Flintobox review : Space Explorer theme

For the month of may I received  the Space Explorer theme from Flintobox.

The content of the box were:

• craft - Mission Moon
• Book - Fire in the sky 
• Conceptual - Constellation
• skills  - Solar System
• skills  - Race to the moon

First we started with Race to the moon game. Its a game similar in concept to snakes and ladder but its well designed to teach basic maths to kids, like go back two steps or jump forward 1 step. Also throwing the dice and counting dots on it, improves hand and eye coordination skill of kids.

  

Second was Solar system , it was in the form of a jigsaw puzzle. Just putting together the puzzle pieces give kids lot of insight about the solar system. Then it  has some see through tags which you have to put on each planet then ask question related to the planet . The tags have information printed on both sides . 

The craft activity that was included in this box is called Mission Moon. There is a canvas on which the child pastes moon and a rocket shoots to the star. Taking out the shapes from precut pieces improves fine motor skills. The additional activity was making the stars . Though we get the shapes precut but small detailing like sprinkling sparkle on stars kids have to do. Sma was with the mooon you have to sprinkle moon dust over it.

The conceptual activity was observing constellations through torch light. there was also a bunch of pieces using  which the chid can  make his own constellations.

Flintobox review : Box-1 : World Traveller theme

Since I could see many actvity boxes in markets for keeping your child busy , I just browsed over a few of them and I  ordered for flintobox 3 months subscription which I got at a price of Rs. 695 per box, there was some offer going on and this was the reduced price. A total of 3 boxes cost me around Rs. 2200 including the delivery charges.
My child is of the age group 4-8 years. The first box I received was based on World Traveller Theme.
When I opened the box I found the following items:

• craft - Flag of the world
• Conceptual - World traveller Map
• skills  - Map trotter
• learning - passport
• Book - Continent toss 

In flags of the world, kids had to make flags of 4 countries . The items provided were :

• Fabric base
• Colourful Felt stickers
• string
• Hooks

On the Fabric base kids have to stick felt stickers which were pre-cut in shapes required to make the flags. Children have to stick each piece by looking at the flags picture. My child was able to do all by himself. There had to make flags Japan, China , France and Brazil. Then they have to string the flags and they can hang it in their room.
I felt my child learn many things from this activity like names of different countries, flags as representation of a county , Why a flag is required by the country. Then it involved fine motors too in activities like sticking the sticker and stringing the flags. It developed his sensory skills too as the material provided was of different textures.

The next activity was map trotter, the items included for this were :

• World Map
• Game Cards
• Game boards
• Game chops
• Clothespin
• Foam Stickers
• Landmark & Travellers

On the world map kids have to stick all the landmarks using foam stickers. Then attach a traveller to a clothespin . Now they have to pick one game card and mark their traveller at the landmark which was specified in the game card and place a game chips over the landmark covered on game board.

The second player also precedes the same way.  A player wins when four game chips form a sequence horizontally, vertically or diagonally. 

Now in the Continent Toss activity the items included were:

• Continent game boards
• Stands
• Continent Cards
• Soft ball

Kids have to first attach stands on Continent game boards. Each player has to stand at a distance and throw the soft ball through one of the continents.  Then they have to pick out a card of  that continent and read facts about that continent. The player with the highest number of cards wins. This game enhances the child's gross motor skills when child exercises their arms and legs, while aiming and throwing the soft ball.  It also improve hand-eye coordination and concentration , when child aims and throws in the hole in the game board. It also teaches them sporty spirit. 

Overall the world traveller flintobox was a wonderful experience of  playing and learning together for my child.

Benefits of playing with clay

Whenever you find that your child is getting bored and cannot go outside for playing or not enjoying playing with his toys then Clay is very good option that can be used for playing indoors.

Clay is easily available in the market as play dough or you can make your Homemade clay from this link.

Playing with clay involves your child for long hours it also has these additional benefits  :

• creativity :  playing with clay builds your child's imagination four-fold. you can create almost anthing with them. Be it aby anymal, bird insect or any wild creture that comes to your child's imagination

• fine motor skills : these are building up of muscle tissues in fingers of children

• patience : playing, moulding clay , sitting for hours, teaches children patience, perseverance, problem solving and self-regulation

• activity based learnign : clay can also be used for colour sorting  or designing letters or numbers , children can make alphabets of their own names

• visualisation and coordination : Using hands and eyes together for moulding and rolling the clay increases the children's hand and eye coordination.

