Toy-centered Learning with EQB

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Let's face it. Now that I have two kids, multiple jobs, an OCD overdrive and the need to constantly organize my home,
I barely have time to do an entire learning theme. 

I can choose to sacrifice sleep but I prefer to have a longer life and better skin.

Besides, Dragon girl is really, really good at rejecting my efforts.

Therefore, I came up with this idea of doing things in a simple manner. 

Just one or a few toys, accompanied by flashcards/books.

I call it toy-centered learning.

I was inspired by this Tiger sent to me by Toy Tag International.

Toy of the week: TIGER

Theme: Wild animal

Just let the toy be the star of the show

Around him, some books about Tiger. 

Tiger, I mean my Little Tiger boy la, liked this book the best :)

Its about a baby Tiger who was born without stripes. (Real fact)

and ended up chequered.

Very cute. I googled and found that it was a Russian book originally. 

 Written by Andrej Usatschow, illustrated by Alexandra Boy.

 We are traveling quite a bit today, because this toy Tiger came from Korea.

I miss Korea, I really do.

Everything there is so nice. The food, the people, the weather.

I wanted to buy a Korean Alien ala Korean Drama "My Lover From the Stars"

 but unfortunately he wasn't for sale.

Nevermind, toy from Korea also jadi la.

Koreans are renowed for their love of all things beautiful and oh well, plastic surgery.

So this toy is no different.

It is so well crafted and honestly, the best wood toy we have.

It is as good as HAPE products.
This range of toys is called EQB.
They are made form natural hardwoods, painted with non-toxic colours
and hand finished with eco-friendly natural oils. 

 

 Tiger BOY and I used the simple guide to create different poses and

we told a story as we went along.

 The tale of a vegetarian Tiger

*sniff sniff*

What is that I smell?

 

 Oh! Is that a burger!??!

Can I have some? Can I? Can I?

*Imaginary tail wagging*

 Sniff sniff...hmmmm...

 

 No, you're not sharing?

NOPE.

It's okay. *Pretends to saunter away*

Then.....crouch and....

 ATTACK!!!!!

Dragon girl's counter attack!

And she snaps the head off. Ooopss...

No worries, the other Tiger in the house will fix you back.

It has a unique snap joint system which interlocks the pieces when you twist the parts.

Very cool. It ain't a normal stacking toy like LEGO.

It takes patience and refined motor skills to manipulate this toy.

It is, after all, called EQB which stands for Emotional Quotient Block.

No other animal was hurt in this story.

Here he is, with his buddies.

And they all live happily ever after.

The End.

As with any toy, let your imagination set you free!

Here we made a bento meal:

turnip, bear-shaped rice, nuggets and.....

......a roast turkey!

Baby T-rex

Baby elephant in the river

A playful cub. 

(The front legs are not connected)

Cute, ain't it?

EQB award winning toys:

- Good Design Award Korea Winner 2009, 2010
- The excellent Company Brand of Seoul
- Nominated for Green Toy Award Nuremberg Toy Fair
- Designated for Korea Premium Character Product Award

The full range here:

 

Tiger boy is asking for the car set. 

You can get your own EQB toy online at:

Lazada 

 Rakuten

 OR 

you can check them out at Robinson , The Garden Mid Valley

Find out more about EQB from Youtube

Kids' New Reading Area

The Reveal!

The reading area is just outside of our school room which makes it ideal

for me to extend our lessons into this space.

The area is small since we live in a tiny box house. 

Very New York, without the guns and police sirens (yet).

I love our humble abode, really....and I don't need a bigger mortgage.

It was a real headache trying to fit everything together, but we worked it out :)

Initially I wanted these but haha...in reality who is going to do the crown moulding?

No one.

Then, I wanted this BILLY combination.

But IKEA was on sale and the large BILLYs were not in stock.

I swore a gazillion swear words and bought the 3 smaller ones.

Many thanks to my sister and BIL for helping me.

We got these with an extra 15% off with my BIL's sister's IKEA staff card.

Sadly, she no longer works there anymore.

I wanted to wait for big BILLY but patience is not one of my virtues.

I am more of the psycho, desperate, must do and complete it type.

So, I dragged hubby to Tesco and got two large ones at rm 119 each.

The difference in height and colour could kill me but I assured the psycho in me

that after all the books are in place, it will be barely noticeable. 

To make it more child friendly and inviting, 

I left a shelf to display the covers of books we are reading right now.

It was supposed to be about feelings but Tiger put his fav Mouse book there.

This is the toy-centered learning shelf.

This toy Tiger is so cute.

Will be doing a review on it soon!

 

 

Wanted to show you guys another one of our upcycling idea.

"The potted plant."

The plant is a square of faux grass rolled into an IKEA SOCKER pot. 

I wanted some real plants but there's no space, so this will do.

My designer sister gave it a nod. Pass larrrrr!

The picture is a printout from Growing A Jeweled Rose here

The frame is from NYTTJA from IKEA

 

 This ANEBODA wardrobe is a hand-me-down from SIL.

I store some tot school and art material in it as well.

Bean bag from living room

Grass carpet is HAMPEN from IKEA.

  

Even hubs gave a thumbs up!

The children's art work is hung from this display unit from IKEA.

They all have weird names, so I cannot recall what it's called.

It was a lot of work but definitely worth all the bruises and scratches.

Almost every night we will lay on the carpet and read.
PS: Board books, pop-ups and other noisy books are in the play room.

Science: Elephant Toothpaste

 I planned to do this experiment a year ago.

Bought the Hydrogen peroxide 6% from Guardian half a year ago

Then I found out my yeast wasn't working one month ago

Finally bought new yeast 2 weekends ago and

REALLY, FINALLY DID the experiment last weekend.

Homeschooling requires A LOT of stamina.

Felt like I just ran a marathon. I used to run, you know.

Before kids, boyfriends and a huge ass.

During the first trial (which failed because of my wet yeast), 

I made the kids put on goggles la, apron la etc.

Round two, "I said...kids, just watch."

You can get some cheap safety goggles for rm 1.50 from Mr DIY.

Basic ingredients

Yeast (one teaspoon)

Hydrogen peroxide 6% (one cup)-Available at major pharmacies

Food coloring (a few drops) or paint

Warm water (half a cup)

Dishwasher soap (just a few squirt)

Basic tools

A pan (to catch the toothpaste)

A bottle with narrow neck

Safety goggles

Apron 

Funnel

This is all over the internet, so I am not going to blah blah on.

If you need instructions, go HERE

To failure-proof ze experimento:

1. Make sure your yeast is not wet. Stupid me, I know  =.="

2. Don't use a big bottle, like this:

 Instead, try a cute little one like this.

 

 See my kakak's happy face? 

I swear, even when Dragon girl farts, she laughs.

 Sigh....my chubby, bubbly baby girl is going to be 2 soon.

Just don't lose those cheeks, ya?

I just love kissing them...so much so, it's an addiction.

New additions to our outdoor classroom

An outdoor self-service station which is an upcycled old wine rack I was going to toss out.

The back is perfect as a blackboard.

Kakak nearly had a heart attack when I placed the art box within Dragon's reach.

A new hanging plant

 

Our Sunday breakfast table.

Have a wonderful week!