Do you have those moments ? When you see something and find it SO COOL! It's fun to come across somethings that are just plain fun to see and enjoy and get the oo's and aa's from the kids.... So here are some of our oo's and aa's videos :) Some videos do have music so you may want to mute those.
Right after Lil Muallimah finished coloring her World map, (see post here) we went upstairs to turn it into something cooler, our very own............
CONTINENT TWISTER
We have played this way before two with the older ones, but those printed maps were played on and thrown after the wear and tear. This time I thought of sticking it onto a bristol board. Picking through our bristol boards in our stationary closet, I thought it would be much cooler if I stuck it onto blue bristol board. Now that way I wouldn`t have to colour in the continents, Phew! BUT......that meant I would have to cut around the continents. Sigh..... which I did but not around the smaller island parts.
I even made Antarctica from the left over cut out which was missing in the original map as Lil Muallimah pointed out.
Then I laminated it with shelf liner...
and we were all ready to play
Right foot Asia , left foot North America
Right foot Africa , left foot South America.........
.....and Right hand Asia , left hand North America
Right foot Asia , left foot North America
Here she was giggling and asking me... could you please make it simpler now ! .....because she was getting all criss crossed ... hehe
I don't know about youyr kids, but my kids LOVE to play with play gems and treasure chests.
Having done several different activities with them for play and learning, I have recently started a new one called.......
Gems and Jewels with them.
The activity is named after the book ........
It is a compilation of wise sayings, interesting events and moral lessons from Islamic History. It is a book of great interest and a valuable source of wonderfully thought provoking qoutes as well as to learn some very important virtues, intellectual behaviour put out in an unforgettable way.
After reading a few p[ages of the book I was aching to share it with my kids, but didn't want to sound preachy... hehe So I started marking my favorite qoutes from the book and finally made the activity basket.
I placed 3 different paclets of gems and jewels in small pouches. I actually made them choose which ones they wanted saying it was for an activity. For several dyas they kept asking when they could have them, and I kept saying when I'll make teh activity..hehee
The hype was created........ Alhumdolillah!
I placed the pouches in a basket along with a small treasure chest and the book in a basket. So what's the activity........
Well it's simple, Lil Muyallim # 1 or I read out a marked story or passage... depending on teh length of teh text they get to pick 1=2 small or large gems from teh pouch and put it in the treasure chest. Once the treasure chest will be full it will be theirs to play with whatever way they like. Till then it stays in the basket waiting to be filled.
So you can surely imagine, how it is when they do sit for this activity. Each one of them wants to take out the gems and want the treasure chest to fill up so Alhumdolillah we get to read and discuss more than one of the passages.
Day before yesterday we read a very deep menaing one, so I had had illustrate examples for each point. As soon I was done, I heard exclamations that they should get more than two for that one as it was veeeeery long.... hahhaha
A win, win situation wouldn't you say......
Here's a sneak peak inside the treasure chest.......
They do look great don't they ? The chest is filling up day by day. Alhumdolillah :)
Oh and if you would like to see inside the book, you can see it here
My Lil Muallim # 3 got the whole house very excited today. What was the cause of all the excitement?
SPEED STACKS
He was so full of it after doing it with his friends. Back at home we looked at some record Speed Stacking videos on the official Speed Stack website..... yes Speed Stacking is actually a sport and there is a WSSA - Word Sport Stacking Association. It was a revelation to me !
You can also check out the Speed Stacks at Amazon and read reviews by clicking on the image below.
Personally, I would not like Lil Muallim # 1 to chase a record, but for me this is definitely a good way to improve hand eye co-ordination and make swift hand movements. Now those are skills that can be useful in sooooooo many ways.
There are some tutorial videos on the official site but there's too much music and other things I am comfortable not comfortable with.
Soooo........I found this tutorial.... the fact it's given by a kid for me is beneficial in many ways. It was simple, homely and kids friendly. Lil Muallim # 3 was impressed how a kid was explaining so well.... ahem (now that's a good skill to have isn't it :) ) Well back to the tutorial check it out here.
MY MOMMY MOMENT
After going through the videos and discussing the skills that can be attained from this. Lil Muallim # 1 said ever so innocently,"Mama I like how you like everything I like" .....aaaawwwww Alhumdolillah
Speed Stacking at Umamah Learning Academy
It is notable that the shape of the cup really makes it work well. Butbefore even thinking of investing into this my mind started rolling with what other options I have.....hhmmmmmm
How the design of the glass effects the activity is a science lesson in the making. :):):):) I guess we homeschool moms try not to miss any opportunity.
Ummi's Advice: I always try to imply to my kids that there is not only one way of doing things. We should always improvise. We don't need to BUY things / spend money to have fun. Making things up on your own is not only more amusing but also rewarding.
Trying it out
After a couple of times Lil Muallim # 1 figured out how to keep the tumblers from getting stuck inside each other.......atleast most of the times. He figured out how much pressure to use and loosed the stacked tumblers before starting afresh every time.
He tried out different sequences with the 15 tumblers we had.
5 groups of 2-1
2 groups of 3-2-1 and i group of 2-1
1 group of 4-3-2-1 and 1 group of 2-1
1 group 5-4-3-2-1
He did, and did, and did, and did and couldn't stop :) Infact he got the others doing it too.
Lil Muallim #1 Speed Stacking
It was fun to watch Lil Muallim #1 doing it and teaching to his siblings VERY PATIENTLY Mashallah! It was so cute how he kept encouraging them
Lil Muallim # 2 Speed Stacking
Lil Muallimah Speed Stacking
Lil Muallimah wouldn't be left behind and she tried it too... and did quite well to everyones surprise. The older Muallims were quite patient with her Mashallah and kept egging her on.
First she made her 'Tower'
Then.......
And Ta Daaaaa.... she raised her arms uo\p in excitement when she was done.......
REFLECTIONS
After almost 4 hours of speed stacking in between dinner, clean up, and snow shoveling, hehe
Lil muallim commented:"This is the best past time ever for your free time!"
Guess I will be pulling this one up on him the next time he says I am bored. HA HA!!!
Timed Stacking
Mind you, the stop watch was out after 2 hours and scores were being kept. To my and his utmost delight and Abi's surprise Lil Muallim improved his score with practice. Infact in the longest sequence his time came down by more than a minute.......Mashallah!
I am loving it cause I keep telling him we shouldn't expect ourselves to be perfect as soon as we try to do something...PRACTICE IS THE KEY.....but ofcourse who likes hearing that?
Now with speed stacking, he WANTS to practice, so he is doing it again and again. I pray to Allah that he applies this lesson learnt so candidly, in other things too Ameen.
