Action Book

Z is 3 years 4 months old

Although Z goes to a preschool where English is the medium of instruction and also hears a lot of English at home as well, it is still her second language. One area where she still stumbles is when saying things in the present continuous form. So she says 'dolly sleep' instead of the dolly is sleeping or 'boy cry' instead of the boy is crying.

To help her out, I decided to use pictures to elicit and practice sentences with her. I have done this with my EFL students before- using pictures from magazines to elicit target language and extensively practice so that they get comfortable using those words and they begin to come naturally to them.

I scoured my magazines for appropriate pictures and stuck them in a spiral sketchbook to give them a book feel since Z loves poring over books. Then we both sat together and looked at each picture while describing it - the baby is sleeping, the boy is digging, the woman is vacuuming etc

I also had a sheet of stickers with action pictures that she stuck onto cardstock while saying out loud the actions in sentence forms (she needed help with that) which I punched holes into and bound with ribbon.

I intend to keep coming back to both the books with her till she becomes proficient with the sentence form. I also intend to build upon sentences with the same pictures to further enrich her vocbulary and sentence forms InshaAllah so that she can say The woman is vacuuming the carpet, the girl is brushing her teeth , the girl is swimming in the water etc. Later, these books can also be used for writing practice as well.

What method did you find effective to teach your child action sentences?

Linking to

Quiet book no. 2

A friend of mine was  travelling to India with her 2 year old daughter about 6 months ago, and it was a last-minute decision to make this quiet/busy book. I whipped this up in about a week so I stuck to a simple layout and design. I also had to use whatever sewing and embellishment supplies I had in the house so I couldn't improvise on my ideas, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out overall.

Buttoning Flowers

Left : Buckling and Braiding

Right: Foam Arabic Alphabet stuck with the help of a glue gun

Left: Putting up the Laundry

Right: Zip up the tent 

I had seen this idea online before I started blogging and long before Pinterest came along and I don't think I bookmarked the page...if you know the blog where this idea originally appeared please let me know so that I can give due credit. 

Left: Look under the flaps

Right: Counting beads

A purse with a snap button and filled with goodies that the sweet girl could use such as a small pencil, notepad, small pack of tissues, a toy mobile phone, a small wallet with some pretend credit cards (actually those fake cards that you usually get in new wallets : ) ) a lollipop and some candy

More File Folder Games for Preschoolers

Z is 3 years and 3 months old

I had so much fun making file folder games last time, (click here to see the post)  and Z enjoyed  a new variety of activities as well, that I made some more for her. Then we went to India for our vacation , and Z started school on our return so we didn't really get to use them. Z's been at home for the last 2 weeks due to an infection so all the file-folders came out for her to play with. I hope you find the ideas below useful. (Note: all the printables mentioned below are free to download)

Match the sides of a die

I used the image from here to make a pre-counting activity for Z where she matches the cards based on visual discrimination of quantity.

Matching Apple Colours   from File Folder Fun

Uppercase- Lowercase Alphabet Match  from Homeschool Share

(Once you're on the webpage, scroll down to Preschool Workboxables and click on Alphabet Matching A-Z)

Matching Traffic Signs

When I stumbled upon a set of stickers of Saudi traffic signs, the first thought that came to my mind was 'file folder game!' I bought 2 sheets of the set. I love the camel sign..isn't it cute? 

This would also be a good springboard for discussion in the future on traffic signs and what they mean.

If you're not able to find stickers, you could use printable traffic signs from your therapy source, doodles and jots or living life intentionally

Rock Structure Shadow Match  from File Folder Fun

Fish Shadow Match from teenasteachertidbits

Growing Garden (ordering by height) from TheEducationCenter

Click on the link for sample pages to be directed to the pdf. I have to mention that I made this activity over 7 months ago and right now this is too easy for Z .

Matching Patterned Hearts from preschoolprintables

Arabic Alphabet Match (used the call cards from here at amuslimchildisborn)

Sea Creature Match from littlegenegreenbean

Shattered Patterns from File Folder Fun

Matching Flip-Flops

Found a sheet of flip-flop stickers...had to use it for a file-folder game : )

If you're keen on making your own flip-flop matching activity, you could print the black & white flip-flop printable found here, colour and cut out.

Tooth Counting from bitsycreations

Z's not quite ready for this yet, but I HAD to make this one since its so pretty and cute.

Linking up with:


 

Lookie What I Made ! Mooshy Belly Bunny

I'd been saving these old stripey T-shirts discarded by my father since last year especially for this project. Finally made this yesterday. It was super simple to make and  Chez Beeper Bebe has a tutorial for this sweet cuddly bunny that's really easy to follow. Z loves it and now I'm off to make some more Inshallah!

Back to Home sweet Home

We're back in Riyadh and have finally settled down.The last 3 months have been so action packed Alhamdulillah.

• My family started our own Islamic Montessori based preschool in Mumbai (Lu'lu Wa Marjaan Islamic Preschool)

• My sister gave birth to her first child, a darling baby boy MashaAllah. Here's what I made for him in anticipation of his birth-

                                      Blue polka dot quilt (didn't know it was going to be a boy!)

Tummytime playmat 

This playmat was inspired by Dukes and Duchesses though I made a few changes and sewed in ruffled fleece as well as jumbo beads on a cord.

The lovely heart fabric is from IKEA and I quilted on the pink hearts with pink thread.

A crinkly flower that can be buttoned off (I secured the button by hand sewing through it many, many times)

Ribbon loops to play with

Diaper Stacker (using this tutorial)

• Celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr at my In-laws' place. Here's Z on the eve of Eid waiting for her henna to dry.

• And now that we're back, my baby has started school! She's in KG1 and her classroom is Montessori, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop doing Montessori activities with her, I'll be focusing more on activities that she really enjoys and also topics that I know is probably not going to be covered in her class.

Busy Book

I made this quiet book/busy book last year when Z was about 18 months old and we were going to travel to India sans hubby for the first time. I love the fact that it cost me next to nothing while sewing this up. The cover's made of soft denim from an old skirt of mine and the fabric for the pages came from my husband's old shirt. I used thin interfacing to give strength to the pages and cut out squares from an old fleece blanket to use as batting between 2 pages.

touchy feely page..the bunny patch came from Z's old minky nightsuit to which I sewed on bells, 1 pair on each hand. I first sewed on the ribbon tags, then started with the circle. I stuffed it with a bit of polyfil batting before sewing it up completely.

colour wheel and animal search pages

The colour wheel page was inspired by the colours page made by servingpinklemonade. I didn't have any brads so I used the snaps from Z's old onesie and sewed them on . The best part that the white part of the wheel can rotate on the snaps. This page was good for review of colours and some fingerplay as well.

 I got the idea for the animal search from littlehandsbigwork but used button pins instead of buttons. Basically, the animals lined up at the top have a matching counterpart in the 'grass' below and you have to look for it.

What's in the pocket and buckle pages

counting and zipper pages

Put the dolly to sleep  page

I love this little felt doll in a kimono. The doll's pattern can be found  here and the kimono's pattern will be here. Z loves putting the doll in and out the quilt too.