• family time : Playing with clay relaxes adults also , so playing along with kids you can also relax and develop some family time together

Fun from package cartons

Last week i had ordered for a toy hut for my little one from amazon online. The parcel came packed in a  tall box.  Generally we use these package boxes for storing extra materials at home but I couldn't understand how should i use this box because of its big size rather uneven size(less width and more height).

So, I planned to make some craft with it. I thought of making a little kitchen set for my daughter. I started by cutting the box into two parts where, considering top parts'height suitable for my child to stand and play.  From the other half, I again cut out the base to add a raised platform inside the bigger cutout and give support to my kitchen's base.

Now the structure of kitchen set was ready like this. Next, I  made two cut out for inserting pull out drawers. For making the pull out drawers i used old shoe boxes.
I also made one pull-down oven like bracket in the kitchen module.From the back side I covered this socket with another cardboard box. to look like a rack.

Now I had to do detailing of the kitchen like to add sink and gas. For the sink i took one small flipkart box, measured its base size then made a cutout in the right side of the kitchen platform. Then inserted the box inside this cutout and pasted its flaps outside on the platform.

I also covered the kitchen top with glace paper and play toy kitchen set for my little one was ready :)

Flintobox review : Aquatic life theme

This month I recieved  the Ocean Explorer theme from Flinto.

The content of the box were:

• craft - aquarium on canvas
• Book - Lost at sea 
• science project -submarine with periscope
• skills - snuba-do matching cards

My child started was very exited about making the aquarium. So we started with it first. He painted  the canvas for making his aquarium. The supply set provide by flinto included water colurs, tray, cuttings, moving eyes and messy mat. seeing all this I was content  as to i dont have to rush to get anything else from my own to complete the craft. Also i  felt elated as I was getting the full value for money spent.No after painting he has to make a big fish in the aquarium  with his hand-print, then we completed detailing by pasting other fishes, shells , sand and voila the aquarium was ready.

The second item was submarine making from pre-cut cardboard pieces, the most interesting part of making submarine was making the periscope. It was well engineered and I too was able to revise my concets of science. Seeing through the periscope keeps my child busy any time of the day.

The  third item was matching cards which had 5 item printed on them, related to Aquatic life , Its a good game that teaches the child visual discrimination alongside developing their  vocabulary related to aquatic life.

Overall it was a wonderful Aquatic life experience for my child.

Janamashtmi Celebration

Janmashtmi is a hindu festival on which we celebrate the birthday of Lord krishana. Lord krishna also called as baalgopal or nandlaal during his early childhood years was notorious as a loving ,cairng and mischievous child who loved to eat home-made white butter (called as maakhan). He had many female devotees called gopis and his love for Radha was so eternal and pure that Radha-krishna is synonym for love.

How we celebrated
We set up a jhanki depicting krishna birth and statues showing various krishna leelas.  Since the favourite food of Krishana is makhan , we kept makahn in many matkas.

The Children are asked to come dressed as Krishna ,gopi,radha or gwalas . Mostly boys dress up as krishna and girls as radha.

Take away crafts :
Krishna's favourite thing is maakhan (white butter)which was kept in matkaas in those times . So we made those matkaas' as 2D craft for children. We had coutout  a handmade sheet in the shape of matka then children decorated it with mirror, stones and sparkles.  On the top we pasted some cotton to look like maakhan.

Mango Party celebration

Mango is the most relished food amongst children. To enjoy the onset of summers we had a Mango party celebration for little kindergarteners.



Speak 4 liners

We asked children  to speak  4 lines on Mango . topic could mango as my favorite fruit or facts about mango or any rhyme related to mango..  This exercise improves their spoken skills, make them participative, removes stage frieght , builds confidence.

Group activity 
Children made a huge mango with their hand impression

Takeaway Crafts

Kitchenentte activity

Whenever their is kitchen activity involved we have loads of cheers in school. We made a sweet and tangy drink called Mango Tango. 

• first we churn the mango slices in mixer
• add crushed ice and water
• add some orange juice
• our cool mango tango drink is ready

Why gardening is important for children

Gardening is a way for relieving stress in adults but ever wondered how much it is beneficial for our kids?

