June, it is !!!
School Holidays are on and that means it’s that special time of the year when we are with the kids 24X7 and the sanity goes out of the window in a flash!
Even though my both the kids are in a childcare, so they do not really have holidays, but since both the monkeys do not nap in the afternoon, the afternoons are l-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-n-n-n-g!
Now that my El Mono (3+ years, goes to N2) can hold the pencil and can write numbers, I introduced him to some fun workbooks one afternoon. He was super excited to see the new book and its colourful illustrated pages.
I got the Gakken Go Go Series Activity books from Popular (a book store chain in Singapore) – the books have the age range mentioned on top, so it is extremely easy to choose your pick. The books are filled with pictures of colourful animals and things which instantly attracts the little ones. I too fell in love with the fun content and the quality of the books – the Japanese do know how to design great products! The books are fun, entertaining and educational at the same time, thus improving their motor skills, reasoning, decision-making, and concentration skills.
Needless to say that the afternoon went by super fast! My son was very pleased to be able to complete so many pages on his own and some with help from mommy.
The Go Go Cut and Paste series is probably his favourite since he can use a pair of scissors to cut out pictures from one page and glue them to other pages on his own! Big Achievement!
Another cool thing about these books are the reward stickers which comes with each book. So after he finishes a page, he is rewarded with a sticker he chooses, thus giving him a tangible sense of achievement – and of course the claps and “yay, you did it”-s help a lot too!
These books are priced slightly on the higher side (S$11.90 for each) especially considering my son goes through each of them in 2 afternoons. So I started looking for alternatives and thankfully found some more, like the below:
- Play and Learn – Numbers (S$6.90)
- First Time Learning – Counting and Alphabets (thick book S$8.90 each)
- Learn Through Play – Join The Dots and Matching (S$2.50 each)
I found the workbooks extremely helpful for my son – I find it is slowly increasing his patience since he sits down a bit longer each time. Earlier he would lose interest in a particular game / work very quickly as is natural with any 3 year old.
Also the afternoons are more exciting for all of us now, seeing him do the fun challenges and getting all happy about it!
So mommies who are struggling with ideas for ‘what to do with kids’ on holidays or in general, can give the workbooks a try!
Till then,
Happy Parenting!
xx