Tiger's Play Space @ 4 years old

BEFORE:

I've been 'planning' to cover the drawers since..well, since I bought them

but I have never found the right material. Any suggestions? 

 Nothing permanent since I will be using them for toys when the kids are older 

and they do not need the diapers and clothes to be at hand's reach.

Anyway, I just wanted to share the area where Tiger spends most of his time,

which is actually in our living room.

 Small house, no choice.

The home decor sucks but right now the kids' needs matter most.

I'm just trying my best to minimize the clutter so that hubby doesn't feel

he is living in a toy store.

I gathered similar containers so that the overall look 

is more streamlined

There you go, so much better for my mind and soul.

What's in the baskets?

I was afraid you wouldn't ask.

Noticed I 'labelled' the top row baskets?

Initially I wanted to write or print & laminate

but as usual, I was too lazy.

So I took some old DVD covers and filled them with respective content.

I thought it was very clever :p

From left to right:

1. Lego Duplo

2. Wedgits

3. Mega Bloks

4. Crazy golf set

(Baskets from Daiso)

On the far right is his Thomas train set and a couple of golf clubs

On the lower row:

1. His 'baby' cars

2. Magformers

3. Wooden blocks

4. Special 'cars' box for everything Pixar/Disney Cars

Opposite the Ikea cupboard is his train table.

Right now he enjoys playing this wooden parking garage from ELC.

I added a train track and a 'house' on the side for sleepy cars

Every kid who comes over loves this table!

Sometimes he will play with this rm12 car track from ToyRus sales

That red 4WD you see in this picture?

It's broken now.

Sigh.

Boys...

So, Tiger uses it for his Piston Cup race with the rest of his cars.

This blue Mammut table from IKEA is also the official living room table.

Tiger's book shelf

1. On the lowest level are the books I expect him to read independently but I doubt

he reads any with the TV around.

2. Then, some wooden games to balance all the plastic in the house.

(I am watching too many cooking shows, can you tell?)

3. His busy bag that I grab when we head out and his YAMAHA bag.

4. The top most level (not in pic) has a missing parts/broken toys basket

and Grandma's cook books.

And that's what Tiger does all day. 

Jump, play, sleep, eat.

Geez, now I want to be a kid.

Playroom for the one-year-old

We love this room almost as much as the study room.

This is where Dragon girl spents at least 12 hours a day.

For that reason alone, I like to make it nice and neat.

As neat as possible, which can be really subjective.

So, on a good day, it looks like this.

Seriously, this is considered a VERY good day.

A large part of the room is filled with books and more books!

Unlike Tiger, the sister loves books.

I hope they never, ever find traces of herpes on children's book.

This is the main area.

The carpet is high-pile rug from IKEA.

I love it cause it looks like grass.

Dragon usually ends on the carpet during her naps.

The open rack on the right is mostly for blocks and little knick knacks.

One container is reserved for stray items.

Staples are the musical instruments and Leapfrog Alphabets Magnets.

Balls are a must for toddlers.

The mirror next to the rack is also from IKEA

 I shatter-proof it with window stickers from Daiso.

Mirrors are great at any age.

Her baby toys are still on this shelves here.

Usually some sorter. stacker, puzzles, etc.

Along the adjacent wall are the pretend play items:

The IKEA kitchen! I know, I know...we already have the pink one.

But this one matches the cupboards. Lame excuse, hor?

She saw Dexter and Dee Dee's one and she just kept playing with it.

Girls will be girls.

She even carries a handbag like me...hihi.

The pink plastic one is now outdoors for water & messy play.

I created a farm scene on the train table but the animals and props
have mysteriously disappeared.  
Sometimes, the toys migrate to the living area.

And her favourite toy of all times: The Fisher Price Home.

(that's her nap time mattress behind the toy)

I think this is only FP item that both the kids love.

This is no longer available locally as far as I know.

Collector's item! 

The rest of the FP toys are mostly ignored...

...so they are packed up to be....hihi, tell you guys soon!

In case you need some inspiration for Christmas,

other stuff that she really enjoys are:

The Grow&up Slide and Gym (from ToyRus)
They both LOVE this so very much.
It has proven to be worth it price.
Dragon has been climbing up this thing ever since she was six months old. 
They both love climbing the gym part just to scare the adults.
Dragon will also lay on the slide to read books.

Her scary looking doll (from ToyRus warehouse sale)
Bought this for Tiger when I was still carrying the sister.
The cry scared the shit out of him...to this day.
Haha...but the sister loves it.
She feeds the doll and brushes the hair.
Great for pretend play.

Leapfrog Peek A Shoe Octopus

Books
Pop-ups and Lift-the-flaps books
in all shapes and sizes.

ELC easy painters & Crayola crayons

More than all the above, she enjoys putting on her shoes and going outdoors.
It can be a car ride to the stores or a walk to the park.
Anywhere, as long as she gets to go out.
Whenever we approach the park, she would squeal and laugh in delight.

Hope you guys get some ideas for Christmas :)
Happy shopping!

Baby School: Lil Dragon @ 14 months.

