Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Play Learning Tuesday: Letter fun with wool

After a brief hiatus, Play Learning Tuesday is back!!! During our holidays, a craft that we had done earlier broke into pieces, rather strands. I'm talking about a spider that we made (you can read about how we made it here). I went into the room one day to see the mischief that EV and AA had gone into. They had just loosened the strands of the spider, and the pieces and pieces of wool were scattered all around the floor. It sure was a mess.

As usual, I wasn't willing to just throw away the wool. It would be such a waste. I was confident that a use will come along one day, so I hoarded all the wool strands into my little recycle box, which also contained other items like egg cartons and milk bottles, just waiting to be created into something fun, something creative, or something for learning.

So it came to be that EV and I were revising some letters. We decided to use the wool to create the letters, so EV could also practise her letter formation in a fun way.

Letters with wool
 Plus, we got to recycle the wool strands. 

It's great to be a hoarder after all.

Are you using any recycled materials in your fun, play learning activities?

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What is Play Learning Tuesday?

Play Learning Tuesday is a bi-weekly linky hosted by Toddly Mummy where bloggers are invited to share their child-friendly play, learning and craft activities. Taking part for the first time? You might like to read the guidelines here first.


Toddly Mummy


Linking up with:


Tot School No Time For Flash Cards Photobucket Teach Beside Me







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Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Review: Art with heART Studio Little Dali art programme for 3 to 4 years old (Part 3)

We had previously shared with you our adventure at heART Studio (here's Part 1 and Part 2). The adventure continues with Part 3. Slightly late, I admit, because of the December holidays, and our trusted helper being away in her hometown, and then settling the kids in for the new year. But better late than never, right?

Part 3 focuses on the final four weeks of the lessons, where the final art piece is on a canvas, instead of paper. And the topic? Buildings, painted specifically in the style of artist Karla Gerard. I like the fact that EV is also exposed to different artists and their different painting styles, which makes her art education so much richer.

It's heartening to see the kids so interested in it.

Heart Studio Wk 7 2
Teacher Syafiq was extremely patient in guiding the kids.

Heart Studio Wk 7 1
He also went the extra mile to explain to them what a canvas is and how it is constructed, rather than just give it to them to paint on. To give the kids some practice in drawing buildings, he got them to first draw buildings using shapes on paper. 

Heart Studio Wk 7 3
The following week, work began on the canvas (the background was painted the previous week) and EV had to first draw buildings using pastels. Again, Teacher Syafiq spent some time explaining about oil pastels to broaden the kids' knowledge, before getting them to choose colours to use.

Heart Studio Wk 8 1

Heart Studio Wk 8 2
 See EV at work here? She's obviously looking very proud of her own art achievement. Something I believe heART Studio has helped develop.

Heart Studio Wk 8 3
With the buildings drawn and painted, the next thing to do was to add the windows, and this was the focus for the following week. Taking a few weeks to create a single painting may seem long for us adults, but for kids, it's a learning process that needs to be guided step by step, and one realises that the few weeks' duration is actually not that long. It's a realistic time frame in order to inculcate the knowledge and ability in the children. It appears to me that heART Studio had put much thought into the development of its programme, and I'm glad this is the case.

Heart Studio Wk 9 1

Heart Studio Wk 9 2
During the final lesson, EV added the trees, stars and moon. Here she is drying her own work, all by herself.

Heart Studio Wk 10 1
And ta da! The proud girl with her awesome work!

Heart Studio Wk 10 2


Having attended a whole term of lessons at heART Studio. Here's our verdict. heART Studio is a fantastic place to tap the artistic talent of kids, and you will be surprised at just how well they can do it. I was. Plus the teachers there are really caring, and that makes the Studio a great learning environment.

Disclaimer: We received sponsorship of a term of art lessons under the Little Dali programme by heART Studio. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions and images are my own.

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Thank you for reading. If you like this post, please do connect with me on FacebookInstagram and Twitter, so I can share our fun adventures, thoughts and exploits with you.