Benefits of gardening are multi fold for our little ones. here we shall discuss the most important ones  :

Engagement
Its very important to keep kids engaged these days coz given a million number of toys they have they always complain of getting bored. So gardening is something that they enjoy a lot without doubt. Since it involves getting messy, playing with mud, digging soil, watering plants all these activities are adored by kids.

Off time from tv and mobile

Needless to say this is our ultimate goal. We just need to find more and more activities to keep children engaged.

Responsibility
Nurturing plants tends to increase your creative ability. It helps children

Learn science
The concept of how a plant grows from a tiny seed is what they will learn

Connect with nature
kids learn the most by observing and so goes for nature too when they spend time with nature , they learn more about it. As they grow up this eternal bond would always let them resolve all their troubles.

Good health
Whats the best part related to gardening besides all the fun involved, it gives kids good health. 

• vitamin d - you get ample amount of Vitamin D daily which is essential for health skin and bones
• gut bacteria - These are the good bacteiras which are required to improve your immune system. Playing outdoors gets children catch these bacterias which in further make them health
• Fresh air - Gardening is mostly done in the morning. So it gives children a chance to breathe fresh air instead of sticking to the tv . 

 

Teaching kindergarteners value of sharing

Toddlers are always too fond of themselves, their rule book says everything belongs to them . This attitude is good but it is equally important to know the concept of sharing.  Sharing is essential for kindergarteners social, emotional and cognitive development.
In this blog we shall discuss about  "how we can teach kindergarteners to share things and why it is important for them "

Learning by doing

Actions speak louder than words and so goes the saying for children too. These young minds cannot be taught to behave in a particular way unless they see and observe such an environment near them. For that we need to grow children in sharing environment whether it is home or school. Teacher can arrange for a special session for parents to let them understand how they cna inculcate such values in their children.


Taking turns insterad of sharing

Some children are  too apprehensive about sharing to them sharing can be introduced as a pattern . I have also mentioned in previous blogs that kindergarteners correlate things with a set pattern or routine.  So for example if 4 children are eating from the sam plate and ech of them is claiming the plate to be their's just telll them you will get it at your chance. It will be more effective if you also participate and behave kiddish and become the fifth child waiting for his chance.

Rewarding Efforts

Every day the child who shares can be rewarded with a toffee or a hug and you will see the whole class yearning for it. This act will encourage children to be their best and share things with  their friends.

How sharing attitude helps in long run

In the long run sharing attitude will help children  to build better communication skills and socialising skills.  These skills when imparted to children since pre-schooling days get deep-rooted in them  and they grow up to be smarter individuals.

Baisakhi celebration in kindergarten

Baisakhi is an Indian festival of harvest mostly celebrated by people of Punjab and North India. The farmers thank the god for giving them abundant harvest and also pray for their prosperity.  It  also marks the beginning of Spring season.

In schools Baisakhi is celebrated to make children  aware of  the hard work put by farmers in growing crops and also bring cultural awareness in them.

How we celebrated 
A small village setup was created in the school . It showed clouds, trees, punjabi man beating dhol and a woman dancing next to him. A bright shiny sun rose from behind the bunch of crops making the shine like gold. There were also street shops for bangles, toys, ice-cream .

Since Baisakhi is majorly a punjabi festival we asked children to come in punjabi wear. For our little kindergarteners it was a festival to flaunt themselves in traditional attires. They also  rejoiced on Bhangra beats It was a sight to watch

Then Lassi (sweetened butter milk)  a typical punjabi drink was served to children which they enjoyed muggling till the last drop.

We always send children carrying some take away craft which would remind them of the activity they had in school. This time we made ice-cream stick Bhnagra puppets. The teachers drew out a man in bahngra pose and the children did the colouring and stick them over small ice-creamsticks.
Next we made fan from colourful crape paper to make their turbans. And our cutie bhangra puppets were ready.


Balle Balle , it was a wonderful baisakhi celebration.

Non-Fire cooking day

To introduce the concept of kitchen and cooking , a Non-fire cooking day was organised in our school.