Warning: Super lengthy post. 

This is her developmental milestones, playroom and trays update

 rolled into one giant post.

I was talking to my sister the other day and she commented,

"You know, you are not teaching Dragon very much"

I replied,

"Yeah, but I feel she is already very smart"

She was like, "What the............"

Haha, I am allowed to be biased. 

Not that I am lazy (maybe, a little) but after doing so much with Tiger,

I now enjoy the process of learning/teaching more than the outcome.

I have become more experienced.

Also known as ageing laaaa.

Dragon is my precious, like Gollum's ring.

I am addicted to her.

I sniff her all the time...haha!

She is so, so funny.  

Our kakak thinks so too but she is probably biased as well.

For example,

She has a bendy back dance move.

I would be verrrrrry worried if these two decides to pursue a career in dancing.

She also looks funny cause of the chipped front teeth.

Haha.

Terrible mom, I know.

Nothing we can do about it now.

Her dentist advised for fluoridated toothpaste to prevent caries.

So, we wrestle every night while I sing 

"This Is The Way We Brush Our Teeth" on top of my lungs

Physically,

She is walking up and down the stairs independently.

A little wobbly still, which scares the shit out of me.

She is a climber.

Chairs, tables, windows, me.

The girl thinks everything that is below knee height is a stool.

Boxes, containers, books, oh and Tiger's head...kesian.

Speech

She says 

Mama

Papa

Tiger

Up

Uh-oh

Shoe

She still grunts a lot.

Oh, and shout. Definitely her fav way to 'communicate'

Socially, 

She is terrified of strangers. Like pee in pants kind of scared.

So, don't expect her to say hello.

However, she does enjoy going outside or walks

She would ask kakak for shoe and demand to go out whenever 

she has the opportunity.

Reading

I moved the books to the other side and she wasn't pleased.

And she wasn't very subtle about it.

Haha, she basically grunted and slammed the cupboard a few times.

The pop-ups and hardcovers are on the highest level but she reaches for them.

Then some toys and her fav ones on the bottom level.

I try to read at least three with her everyday.

More books

Play
Pretend play

She loves to play "telephone" and cooking

The problem is she likes to use my mobile instead of those plastic ones.

She gets simple instructions such as

Can you cook for me?

Can you find xxxx book?

 Find the cat and give to mama

(which is why the cat is on the kitchen)

On the small rack are some

cooking utensils, puppets, bean bags, soft triangles, linking pipes,

stacking toys, assortment of balls

 

Blocks and noisy stuff.

The Daiso boxes are for storage of manipulatives.

The playroom is where she spends most of her time.

It is where she plays, eats and sleeps.

If I didn't have a full-time help, I will probably have 5 toys in there. Max.

>.<

Kakak probably picks up her toys 10 times a day despite

the fact that I told her once a day will do.

I love our new kakak.

So, I wipe, scrub, vacumn and disinfect whenever I rotate the toys.

I wish the colours were softer but  I do like the quiet plastic ones

that I can dump into soapy water.

Baby School Progress

On good days, I may get a scene like this.

Don't be fooled. This probably lasted 10 minutes.

We usually start with some 'group' work like this.
Sensory Bin
Individual work with trays.
Brillkids

For her it takes about 15-30 minutes only

Her trays:

Left

1. Hairy pom-poms for one-to-one correspondence

2.  A clock for her to play with the needles

3. A cup with 2 balls (For Big Vs Small)

Right

1. Simple sorting tray with ipcycled McD drink holder.

2. Dice and counters (simple numbers game)

3. Pegged puzzle

Palate

This little girl has a huge appetite

Way bigger than Tiger's

She eats three main meals and snacks non stop in between.

On top of that whenever some one is eating she will always ask for a bite or two.

See her belly? Too cute!

Tiger's Play Area

I was going to take a picture of Tiger's play area when I came home to a 

complete mess. And nope, it wasn't Tiger.

MIL said, "No Dragons" when I was planning for a second baby.

Clearly I don't listen very well.

Because a year later, I popped out the cutie pie.

The fighting, oh, and the bickering.

All started before Lil Dragon was even one year old @.@

Is this normal?

I thought it was a boy-boy sibling thing.

She is really sweet most of the time but

occasionally, she morphs into Godzilla and does this:

Train table from Gift2kids

It never crossed my mind that she did it.

I thought Tiger was playing roughly because it was supposed to look like this:

Both sets from ToyRus

According to kakak, when Tiger yelled, "NOOOOO"

She took the liberty of climbing onto the train table and knocked everything off.

Guess who had to re-do the whole thing at midnight?

Little Dragon: Her Space @ 13 Months

It's no secret the two little ones are currently frenemies.

So, Tiger decided some time ago that

Study room = his

Play room = Little Dragon's

Which makes sense because she does spend a lot of time in the playroom.

She is probably in here 80% of the day.

Thank you God, for giving me a toy-loving kid!

I was so worried she would be a toy snob like Tiger.

First up, the books.

She loves flipping books.

So, we have a reading area with all the

 baby board books and some hardcovers.

