Colours Of Nature Part 1

Last Saturday morning, Little Bee and I were at home working on some craft for our current homelearning theme, whilst Big Bee and hubby were out for her enrichment classes. It was a great time spent solo with Little Bee, as we could focus on so many wonderful activities as well as bonded so marvelously together. I can never underestimate how important it is to have private, one-on-one time with each child so that they feel that extra tinge of being a special individual.

Little Bee and I traipsed about in our estate's garden under the warm fuzzy sunlight, diligently picking leaves for our craft. All kinds of leaves in brilliant hues. We took turns cutting out leaves in resplendent shades of colours, with Little Bee identifying and selecting those leaves in tints of red, maroon and pink - bright, rich and happy colours. 

Back home, she helped me to cut out the leaves from their stalks and then we immersed all the leaves in a tantalizing dance of water ballet to bathe them, as they swirled about gracefully, in a bewitching masquerade of dazzling fall colours. It was amazing - there is no autumn in Singapore, yet, we have an entire pail of leaves in enthralling tones of fall.

 

Little Bee was mesmerized by the leaves whirling, twirling and swirling in the bucket, and could not keep her hands away from the pail, swishing them in a magical, enchanting circle of spellbinding luminosity. 

After ample time in the bucket, we fished out the leaves, spotless, glistening and shimmering - and laid them all out to dry under the sparkling, scintillating sunshine. 

Enjoy the colours of nature. Look around us and overwhelm our senses with the psychedelic colours that are such a fundamental part of the planet we should feel so very proud to call home. And teach our children to appreciate, nurture and treasure this miracle that is our home. 

Learning Through Games

Big Bee is now addicted to word games like Boggle and Scrabble, much to my elation. So, idyllic weekend afternoons and lazy weekday nights are now spent with the family cuddled on our bed, four heads huddled over a small set of Boggle or a slightly more extensive Scrabble. 

Big Bee is getting better at these games the more she plays, and I thought it is an excellent way of enhancing her vocabulary outside of her reading. Whenever we use new words that she had never seen before, we took the opportunity to explain these words to her. Despite the competitive nature of these games, I will always assure her that we are not gearing to win, but rather, treating this as a family games session. This reassurance never fails to soothe Big Bee's somewhat competitive streak, and enhances her interest in these games despite her difficulty to pit her skills against Papa and Mummy! (But I must say she is becoming a formidable competitor!)

Boggle is also a fantastic game for Little Bee to identify and write down alphabets and short words like "No", "Cat" or "Egg" that she is now beginning to learn to spell. Whenever we play Boggle, Little Bee will join in, and I will pretend to include her in the game. It is very amusing to see her frantically scribbling alphabets and little short words or imaginary words within the limited game time, and I will also attempt to go through her word list, giving her game points so she does not feel left out. 

Family games like these are wonderfully multi-functional - allowing us to bond over board games and strengthening the Bees' English prowess! Perfect! 

Let The Parties Begin!

Little Bee received her first party invitation from her classmate last month, which got me thinking, "Oh wow - the whole cycle of being part of ceaseless parties begins!" I am now so used to just dropping Big Bee off at parties that I need to start getting used to participating as a parent in Little Bee's parties, and networking with a new set of parents again. 

Nonetheless, I am looking forward to these parties, seeing Little Bee have fun with her friends and peeking into her little life outside of our home. 

So, 2 Saturdays ago, Little Bee and I turned up at Ashley's party and immersed ourselves in lots of fun! It was such a coincidence that Big Bee also attended her friend's 4th birthday party in the same place, and that friend was also named Ashley! 

With her 2 best friends - Natalie and Alecia

Little Bee glowed like a little firefly with her best friends as well as other friends of hers. I was able to just sit aside and admire her independence. She would put up her hand boldly and informed the party hosts in a loud and lucid voice if she had not taken her turn at a game station. She was also able to chit chat effortlessly with her little cute friends, always sporting her signature grin on her face. 

