Free Painting

I sometimes just let Aishah paint freely. Without asking her to paint/draw any particular picture. Let her imagination dictate her. Then I let her tell me what is she painting.

Like in the above picture, Aishah said she was painting a washing machine!( I was like, what?? A washing machine?? Why a washing machine of all the things?? Must've been Ummi doing too much laundry until Aishah becomes fascinated with washing machines - ha! :P) Can you even see any resemblance of a washing machine in the painting? Well, art is really subjective I suppose :)

Painting is really a relaxing activity for Aishah. Hopefully by letting her do it often will let her creative side bloom and flourish in the years to come...

Cheesy Balls

On the last friday of Aishah's school holiday, I decided to try a simple recipe in my '501 TV Free Activities With Kids' book - making Cheesy Balls.

The ingredients were only 5 - butter, self raising flour, instant oats, milk and cheddar cheese. Mix all of them well, shape them into balls and bake them - as simple as that!

Had a small fight with Maryam during the mixing part - she wanted to help to stir, but being the typical 2 yo she is, she wanted to do it all by herself!

But all was well in the end, the girls loved playing with the dough and turning them into balls. Aishah can do quite a good ball without any help from me. Maryam, of course, just did whatever shape she liked - ummi then had to transform them all into balls :P

And away into the oven they go :)
This is how they look like when they're done:

If you're a cheese fan, then this definitely is your snack. Maryam likes cheese, so she ate quite a few. On the other hand, Aishah's not a cheese fan. From the start she already declared "Aishah tak suka cheese!". But when the balls are done, I managed to persuade her to taste it, and she did ate a few balls after that - but not as many as Maryam :)

Colour Changing Milk Activity

We had expired milk the other day, so before we let it go down the drain, it was first put to good use :)

We got ourselves a flat bowl and poured some milk into it. I then put some drops of blue and yellow food colouring onto the milk. Interestingly, in the milk, the colours did not dissolve. It just stayed there on the surface in the form of drops.

Next, I took a cotton bud, smeared the tip with some dish washing liquid, and handed it to Aishah for her to touch the tip on the drops of colours on the milk. 

Here starts the fun and magical part! The colour then moved away from the cotton bud and swirled around. I don't know whether you can imagine it from my description, you just have to try it yourself to understand! The pictures I put here just don't do justice for the actual magical swirling sensation!

Here's another picture clearly showing the blue and yellow colours starting to mix to become green. I then asked the girls to stir the milk until the colours really mix and the milk became green. The girls then started to paint on the newspaper using the cotton buds :)

Then we took another bowl and experimented with red and yellow. 

The girls really enjoyed watching the colours swirling around. And then came the mixing time! Stir, stir, stir!

Orange it is, followed by another round of painting. I think this activity made the ummi as amazed as the kids, if not more! 

Foam Sensory Play

Have you tried making your own foam using the blender/food processor? It really makes lots and lots of them. Simply put in some dish washing liquid into the blender/food processor, put in sone water, and then turn the blender/food processor on. The longer you run it, more foam is produced! Get the biggest blender/processor you can find if you want maximum results! The good thing is, your blender/processor also gets a good cleaning :)

I added food colouring to the foam just to add to the fun. The girls had a really extended bath time that morning!

Alphabet Paper Plate Toss Game

The other day, I was in the mood of doing more learning activities, so after trying the number matching and addition game, I decided to do an activity involving alphabets. Saw this activity on the internet and tailored it to see whether Aishah has got her small and capital letters recognition right.

I took out some paper plates, cut out the center so that it became the shape of a ring, and wrote a capital letter on each of them. I chose the letters from Aishah and Maryam's names, just to familiarise them with the letters of their names. Then I took out the same number of paper cups and wrote the corresponding small letters on them. I then lined up the paper cups on the floor and let the fun begin!

I asked aishah to toss the paper plate to its corresponding small letter. Aishah hasn't really mastered the skill. It ended up being a paper plate drop instead of toss, hehe. Anyhow the kids enjoyed it and that's what matters alhamdulillah :)

Number Matching & Addition Game

Aishah's number recognition is quite good, but she's still confused sometimes, especially numbers 4, 6 and 9. So I got the girls to play a numbers game this morning.

First, I took 10 sheets of A4 papers and wrote numbers 1-10 in each of the papers. The sheets of paper are then shuffled and I asked Aishah to arrange the numbers in order. When I was asking Aishah whether number 4 is after or before 3, it was that moment that I realised that Aishah was still confused with the concept of 'after' and 'before'.

It then became a session of visualising to her the meaning of 'after' and 'before'. She soon got a grip of it and managed to put the numbers in order. We had to count 1-10 together a few times during the exercise to get Aishah to remember the order of the numbers :)

I then took 10 sheets of post its and again wrote numbers 1-10 on each. Now it's Maryam's turn to play! I handed the post its to Maryam and asked her to match the numbers on the post its with the numbers on the A4 papers. She didn't understand at first, and stuck the numbers on the floor instead. But after Aishah showed her an example, she finally understood and successfully matched the numbers. I had to refrain Aishah from telling Maryam the answer every time! hehe...

Then it's back to Aishah. Thankfully, because she has started to become restless! I wrote '+1' next to each numbers on the A4 papers, and asked Aishah to stick the answers i.e. the numbers on the post its. Of course, I had to turn number 1 on the post it into number 11.