Her favourite is a RM5 CATS book from a book fair.

^.^

I've tried baskets with the covers facing forward but she prefers them this way.

Easier to toss onto the floor. =.="

Got to remember to get some Malay books for kakak to read to her.

Then we have toys:

On the left (rotational toys)

Can you spot the pop-up toy hanging precariously on the shelf?

Must be Tiger's work.

I gave her some Tupperwares to play with. That's me being 'creative'

On the right shelf (from top)

 Her mattress for afternoon naps, 

Some soft toys & puppets, 

Puzzle space: alphabet puzzles

Music Box and Manipulatives

 Last but not least,

I read somewhere that it doesn't matter how much your kitchen cost.

It could be just an old box.

It's about what is 'cooking' in the pots.

The sweetheart loves cooking, stirring, making drinks.

<<<>>>

Here are some notes on play and toy from Bright From The Start:

1. When shopping; buy a variety, not quantity.

Your child may LOVE cars but there is no use in having a million cars.

Exception: Books (See why I love this book?)

2. Rotate regularly

Notice how new toys engage a child's attention better?

You are not alone.

They are biologically programmed to like new stuff.

See, now you can explain to your husband why there is a need for MORE

When you rotate, the old seems like new again

3. On safety,

I like the 'toilet-paper tube' rule.

If it slides through the tube, it is a CHOKING HAZARD

Other baby proofing methods apply as well.

4. Use Play-n-Learn cues

i. Use a mat (Montessori!)

ii. Say "watch": demonstrate/model

Say "you try" and let the child try

Tiger modelling Flashcards Reading.

It was an epic FAIL.

I love Lil Dragon's pose here...haha. She's funny.

Tiger has his own space in the living area.

There is no right or wrong when playing.

It is just fun.

Send us a picture of your play room so that I can have a peek :)

Toys: Category Box

A few nights ago, Tiger saw this Category Box on top of the cupboard after class.

Of the hundreds of boxes, maybe not hundreds but close...he chose this.

We went though all the different categories of 

• numbers
• shapes
• animals
• clothing
• vegetables
• fruits
• things at home
• transportation

I tried to do things randomly but the 3 year old said

"No, must start from LEFT to RIGHT" 

Montessori?

After we completed sorting ALL the chips, we matched the words to numbers.

See the gorgeous new olive rug? DAISO!

A few days later,  I brought the box to the playroom.

Lil Dragon was so excited to 'share'

My boy trying again to 'teach' the sister who was more interested in

the instruction manual.

Kena 'ketuk'

Haha...lightly only.

No Dragon was injured in the making of this blog post.

Copying my style of teaching :)

The Stubborn One.

She 'reads' upside down.

I will only share toys that the kids enjoy and I personally find useful.

We have used the box when Tiger was a wee tot.

In our 3 part lesson

You can DIY your own category box with a shoe box and chips BUT

in my case, I don't trust my knife skills to cut the slots.

This one is very well made and weigh up to 3 kg.

It will outlast a lot of plastic toys.

On the educational side, the English is fine except FAN labelled as FANNER.

I also learned that neckerchief is an actual word :)

When they reach a different developmental plane, useful toys

like this will present a different teaching opportunity.

Unlike the noisy plastic pop-ups that cost more than this.

It is available in many online stores but do visit Gift2kids, a friend's store.

I am not paid for this post but I will receive a miniscule commission
if you pm them and mention Little Tiger.

The money will be donated to orphanages besides donating toys from our stash.

Thanks in advance!

Lil Dragon: Her Space/Class...kinda

   

Lil Dragon's space in the playroom. Oh, she hogs the living room too.

Tiger gets the other shelf and the study.

Fair and square. No fighting.

She has access to the lower two shelves only.

TOP

Lamaze spinning thing, a TOLO hammer thing & pegged puzzles

BOTTOM

Fisher Price Book, Vtech ball (both irritating as hell), 

Leapfrog Peek-a-shoe (I like) 

and a musical instrument box

They were all Tiger's except the Octopus Peek-a-shoe which Hubs bought for Dragon.
(He was like....Kesian, no new toy)
They all look new because he didn't play with them much. Toy snob.

Lil Dragon on the other hand  loves toys in all shape and sizes.

Her fav would probably be the musical instrument box.

Puzzles are a close second. Probably inherited some puzzle love from Tiger.

We play a game where I get to sit still. Yay!

 She loves picking them up and placing each piece into my hand.

Initially it was cute, until you realize toilet breaks are not allowed in this game.

"Mama go toilet, okay?" and as I get up.....

"Wahhhhhhh.....sob sob sob...."

Not fun when you REALLY need to pee or sleep.

I think she likes em because they are nice to bite as well

I'll name the pieces as she hands them over and then thank her politely.

There, vocab/fine motor/bonding/playtime/grace & courtesy in one compact lesson.

She always yells and screams from downstairs whenever Tiger and I are in the study.

Poor thing. I really want her to join us but she kinda steals the whole show.

How do you bring a cutie into a preschooler's class?