Fun galore with friends! 

But what was so heartwarming was that she would never fail to beam at me whenever she ran past me, and then hugging and calling me "Mummyyyyy" endearingly. She would also introduced me to her friends, and vice versa, so I am now fully acquainted with all her friends. 

I am certain she will form solid and enduring friendships with her preschool friends, thriving in this environment of positivity and love that creates friends for life :) 

Have fun, Little Bee! 

Ebullient Eight

Dear Big Bee, 

In the blink of an eye, you are fast approaching your tweens. I cannot even begin to utter my incredulous disbelief that you are fast approaching a double digit age group. For Mummy will always regard you as my first baby girl forever. 

I will always remember that night in 2001, seemingly not that long ago in my mind's eye, when I held up the omniscient pregnancy indicator - with positive results. I remembered delaying the test, just so I could be living in a willing state of illusion. I remembered almost crying when I saw the positive results because Papa and I had only been married for barely 9 months, because I was barely 28 years old, because...because I just wanted to enjoy life as it is - liberated, unshackled and carefree. 

Truthfully, I must admit, I was not ready for motherhood when you decided to reside as a little foetus in my stomach. And despite the positive test, I lived in denial for the first trimester. 

Until I felt those tiny, ethereal butterfly flutterings deep within the recesses of my womb during the 2nd trimester. Until I felt those apologetic, finespun taps from within my stomach - no kicks from you, my dear, never huge motions when you were warmly ensconced in my tummy. As if you knew better than to jolt me abruptly into the reality of your presence. 

And I began to feel a powerful, wonderful, exquisite connection with you. An indelible bonding that propagates stronger and stronger, growing rapidly into an omnipotent nexus that we share between ourselves now. 

And when I first saw you emerging from my womb finally, your little body still speckled with bloodstains, eyes closed, mouth agape with soft, bewildered infant wailings, my heart swelled, my throat constricted with a lump so gigantic I could hardly breathe nor swallow, and my eyes welled up with overwhelmed tears. 

And I knew then - you and me - we will be together for eternity, sharing a bond so deep, so boundless that nothing can tear us apart. 

That was my initiation into motherhood - an overpowering experience that you blessed me with in an understated mien. 

And that was how you are throughout your 8 years of life - intuitive, sensitive, sensible, practical, responsible and mature. Right from those inconspicuous, unobtrusive movements - never kicks, I must stress again - within my womb. 

You are not one who relish too much attention on you, yet your traits have compelled you to be at the forefront of things. You are a perfectionist, eager to excel in everything you lay your hands on, meticulous and conscientious. You will ensure that you do everything well - from academic performance, to sports, to music, to dance, to art. A perfect daughter and ideal student who brings very little trouble and much joy to your parents and teachers. 

But I feel I must reassure you that perpetual success is not always essential, that sometimes, it is perfectly fine to show your weaknesses to others, that it is not always important to show others only your strong facade. 

You said something that lifted my heart last week - that you treat Mummy as your best friend. And I will always want to be your best friend, your staunch companion, your girly gossip partner in whichever stage of life you are at - supporting you, standing behind you always. So that you will know unto infinity that there is always someone for you to seek solace with. 

You are not highly expressive with your affections, but your little actions show how much you love us. You never forget a single birthday of ours. You always make beautiful little gifts that touch our hearts on our special days. And last night, I discovered that you cut out some silly doodle and comment that Mummy made on your spelling book, and you wrote "From Mummy" on the cut-out, hiding this little scrap in your drawer. Then I realise how important my actions and expressions are to you. 

You never asked for too much - always understanding, always sensitive. I will always remember how you reassured me that you do not need any pocket money for school because you do not wish to squander the money buying senseless paraphernalia from the bookshop. You will always remind me to save up all your angpow money in your bank, but with no demands on how you will use these funds. 

