Sunday, May 30, 2010

the story of zat, the cat

I have been teaching my big A to read since a couple of months. He does not go to pre-school and hence these activities keep him positively engaged. It all started with teaching the sound of the individual letters and then the reading of 3 letters words with the help of illustrated word cards, and then the reading aloud of individual sentences. The final stage to this, is the reading of a small short silly sentences, making a small booklet.

I prefer the term "illustration cards", to "flash cards", as I feel that these cards are not to be flashed, rather shown at ease and even given to the child to play and color. This fun filled exercise will be beneficial to the child, when compared to the "flashing" of the word card.

Krupa wrote the matter of Zat, the Cat for Aryan, and then I made a booklet. The sentences may not be always grammatically correct, but the purpose of the child being able to read by himself, is very much achieved. Here is a small video of the reading session.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

hush a bye baby

Hush a bye baby, on the tree top,
When the wind blows the cradle will rock;
When the bow breaks, the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby, cradle and all.


Little Aadhya enjoys her mummy singing to her, even though I don’t sing very well. I create my own cute silly songs filling them with different sounds of animals, birds, vehicles; animating it with different hand movements like clapping, tapping; including her name, and then in the end, see her dance on the same. I believe she not only learns vocabulary, language and gestures but also bonds better with me. I rock her cradle, and at times carry her in my arms, singing her lullabies which creates a special "connection" and thus, brings her pleasure and security.

Singing to her has become part of my daily routine. Amazingly, it is such a helpful resource for calming her down that my hubby dear has recorded my songs which he plays to her when I am not around.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

the color carnival

Big A loves to color, but only on my sketches!

I was on the verge of finishing a quick sketch and had to take a small compulsory break. Aryan took this chance to test his coloring skill and had a good time.





Initially, I was angry , but then, I was more happy to see him getting interested in arty activities.