mamamakesplay

You probably have seen this everywhere and wondered if it is applicable for your preschoolers. I got you🤗

When children first start to show interest in reaching for the crayons, they will produce scribbles on their drawing paper. They will then move on from scribbling and start to draw in a more controlled and creative way.✍️

You will see them copying pictures from books or others and learn to draw different shapes independently.

Now this is where the Pre-writing strokes comes in. Before children learn to form letters and numbers, they should be able to draw these 8 pre-writing strokes/shapes.

Why is these strokes important, you wonder. Have you ever noticed how the alphabets produces a lot of lines and curves? So do you see the similarity to these strokes? If you answered yes, then you have definitely seen the connection and importance.💪🏽

So the next time you wonder why your children still struggle with writing fluently, consider working on these strokes first!

✨Book Review✨

It has been awhile since I shared about my reviews on Parenting books. I’d read when I needed answer. I’d read as my form of self-care. And I’d read to gain more knowledge and align my perspective on parenting.

And I’d love to share the good stuff with you.

This one took me almost a week to complete and not because it was dull. Mindfulness for Mums is packed with so many great sharing and tips, I had to take down notes.✍️You know it’s worth it if you see me writing down notes.

One of my favourite take away has got to be her personal take and struggles as a mom and how she cope them with Mindfulness. Love love love it💯

Recommendation: 4/5

If you are looking into inculcating Mindfulness to your home setting, this one has a light and relatable content to follow.✨

Have any books to recommend? Let me know in the comments. For more of my book recommendations check out the highlight “Parenting Books”.🤗

“Routine is to a child what walls are to a house; it gives boundaries and dimensions to his life.” — Rudolf Dreikurs, child psychiatrist and author of Children: the Challenge.

The past few days has been all talk about Bedtime Routine. You have seen how my kid’s bedtime routine flows and now you would like to know how to start. I got you!🤗

Here are 5 simple tips to start with and I will walk you through it✨

Take note that you can adopt all of the tips or just 1 at a time whichever you are comfortable with.

1. Draw a simple bedtime chart.✍️
Printed chart can be nice and inviting but if you are looking for a simple start, drawings of each routine that you and your child can both understand will suffice.

For example: shower head to describe “time to shower” or a bowl of food to describe “time for dinner”.

2. Set an alarm to indicate the start of routine.⏰
You do not need those loud triggering alarm. Consider those melodic alarm or a clean up song. Make sure to do it everyday so they get used to the cycle.

3. Get your children involve in the flow of routine.👩‍👦‍👦
It can be verbal involvement such as “Should we eat or shower first?” Or let them arrange the routine chart if you decided to create one.

4. Give them a heads up!📣
You do not want to suddenly direct them while they are up to something. That will be a recipe for disaster . If they are playing, let them know they have about 15 minutes left and countdown to 10 and 5 minutes before declaring it is clean up time.

5. Set the mood.🎶
I love this one and it was my go-to when we started adopting bedtime routine. It also slows down our breathing in some ways. Dim the lights or better turn off all living room lights to indicate everyone is going in now. Turn on relaxing music and draw the curtain if the sun is still up.

Routine shouldn’t be too complicating to start. In fact, it should be done as natural as possible. Adjust accordingly to fit your schedule as well.

Remember to also celebrate the small wins especially when your kids are able to carry them out with no tantrums! Good luck!💪🏽

If you are not sure which activity to start with this holiday, start with the easy and accessible one first, Board Games! 🎲

I grew up with family games night and when we shifted to our own home, the first few things I requested to have was a corner for all our board games. Also, it’s great to have when guests comes over! ☀️

Swipe 👉🏼 to see some of the unconventional way our family explored with board games to suit our young preschoolers!👦

Are you a fan of board games? Share with me on the comments your favourite board games (or those rare ones too!)🧩




@ Singapore

Teachers, today we celebrate us.🌈

Remember those late night of curating lessons plans and marking papers?🕯

Today, we celebrate that.

Remember those sleepless night preparing resources so that the children can benefit and learn from them?💡

We celebrate that.

Remember when we went above and beyond in tackling the needs of a child and we were doubting if it was going to be worth it?🚀

We celebrate that too!

Today, we are celebrating the hardwork, your dedication and commitment as an educator (teacher, tutor, enrichment teacher)👩‍🏫👨‍🏫

We celebrate your patience and perseverance.💪🏽

We celebrate the long hours and sleepless nights to give the best for the children in and out of the classroom.⏰

If you ever wondered if it’s worth it? I say YES XMillion!

We are building characters, changing lives and seeing our future generations reap the fruits of our labour. So keep doing YOU!🙌

Happy Teacher’s Day my friends!🥳

TAG your educator friends to remind them that they are appreciated and celebrate them today!💗

This weekend would have been something you’ve been longing for.☀️It could be the weekend you are dreading, for any reason. 🧨Whatever it is, let’s try to make full of it before we meet a new week again.💪🏽

Starting my day right with breathing technique!🌻This time try it with your kids!👩‍👧‍👦

Did you know that all her breathing techniques is suitable for adults, kids and for teachers if you want to make it a thing in your classroom!💗

Sorry friends, it is NOT going to be an activity play post today.🙅‍♀️

In fact, we haven’t had structured activity for more than a week now since I started working again. I couldn’t squeeze myself to even set up an invitation to play.🌈

I almost felt GUILTY about it but then I had to stop myself there and ask myself WHY?🔥

WHY am I feeling guilty for being a real parent?👩‍👦

WHY are we so hard on ourselves sometimes?

We already don’t give ourselves enough credit for keeping them alive and we have to top it up by stressing over guilt parenting.💣

My kid can’t read a book. GUILT.❌

My kid can’t count to 100. GUILT.‼️

I haven’t send my kid to enrichment class. GUILT.🚫

YES we want our kids get the best of everything but if we are going to feel like a bad parent for not doing it just cause our next door neighbour kid is doing it, then what is the point?

Before you sleep, I want you to give yourself credit for being able to feed your kid dinner.

Give yourself credit for laughing with them today, or even scolding them!
Cause that right there is CONNECTION.❤️

It will remind you that you are only being a REAL PARENT. And that suffice for today. 🗝

Please give yourself credit for making it to bedtime too.🛏

“There is no such a thing as perfect parent. So just be a REAL one.” —Sue Atkins

Also, please don’t ask me why I made my son post for a photo lying down. I did not. He is just being a child. They all have a mind of their own.✌️

@ Singapore

Happy 55th Birthday Our Dear Home, Singapore❤️🥳🎉

We are celebrating in the best way we know, Sensory Play.✨How are you celebrating today?🌈

Yes I am just like every ordinary parent. ✋️‘Stop’ and ‘No’ is probably the MOST OVERUSED vocabulary in our household.
It is the fastest way to have peace in the house but are we really helping our children understand their BIG emotions?🔥

I have been using the magic word ‘I KNOW’ alot now. It is a simple way of saying I UNDERSTAND you.💗Subconsciously, when I say I know, I remind myself that I need to try to understand their emotions, put aside MY emotions and help them get through this big moment.
Let’s keep growing in this parenting world🌈

Will you give “I Know” a try?