You are extremely loyal and popular with your friends. And it is inevitable that you must have showcased some subtle form of leadership amongst your friends because you are constantly surrounded by friends who crave for your attention. You are always thrust into the limelight of public speaking and lead roles in performances because teachers perpetually tell me they love having you as a student. Yet you do not revel in such recognition, preferring to be low profile, ideally hiding in the shadows, but that never happens to you in reality. 

You, my dear darling Big Bee, is an absolute gift who literally transforms my life forever. 

Happy 8th birthday, young lady - may we be best friends forever. 

In Full Bloom

Imagine a party with 13 vociferous kids, all creating a rambunctious cacophony of ear-splitting yells, boisterous shoves and exuberant glee. You will probably end up being tone-deaf for half a day or losing your voice trying to shout warnings of caution above the loud din. 

This was how Big Bee celebrated her 8th birthday last Sunday afternoon - with her closest friends and their familiar siblings from her kindergarten days, and with immense exhilaration and verve. 

We had been planning this party for the past month - or rather, I was merely the logistics planner, and she was the honcho in charge of the entire guest list, party items and games. She wanted only her closest friends from kindergarten with her, complete with a large bouncy castle to accommodate her entire gang, party games and a pinata full of goodies to help dissipate their boundless energies. 

Party elements: the ubiquitous cake, goodie bags, food, pinata and a bouncy castle! 

Her best friends, Rachael and Lizzie, arrived bright and early ahead of all the other guests, and they had a fantastic time fooling around and giggling about boys. So they were especially excited when Kai arrived, and he was aptly shy as well. These are the woes of children from single-gender schools! 

Surrounded by her closest pals who had known her since she was 4 years old

All the kids loved the gigantic bouncy castle and the roughest play imaginable happened on the castle. Shoving, yanking, pulling, pushing, kicking. It was akin to perpetual wrestling matches! Somehow, the younger kids like Little Bee with older siblings are battle-hardened from the constant fights at home, and learned how to tackle rough big kids very well. I was elated to see Little Bee blending in perfectly with jie-jie's friends at the party.

Utter mayhem at the bouncy castle! 

I hired party hosts to concoct fun party games and to host the pinata session so that I have time to network with the parents. The kids loved the young and vibrant party hosts who organised the games with gusto and gave out prizes to all the kids. Wonderful! 

Pinata galore! 

It was a great party, and it was really gratifying to see Big Bee's blissful expressions. 

Snapshots of convivial expressions throughout the party 

She loved the fact that all her best pals were with her to celebrate her special day and relished the attention showered on her as the birthday girl. 

With all her friends...

It was particularly sweet to see how her friends started making cards and writing little notes to her as their birthday wishes - I can sense a strong bond of camaraderie and friendship forming.

 

The aftermath: a clean, freshly showered Big Bee, all ready to open up her presents! 

I guess this will be the start of many parties that she would direct in future - all I ask for is her complete happiness and the knowledge that we are always behind her, supporting her and loving her. Happy birthday, Big Bee. You're a young lady now at 8 :) 

Her Caricatures

I keep finding scraps of scribblings or drawings from Little Bee in school. Her teacher told me that Little Bee is very fond of drawing and painting, always wanting to be the first whenever there is painting in class (her bossy, competitive self at work!). Sometimes, she will quietly sit aside and draw whatever comes to her fancy during breaks in class. 

One day late last month, I discovered this picture in her bag (see below), with a note from her teacher stating that Little Bee told her she drew a birdhouse. I was pleasantly surprised. When I enquired Little Bee about this, she was able to talk about the picture in more detail, proclaiming that the bird is in its house, with the sun shining on it, and stairs leading from the bird's house to the grass below. It was really interesting to hear her perspective and see how her drawings reflect her perception of the world she lives in. I find children express themselves distinctly through their drawings. 