What is Non-Fire Cooking

Non-fire cooking involves no fire, so completely safe for children , also can be done outside kitche sitting on the dine table. So children love to be prepare a sumptuous mouth watering dish all by themselves. (A little assistance may be required for chopping.)

How we started

The children were made to wear chef caps which were also prepared as a craft by them using chart paper. It also helped them to know one type of community helper that's called as Chef - The one who cooks in restaurants.

Then we displayed the ingredients  required to prepare the two dishes that we have selected for children. Both healthy and yummy.

Dishes of the day
The dishes to be prepared by children were  Buttery Smily Sandwich and  Rainbow Sprouts Salad.

The ingredient used for Buttery Smily Sandwich  :

Bread, Butter, Ketup, Cucumber slices, Onion slices and Chaat masala.

The  Ingredient used for Rainbow Sprouts Salad  :
 Green moong sprouts presoaked, finely chopped onion,cucumber, tomato, mango,

Wow time to cook!! 

While we were busy arranging things on the table we could see the little eyes curious to start as fast as we could. So next was the turn of the children to come an;d prepare their delicacies. But before that their teacher demonstrated on how to prepare the sandwich

• take two slices of bread 
• spread butter on one and ketchup on the other 
• keep pieces of onion and cucumber
• sprinkle some chaat masala
• put the other slice on top
• present with a smile 

Also the salad :

• Take a big bowl 
• put two spoons of all ingredients 
• mix
• sprinkle chaat masala and mix and serve

The kitchen was now over to the children and was all set on fire :)

Weeklong event on Earth Day

This earth day on 22nd April Sunday  "lets pledge to save our earth with consistent efforts and put an end to use of plastic" , with this vision in mind our little kindergarteners had a  full week dedicated towards understanding our planet earth and making it clean and green.

Day 1 :  2 D modelling of earth 

First of all there was an oral session on what is earth, planet , solar system ?
Next we ha round of questions from children:
What does earth look like?
Exactly , where we live on earth?
Where are the oceans? where is the sky.?

 To answer all these queries we made a  small 2D model of earth. On this mode we divided it into 4 parts one showing the land. one water, one day and one night.

Now children were given cuttings of moon, plants, sun, stars , birds and clouds and they have to stick them on relevant section..

Day 2 : Educational movie
"Nothing marks an impression on us if its not seen by naked eye" especially with children. So to explain to them the concept of keeping environment clean by disposing the waste at the right place. Children also learn about the 3 R's reduce, reuse recycle  through these videos. You can find many such videos on internet.

Day 3 : Workshop on 3 R's
You can never anticipate the unbound energy and imagination of the child. Yes when we had this workshop on how can we reduce , reuse and recycle , our lot of kindergarteners have turned into hardcore entrepreneurs coming up with solution that they will implement in their homes.


Day 4 : Connect with nature - Plantation activity 
Best time of the week was this plantation activity. Children just love to play with soil and planting a sapling was no big task for them. We have arranged for a pot, soil, sapling,and a spade. Children gathered in group of 5 and plated the sapling in the pot and later covered the pot with soil.

Day 5 :   Dress as elements of nature
Last activity was meant for dressing up and presenting themselves as a part of nature. Some of them had come dressed as trees while others as sun or cloud or the birds


It was indeed a fun-filled and educative Earth week celebration.

7 dishes that can increase the vegetables intake your toddlers diet

When its time to feed your little one with vegetables they all have their weird noses ready to refuse. So here the 6 healthy meals that you can give your toddlers with worry about the vegetables intake.

1.Stuffed parantha
Just grate a potato , caroot , paneer and little spices like salt and black pepper and a pinch of garam masala Now make small ball of these mixtture and stuff it into your dough . Now roll out little paranthas and serve it with buttere ketch up or curd. A variation in this parantha could be adding vegetables while kneading the dough but just be careful abouth the quantity of vegetables you add and tehn carefully add water while kneading otherwise the dough cvan be too sticky.





2.Uttapam
It is made from suji or semolina and curd. You can add finely chopped or grated added










3. Idli Sambhar

Idli sambhar is a meal which can be considered as a full meal in terms of its nutrient contents. Also your child would love to eat it. While making sambhar you can add finely chopped vegetables in it and make it very nutrious. A variation could be adding chopped vegetables to the idli batter and then steaming it and eating with ketchup.





