.

2). Identify Gujarati letters: I simply put together this activity for J to practice his knowledge of Gujarati letters we have already worked on. He could not figure out the Sunday one, but the best part was, he did it all by himself and then put everything back, including closing the lid on the glue stick (my aha! moment of the day). 

Material used: construction paper, markers, printer paper, glue stick.

3). Cutting hearts: I cut up a paper heart chain and showed J to separate the hearts. He did a few as I showed and a few from the fold, where the hearts were cut into half before leaving half of the chain uncut. 

Material used: a pair of scissors and construction paper.

4). Number match and counting: I wrote numbers 0-10, both in English and Gujarati on a card stock, to match with another set of card stock with heart stamps. J is getting very confident about his counting and worked with the cards in multiple ways; Gujarati number recognition (beyond 5), number to heart (counts) match and  hearts to number match.

Material used: card stock, marker, heart stamp.

5). Map + scavenger hunt + number recognition 1-20: J has been loving the maps lately. We don't do any map work other than looking at them in an atlas, but I thought it was a perfect opportunity to introduce the idea. 

Materials used: paper, construction paper, marker, heart cutouts, card stock heart, glue.

• We drew a map of our apartment very casually, identifying what is where. 

• The next day we read it again and I placed some read heart marks on the map, where I had already put some paper hearts, with numbers on the back. 

• Gave him a heart cutout with numbers 1-20 on. 

• his job was, to identify where a heart is on the map and get it back to the table. 

• Once he brought one back, we circled them off the map.

• Then, he had to read the number on the heart and find the same number on the big heart, then glue it on. 

It sounds like a lengthy work, but J had no problem doing it, with help reading the map. We actually enjoyed the multiple layer game. The final result was a beautiful art work, he was very proud of. The green-bluish hearts are from the marble art we did for the republic day.

 6). Art: Our alternate to liquid water colors turned out beautiful. 

 

Valentine's day craft

I absolutely love arts made using liquid water colors. In my mind, they make all (including a newbie) work look so professional. I personally don't own them but wanted to figure out an alternative until I do. The handiest way to achieve this was to mix food coloring with water. I am not sure how close they are in reality, but I absolutely loved the result in our V-day craft.

using our alternate to liquid watercolors

The lacing effect came simply from kitchen towels. I used kitchen towel, food colors, water, water color paper, q-tips, masking tape.

• Cut heart chain out of kitchen towels and place it on the paper anyway you like. Use masking tape to tape the paper to the working surface. We have dedicated large cutting board that replaces an art easel for us. 

• Choose your food color and mix it with water, a tablespoon at a time. Check on the color saturation you like by putting a dot on paper using a q-tip and add color/ water accordingly until you like it. 

• Always always always make sure the colors you choose are complementing, so you don't end up with dark mess of brown or grey. Ask me, how I know this!!

• Provide a q-tip for each color and let your mind flow in beauty. 

J absolutely enjoyed watching the colors spreading out with every time his q-tip touched the hearts. 

  

• Saturate the hearts with colors, but don't dab on them or they will lose the beautiful lacing effect.

The dots and lines on the paper makes it look even prettier.

• Let them dry for an hour or so before peeling off. 

• The hearts might still be damp, gently, press on to another plain paper to get another version of the prints. It's equally beautiful.

This technique can easily be used on wrapping papers or as backgrounds on a canvas; the possibilities are endless. The best part is, it is as toddler friendly as it can be.

67th Republic Day of India

We were reading a book about India and I was showing him, famous architectural monuments, the Himalayas and the Ganga (Ganges) and to my surprise he started singing, the National Anthem 'Jan Gan Man...', we ended up singing it through out the day and beyond.

1). To celebrate this republic day we were going to make the Indian Flag. This year we chose to do marble painting using shaving foam, food coloring, something to swirl around the colors (we used a clothes pin as it was handy) and water color papers, lots and lots of them. When the foam gets messed up, spray another layer and you are good to go. This process is absolutely therapeutic and addictive. I showed J the process by making the national flag and then there was no stopping, possibilities were endless. We tried different types and colors of papers, but plain white watercolor papers worked the best. J quickly learn to be gentle while placing, dabbing and peeling off the paper on the foam but his favorite part was swirling the colors madly, at the end and getting messy for a long uninterrupted time.

    

 

  

2). We talked about the spices of India. It was interesting to see how he explored them and compared each with a picture in the book. 

3). That inspired our sensory tray of spices. Different textures and fragrances were perfect to explore on a cold winter day. Transferring, spilling and cleaning up were added bonus.

 

 4). We read 'Grandfather Gandhi' by Arun Gandhi. The book is about, how young Arun felt about living up to the name 'Mahatma', while living at the 'Sevagram' and what was 'Mahatma's advice to him about experiencing anger. We absolutely love this book.

J loves to use his spinning wheel. We have a model, that gives him a better idea of the real one than a picture. Spinning helps him concentrate and feel calm. (we are planning on creating a peace corner, so it may become a part of our peace basket.)

5). For this art work I cut the ends of three toothpicks and cut them into half to glue on the spokes of the wheel and some cotton pulled in long (still fluffy) stripes, that he rubbed between his palms to thin out. I placed glue and he placed the pieces. I love to see his concentration develop with works like these.

'Today' tray...

J have been singing the Days of the week song for a long time now, so I thought of making an activity to identify 'The Day' everyday.

First I painted dolls pins and clothes pins in rainbow colors to associate with the days, cut rainbow rectangles out of felt and wrote name of the days on colored Popsicle sticks. The reason behind making more than one options, was to give him a variety to choose from. In any case, the clothes pins and dolls pins were sure to help with pincer grip and hand eye co-ordination. The brightly colored felt pieces were very attractive and he enjoys identifying the day from the beginning sound written on the popsicle sticks.

