Early Learning

Underwater mysteries- lessons in marine biology

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When we started speaking about habitats, naturally V was drawn to water. I think we don’t get to see underwater creatures everyday, and that makes them look even more gorgeous. We have been visiting aquariums since forever, and she used to stand and stare at fish for hours on end.

“Why can’t fish live outside water?”

When we go swimming, V, naughty as she is would try to go underwater to see what happens. She realised water enters her nostrils. We read up on the parts of fish and learnt that they have special organs called gills to breathe and fins to swim.

Underwater themed sensory play
Simple fishing activity

When she was around 15-18 months old, sensory play using water and figurines or water beads(constant supervision required) was our favourite activity.When she was a little older, we started doing simple fishing activities at home- either with a sieve or a magnetic rod.… Click to read the rest

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Body-from teeth to T-cells: lessons in anatomy and hygiene

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Much before V was one year of age, we started pointing out different body parts to her. The most obvious and easy ones were eyes, nose and the likes. But they were just the beginning.

“Why do I have to brush my teeth everyday?”

V started teething at 4 months, and by her second birthday, had all her 20 teeth. Which is why, it feels like we have been brushing her teeth for a really long time. Obviously, on many days we go through the whole, ” I’m feeling lazy, amma. Let’s not brush our teeth today!’ routine.That is when we introduced bacteria and germs. This was a pretty simple activity. Once you brush, you can actually see the germs vanishing.

Internal body organs

Once we knew the names of all the important external organs, she started getting curious about the internal ones.”Where does the food we eat go?” or “Why does my tummy hurt if I don’t poop?” led to a lot of research on the digestive and excretory system.… Click to read the rest

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Shadows: Child-led lessons in light

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When V was an infant, one of her favourite games was to try to catch a ray of sunlight or shadows through an open window. This was a great exercise for her to manipulate her own hands and legs. Once she started walking, she started noticing the dark figure that follows her around, her shadow.

“What exactly is a shadow, amma?”

We noticed that the shadow cast is always the same shape as the object. But not always, the same size. Her shadow would always look like her. Mine would always look like me. It would do whatever we did too.

Shadow Matching

We did a series of shadow match activities. While going out for walks, we tried to figure out which shadow belonged to exactly which tree and leaf. It was wonderful watching the shadows dance in tune to the trees. We also did a lot of matching activities using DIY flash cards.This develops visual discrimination and is an important pre-requisite to both, math and reading.… Click to read the rest

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