Reading: How To Make A Toddler Read?

If this was an infomercial, it would sound something like this:

• Do you have a feisty toddler who stacks, throws, tears and literally eat books?
• Does your toddler sit down to read together?
• Do you want to know the secret to make your toddler love reading?

Imagine a teary mother wiping her tears and nodding her head in agreement.

Haha! (Silent laugh). Then they make you pay $99.99 for an useless product.

PS: I have never bought anything from TV. Although I really wanted to get the abs buster. Fortunately. as I grow older, I realised that saving my money for a liposuction would be a better option.

I have all the above problems with Tiger (including the desire for the abs buster/liposuction).
On occasions, we will sit together to read a couple of books. NO cuddling allowed. Yeah, snobby kid....
Sometimes, he flips through several books in rapid successions and runs off.
Occasionally he stacks, throws and tears. He no longer chew his books. Thank God!
Sometimes he does't want me to read and prefers his own voice (in high-pitched gibberish, mocking me)

Then I discovered *The Secret* (In no way affliated with Rhonda Bryne)

Hand puppet! Yup, it is that simple. We used it looong ago and I forgot about it. We have a monkey and a tiger and these two are currently my Little Tiger's reading BFF!
He is addicted to reading now, opting to read first before anything else...he he
He makes me put them on before reading.
They also come in handy for singing, clapping (he is in a self-praising phase), high-fives, hugs, etc.


Prove:

Very happy with his monkey...probably because I snort everytime he touches the monkey's nose.

Giving monkey a BIG hug after reading

Putting on the tiger puppet

Reading to monkey!

Why is reading important?

Reading promotes literacy, language development and bonding.

Unfortunately, every child is different. There are children who enjoy reading by flashcards, the so-called prodigies you see on Youtube. Since they enjoy the activity, who is to say no? That's why some of them pick up reading at 9 months old. Their temperament and thirst to learn enabled them to absorb that fast.

Since Tiger abhors doing flashcards at the moment, we are learning by reading, singing and movement. Stuff that he enjoys. I hate forcing him down to do e-flashcards when I can clearly see that he hates the activity. In the end, I feel guilty as sin.

So, this is one of our ways of injecting fun into our daily rhythm.

Resources for reading to toddlers that I LOVE:
1. How to Use Picture Books
2. Zero To Three: Early Literacy & Language

Do you have any other ways in gettting a 20 month old to read? Please share under comments if you do :)

Art & Craft: Simplest Bird Feeder

This craft took approximately 10 minutes.

Stuff needed:

2 CD sticker labels

White tray

Bird seeds

Pipe cleaners

One excited kiddo

It was also an excellent sensory tray..

Tiger enjoyed pushing the seeds around.

He didn't try to eat them but he did scatter them all over the place..

Definitely an outdoor activity!

I demonstrated one side and gave him the other

The finished product!

I attached an old CD between the two sticker sheets for support

and tied them together with a pipe cleaner.

We hung it and waited for the birds...

We are still waiting..hehe

*The Bird Watcher*

 Washing up at the pond while grinning.

He knew he wasn't allowed to do that..monkey face!

Update: I have been informed by dear MIL that the birds have been nibbling off the feeder!

Success!

Messy Play: Sidewalk Chalk

We tried sidewalk chalks last week after I made this purchase.

This box is available at Toy R us for RM39

Each chalk is about the size of a giant marker which makes it more durable than regular chalks.

The colours are heavenly..

This is an optical illusion shot which looked as though Tiger was writing.

Actually, he just doodled all over ^.^

We did this in the evening, so he got distracted by the birds..

"Bird!"

BIRD!!!

Funny boy, still looking for birds...

One of the best ways of learning to read so far..
He definitely enjoyed this more than Little Reader :p

Messy Art: Busy Ball Painting

Thankfully, Grandma went for dental appointment and left me in charge of Tiger on Saturday.

Otherwise, I would have been lazy again..he he

He was terribly excited for 'painting'.

He chose to wear his Thomas bathing suit sans swimming diapers.

I begged and begged for him to put them on but to no avail.

