Crafts for tots: Moon and mid-autumn festivals

It's mid-autumn festival soon! It occurs on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month each year. It is also known as the “Moon Festival” as it is observed during a bright, full moon. Other than lantern, we have also done a couple of crafts for this upcoming festive celebrations, I love these crafts, they are such a pleasure to the eyes. J and I had done so many beautiful (they are probably just beautiful in our eyes, LOL) crafts I am having problem to store / frame them. Space issue. Still good issue nontheless. 

Highly recommended reads this month: 

1. Papa please get the moon for me by Eric Carle
2. A taste of the moon by Michael Grejniec
3. Happy Birthday Moon by Frank Acsh 

Moon and star craft

We did this one a month back when we were reading 'a Taste of the Moon' by Michael Grejniec. Refer here for its detailed instructions. 

Last few days, these are the ones we have done. 

Moon Craft

Refer here for instructions. This was my favorite. 

Mid-autumn festival craft 

Toddler's Book: Foundational Maths Sense Activity & Sticker Workbooks 阶梯数学

Preschool maths is not about teaching a preschooler number 1 to 10, or a mere introduction to colors and shapes. 

I think the title of this book is quite confusing. It's normal that we naturally associate 'maths' with the concept of plus, minus, divide or multiplication. And it is scary when people think we start teaching these to a little 3 year old. But this book is not that kind of workbook.It is a book with 46 pages of fun hands-on full-color activities, easy-to-follow directions that involves exposure to different element of maths to build on the skills necessary for learning and loving maths later on in school. 

The different elements of preschool maths activities include: 

• Geometry　(shape) 形状 
• Measurement　对应比较
• Spatial relations 空间知觉
• Maths language - more/ less, bigger/ smaller, near/ far 数学语言
• Number sense 
• Patterning 
• Positioning words

The books are available in sets of 2 (part A and B, each book has 46 pages of activities, with one page of stickers). Each set is available at RM30. Price is not inclusive of postage. 

There are 2 types available: 

2-3 year old (designed for preschooler) 

3-4 year old (designed for kindergartener) 

Patterning

Maths language/ Spatial relations

Number sense

More/ Less

Toddler's book: Usborne dot-to-dot books with stickers (English)

This is a 5-book series with themes on:

• Dinosaurs 
• Animals 
• Things that go 
• Pirates 
• Farm 

Young children (suitable for those starting to count or those in kindergarten) can find out what animals/ dinosaurs/ things missing from each scene by joining up the numbers from 1 to 10, then assign matching name sticker to complete the picture. 

This sticker books series is a fun and rewarding way for children to practice first number skills, as well as color recognition and pen-grip and control. 

Each book is sold at RM16. A set of 5-books is sold at RM70 (savings of RM10). Price is not inclusive of postage. 

Toddler's book: Sticker activity book

This set of 4-books sticker books series is specially designed for children aged 2-4 year old (the 2-3 series) or 4 to 6 year old (the 3-4 series), making them suitable for preschool children or even those in kindergarten.  

这套丛书（共4本）是为2-6岁孩子所设计的涵盖创意、数学、语言、思维4大内容的贴子书。2-4岁的适用2-3 系列， 4-6岁则适用3-4系列。 每本书含 150-300 张贴纸，让孩子边玩边学习。  

* Creativity 创意

* Maths 数学

* Language / Reading 语言 

* Thinking / Analytical 思维 

Every book contains between 150-300 stickers. It's great as busy bag materials, or learning materials at after-school hours or when travelling. 

Each book is sold at RM15 each. Purchase a set of 4 books at Offer Price RM40。Price is not inclusive of postage. Please specify your choice of either 2-3 (for preschooling age 2-4 year old) or 3-4 (for those in kindergarten 4-6 year old). 

Toddler's book: The giving tree 爱心树 by Shel Silverstein

This is another book which J and I own in both English and Chinese. Hahaaa.. sounds crazy. But there are these certain classic books that I felt it's particularly inherent to have them read and interpreted in both languages. 'The Giving Tree' is one of them.

As of 2001, over 5 million copies of this have been sold worldwide, placing it 14th on a list of hardcover "All-time Bestselling Children's Books" from Publishers Weekly. By 2011, there were 8.5 million copies in print. 

There are many ways to interpret the story. Despite of the recognition it has received, this book is also well-known as one of the most "divisive" books in children's literature.My view, it's a beautiful story of unconditional love between a tree and a boy, in which the tree is generous and gives all of itself to help the boy whenever he is in trouble. The metaphor in this case is that of a mother and a child, or God and a human, or even nature versus human. 

I created two activities that go along with this books, ie Counting apple busy bag kit and a 'Paint my tree' craft using this type of artsy brush (which you'll get one with purchase of this hard-cover bestselling book from me). 

Artsy brush

Again, creative J decides that the leaves on the tree are not all green. Some of the leaves had turned brown due to the hot stuffy weather. That is a very good sense, I must say.

This is a simply apple counting game to use with your toddler/ preschooler to encourage counting or even simple addition or minus. It is also a great one-to-one correspondence activity or a convenient busy bag material. 