Last week, she scribbled a self portrait of herself holding a "castle balloon" and tried writing her name on the balloon (she can spell and write random parts of her name without prompting, but will always miss out on some letters! So she will usually spell "Aette" or "Anntte" as seen in her double attempts below!). Was she indirectly telling me to dash out and buy a big special balloon for her? :) 

The Macrocosm Of Nature

With Eugene and Claire...and a whole lot of giant bubbles, amidst a gorgeous verdant setting. 

It was a moist cool Sunday afternoon - widespread gloomy grey clouds obliterated the sky with intermittent drizzles interrupting an otherwise idyllic setting. A pair of black swans were gliding ever so gracefully on the halcyon lake, just like beautiful lithe ballerinas performing a rapturous dance on stage, leaving enthralling rippling patterns in the watery trail as they drifted around languorously. Flocks of plump pigeons hovered boldly around the humans, drawn magnetically to baits of breadcrumbs, fluttering their quivering wings in pure delight. Lush verdurous trees bloomed ubiquitously, with soft emerald grass resting on gentle undulating slopes. 

Perched on one of these freshly rainwashed slopes sat 2 families, PF's and mine, reposing on picnic mats, relaxing and idly chatting, while our children cackled with raucous laughter and rambunctious yells of playful gleefulness. The Bees, with Eugene and Claire, indulged in incessant activities of bubble play, sword fighting and general exploration of the wonderful outdoors. 

It was a joy to bring our children to sprawling parks like the Botanic Gardens. They get so close to nature and conjure up imaginative and creative games, rather than confined to a Wii station at home, which does most of the thinking for our children. In such a bucolic setting, it is indeed rare for our children to get upclose and personal with the tame swans, observing where they nestled for the night, discerning the nimble movements of swans and pigeons and scrutinizing little bugs and insects crawling all around us. 

We should be back very soon, I gather :) 

The Tempest

Sorcery. Spirituality. Isolation. Ostracism. Love. Forgiveness. All coalesced in a play that is 400 years old. Written by none other than the magnificent Shakespeare. And performed splendidly with a somewhat disquieting modern twist by such awe-inspiring actors. 

The Tempest was one of the more fantastical and bizarre plays that was written by Shakespeare, in my opinion. One can only imagine how audiences 400 years ago would anticipate this particular play of his - very much like an epic "Clash Of The Titans" on stage with significant comedic elements mingled with its whimsical yet aberrant plot for its time. 

400 years later, in modern Singapore, the audience was enraptured in laughter, awe and excitement - hypnotised by the enchanting iambic pentameter of Shakespeare's blank verse, spellbound by the raw passion and remarkable performances by the excellent actors who immersed themselves completely in their characters. 

Oh, how wonderful to be doing what you love exclusively! To follow one's heart and pursue what your heart whispers to you. I must remind myself to extol this to my Bees always - in whatever you do in life, let your passion, your interests lead you. So that you can live life to the fullest, to be absolutely alive, gloriously happy and be perpetually imbued with zeal. 

My good friend BI and I, great fans of Shakespeare, emerged from a darkened theatre into the dazzling sunlight of hot Singapore, abruptly transported back to the fractiousness of daily life after 2.5 hours of brilliant escapism. We watched The Winter's Tale last year at this time. It was amazing how time passes. And our next Shakespearean indulgence: 3 witches, a tortured General and his unscrupulous wife. A tragedy of murder, betrayal and indelible guilt. We can't wait :)  

Of Magical Woods and Trees

This is the book that fired my imagination at the age of 9. That transported me like a magic bullet train into another reality, a world of pure creativity. That made me realise that mere words on a paper can be transformed into huge galaxies of existence that are pure fantasies in our minds. That was the start of a perpetual chain reaction of reliance on the written word for pure escapism. 

This book is the catalyst that fuelled the homage my mind pays to many different whistle stops to a plethora of worlds from infinite books that can only exist uniquely in my imagination. 

And I am elated that Big Bee is allowing herself to bravely step into this universe that only her mind alone can witness and experience. A pure fantastical cognizance that existed differently in each of our minds. Using only our individual instruments of reading and imagination. 