4.Vegetable dalia or kichdi

To make kichdi soak equal quanties of washed moong daal and rice in a bowl. Now take a cup finely chopped vegetables such as carrot, bottle gourd, potato, peas . Put some ghee in cooker and let it heat. Now add the vegetables , stir them for a minute and then add soaked daal and rice. Add salt and turmeric powder as per taste add some water if required. Let the food cook util 3 whistles.
For dali also you have to follow the same steps just pre heat the dalia in ghee which makes it more tasty. 

5. Vegetable fingers
For Vegetable fingers use boiled potatoes and grated vegetbales such as cabbage , carrot and capsicum. Now roll out this mixture in form of small clinder shapes and depp fry. If the mixture is sticky add some cornflour to it.

6. Fried Idli

For making fried idli take presteamed idlis chopped them into small cubed take any vegetbale of your choice










7. Pav bhaji

pav bhaji is my personal favourite food when it comes to eating a meal which is highly nutritious and tasty too .

how to explain senses to children

To explain the 5 senses to children we organised a workshop. First of all teacher drew a picture of Ms tweety and then seperately made her different parts like ears nose mouth hands and eyes. Now childre were briefed about their sense organs and were asked to identify the sense organs of Ms tweety by placing each part on the picture.

Next objects related to each sense organ were kept on 5 different tables in the manner shown in the pictures 

I see with Eyes
Our eyes makes us see the nature. Eyes enables us to read , watch . Our eyes 











                                                                                                              Children thoroughly enjoyed the workshop along with learning and identifying their five senses and organs related to them.

importance of singing rhymes to little ones

The young ones are a source of unbound energy and learners. The nursery rhymes are an ecellent source of utilising there hidden potentials and building it into

Children love to sing rhymes
First thing rhymes are fun to sing. Young one love the variation our sound glands produce while singing rhymes,

Boost communication skills

When children regularly sing rhymes they learn to communicate in better manner . Their flow of words increase and they become more expressive

Vocabulary building

Vocabulary building

Memory increase

Motor skills

Enthusiasm and fun

Creative thinking

Early math skills

Childrens day weeklong celebration

The most inspiring characters for children are There was a week long celebration on the occassion of Children day in my son's schoool

Here a re the list of activities that took place
Day 1
 on the first day children did clay modelling


Day 2
Children were asked to tell a story of any animal

Day 3
Children did animal yoga
Frog race

Day 4
Zoo trip

Day 5
Enactment of the jungle story

Vegetables Day

Children these days are very fussy about eating specially making them eat vegetables is the most difficult task mother's face. To introduce children to different kinds of vegetable and also make them aware of the health benefits of eating vegetables, A vegetables day was organised in our preschool.

Making children participate

The first thing we should do in making children understand any concept is to make them a part of whatever they have to learn. So the children were asked to come dressed as different vegetables of their choice and then speak two lines on that vegetable. This way the child finds involvement and participation by seeing themselves and thier fellowmates dressed as different vegetables. Also they  gains self confidence by public speaking.

We learn by observing

Young ones are keen observers, they learn more by observing than by teaching. So we arranged for a   vegetable cart on which all the available vegetables were arranged. The children  were  also made to bring any two green leafy vegetable, or root vegetables or salad vegetable to make them understand the different ways in which the vegetables are classified.

Role Play Enactment

We also organised a small role play of vegetable grocer and buyer. One child was made a green grocer and was briefed about the prices of each vegetable . Rest of the children pretended to be buyers and went to buy a specific vegetable. This way children are able to identify the vegetable and also learn about using money for buying things. By letting children use fake money we can help them practice counting, improve their mathematical concepts and also increase their money vocabulary. Each child was then asked to become grocer and learn both the concept about buying and selling. They used weighing scale too to learn about the weighing system.

11 fun and learn indoor games for kindergarteners

At times its difficult to keep the children indoors when its raining heavily outside or its too hot a day. The children then move to watching tv or say we are bored of playing with toys. So here are a few conventional indoor games that could be fun and learning too.

1. Hide and seek

Its fun to play hide and seek indoors cause there are more places to hide yourself. Chilren learn to explore places in the house where they can hide themselves.You can also make them practice counting while playing hide and seek. The one who goes seeking will first cout till 50 and then search the other person.