Aishah has a board book introducing the concept of +1 and I've read that to her numerous times. She kind of memorises them, so that helped a lot. I think she hasn't actually fully understands the concept of additions yet. She just gets the idea that the answer is the number after the number on the A4, but she sometimes took the number before too! Yup, looks like I still need to work on the concept of before and after with Aishah :)

Maryam, whom before that did the number matching activity, kept saying that Aishah was wrong, hehe.... Will definitely try this activity again in the future for more complicated number additions.... After Aishah has really gotten good grips on the concept of after and before, of course ;)

Cloud Dough Round 2

I posted in my FB timeline before about the Cloud dough sensory activity that I did with the girls. 5 days on and today, I took out the good ol' clouds again for the girls to play. This time, the girls' interest on it lasted longer, especially Aishah. She was busy making kuih for the family, as she said :P

I had to just leave her and go play with Maryam in the garden before Aishah actually managed to get her hands off the clouds.

So, yes, the cloud dough is still good to play, and I hope it stays that way for quite a while.

Aishah is 4 yo. Maryam is 2 yo.

The Starting Point

Ever since I was single, I had always dreamed of having a maidless family and raising kids on my own . When the opportunity presented itself after my bond with my previous employer ended, with the support of my beloved hubby, I decided to quit my job and become a full time wife and mother.

At first I was planning to be a Work-At-Home-Mother (WAHM), doing business from home and generating side income for the family. But that day never came. And until now, I'm still unsure whether that day will ever come :P

The truth is, I'm truly enjoying the time that I have now with my family. I always hated having to rush to the office in the morning and sending the girls to be cared of by someone else in daycare. The problems that we had before as well as financial issues do not make hiring a maid as an option in our family. And due to my own shortcomings, my household management was not really in a good shape. I also hated when I had to come home late to sleeping girls... 

I always felt that it didn't seem right. But now when things have changed, I'm loving it more than I thought I would... I love being able to prepare and eat breakfast with my hubby (although I admit, it's not everyday!). I love being able to train myself to handle household chores. I love being able to cook for the family (not everyday too! hehe). I love having the time to play with my kids. I love having the opportunity to go shopping when it's not too crowded. I love having more time to do other things that matters more in life to me.

Of course, being a mother of young kids means you don't have any time for yourself i.e. me time. At.all. The to-do list never gets completed, and might even get longer. You no longer have the freedom to go anywhere you want without having to drag a toddler along (who won't let you shop for too long too!). 

However, amidst the far busier and more chaotic life, I truly find peace. It's like I finally found who I should be. Maybe it's the feeling of returning to my fitrah. Our fitrah. Maybe the greatest joy of all is feeling the strong bond of love with my two girls. I love seeing the look in Aishah's eyes and the smile on her face when I fetch her home from her kindy every weekday. I love seeing the joy and pleasure in Maryam's face when I nurse her everyday. Lately, Aishah has been quite expressive in showing her affection too. She sometimes say "I love you ummi/baba!" out of the blue, and gives my hubby and I random hugs and kisses. They truly melt our hearts.... <3

I also love the excited looks on the girls' faces when I announce that we're going to start an activity. Ever since I've been given the strength by Allah to constantly share many activities with the girls, I have noticed quite a positive development lately. Many days starts off in the morning with Aishah asking to do an activity. Aishah, whom before this was quite a cartoon fan, today just turned off the TV after only watching 1 cartoon, although before that I told her that she could watch 2! She came to me and said "Ummi, Aishah dah penat la tengok kartun. Jom kita buat aktiviti!" I was actually cooking at the time, so I was the one who had to persuade her to watch another cartoon! (thinking  about it now, I should have asked her to do something else instead!). Usually she would always beg for one more cartoon to watch when cartoon watching time ends.

Aishah has also showed a vast improvement in giving cooperation lately. She no longer tests the boundaries so much. It's either the time and activities that I've shared with her and the love that I showered her in the process, that have moulded her to be like that, or it's simply her outgrowing her strong-will character (she's turning 4 in less than a month's time!). Whatever the reason is, I'm deeply thankful to Allah for all of this :)

That's why I'm now very passionate about sharing the activities that I do with my kids at home with all the mothers out there. I truly believe in Saidina Ali bin Abi Talib's parenting guide:

"Ajaklah anak bermain pada tujuh tahun pertama, disiplinkanlah anak pada tujuh tahun kedua, dan bersahabatlah dengan anak pada tujuh tahun ketiga."

I believe the first seven years of children's life is all about building a strong bond between them and the parents, in order to allow for the successful implementation of the disciplining and companionship phases in the second and third seven years of their life, insya Allah. 

And that is also why I am also deeply passionate about positive parenting in these early years. My favourite resource is Dr. Laura Markham from the AhaParenting website, which provides really practical day-to-day guides on parenting. 

I've been searching around for resources on kids activities and parenting from muslim websites, but it's a shame that we don't have much to offer (please tell me if you really have found a good muslim website on these!). And that is why I have now decided to heed my sisters' advice to share my wonderful journey of kids activities and positive parenting in a blog instead of in my fb. Hopefully this can be my contribution towards the ummah's dire need of resources like this coming from the muslims ourselves. 

May Allah accept this to be my amal jariah to help me in the hereafter insya Allah.

Ameen, ameen, yaa rabbal 'alameen... 

So now let us embrace parenthood!