Play Learning Tuesday: Puzzle, ice and rice sensory play

Sensory bins are a hit at the Say family play room. Today, I'm sharing one that teases the brain, awakes the senses and amazes the eye. And it was done while little AA was deep in the land of dreams.


All you need is:
Rice (I used about one and a half cups)
Letter or number wooden puzzles
Ice
Food colouring

Using a medium sized tub, I put in the rice and wooden puzzles in. EV got busy moving the puzzles through the rice and matching them.


When I put in the ice, EV was amazed with how the rice grains stuck to it. She was even more amazed at how the rice seemed to 'swim' in the water, as the ice melted, and became gradually wetter. She loved the feeling of the freezing ice in her hands, and the way it melted, and had so much fun just moving the ice through the rice.


Usually, I would be the one to mix the food colouring into the rice. However today, I let EV do the mixing. If playing with ice and rice got her excited, mixing in the blue got her ecstatic! She just couldn't stop mixing the rice around. As she did so, I pointed out how the rice slowly turned into various shades of blue.


A simple 3-in-1 sensory play activity that engages the visual, tactile and cognitive senses. It's fun, as you can see from EV's smile here.

Are you playing any sensory activities?

*****

What is Play Learning Tuesday?

Play Learning Tuesday is a 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.

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My Favourite Children's Author: Mem Fox {plus a Giveaway}

After three months and eleven guest posts where mummies shared their favourite children's authors such as Julia Donaldson, Lea Lionni, Enid Blyton and Hans Christian Anderson, this week marks the last post of this guest post series.

I admit. I have more than one favourite children’s author. And today, I will share about another author whose picture books are always on our reading list.

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I only discovered Mem Fox this year, and I must say she is a brilliant writer of children’s picture books. She has written over 40 titles for young minds and five adult books on reading, teaching and learning, of which Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children Will Changes Their Lives Forever is the most popular. She is also sought after as an international literacy consultant.

Born in 1946 in Melbourne, Australia, Mem Fox grew up in Africa, at Hope Fountain, which is a few miles from the city of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. She went to drama school in London and married an Englishman in 1969. They returned in Australia the following year and in 1971, she gave birth to her only child Chloe Fox, who is now Minister for Transport Services of the South Australian Parliament. She is also grandmother to Theo, born in January this year.

Mem Fox switched her focus to literacy studies in 1981 to find out how children best learn to read and write. She eventually became Associate Professor of Literacy Studies at Flinders University, South Australia. She retired in 1996, after twenty four years of teaching, to focus on her second passion – writing and reading aloud to children.

Mem Fox wrote her first children’s title Possum Magic, which is dedicated to Chloe, in 1978 during a course in children’s literature at Flinders University. It was rejected nine times over five years, before finally being published in 1983. Today, Possum Magic is one of the most recognised picture books in Australia and has sold over four million copies worldwide. 

Since then, Mem Fox has continued to pen bestsellers that are well-loved by children and parents alike. These include wonderful tales such as Koala Lou and Hattie and the Fox. In 1993, she was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia, for ‘services to children’s literature’. 

Becky and I have been reading several of her books, and we absolutely love them! Here, I will share several of these wonderful picture books.

Possum Magic

This is a delightful picture book tale about two possums (small marsupial species native to Australia). Baby Hush is made invisible by her Grandma Poss to protect her from the dangers of the Australian bush, but unfortunately, Hush cannot regain her visibility. So the duo takes an adventure tour around Australia to search for the secret to Hush’s visibility. 

Not only is this tale a rhythmical story of Australia’s landscapes and the animals that live in them, it also includes some very Aussie food as part of its plot, such as pumpkin pie, ANZAC biscuits, lamingtons, pavlovas and yes, to my horror, vegemite sandwich! After being in Perth for so long, I still do not like the taste of this very Aussie food. And you know, neither do my siblings who are currently residing there.

Possum Magic is so incredibly Aussie, that I can’t help have a soft spot for it. For those of you who have spent time in Australia, you will know what I mean. And for those who are planning a trip down under, this is a great book to introduce Australia to your kids.