2. Word scrabble

Start with any word then make the other person say a word which begins with the last alphabet of the word that the person said. For eg if the first person says a wortd catch then the next person has to tell word that begins with h. This way children can revise and lear many new words.

3. Antakshri

Antakshiri is game of singing songs and children love to sing. This is also a memory game because in it you have to start a song that with a letter that was the last letter of the song sung by the previous player.

4. Magic Game

Take four glass and a small ball . Now p;ace the ball under on of the glass and jumble up the glass. Now ask your child to guess which glass has the ball. In between you can even do ""Aabra ka daabra gilli gilli choo" and hid the ball under your lap and let child look with astonishment that where the ball disappeared. Let them also try some magic trick.

5. Dance and freeze

Just play a dance number and then suddenly mute and say freeze. Children have to freeze in whichever position they were and then again play the song. Its a great fun game children would love to dance and the become statue.

6. Puzzle game

Take an A4 size picture print and then paste it on a cardboard. Now cut out piesces of this picture to form a puzzle. Its a very good brain excercise also it will benefit childrenin their fine motor skills.

7. Treasure hunt

Take any favourite toy of your child and hid it somewhere in the room , aplace which is accessible to the child. Now ask him to find it , you can aslo give him some hint like its near a pliilpw or an almirah.

8. Guessing word game

Think of a word in your mind and now give your child clues about the word .Like if you think of a word cup, so you can give the hint that is a u sound word. It is used fro drinking or it breaks down on throwingor its used in kitchen. Its again a good brain excercise game.

9. Ball in the bucket

For this game we need a ball and an empty bucket. Now the player throws the ball from a distance into the bucket, adjust the distance according to the throwing capability of the child. If the ball falls in the bucket he gets apoint else he losses.

10. Tossing balloon

Just blow the balloon and ask the child to keep tossing it in the air the balloon. If the ballooon touces the floor he looses it. Its a game of focus and balancing also improves gross motor skills.

11. Blindfold

In this game you have to put a blind fold on your eye and go on catching your child. The child can make noises to bring your attention towards your location. Don't allow the child to be blindfolded cause they can get hurt by things lying in their path or can get hit by walls.

Holi Celebration in school

Holi known as the 'festival of colours' is celebrated with immense charm and valour in North India. Holi marks  the end of winter and arrival of spring season. Children love to play with colours called as 'Gulaal ' which is dry powdered colour made from herbal material. Also they love to play with pichkaaris which is filled with water and then showered over each other. In my kids preschool the Holi festival was celebrated in the following manner.

Children were briefed about the story behind Holi celebration 

To let children know the importance of Holi festival , the story of Holi festival is briefed by the teacher. According to Hindu mythology Holika a devil was blessed with a boon that she can never catch fire. So once she took bhakt prahlad in her lap and set herself on fire. But Prahlad kept on reciting the God's name and was untouched by the fire while Holika was destroyed. Thus the burning of Holika marks the victory of good over evil. To celebrate this victory people on the next day play with colours , rejoice with each other , forgive each other , eat sweets.

Group activity

In the group activity the children prepare one craft together. So the teacher decided to make a wreath of Handprint impressions  on a chart paper. The teacher first drew a big circle on the chart then made the chidren put their handprint along the perimeter of the circle. So a colourful wreath was ready . In the center of the wreath she wrote happy holi with finger strokes. The chart was later displayed on the school Flannel board.

Craft on Holi

Children love to play with water and holi festival gives them their righ of playing with water for indefinite period. So to let them keep a token of holi festival in form of craft we made small buckets from paper cups. Then decorated them with glazed papers also tied a string from them to signiy bucket handle. They gave away packets of gulaal in these buckets.

Playing colours and dance

The main part of the festival i.e. to play with colours was still left. Children love to get messy and dirty and this is the festival that gives the the right to do everything they want. So when the children were sent outdoors for playing with colours they enjoyed a lot.

The children applied colours to each other softly and greeted Happy Holi. Lastly all the children dance and rejoiced to the tunes of their favourite bollywood party songs. 

Importance of playing outdoor for kindergarteners

In todays times children have ot to do indoors that they are actually not willing to step out and play. The technology has engulfed children so much speacilly the little ones that they can spend hours watching tv or playing games on mobile and tabs. Its the duty of parents to make them aware of outdoor surrounding and plays that they find things to enjoy. So here i present 10 benefits and importance of playing outdoors for kindergarteners.

