Junior J usually gets to go out of the house for walks everyday, usually either with me, the hubby or the two of us. On most days, its usually a trip to the market, or just a visit to the playground. And of course, there loads to see along the way... different birds, different plants... ants crawling on the pavement... the interplay of sunlight and shadow. There's also all sorts of sounds: The tinkle of the piano from someone running through her morning practice... the scratch-scratch of the broom as the cleaner clears trash from the void deck... the yapping of a curious dog at the approach of a stranger. I love these little walks with the boy. :)
However, I've realized while we've been exploring what there is to see and hear... we've somewhat neglected some of our other senses, like smell and touch. So today, we've started exploring textures. To encourage the little boy, we went down armed with small pieces of blank paper and a crayon in his bag... and we did "rubbings" of various interesting textures we found:
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| Rubbing of tree bark and the tiled surface of a bench |
The little boy was interested and felt the bark of almost every tree he came to (but it took a few tries to find a tree with less ants that we could do a rubbing of!)... but he did need some help with the crayon since it requires quite abit of force to colour a significant section of the paper, especially on an uneven surface! His interest waned after awhile, since he was slightly feverish, but we've been exploring textures at home too, and hopefully we'd be able to compile all his "rubbings" into a little book that he can flip through. I was thinking of getting him to do rubbings of dried leaves and flowers too. :)
So help me out here... How do you encourage your child to explore textures and smells?
PS: The little boy ended up running a fever of 38 plus in the afternoon... but still has been quite chirpy. Thankfully with medication (the hubby popped back home during his break), the fever has gone down. He's been quite a trooper, but its been quite a long day, with all the sponging and poop accidents, and the hubby being on call. I'm quite glad to be able to finally sit down and rest!
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| Rather pleased with his fever patch (Look, Juju has BIG plaster!) |
You hv such great way of learning texture, guess it's ok if I copied this?!! LOL!
ReplyDeleteWhichever opportunity I hv, I let my kids mingle with raw vegie, leaves, stone and even seasoning like pepper and salt. They not only got to touch, but also smell and taste!^^
Get well soon Juju...and hang in there mummy! You're doing a great job.
ReplyDeleteHope Junior J gets better soon. It's really funny but Ally will sit through medical procedures, take disgusting medicine without protesting and yet cry in agony the minute we place one of those fever patches on her forehead.
ReplyDeleteAlice: Sure no prob, hope it comes in handy! :) Raw veggies and salt sounds like a good idea! Guess I gotta let the boy help more in the kitchen! ;) Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteSharon: Thanks, I needed that! :)
Jillian: Serious? I remember she's always been a trooper, but so funny that she'd cry with those patches! She's one cute girl... :)
ohh I hope you and Juju get well soon =)
ReplyDeletesuch an ingenious way to explore textures!!
Evergreen: We are better, thanks! :) Hope you had a good weekend!
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