Even though it was written nearly thirty years ago, Possum Magic still appeals to many children. It won the New South Wales Premier’s Literary Awards Ethel Turner Price for young people’s literature in 1984, as well as the Canberra’s Own Outstanding List (COOL) in 1994. The latter is an annual children’s choice award where children are encouraged to read and vote for their favourite books.

Possum Magic has also been performed three times by the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. There is even a highly successful musical that made its premiere in 1990. 2013 marks the 30th anniversary of the book and over 20 years on stage, and Possum Magic The Musical will be having a farewell tour. Becky and I will be sure to keep a lookout for that. Maybe if we visit her cousin, my nephew in Melbourne next year, we can go watch it.

Koala Lou

This is a very special book for Becky and I. It was through this that I discovered that Becky was in her pre-reading stage. You can read more about that and what I'm doing to develop her literacy here.

Koala Lou is about this little koala who used to have the full attention of her mother, but gradually felt neglected with the birth of brothers and sisters. She thought that her mother no longer loved her, and longed to be hugged and hear her mother say 'Koala Lou I do love you.' So she decided to take part in a tree climbing competition, believing that only if she won, her mother would love her again. 

This tale about sibling rivalry and not winning an important competition is really heartwarming, and is good for teachin emotional intelligence. Couple that with beautiful pictures by Pamela Lofts and Koala Lou is just amazing. At the heart of it is this very crucial message - that no matter what happens, Koala Lou's mother will always love her. And you know, though Becky is still quite young, she gets that message. Probably that's why we both love the story so much. Every now and then, I would say 'I do love you. I always do and I always will.' Just like Koala Lou's mother.

Tough Boris

When I first read this to Becky, the moment she saw the first few pages, she was asking me to keep the book. And I can understand why. The story is about a pirate named Boris, and the illustrations show a fierce looking one. But I asked her to just listen to the story till the end. Again, I'm surprised by her ability to understand the message behind the story. When I finished reading, she was quiet and since that time, she was always happy to have me read it over and over again.

Tough Boris is a very simple tale, about a tough, massive, scruffy, greedy, fearless and scary pirate, who always had his pet parrot by his side. And when his parrot died, Boris cried. The key message is in the last sentence – 

All pirates cry. And so do I.

A touching tale indeed, to tell young ones that it is alright to feel upset and cry. This is good for sharing about feelings and emotional intelligence.

Hattie and the Fox

This brings to mind many other books, such as the traditional hen-and-fox tales from Aesop, The Little Red Hen, and even Pat Hutchins' famous book Rosie's Walk. Mem Fox's Hattie and the Fox remains a classic favourite, with its sing song, rhythmic and changing style. 

I also like the repetitive style as the fox is being revealed, and in the responses of the various farm animals. I get Becky to guess what comes next. It is also good in teaching about the different body parts of the fox. But I think her favourite must be the final part when the fox appears in full, and the other animals run away except for the cow. I ask her what the cow said and she would respond gleefully 'Moooo....!'

The Magic Hat

This is great for reading aloud, with its rollicking and rhyming phrases about a hat that lands on the heads of resident after residents in the town and instantly transforms them into different animals. 'Oh, the magic hat, the magic hat! It moved like this, it moved like that! It spun through the air!'

Here, varying descriptive lines and rhymes allow listeners to predict and guess what will follow as the page turns.

And over a road

And sat on the head of a warty old ... (turn page)

Toad!

Like a bouncing balloon 

And sat on the head of a hairy ... (turn page)

Baboon!

A large but impish wizard appears to restore the characters to their former selves. Then the wizard himself dons the hat and becomes a little boy, high spirited and surrounded by starlight and sparkles – a hint to his magical ability.

Whimsical ink and watercolour illustrations by Tricia Tusa dance with life, just like the way the magic hat bounces around. And I like her humorous details too, such as a fruit-stand seller who juggles bananas as he is transformed into a baboon, and the animated children who witness each transformation with glee.

Mem Fox has many other wonderful books which we will hunt down and read, such as Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge, Whoever You Are, Wombat Divine and Hello Baby!

Want to win a Mem Fox classic?