Gross Motor Skills

The biggest advantage of playing outdoors is the development of Gross motor skills. Running, walking , throwing, jumping, actions that involve larger movement of muscles of arms , legs or entire body are considered as gross motor skills. 

Exposure to nature

Playing outdoor brings them closer to nature they get to see the trees , birds, open sky, stepping in the sun make sure they are getting enough Vitamin D.  They get to  connect with the soil, exposure to dirt builds their immune system . There bodies become more tolerant towards bacteria and germs when  exposed to outside environment.

Adapting Leadership qualities

Playing in group gives them chance to discover leadership qualities in themselves. You will often see them presenting their point of view while playing in a group. It give them self confidence and a feeling of being more mature and grown up.

Being Social

Children learn to spend time with other kids of their age. This way they learn many new things , habits , share knowledge and enjoy company of other children. They learn to play as a team and learn some coordination skills too.

Overall Development

Considering the benefits of playing outdoors one can say that its really essential for a child's overall development.Stepping out in fresh air improves blood circulaitons and improves digestion. A child feels more fit and stong in himself.  When he grows into an adult these deep rooted habits of playing will always push him to improvise himself .

Time off from tv and technology

the biggest blessing that you get from indulging them in sports is the children are less interested into watching tv and playing onmobiles. When kids learn to play outdoor they are less hooked for technologies they explore more ways of playing outdoors.

Kitchen as a funspace for children

The biggest activity centre in our house is the kitchen for children. As a toddler my child would spend most of the time in kitchen playing with utensils, blowing whistles of cooker, pulling out drawers and arranging the bowls or rolling the potatoes on the floor. Later i explored the huge activty potential our kitchen has, to offer to our young kids. So here i list out the acivites that we can do with our children at the ome kitchen.

1. Kneading dough

Dough is a common material used in everyone's kitchen and it is also a very interesting material for children. Its really a wonderful experience for them to see how flour kneads into dough. So give them an opportunity to knead their own dough which can be used to play and make different models and can further be rolled into chaptis can be fed to crows or dogs.  

2. Building stack of glasses or bowls.

Dough is a common material used in everyone's kitchen and it is also a very interesting material for children. Its really a wonderful experience for them to see how flour kneads into dough. So give them an opportunity to knead their own dough which can be used to play and make different models and can further be rolled into chaptis can be fed to crows or dogs.

3. Treasure hunt

Dough is a common material used in everyone's kitchen and it is also a very interesting material for children

4.    Sorting veggies and fruits

Dough is a common material used in everyone's kitchen and it is also a very interesting material for children. Its really a wonderful experience for them to see how flour kneads into dough. So give them an opportunity to knead their own dough which can be used to play and make different models and can further be rolled into chaptis can be fed to crows or dogs.  

5. Cleaninness and hygeine

Dough is a common material used in everyone's kitchen and it is also a very interesting material for children. Its really a wonderful experience for them to see how flour kneads into dough. So give them an opportunity to knead their own dough which can be used to play and make different models and can further be rolled into chaptis can be fed to crows or dogs.  

6. Mathematical Skills 

Dough is a common material used in everyone's kitchen and it is also a very interesting material for children. Its really a wonderful experience for them to see how flour kneads into dough. So give them an opportunity to knead their own dough which can be used to play and make different models and can further be rolled into chaptis can be fed to crows or dogs.  

7. Guessing or Memory Game

Dough is a common material used in everyone's kitchen and it is also a very interesting material for children. Its really a wonderful experience for them to see how flour kneads into dough. So give them an opportunity to knead their own dough which can be used to play and make different models and can further be rolled into chaptis can be fed to crows or dogs.  

8. Making Sherbet or Juices or Shakes

Dough is a common material used in everyone's kitchen and it is also a very interesting material for children. Its really a wonderful experience for them to see how flour kneads into dough. So give them an opportunity to knead their own dough which can be used to play and make different models and can further be rolled into chaptis can be fed to crows or dogs.  

9. Non fire cooking activities

Club sandwiches can be used to play and make different models and can further be rolled into chaptis can be fed to crows or dogs.

