Chinese Lanterns

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I was searching for some Chinese New Year crafts for the kids while our English speaking nanny, N, was here and playing with E and L. I made a prototype of this lantern, which raised the kids’ attention and wanted to make the lanterns immediately.

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We took out some coloured paper and followed the simple instructions:

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We drew lines along which the kids could cut a staight line. Little L cut like a pro. E needed to be reminded of the correct position of her arm.

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We used a stapler to fix the lanterns insted of sticky tape.

Both E. and L. enjoyed cutting and stapling, what’s more, they loved how wobbly the lanterns became.

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We displayed out creations in the hallway.

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A very easy craft that you do not have to prepare beforehand.

While working on the lanterns, the kids started to sing a German song that E. had learnt in school for the St Martin’s Day lantern celebration and, of course, Little L knows perfectly well.

By the way, Chinese New Year celebrations are ended with the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the firs lunar month.

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We also metioned the Chinese zodiacs and identified who is which animal in our family:

  • E. is a dragon just like her father
  • Little L is a sheep
  • myself is a horse

2020 is the Rat’s year.

We might do some zodiac crafts so stay tuned.

Happy Chinese New Year

Memory jar 2019

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As opposed to last year’s memory jar  this year the jar was full by September I had a really hard time to tuck the last 4 months’ experiences into it. Many things have happened this year, plus E. added her own notes secretly.

The jar is full

We “pour” the paper pieces out of the jar over Little L. who was “swimming” in them.

I did most of the reading. E. didn’t feel like reading out. What a pity!

Still, we had a lot of fun remembering great times. The number of paper pieces were double compared to last year and the kids were losing their concentration toward the end.

Anyway, it was great joy to remember all the fun we had last year. A great activity throughout the whole year and also on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

I’ll save these pieces of paper for later so the kids can re-read them if they wish when they’re all grown.

Making memories for the future.
Happy 2020!

Bottle top Christmas tree

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A quick, before-Christmas activity I put together was a hit with the girls. The best thing about it is that you can make the activity, so it suits all ages.

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What you need:

  •  12 or more green bottle tops
  • hot glue gun/ or some type of glue
  • a board (I used cardboard of a box)
  • pom-poms of different colours
  • white circles cut out of paper
  • snowflakes of different colours (optional)
  • tweezers

How to make it:

  • arrange the bottle tops in a Christmas tree shape
  • glue them on the board
  • mark the colours in the bottle tops (I used punched-out snowflakes)

I presented the game to the girls on the 23rd December. They had been very excited about the coming Christmas and they had been asking about when the Christmas tree was coming. So here it comes.

It can be a simple colour matching activity…

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But I wanted to bring in some more challenge. For Little L I drew dots on paper circles (3 and 4). She put a red pompom if there were 3 dots and a green one if it there were 4.

As in school E learnt addition and take-away up to number 8, I wrote additions on paper circles. The additions equalled either 5 or 8. She needed to put a green pompom if the sum was 5 and a red pompom if it was 8.

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When she was done, she made me an activity… khm… a little bit more complex than mine.

This task can be done with numbers, addition and takeaway, division and multiplication, letters (lower and uppercase), sight words and so much more.

With this post I wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Our visitor from Sri Lanka

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E.’s school takes part in a volunteer programme, which means from time to time a volunteer arrives at the school to reinforce the students’ English communication skills. At the end of this year a 19-year old young lady, P., from Sri Lanka visited the school. We hosted her in our home for a week (altogether she stayed for 6 weeks and was hosted by other families too).

Although E. doesn’t learn English in school (and never will), I signed up to host the future volunteer in the middle of November.

The girls were excited and very curious about our visitor. They kept asking when P. was coming.

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P. arrived on a Sunday afternoon and with her wide smile and cute presents she stole my kids’ heart.

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P.’s English was absolutely great (as it turned out, her Mum is an English teacher 🙂 ) and she could communicate and connect with E and L very easily.

During the day she was in school giving lessons about Sri Lanka and practising English with students in the higher grades. (She also taught the kids how to dance a Sri Lankan folkdance, what’s more she performed a gorgeous dance in school when the 3rd advent candle was lit).

After school either she walked home or we took her home from school and spent the afternoons with playing together. She was painting with the girls, or they danced together, sometimes they played with cars or a board game.

 

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Towards the end of the week we had more time to explore Budapest, to show her the sights and to do a little shopping. We saw the parliament and the night lights, Christmas fairs, where we had some lángos,

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visited the Buda Castle, where we had some treats,

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also took a ride on the funicular railway and saw the beautiful view of Budapest in sparkling sunshine. (After that week of sunshine she could experience snow for the first time in her life)

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We had lots of fun; we really enjoyed our time with this sweet, warm-hearted, full of joy young lady.

It was great practice for the girls, moreover a pleasure to have her in our home and she will surely stay in our hearts.

 

 

Shredded leaves picture

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Our garden is full of colourful leaves. We are raking them, jumping into them, make leaf angels, throwing them up in the air. Plus, we made some autumn pictures with the help of them. Here they are:

I collected and dried some leaves beforehand. When they were dry, I shredded them into small pieces by hand. You can do it with the kids. As Little L.’s attention span is still very short (she’s just 3.5) I knew shredding would have been all she could have been involved and the creative part of the activity would have been lost, so I did the shredding myself. It’s a nice sensory activity and the shreds can also serve as a great basis for a sensory box.

Later on 2 trays I prepared for them 3 motives drawn by pencil, liquid glue and a bowl of shredded leaves.

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First, they traced the outline of the image with the glue then sprinkled it with the shreds.

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To finish with, we let the exceed shreds fall of the picture. And there you can see a beautiful autumn picture.

Surprisingly, Little L. was great at tracing the outlines. I wasn’t surprised at E.’s fantastic tracing. Applying the right amount of glue needed a lot of concentration.

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When they’d finished with my pictures, they started to make their own. 

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E. made a tree with falling leaves, a flower and fruit.

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L. was working on a plum and a car (I guess).

I myself joined in and made our cat.

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This was the time when they lost interest, but I could encourage them to make a last one with their hands. The girls really liked the idea and the final outcome.

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This activity involved a lot of English interactions: autumn vocabulary (leaves, colours, autumn fruits), fine motor skill development (tracing with glue and sprinkling shredded leaves), giving and following instructions and artistic creativity. Not to mention fun, fun, fun.