To mark the end of the My Favourite Children's Author Guest Post series, I am having a giveaway of two of Mem Fox's books. They are: Possum Magic and Koala Lou.

All you have to do is:

1. Like the Facebook page.

2. Leave a comment and indicate which book you would love to win.

This giveaway will end on 26 November 2012, 11.59pm. This giveaway is for Singapore residents only.

Winners will be determined by Random.org and will receive their prize by normal mail.

{Guest Post} My Favourite Children's Author: Sandra Boynton

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The brains behind award winning books like Barnyard Dance, Your Personal Penguin, Philadelphia Chickens, Blue Moo: 17 Jukebox Hits From Way Back Never, Sandra Boynton is more than just a children's author. She is a humourist, illustrator and songwriter too, and has illustratoed over four thousand greeting cards and written and produced four music albums. Sandra was born in 1953 in New Jersey, US, and is married to writer and Olympic athelete Jamie McEwan.

To share more about this multi-talented author is Yvonne. She is a proud mummy of one happy toddler who is juggling both work and family at the same time. Besides busy chronicling her life through instagram, she blogs at Beadsyy’s Diary whereby she shares her journey through Parenthood and anything under the sun. Yvonne enjoys spending quality time with her family and loves family kisses the most.

*****

There is this thing about funny children’s stories. You can never get enough of them. Not even when you are an adult.

Sandra Boynton is an American humorist, songwriter, children's author and illustrator. Boynton has written and illustrated more than forty books for both children and adults. It was by chance that I came upon her books. I recalled a few months after Ally was born, I was looking around for some bedtime books that I could read to her. Then I came across her “The Going To Bed Book” while doing my research online. So off I went to the bookstore to get that book and as they always said, “The rest is history”. 

I fell in love with the story the moment I read through it. It was short and simple but packed with so much humour and silliness. I particularly like how each sentences rhyme at the end. It’s catchy and reading it is really fun. We read it almost every night when Ally was younger. I never get tired of it.

Ally at 5 months old

Our favourites

Besides this, the talented Sandra Boynton wrote many other books that were just as funny. Here are some of my favourites:

The Little Pookie’s Series

Little Pookie is this little piglet. There are a couple of stories that revolves around Little Pookie and his parents or just Little Pookie. I love this series because we can almost relate it in terms of our family. Besides this, I’m sure most children can relate to Little Pookie’s various experiences like in “Little Pookie”, “Happy Birthday, Little Pookie”, “Night Night, Little Pookie”, “Let’s Dance, Little Pookie”, “What’s Wrong, Little Pookie?”. These books are just perfect for family reading time.

Belly Button Book!

Seriously? A book on belly buttons? Oh yes and only Sandra Boynton can make belly buttons look so interesting and cute in this “Belly Button Book!”. And complete with her illustrations of those big chubby hippos and their teensy belly buttons just made the whole reading experience more intriguing.

But Not The Hippopotamus

This is a story about this hippopotamus that was to shy to join the other animals. All it did was to hide and watch the other animals play but this ended when the animals invited him to join them. I think this is a great story to share with children who are rather shy in nature or to a class at the beginning of the school year. This story also has an interesting twist at the end. Very fun!

The Going To Bed Book

I love this story so much that I even did a video recording of it about 2 years ago. I can even recite the story sans the book at a drop of the hat. No kidding. Sometimes when I read, Ally will end off with the last syllable of each rhyming phrase, which is really amazing. 

Recently, I have also found out that there’s an interactive app for this book that you can purchase. I got it for Ally and it’s really cute. 

I’m going to leave all this talk about Sandra Boynton’s right here. You can go check out more about her and her works via her website. 

Last but not least, have fun!

{Guest Post} My Favourite Children's Author: Oliver Jeffers

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Oliver Jeffers is an artist, designer, illustrator and writer from Northern Ireland. His work, which ranges from figurative painting and installation to illustration and picture-book writing, has been exhibited in New York, Dublin, London, Sydney, Washington DC and Belfast. He is also widely known for his picture books for children. His first book How to Catch a Star debuted in 2004 to critical acclaim and became instantly popular with children and parents alike.

Lost and Found, which was published in 2005 won the Nestles Smarties Book Prize Gold Medal 2006, the Blue Peter Book Award 2006 and was shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal the same year. He has since been shortlisted for the Kate Greenaway Medal three more times, for The Way Back Home, The Great Paper Caper and The Heart and the Bottle. He also the Roald Dahl Funny Prize twice in 2009 and 2012, for his books The Great Paper Caper and Stuck.

Debra will be sharing more about this talented author with us today. She is working mum to two sweet boys Sean (3 years) and Ryan (9 months). On her blog, http://olimomok.livejournal.com/, she writes mostly about fun family experiences, the kids' growing up moments and her own parenting journey. She enjoys reading, writing, making things and spending time with her kids and often wishes there were more hours in the day to do everything.

*****

Oliver Jeffers is relatively new to the world of book illustration and... to us! We only discovered his books very recently on the recommendation of friends. 'They are wonderful books for boys - your son will love them,' they said. And they were spot-on! Sean lapped up every last one of his beautiful picture books and we too fell in love with the rich, child-like illustrations, subtle humour and uplifting stories about courage, friendship and hope.

Jeffers is best known for his debut trio of Once there was a boy books: How to Catch a Star, Lost and Found and The Way Back Home. They chronicle the heartwarming adventures of a nameless young boy with some rather unusual companions. They are firm favourites in our household.

How to Catch a Star was inspired by a Brer Rabbit story Jeffers read as a child. It has our little hero set out on an ambitious quest to catch himself a star to play with and talk to. It doesn’t quite go as planned but the story ends with a unexpected twist that will no doubt make you smile. 

The Way Back Home sees the boy jet off into outer space before he encounters engine trouble and finds himself stranded on the moon. He meets an alien who is in the same predicament as he is and they worked hand-in-hand to get themselves off the moon. Great story about working together to overcome differences. 

Lost and Found has our plucky young hero befriend a lonely, mute penguin who shows up on his doorstep one day. Thinking the penguin may lost, he rows all the way to the South Pole braving hell and high waters (quite literally) to get his little friend home only to realise that home is, in fact, where the heart is. 

Stuck is a silly story about a boy who got his kite stuck in a tree one day and tries to dislodge it by hurling all sorts of preposterous things up the tree. The absurdity of some of the items (like the ladder and tiny saw) escapes Sean at his young age but it is still one of our top laugh-out-loud funny books to read at bedtime. Oh, and there is a lovely video of Oliver Jeffers himself reading this book with an animated version of the illustrations playing in the background. You can view it here.      

Up and Down is a touching sequel to Lost and Found. The boy and penguin get along famously and become the best of friends. One day, the penguin sets off on a personal quest to learn how to fly. Very sweet story about helping a friend out and reaching for your dreams no matter how crazy they may seem. This book also makes us want to learn how to play backgammon!

The Heart and the Bottle is about a girl who loses someone dear and seals her heart in a bottle just so she didn't have to hurt anymore. Beautiful story which struck a deep chord in me because of the delicate way it is able to convey the feelings of loss and bereavement. Probably more suited for older children. Oliver Jeffers books has piqued my inquisitive three-year-old's interest about many things about our world. We have had many interesting conversations about outer space, aliens, penguins, who lives in the South Pole, why animals can’t talk, why stars only appear at night and which birds can/cannot fly :) You can find out more about Oliver Jeffers on his website. Happy reading!

{Guest Post} My Favourite Children's Author: Hans Christian Andersen

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Some of my favourite fairy tales are penned by the legendary Hans Christian Andersen. From The Ugly Duckling to the Little Mermaid, these are tales that I grew up with and will never forget.

So I am very delighted that PC is sharing all about this wonderful author with us today. She is a mother of two girls, aged 7 and 2 respectively. She takes a part-time working scheme this year to learn better juggling between family and work (as well as her self). She blogs at Simply Us, a place where keeping her sane amidst the all the whining and messes.

*****

Hans Christian Andersen was a Danish author and poet who wrote many poems, plays, stories and travelogues, but is best known for his fairy tales. He once said that ideas for his stories 'lie in my mind like seeds and only need the kiss of a sunbeam or a drop of malice to flower'. Andersen's fairy tales of fantasy that are filled with moral values are popular with children and adults all over the world. 

Andersen was born on April 2, 1805, in Odense, Denmark. His father was a shoemaker, and his mother earned money washing other people's clothes. His parents spoiled him and encouraged him to develop his imagination. Many say his life is a fairy tale itself, as he came from a poor background and yet became a remarkable storyteller for many decades. 

This was my first book of fairy tales.

I could not remember when exactly I got it, probably it was during my upper primary schooling years. The book consists of twelve long stories with only one picture to illustrate each story. Some even had no pictures. But those powerful words were enough to blow my mind as a child. Not all of the stories ended happily ever-after, but I was immersed in the rich, imaginary world of the author to learn about good life values through princes and princesses, the poor and the wealthy classes, sparrows, swallows, ducklings, swans, peas, shoemakers and what not. I read the book so many times that I wonder if the tales were true? Most of the tales begin by saying it was a tale told long ago and retold before it is forgotten, or it was a tale told by a swallow or sparrow, which made the tales so believable, that I hoped I could listen and understand the birds tweeting. And, some stories sounded so real to me that I wished I could visit the museum that displayed the pea!

Yes, I am talking about stories written by Hans Christian Andersen.  It was very much later I realised that Hans C. Andersen is one of the world's most beloved children's author in the world. Almost everyone would have heard of his famous tales such as The Ugly Duckling, Princess and the Pea, The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New Suit, and many more. Many of his stories are sophisticated and beautifully written, with tales that provoked my emotionss. I took a long time to accept that Little Mermaid didn't get to become a princess and instead transformed into the cold foam of sea. 

He wrote more than one hundred and fifty fairy tales. He set new ground in both style and content, and employed idioms and forms of spoken language in a way that was new in Danish writing, leading many critics to commend his informal, chatty style. While fairy tales in his time were didactic and meant to convey information, he brought wit, irony and often ambiguity to his tales. Many of these tales teach us moral values that would help in everyday life or warn against something.

To me, he is the greatest storyteller, with an ability to weave the imaginary with reality. Different individuals would perceive different messages from each and every story of Andersen. For example, The Little Match Girl spoke out for exploited children sent by their parents to beg in the streets. I was shock to learn that, and at the same time, it taught me a lesson that how blessed I was with what I had as a little girl (I thought I was poor, but neh). Whilst, in The Fir Tree, he told a very meaningful story of the life of a Fir Tree rejoice in its growth and presence. 

"He now felt glad at having suffered sorrow and trouble, because it enabled him to enjoy so much better all the pleasure and happiness around him; for the great swans swam round the new-comer, and stroked his neck with their beaks, as a welcome."(from 'The Ugly Duckling') 

Over the years, Andersen's tales have “evolved”. Reading his tales again after growing up with abridged and altered versions of his creations can be quite amusing, especially with a pre-schooler. Many of the stories are simpler and yet still contain amazing appeal to inspire a new generation. When my elder daughter was three (or four), I started to read Thumbelina and The Ugly Duckling to her. We even went to watch The Ugly Duckling.

However, my girl first learned about the Little Mermaid through Walt Disney, so much so she refused to accept the ending of the original version. I can't blame her, it is a happy ending compared to Andersen's original. Well, she will learn the real beauty and power of Andersen's literary wonders someday.

She has since continued with other stories like The Emperor's New Suit. I love this as Andersen used the character of a child to speak the truth and question the moral of deluding oneself. Not every criticism or opinion is worth to be uttered:

"But he has nothing on at all," said a little child at last. "Good heavens! listen to the voice of an innocent child," said the father, and one whispered to the other what the child had said. "But he has nothing on at all," cried at last the whole people. That made a deep impression upon the emperor, for it seemed to him that they were right; but he thought to himself, "Now I must bear up to the end." And the chamberlains walked with still greater dignity, as if they carried train which did not exist." (from 'The Emperor's New Suit,').

Recently my girl got to read The Nightingale in a simpler version via Usborne (part of the school reading program). It was a version without Death and very much easier for her to read on her own. I took the opportunity to get The Nightingale from library and go through the story with her. This version contained many more difficult words and more complicated scenes (compare to Usborne's).

"The king seemed on the verge of death until the nightingale who had been banished from the court upon hearing of his illness came to offer comfort and indeed she managed to chase death away. By doing so, she gained her freedom and a promise from the king that he would listen his little bird and be a just and compassionate ruler. In turn, the nightingale would come back and sing for him to fill his heart with joy." (extracted from here)

While I read, explained along the way, Death is introduced to her for the first time. So she asked, "Who is he?" The book happened to have the illustration of the Death staring at the ill emperor with his cold, hollow eyes and many faces surrounded the room, making the scene fearfully still.

Her other questions included: "Can Death take away the emperor's spirit by judging his good and bad deeds?", "Why do you want to take away the emperor's spirit?" and "Why are there so many faces?"

I pondered, knowing what a scaredy-cat she is. "He is someone very powerful who does his work like an emperor to decide whether you can live or die," I replied.

"How?"

I tried to answer it tactfully. In many story books, Death is more of a loss, intangible, rather than being portrayed as a character  that comes judges you at the last moment of your life. I told her that, it is the uniqueness of the story and is meant to remind us that there is nothing to be afraid of, even if it seems fearful in the story. Death is part of life, and in the case of The Nightingale, the emperor was ill and his body may just "stop working", hence the spirit has to leave the body and resulting in the death of the emperor.

I wasn't sure, but I reckon it was good to keep her contemplating and come back to me with other forms of question relating to death.

We'll see.

The story leads to a happy ending after all. The Nightingale showed her appreciation, revisited the ill emperor and chased the evil faces away. By doing that, she earned her freedom and a promise from the emperor.

L-R: The Ugly Duckling, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, The Princess and the Pea, The Nightingale, The Little Match Girl, The Emperor's New Clothes

There are far too many Andersen's tales to share here. The books illustrated above are just some I can find from the fairy tale corner of a local library. Perhaps you could find a suitable story for your child(ren) in the list here before you head to the library to borrow the book.

Andersen's tales has been published in numerous collections during his life and many are still in print today. Through this exercise of re-reading the tales and researching more about Andersen, I enjoyed my self once again in his fabulous stories in English vis-a-vis the Chinese version of mine. My first book of fairy tales was somewhat unabridged from the English version, not bad, in my opinion. 

[Some other tales in my book include The Red Shoes, The Pea Blossom, The Buckwheat, The Flying Trunk that I opine they are more suitable to older children in upper primary school level.]

{Guest Post} My Favourite Children's Author: Emily Lim

Emily Lim

This week, we discover more about a Singapore award-winning author Emily Lim. A graduate of the Nanyang Business School, Emily Lim's debut picture book Prince Bear and Pauper Bear is based on her personal experiences of coping with Spasmodic Dysphonia, a rare voice disorder. She went on to write more picture books, including Just Teddy and The Tale of Rusty Horse.

In 2008 and 2009, Prince Bear & Pauper Bear and Just Teddy won the bronze Medals at the IPPY Awards, the world's largest book awards competition. She became the first in Asia to win 2 IPPYs and also the first in Southeast Asia to win an IPPY in children's books since the inception of the awards. Her third book, The Tale of Rusty Horse also won the Gold Medal at the Moonbeam Awards, one of the fastest growing US-based children's book awards.

I am happy to introduce Ng Ling Siew, who will be sharing with us one of her favourite books by Emily Lim.

She is a mother to two boys – Nathan (almost 3 years old) and Noah (1 year old).  She recently quit her full time job, so that she could have more time for her boys. It took her a long time before she decided to stay home full time, and boy is she glad she did.  She’s started Mama Shoppe, which she operates out of home.  She blogs at The View from Mama’s Desk, where she writes about her boys’ adventures at school, at ‘work’ and at play.

*****

I chanced upon Emily Lim's books before I even had kids, and loved how she weaves important life lessons into her stories. Neal Sharp does a fantastic job with the illustrations, and really brings the book to life for young kids. We've read Bunny Finds The Right Stuff, The Tale of Rusty Horse and Prince Bear & Pauper Bear. Of these, my favourite is Bunny Finds the Right Stuff.

The story goes... bunny is a toy rabbit who isn't happy with the way he was - flat feet, floppy ears and droopy shoulders. He keeps thinking that he is missing out on some stuff, and was always feeling down. He went about looking for stuffing so he could stuff himself up, but was not able to find any. He went about filling himself up with soil and blueberries, and these things weighed him down further and caused him to feel rather blue. At the end of the story, we read about how his friends went about helping him to step out of his rut. In the end, bunny realised that he had been lovingly made and also was thankful for all the friends he has.

I liked that the story is simple, and spoke about truths that all of us should cling to - that we are all lovingly created, and special in our own way.

Emily Lim is from Singapore and her books are inspired by her own journey of seeking God after she was diagnosed with a rare voice disorder. She shared about how her own journey of seeking God took her down many "rabbit holes" just like bunny. Finally, she realised that her need for completeness could only be met through knowing God.

{Guest Post} My Favourite Children's Author: Julia Donaldson

Julia Donaldson

One of her most popular books is The Gruffalo. Others include Night Monkey Day Monkey and The Magic Paintbrush. She's Julia Donaldson. In 2011, she was chosen to be the Children's Laureate, and her term runs from June last year to June 2013. This role is awarded once every two years to an eminent writer or illustrator of children's books to celebrate outstanding achievement in their field. Find out more about it here. 

Sharing with us about Julia Donaldson today is Alicia Tan. A caffeine addict mum of 1 daughter who is journeying with my heart on the sleeve in this thing called Parenting. Alicia blogs about Arts and Crafts, Cooking, Parenting and her Homeschooling journey at http://www.beanienus.blogspot.com. 

*****

When I was younger, my favourite children's authors were like Enid Blyton and enjoyed titles from Aesop's Fables. When I became a mum, I suddenly became aware of so many other children's titles! Hence it was hard to decide on just one for this guest post. So I went on the perspective of the author which Dumpling and I enjoyed a lot together and she is none other than Julia Donaldson! :) 

When Dumpling and I first read some of her titles, they were really simple ones like One Ted falls out of Bed, Hippo has a Hat, etc.  

When Dumpling was older, we enjoyed longer stories with stronger plots. And of course, one of her personal favourites is the well-loved title: The Gruffalo. The Gruffalo is a story about brain versus brawn; between a mouse and a monster and how a small seemingly insignificant mouse manages to outsmart 3 predators and, even the Gruffalo himself. 

We had so much fun with this title. Intially, Dumpling was a tad frightened of this big monster with knobby knees and turned-out toes... so much so that while reading, she covered her face and refused to look at the page. She kept her face covered for such a long time that I could actually take a photo of her! LOL

The beauty of Julia Donaldson's books lies in the lovely rhyme and the humor - just take a look at the sample pages below! :p With the repetitive "verses" the child catches on quickly too. 

Source: http://clubs-kids.scholastic.co.uk/products/43189 

There is an official website where Dumpling and I also downloaded activities for some craft and dramatizing and had a ball of a time! 

And as 'luck' would have it, the plays were in town and we caught them too :)

Another of our favourite title from the same author is Room on the Broom. The story is about a witch and her cat flying on a broomstick when the witch loses her bow accidentally and three animals helped her along. In return, they got a ride on her broomstick where they were later able to save the witch from a hungry dragon. 

I do not really like seat work for young children (Dumpling was around 2 then) so, after reading this title, we ventured into more play learning. We learnt about shapes where I left her piece the various shapes together to form a witch (she did this without help). This was also a great way to introduce her to colours and spatial awareness. 

We then followed up with a baking activity the next day. For the little ones this is a great way to get them to hone their motor skills as well as introduce them to basic counting (via measurement of ingredients - 2 eggs, 1 cup of water, etc.) 

Tada: the witch's cats! 

I hope that you will try these out with your little one(s) and that you will enjoy these titles and the activities as much as we do!