We started with singing the 'Days of the week' song followed by introduction to the popsicle sticks. The obvious confusion was between Saturday & Sunday and Tuesday & Thursday. We talked about 'reading' ahead up to two or three or more letters to identify what it says. His curiosity about words and their formations and instinctive efforts to 'read' at early age, made it possible. When I brought the tray out, he instantly started matching Popsicle sticks and felt pieces and then grab matching cars from his vehicle box (oh! the car lover).

Next day, I brought the clothes pins and used my fingers and thumb in pinching motion to show him how to open and close.Then we sang the 'Days of the week' song in slow motion taking time to associate colors with the days. He grabbed the box of felt pieces and started to clip each with corresponding pin.

The following day we used the dolls pins placing on the sides of a bowl the same way to reinforce days of the week and color connection. By now he could associate them almost correctly. Then I left everything out for him to explore at his will, his way. He has mostly used dolls pins or Popsicle sticks for the tray.

Another part of our 'Today' tray contains,  weather symbols. I cut some simple felt shapes like Sun, Clouds, a Raindrop and Lightening. As it rarely snows in Houston, I haven't created a snow flake that is not going to be used. He checks the weather outside and pulls the weather piece/s out. He loves the cloud cutout, so it's almost everyday cloudy in our 'Today' tray, that goes in combination with sunny or rainy or stormy. I am looking at the ideas to add a single piece windy symbol that does not require gluing or painting. 

  
We also have a season representation in our tray, which has come from our Autumn activity. A planter with two sticks, on which I attached some  fuzzy sticks keeping a long open end. Then I provided J with some hand cut card stock leaves in fall colors to attach to the leaves on fuzzy sticks. He added some acorns at the base and  brought his squirrel finger puppet to eat them. He also asked me to make a bed (with two pillows - he insisted) for the squirrel so she can rest. As we saw the leaves falling off the trees outside our window, he was inspired to take some leaves off our fall tree, making it bare signifying winter. We will then be replacing this planter with little Christmas tree to represent Christmas time. This tree presentation will change with season.

This tray is something he has very actively participated in putting together and loves to  work with every day.

Letter 'ઘ' = 'GHA'

We are starting our Gujarati learning journey with Letter 'ઘ', as guided by 'સરળ વાચન' series. I strongly believe learning something new with hands on activities will improve interest in the process and make a strong impression in mind that will last forever.

(Letter tray for 'ઘ', I had also added a sheep and a watch, not shown in the picture)

1). We started with exploring the objects in the letter tray and learning their names in Gujarati. I included letter 'ઘ' hand written on a card stock, a house(ઘર), a watch(ઘડિયાળ), grass (ઘાસ), an owl(ઘુવડ), A rattle(ઘૂઘરો), a sheep(ઘેટુ), a horse(ઘોડો); the watch and sheep were added after I took this picture.

2). The first activity was washing a horse. I planned to do it at the table, since J has been enjoying sponging (cleaning/transferring with a sponge) for a while, but ended up working at the bath time, which was much fun undoubtedly. Don't water and a toddler goes hand in hand? This tray included, a horse, dish soap, a clean toothbrush (never used for brushing), a spray bottle, a sponge to clean up the water spilled (was not needed at the tub though) and a napkin to wipe the horse. I chose spray bottle for it helps to strengthen the finger muscles. Filling up the bottle and screwing/unscrewing the sprayer is another practical life activity. This was his favorite and was asked for every day during shower. 

(bathing together, J and the horse)

3). The next one was to cut and create grass. J loves using scissors, not much of purposeful cutting yet, but correct hold and safe handling was the aim.  I used green construction paper rectangles, snipped one of them halfway as a starting guide, a bowl to put back the finished work and a pair of scissors in a tray. I am very confident in this activity as he has always been careful handling a pair of scissors and contained the tiny pieces of paper in a bowl, sending to the trash can at the end.

(J containing the small pieces inside the tray while cutting grass)

4). The owl activity was planned to work with three ways. Aim was to recognize/ differentiate/ connect colors and patterns from left to right. I freehand drawn the owls on a paper with different colored patterns on them. Then used post it notes of two different colors, one had different colored owls with no patterns on the body and the other one had only patterns in the colors to match. 

The first one was to connect the owls from left to right by their patterns.

 

The second one was to match by color. Peeling off the post it notes was none the less fun.

The last one was to match the patterns with those on the owl. For control of error, I kept the colors same as those on the owls.

5). The clock activity was all about number recognition and gluing on purpose. I wrote down numbers on the clock and J looked for matching numbers and pasted them. He can already identify numbers 1 to 5 in Gujarati, so this time our aim was to go further.

6). I used silver and black card stocks to make these sheep and painted the clothes pins to match, for this activity. Also wrote letter 'ઘ' on the body to mimic wool pattern. We had tried using the clothes pins before, but J's finger muscles were not ready until this time. He clipped them without any struggle/ frustration and tried to stand them up figuring out both the pins needed to be at the same level to stable the sheep up on its feet. This idea came from Pinterest.

 

7). The foam cutouts to form the letter 'ઘ' were interesting, although he needed help to form it correctly.

8). We also sang the song 'ચલ મેરે ઘોડા રે...' playing the rattle and running around the house, having much fun.

9). Finally we concluded our letter 'ઘ' activities by pasting all we did on a card stock. The house was done very independently by J, without any guiding shapes put up on the paper.