We bought the 3 books of Enid Blyton's acclaimed Faraway Tree series as Christmas presents for her last year. She completed all 3 of them in less than a fortnight. And she is now rereading the entire series again. This series was Hubby's and my favourite childhood books, and we spoke fondly of the characters and lands in the books with her. I am elated that she is as mesmerised by fairies and magical forests as I was (and am!). And I hope Little Bee would be equally enchanted in time to come. 

I am hoping Big Bee can harness all these reading into creative writing, and I am trying all means to help her express herself through writing. For a start, here was something she wrote last September before her aquaintance with the enthralling creatures of the Faraway Tree. Which was uncanny as she wrote about the tallest tree in the woods, very much like the Enchanted Wood. Enjoy this unedited version (and hence, pardon any grammatical mistakes)! 

Cover - very reasonably priced ;) 

"There was one very tall tree in the woods. It was the tallest! The birds always build their nest in that tree. It was so tall that even a giraffe could not eat the leaves of the tree. The other giraffe always laugh at the giraffe who could not eat the leaves of the tallest tree. If birds are too tired, they cannot fly up to the tallest tree. Not even a man can chop down that tree or even ten. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10."

"If they really wanted to chop down that tree it could take them four years. But nobody will waste their time doing that. One day, the newspaper wanted people to chop down that tree. It reads... (see picture above). (note from Mummy: I think I need to teach her more about the environment and sustainability!!)

Everybody wanted to chop down the tallest tree. Nobody could do it. Even animals wanted to chop down that tree. All the animals tried but they could not chop it down."

(...to be continued...)

She continued the story after I took the photos of her book last September, but I could not find the book to type out the completed story now, apologies! She had not written another story book since then, which was slightly worrying for me, although there were many journal entries and other written notices.

In this age of multimedia and multifarious distractions, I think it is highly challenging for us parents to channel our children's creativity into focused activities that will be constructive and beneficial for them, rather than allowing their minds to fall into a semi-comatose state with unhelpful TV shows, iPhone, Wii and computer games that even I am guilty of indulging the children with!

Disney Magic

We brought the Bees to the entertaining Disney On Ice show the weekend after the March holidays, and were immersed in the breathtaking magic of Disney again. 

Once again, the Bees dictated on their wardrobe selection - especially Little Bee, who is fast developing a penchant as an avid personal shopper, constantly selecting her choices of wardrobe, always opting for sassy short skirts and pretty pink tops or feminine frilly dresses! She would always chant impatiently when we questioned her choices, "I want to be 'sexy' girl!" Please don't ask me who taught her the words "sexy"!!

The girls had keenly identified themselves as alternate egos of the Disney princesses after the Hong Kong trip last December. Big Bee feels a close kinship with Aurora from Sleeping Beauty whereas Little Bee thinks she is Belle from Beauty and the Beast. It is not surprising that they chose to dress up as their alter-egos during their much anticipated Disney On Ice show. 

We managed to get a glimpse of LP and her boys from across the crowded hall during the show, and the Bees waved like eager beauty queens at WW and WD. The show was not as appealing to them as last year's Disney Princesses On Ice show, and I thought the skaters' techiques were not as adroit. However, as loyal fans of Disney, the Bees still highly approved of the performances, dreading the end of the show, watching with gaping mouths and enchanted eyes, and we were still bewitched by the rousing music and familiar characters. 

Chilling out during the intermission inside the performance hall

We are now looking forward to another total immersion into the world of Disney fantasy and pure imagination in June! 

Grandparents

Hubby and I took a couple days of leave over the March holidays so that my mum could take a well-deserved break from the Bees. I must really commend my mother's highly reliable and trustworthy caring of the Bees. Without her fundamental support, I will never be able to work and make sure my father and her would retire comfortably without having any financial woes at their age. 