I now have 15 new and genuine copies of "The giving tree  爱心树" in Chinese   (全新正版精装版） available for sale at RM35, in the form of 'Book and Activities Pack RM35', including the following: 

• 1 x genuine, hardcopy of bestselling book 'The giving tree' in Chinese 
• 1 x artsy brush (any pattern) 
• 1 x set of apple counting busy bag, which consist of a laminated mat and numbers, and 5 mini apples

Price is not inclusive of postage. 

Toddler's book: The fox who loves eating books 吃书的狐狸

I first picked up this book because of this caption, 'The book that would make any child fall in love with reading'让每一位小孩都爱上阅读的一本书。　I am not worried that J wouldn't love reading. I think he does. I hope he does, anyway. But he doesn't appreciate his book. He steps on his books. He sits on his books. He has food and saliva all over his books. Maybe that's his ways of expressing affection? I wanted to use this book to tell him that if he's not gonna start taking care of his book, then Mr. Fox is gonna come eat your books! (Does that sound scary enough? It does to him. It made him pick his books up from the floor and return them to the shelf, sometimes). 

"The fox who loves eating books" is a book for any child 3 year old onwards. It is a must have classic. It is funny, it is humorous, and again, it has a beautiful ending to it. This book is filled with imagination, and would surely spark your little one's creativity. Little J enjoys immersing himself in looking at the captivating illustrations. 

We did a beautiful fox mask after reading this book, and you can do it too, as the activity pack that comes along with the purchase of this book includes a water paint brush and a mini pot of toxin-free easy-wash paint (red). The fox mask is available from this link. Just go with the flow, register yourself, and you'll get a free fox mask template in your email. 

https://happythought.co.uk/easy-fox-mask-template

I now have 15 new and genuine copies of "The fox who loves eating books 吃书的狐狸 in Chinese (全新正版精装版）available for sale at RM35. It's for sale in the form of "Book & Activities Pack RM35" including the following: 

• 1 x genuine hard-copy of "The fox who loves eating books 吃书的狐狸" in chinese (new) 
• 1 x paint brush + a pot of toxin-free toddler-friendly water color (red color)  
• 1 x set of fox counting clip cards 

Price is not inclusive of postage.

Toddler's book: A taste of the moon 月亮的味道 by Michael Grejniec

This is the book that will be reminded every time your child sees the moon. Its story is very fun, whimsical and engaging. Best of all, it has an unexpected ending. Instead of ending with a facile moral which most other children's books would, this closes with a nice question about how perspective affects our view of the world and the way we interact with it. Like many good toddler's books, Taste of the Moon has a repetitive, cumulative structure that is perfect for young readers. Again, this is another book that has hidden messages within, it talks about friendship, teamwork, sharing and never to underestimate what a tiny person can do. I love the illustrations, in fact, I made a 14 page printables using the same style animals. You will get these printables for free, along with the purchase of this book. In addition, you'll get craft materials for you and your child to try out this 'Sticker Resist Starry Night Craft'. Read this link for instructions. 

Star puncher that stimulates the fine motor movement

Now check out our paintings. The one on the left is done by J, and I did the one on the right. As usual, J is the typical non-conforming J who insisted that he wanted to mix his blue with yellow (which resulted in the beautiful green color skyline, which I then felt is awesome), who sprinkle in the salt while drawing, made a big mess out of it .. and ended up, whose painting is nicer? Arghhhhh!! I know! His! I guess, the moral of the story is, there are no hard rules in creative arts, just go with the flow - J's mantra. 

I have made time and effort to create these fun printables that would encourage active learning. Many of these printables are perfect for "one-to-one correspondence" at home. If you're new to this phrase, check this out, the concept is so fundamental that we often don't put much thought to it. One-to-one correspondence is the ability to match one object to one (corresponding) number or object. 

Example: Placing 2 stars on the mat, when recognizing the number 2 displayed in column. 

This is a foundational math skills for preschoolers, or even those in kindergartens. I place emphasis on this as many children may have started knowing numbers from rote counting (memorizing numbers by counting from 1 to 10), but this is just like singing a song, and have no meaning or sense to them. Therefore, engaging in activities with these printables encourages hands-on learning and also promote problem-solving skills. 

In addition, I create plenty of crafts and coloring activities for lil J. Recent research demonstrated that arts and crafts in early childhood benefits: 

• Visual processing skills (eg pattern recognition, detection of sequences etc) - important skills for math and reading 
• Fine motor skills 
• Attention span, improves focus and working memory skills 

I now have 15 new and copies of "A taste of the moon" 月亮的味道in Chinese (全新正版精装版）available for sale. It's for sale in the form of "Book & Activities Pack RM35" including the following: 

• 1 x genuine hard-copy of "A taste of the moon" 月亮的味道 in chinese (new) 
• 1 x wall height chart 
• 1 x set of printables soft copy (14 pages) including printables for coloring page, beginning letter clip cards, cut & paste left and right activity, stars counting mat, cutting practice and animal puzzle (to be emailed to you)
• 1 x water paint brush + a pot of toxin-free toddler-friendly water color (in blue)  
• 1 x mini star puncher 

Price is not inclusive of postage.  

Here are some of the printables: