Bonding Time: Tea Party

It is that time of the month again where my daughter and I could play the whole day and just relax. We decided to have a tea party. She loves having a tent in the living room that I decided to put it up again but in a more classy way, sort of like a canopy. I just placed a long rod in the middle to give that pointy top.

I prepared iced tea and some chocolate crinkles. Again, Z enjoyed being in her tent. She just loves having it up and watching her favorite cartoons.

I love spending time like this with her. Here, she practiced pouring liquid in a cup. She needed to be reminded to look at what she is doing. She enjoyed it so much that she drank a lot of iced tea. Because of the sugar contents, I had her drink lots of water afterwards. You can substitute iced tea with some fruit juice if you have some at home, that would be a better beverage for the kiddos to drink.

It is a joy to see the smile on her face during this activity. I know that we watch cartoons every day but we do not get to watch cartoons this way all the time so it is nice to make something that we normally do different.

We could have played dress up as well but since it is very hot, we decided to just have our hats and wear them for a photo souvenir.

We are going to do this again during the rainy season since the weather is much cooler, that way we can wear the appropriate clothes for a real tea party, dresses and girly hats. Next time, no iced tea since Z had a sore throat the day after because of too much iced tea. Never again. :)

We shouldn't be embarrass if we spend some time acting like kids with our children, it is OK to act like them most of the time. It brings so much joy to a parent's heart seeing their children having fun with them and being like a kid.

Play with your children, they will not be children that long. There will be a time when they will go out and spend some time with their friends, so make every moment count.

Another bonding time that I know little Z will cherish.

The Sense of Touch

It has been awhile since I have updated TPM. We have not done much because of the summer heat that led Z to be ill most of the time.Even though the summer heat has slowed me down, I am not giving up to teach little Z what she needs to know and the heat will not stop me in spending some quality time with her.

Sensory Hands

Since we are done with two senses - the sense of hearing and sense of sight, we are now learning the sense of touch. I find this lesson interesting and fun because Z would get to learn and feel different textures. For a child, I think it is exciting for them to feel something different.

Sensory exploration is a child's way of examining, discovering, categorizing and making sense of the world. And it's beneficial to provide them with opportunities for sensory play (Morin).

And it is important for children to learn through sensory play and what fun way to do it through the sense of touch. There are interesting textures that you can introduce to the children and I believe it will just amaze them how every object they touch feels different. Z totally enjoyed exploring different materials.

I prepared felt hands, from top left, cotton - soft, sticker paper - sticky, corrugated board - bumpy, sea shells - (individually touched) smooth and bumpy, colored sand paper - rough. Z enjoyed feeling these hands, she said she likes the soft hand because it is like a pillow.

 Z looked into different materials in her sensory table and discovered different textures from wood shavings, pom poms, feather duster, and sea shells. We also explored playing with soil and water.

Sand Painting

There are so many things that children can explore through their senses and we can use the things around our homes to teach them about the five senses.

Playing with Water & Soil

Other activities we did for the sense of touch are the following:
- Texture Rubbings
- Texture Collage
- Sand Painting
- Making and playing with Textured Play dough (will post soon)
- Drawing with Ice Chalk (will post soon)

The texture rubbings was a fun activity as I let Z explored on her own and asked her what other objects we can use to rub...it was her idea to rub the leaf she saw on the ground as well as the towel.

Let your children explore especially if you live in a place where there are parks and other areas where they can discover textures from natural resources.









References:
Morin, A. Why Sensory Play is Important: How Sensory Play Helps Your Child Learn. Retrieved from http://kidsactivities.about.com/od/CreativePlay/a/SensoryPlay.htm