Grandparental support is so crucial - and Hubby and I are already talking about providing all our help for our future grandchildren, so that the Bees are free to live their dreams! (Please note this down when you are reading this, Bees, hee!)

On the first day of the short break, we went to our regular jaunt in the Botanic Gardens with my mother, had a sumptuous breakfast and walked amidst the giants of nature. I love Botanic Gardens, especially during weekdays, with all its majestic peace and hushed dignity. My mother, who had always taught us about the importance of nature, loves it as well. As for the Bees, they simply treat the Gardens as their second home, loitering and playing on the verdant grass endlessly. 

The Bees with monkey faces and a smiling Popo

I am always amazed at how fast Big Bee has grown - all of a sudden! She is fast catching up with Popo! 

You can see how much the Bees had grown with her constant care over the years...from little babies of 3-4 days old to the big girls they now are. Having grown up not being close to any of my own grandparents, unlike Hubby, I am certainly thrilled that the Bees are close to all their grandparents - who are definitely consequential building blocks in their lives. 

Can you guess who is Big Bee and Little Bee? 

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The top photo is Big Bee at 3 days old. The lower photo is Little Bee at 4 days old. To me, it just seemed like last week since I took these photos! 

Tourists In Singapore

Hubby and I love traipsing around Singapore's attractions and behaving like we are tourists. It gives us a fresh perspective on the familiar landscapes we call home. We hope the Bees will grow to love the Singapore that we are both fond of, and be as attached to our country as we are. Both Hubby and I would love nothing more than to be immersed in Singapore's heat and humidity! It is home, after all. 

2 weekends ago, we brought the Bees to Esplanade again for some casual strolling and admiration of Singapore's skyline. I probably have umpteen photos of the Bees in front of the CBD skyline - but it does give me great joy to take them against a familiar backdrop over the years, tracking their growth and development. And once again, realising just how fast time flies. 

The Bees are attracted to places with any large bodies of water, and it was immensely gratifying to see them sprinting around in the hot sun, chasing each other and whooping with cheery joy. Nothing is more fulfilling than seeing our children happy and satisfied with their lives. 

It was high noon at the waterfront, sizzling hot, which explains why there were not many people around! 

Theatrical Fame

2 Fridays ago, Little Bee had her term performance in school. This was her second performance since starting school late last year, and her zeal confirmed the potential for flamboyant showmanship in her.

The moment she saw the whole family, her grin emanated like a burst of brilliant sunshine, and she waved non-stop to us, introducing us from afar to her friends, calling us loudly from a distance - oblivious to the crowds of other students and teachers in the audience. There was absolutely not a vestige of stage fright in her. 

Performing and waving merrily at us

When the performance started, she sang and danced with spirited and gutsy bravado, despite having had only 2 days to practise as she was out of school due to a nasty illness. She performed the main role of Cinderella for one of the acts and we can see her relishing the role of a lead protagonist. Throughout the performance, she was never without her trademark effervescent smile and infectious grin. 

Cinderella holding her purple "broom", busy sweeping the floor and dusting furniture while the rest chanted a little rhyme about the story. 

And the great thing about having the Bees in separate school sessions was that Big Bee could also be present, lending support to her little sister. Little Bee was thrilled by Big Bee's presence and kept pointing out her "jie jie" to all her friends. Big Bee, by this age, was also imbued with a bittersweet sense of nostalgia at going back to her old school, seeing all her former teachers, and claiming that preschool days were much simpler and funner. What wise insights of the past from a primary schooler indeed! 

With her beloved jie jie and her classmates after the performance

We thoroughly enjoyed the whole performance, and certainly looked forward to more performances to come!  

Blossoming Socialite

Big Bee's social life is now thriving with myriad parties thrown by her kindergarten and primary school pals - social functions that parents are not invited to, nor encouraged to attend :( She also has many exclusive playdates with her friends that parents are not allowed to be part of. 

With all her good friends in all manners of playdates and parties! 