As predicted, within 1 minute, he peed in his bathing suit!

Wakakaka!

He pointed at his pee and shouted "Uh-oh!"

I said, "It's OK..just pee"

He refused to listen and cried...he he

Here's the pee boy after cleaning up :)

I came up with this idea after he picked up a ball in the morning.

I have seen pics of children enjoying marble painting on pinterest and blogs.

Since I am a little scared of him trying to eat the marbles, I opted to use his Playskool busy balls instead.

Instead of a box, we used his small inflable pool to paint on.

It was perfect!

As always, he was more interested in squeezing out the paint than the actual work.

Checking out the 'painted' ball.

I didn't get a shot of us painting as we were rolling the balls back and forth..

I was messy too!

Our art work.

Simple and fun for a lazy Saturday morning..

Then it was off to Kim Gary's for breakfast with Daddy.

^.^

On Sunday, I overslept :p

Family: 22.02.12

This 2012,  I celebrated my birthday with my boys and MIL at Chilli's

Hubs wanted to go to Vincenzo, Bangsar but I was too hungry.

Here's my Tiger while waiting for his meal..so well behaved?

Nah...after the meal, he ran around the place like a hooligan

Destroying Mommy's b'day brownie

Refusing to kiss Mommy, as usual..

Can't wait for the day he will draw me a birthday card  :)

Tot Trays: O is for Owl Setup

These are our trays for the next week or two, depending on Tiger's interest.

Since I am not that into birds, I realised that there weren't too many birdy things around..

After rummanging through my stash, these were the trays I came up with:

1. Puzzle:  

Three-piece-puzzles of rooster and duckling

2. Art & sticker

Some flamingoes (the only birds stickers I have) with a Monet printout

3. Tangram

Tiger played with this last week and enjoyed the books that came with it.

So, I copied a bird diagram for him.

He'll need help with this but the point is getting the idea across instead of solving the puzzle.

I love tangrams :p

4. Play dough, feathers & a goose

For free play and creativity

5. Language

Chinese strokes magnets with flashcards

6. Phonics & vocabulary

M&D See and Spell: Bird and duck

7. Worksheets

From 1+1+1=1 bird pack

Making Learning Fun

 8. Music

Note F: Tuning fork, bell & flashcards

I added Beethoven this week with some points of interest on the back.

9. Books

i. Owl Babies

ii. Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus

iii. What's in The Egg?

iv. One Little Pigeon

10. Craft baskets:

Basket 1: Bird Feeder

Basket 2: McD carton for making owls

Basket 3: Owl printout with glue & feathers

Linked to H is for Homeschooling

Tot School: Valentine Week

Tiger's 20.5 months

I have been a little lazy this week, so there aren't as many pics..

just some random shots whenever I find the energy to lift the camera

^.^

Here's the setup for the Tot Trays.

He enjoyed the messy art tray very, very much.

He also loved the dough tray

Break time!

He couldn't be bothered with the sorting or tacky hearts trays.

So, I made another tray for him :p

Some colored rice with hidden alphabets for scooping.

He DID love the worksheets I laid out.

He did 2 of these:

And 3 copies of stickering hearts:

When that was not enough, I printed more from Our Little Monkeys

 Talented mama, Dawn made some valentine printout for boys!

Here, Tiger was shadow-matching some transports with glitter glue.

He is able to point out the car, train, truck, lorry, bicycle and helicopter..surprise surprise!

Boys will be boys, huh?

We also did some number matching

With another one of his fav puzzles...he brought it to Daddy's room to show off :)

He can recognize the numbers individually but

if he reads them in a row, he'll say "eight, six, eight, six..."

^.^

We played with some sidewalk chalk.

Loved it!

The weekend was spent lazying at home and playing waterpark

Here Tiger was signing NO to Daddy (who was shooting him with a water gun)

Daddy showing Tiger how to use the water squirter

The chubby parents, super fat after the yummy BBQ..

Thanks hubs!

Mommy's favourite

My little boy with his new sunnies, driving my old car..

Linking to Tot School @ 1+1+1=1