   

10. Sorting pulses

Dough is a common material used in everyone's kitchen and it is also a very interesting material for children. Its really a wonderful experience for them to see how flour kneads into dough. So give them an opportunity to knead their own dough which can be used to play and make different models and can further be rolled into chaptis can be fed to crows or dogs.  

10 Old childhood games that kindergarteners can play

1.Ghoda chamar khai peeche dekhe marr khai

In this game the children form a circle and one of them carries a hanky in his hand and walks along the circumference of the circle. Now he drops the handkerchief behind one of the players and if the player finds the hanky before the denner takes a round and reaches the player. the player runs after  the denner and the denner has to sit at the place of the player before he hits him with the hanky. So it is a fun game of chasing in a circle. If the player doesnt find out hte hanky is dropped behuinf him . he will be the new denner 

2. Sitholiya or the Pithoo game

In this game a stack of 7 stones is used. The player hits the stack from a distance. An opponent stands on the opposite side to cathc the ball. Once the player hits the stack and if the satck falls down , the player has to rebuild the stack before other players hit him with the ball.  

3. Tipi Tipi top - What colour u want

Its a game of colours, the player says Tipi Tipi Top and the rest of the players ask him which colour he will choose, Now the denner says one colour name and all the player have to serach for that colour and hold any object of that colour. 

4. Dog in the bone

nd hold any object of that colour.

5. Hide and seek

nd hold any object of that colour.

6. Gudiya ke baal 123

nd hold any object of that colour.

7. ek pakad dus

nd hold any object of that colour.

8. Langdi taang 

Langdi taang stands for runnong on a single leg. The denner runs with his one leg foded and tries to catch any ony 1 player. The first player who comes in contact wioth the denner Now catches other player with his limped leg.

9.Pail duj - Hopscotch

nd hold any object of that colour.

10.Poshauba bai poshamba
In this game

How to deal with a cranky child

My first child was very cute,  loving  and social. He loved to play around and be with every one. My second child was also cute and  loving , like any other child but gradually she became too cranky. As an infant she used to get get cranky for breast feeding  and for hours i used to lie beside her feeding. The story went on even after she was an year old. Though she took solid diets but was too reluctant to take feed from bottle and always wanted breastfeed before sleeping anytime during the day. So eventually she turned out to be a very cranky child who would cry for anything she wants. But Now she is well disciplined , goes to a preschool , is very less cranky and of course eats everything and no breastfeeding. So here i would like to discuss my experiences of controlling a cranky child.

Patience is the key

First of all learn to be patient with the child , if the child goes cranky and we also show our anger , the result is nothing but a more distressed child who is not being listened to. Try to pacify your child by diverting their attention to some other thing which they enjoy. And if they don't succumb to your attempt as in my case try to ignore the child for some time and let some one else pacify her. If that doesn't work too then be assured that your child is really asking for something

Check for symptoms

As i said in the earlier paragraph if a child is not getting diverted to any other form of play or not even getting quitet by any other family member than there might be some problem that your child is indicating. So check for any indications like diaper is not too wet or the child is hungry or feeling sleepy or may be wants some fresh  air and wants to go outside.

Observe and keep check

Its very important to observe the behaviour of the child whether its a chronic behaviour or an occasional one. For anything chronic need attention , as in the case of my child, the doctor has refferd or iron supplements which i ignored thinking the diet is enough supplemented with iron why to give other supplement. But when her growth was not up to the mark i started giving iron tonic and the outcome was tremendous physically and mentally. She was more joyful and less cranky and would not throw things around and was eager to learn.

Check for any deficiency with doctor

As i said in the previous paragrsph my child had some iron deficiency which was hindering her proper growth and not letting her be herself. At this tender age the children are not able to express thier feelings well and thats what lead them to react harshly. So check for any repetitive change in attitude and dont feel shy in discussing it with your paediatrician.

Give your child enough time to play with you

With my elder child studying and i being a working woman it was difficult to give enough time to her. But gradually i realised that my company makes a difference, playing with her supporting her in in all her activities make a difference. Running , walking, dancing , singing together everything counts. All children need is love care and attention and the crankiest of the child can be made to calm down.

Don't push

If a child is not willing to eat or sleep or play, let him or her be himself and let them take the lead and do whatever they want to do don't push