Learning through play

Learning through play - this is indeed so true! While observing H in his pretend play, I realised just how much he learns by simply indulging in play. These couple of days, he's been playing 'ice-cream shop' - he's the ice-cream seller and everyone else his customers. All he needed for his pretend play was his magnadoodle board (one of the most value for money toys since he's been using it over and over for all kinds of play), some blocks as ice-cream, cookies or whatever there is in his menu, and a stack of cards as money.

Unconsiously while having loads of fun, H is learning how to spell by writing out his menu board, learning math by calculating how much to charge his customers and how much change to give, and learning how to deal with his little sister who just loves disturbing him while he plays.

This is H's menu:

Jelly $1
Cookie $2
Ice cream $3

Spelling
H: Mommy how do you spell cream?
Me: Cream as in ice-cream? C-R-E-A-M

The next day
H: Mommy you don't need to tell me, I can spell ice-cream by myself

Math
H: What would you like?
Me: Triple scoop of vanilla ice-cream with rainbow sprinkles and a cookie
H: There you go!
Me: How much?
H: 3 ice-cream is $9... and a cookie $11 <I'm amazed at his speed of calculation>
Me: There you go, $15. How much change do I get?
H: <Hid in the corner and counted with his fingers> $4

Emotional intelligence
H: Mommy, L is taking away my cookies! <in all his whininess while trying to hit his sister>
Me: It's ok, she just wants to play with you
H: No, she can't play!

L loves provoking H to evoke a reaction. Perhaps it's her way to get his attention. The way to deal with her is to simple ignore her actions, or distract her with something else. After explaining this to H, I told H to include L as his assistant or give her something else to play with. There, settled! No more whining, crying and fighting.

Hang-man

H loves games, especially word-related games. Ever since he was first introduced to Word World when he was around 3, he's been fascinated with word building. The programme is amazing. If you've not watched it, please do. It's shown on Disney Junior (Astro Channel 613) every weeknight at 8:30pm.

So last night, instead of a bedtime story, H wanted to play hangman. You know the traditional word guessing game we used to play when we were kids? Of course, as with all games, H came up with his own rules. You are given 1,000 points to start off with and you can use these points to purchase hints. This was how the game went...

1. First word for mommy

After 2 wrong letters, H asked if I wanted a clue. I said why not. "An animal that goes quack quack"

  "I know, DUCK!"

 



2. Seond word for mommy
I was lucky I got the first 2 letters right, so immediately the word BALLOON became apparent :-)

 The rule was that you have to draw out the word once your opponent's guessed it right.

3. Third word for mommy
I must admit I wasn't very good at this. Although I got the letter 'H' correct right at the start, I just couldn't figure out what the word was.

 See all the tries I made...

 

"Can mommy have a clue?"

"No, you have no more points". Apparently it costs 1,000 points per clue so I've ran out of points. After some cajolling, H gave me the clue for free "If you don't want chong-chong (虫虫) to get into your feet you have to wear this"

 

Of course, why didn't I think of that. The word was SHOE! Silly mommy... :-)