Seeing her breeze into these parties and then picking her up thereafter left me feeling bittersweet that she now has this mysterious life with her friends that Mummy is not a part of. These gaping holes, these fissures in her life made me realise that parenthood is akin to a permanent job with temporary project management of our children. They are only fleeting gifts, precious as they may be. Soon, they will be independent and create building blocks of their own separate lives, whilst throwing a (hopefully) thick rope of connection to us old parents marooned in the boring wilderness. 

She would come back to us after the parties or playdates, giggling, with her mind full of the wonderful memories of friendship and camaraderie, sometimes not wanting to share too much of these activities with us. I also caught her hiding in some corner of the house, whispering to friends on the phone and scribbling little notes to friends furtively, hiding these messages of hurried writing. 

These are the early signs of gradual self-reliance. The signs that all of us parents are eagerly anticipating yet dreading with apprehensive trepidation. Signs that hint to us....what are the plans for ourselves - us as a longtime married couple, us as individuals - when the nest is empty? 

But for now, I still relish in seeing my darlings sub-consciously clasping my hand when sleeping next to me, yelling "Mummyyyyy!" at every inconsequential instance and clinging dutifully to us during every outing and holiday. 

Learning At Home: Fish

I decided to focus our homelearning activities last month on a very simple and straightforward theme - fish. This is a direct repercussion of the high level of interest and involvement in the proliferation of guppies within our rock pond in the balcony. Once we allow our children to select what they are interested to learn, the process becomes so much more engaging and transformative. 

Featured books

The Rainbow Fish series

(this series is much loved by Big Bee and now Little Bee for its vibrant visuals and captivating stories of peer influence and individualism)

The Wish Fish

(wonderful for early readers with a strong moral slant on greed)

Fish School

(fantastic book as a prelude for a trip to Sentosa's Underwater World - a heartwarming tale of a field trip to an aquarium with alluring visuals)

Fabulous Fishes

(highly versatile for both Big Bee and Little Bee to learn about 20 breeds of fish in different reading levels!) 

Freshwater Fish

(for responsible Big Bee, who had taken up the important role as the main caregiver of our community of highly fertile guppies!)

Key song

1-2-3-4-5 fish counting rhyme

Word/letter recognition and writing

Little Bee is beginning to demonstrate strong readiness in writing and reading, which comes together hand in hand, really. She can now recognise the word "fish" after we reinforce this word to her through all sorts of play (versus academic) activities. She is also able to associate "f" for fish, and to write out the word "fish" if I spell it out for her. I made it a point to let her write "fish" whenever she did any crafts related to fish to build up her word association. 

Word search: Recognising the lower-capped "f"

Early writing skills for "Ff". Notice she tried writing "fish" with an inverted "s" at the top!

This was taught entirely by jie jie - Little Bee somehow scribbled the fish shape and wrote out the word "fish" with jie jie spelling out the word verbally

Mandarin

I decided to incorporate formal Mandarin learning in these home activities after seeing how much she is progressing in school. So I introduced the concept of "opposites" and Mandarin word recognition with the words 小, 大 and 鱼. She is now able to recognise and combine all 3 words with the flashcards I created for her. 

Little Bee loves matching games, including this activity of matching the right phrase to the right fish! She was able to do this exercise after the activity (below) of reinforcing Mandarin word recognition through flash cards. She can now write her name with some assisted verbal spelling. 

Through her own initiation, she is happily scribbling down the words 小 and 大 as well! 

The bottom words are written by Little Bee (hmm, I think my Mandarin writing on the first row is no nicer than a preschooler's!)

Math and number recognition

Although Little Bee is now counting numbers up to 20, we still sing the fish counting rhyme to her, whilst simultaneously letting her create her own fishbowl of 5 little fishes with dotted numbers to encourage number writing. 

Little Bee sponge painting an empty fishbowl...

...then she cut 2 fishes herself (not difficult to guess which fishes are the ones she cut, isn't it!) and, together with my other 3 fishes, stuck them into the fishbowl. She also wrote the numbers through trace writing, and wrote the word "fish" with assisted spelling. 

What I really enjoyed most was a fishing game, made entirely from coloured paper, paper clips and an old wooden magnetic fishing rod. I cut and drew 20 fishes in 3 different sizes, so she was able to learn the concept of "small", "medium" and "big". We were also able to use this game to subtly reinforce other math concepts like sorting in sizes and colours, as well as number recognition up to 20. As for Big Bee, this is a really fun and enjoyable method for her to learn multiplication tables - which means I have to create even more fishes! We are still playing this game till now - almost daily :) 

An assortment of fishes - the Bees can "catch" the fishes by hooking the magnetic fishing rod to the paper clips on the fishes (below).

Crafts

We had immense fun making fish-related crafts this time, creating some really beautiful crafts inadvertently! 

Paper plate fish

This fish was entirely created by Little Bee with nothing but a paper plate. I guided her to cut the triangular piece out and helped her staple it as a tail, and thereafter, she decorated the entire fish herself. This is a really easy craft for children to make and is very useful for them to feel strong pride and ownership over!

Fish of hearts

Using ready made foam hearts, we created 2 love fishes just by assembling different sizes of heart shapes together. This is a parent-assisted activity but it is wonderful for reinforcing different sizes and colours of a similar shape, which is a heart in this instance. 

It was amusing to see Little Bee's eyes lit up as the fishes took shape. She drew other supplementary accompaniments like ripples in the sea, seaweed, a crab (can you decipher where!?), sandbed, bubbles from the fishes, eyes on the fishes as well as wrote "fish" when I spelt it out for her. 

Rainbow fish

We created our version of rainbow fish with translucent pink and purple tissue paper. Ideally, more colours should have been used but I did not have the necessary supplies then. The finished result was beautiful, especially when you put up the fish against the sun and witness the rays emanating through the translucent paper. 

Little Bee busy sticking alternate strips of pink and purple tissue paper over a hollow shape of a fish cut from blue construction paper. This is great to strengthen her awareness of patterns and sequential repetition. I let her select a strip of tissue paper and she always knew which alternate colour to select from. 

The back portion of the rainbow fish where strips were pasted on...

...flip it over, and voila! You get a wonderful, translucent fish where sunlight can trickle through! Stick on some long strips for a tail and use silver glitter glue to paint on the eyes and ripples, and you get a beautiful rainbow fish. 

3D aquarium

For Little Bee's age group, I helped her create a simple 3D aquarium from 2 paper plates, a clear cellophane and fishes cut from coloured paper, as well as some decorative bubbles and seaweed. The completed 3D aquarium could be given as a sweet gift to grandparents or used as a lovely hanging ornament by simply punching a hole on the top of the plates, and tying a colourful string as a loop. 

Oops...Mummy's rather bad at punching holes! 

Fine motor skills

I encouraged Little Bee to hone her fine motor skills through a precise cutting activity by creating twirly fishes from mere strips of papers - cutting 2 polarised slits and connecting the strip of paper into these 2 slits, thereby creating a loop that resembled a fish! 

When the Bees held these twirly fishes up in the air and dropped them, they whooped with exhilarated excitement when they twirled merrily to the floor! It was a really fun activity to zap excess energies from the Bees! 

Sunny yellow twirly fishes that the Bees created...

...let's see whose fish twirls the longest in the air! 

Painting

I whipped out my trusty, reliable paintbrushes one evening and asked them to paint anything related with fishes. These were what they created :) 

Dolphin Delight by Big Bee

S for Stingray by Little Bee

Field trip

Ideally, this homelearning theme should be supplemented by a trip to the Underwater World, but I was trying my best to avoid the crowds from Sentosa's IR. Hence, the best way to teach them the various parts of a fish as well as how fishes breed and swim was (and still is!) the daily observations perched by the side of our rock pond with a teeming community of resilient guppies!