Snapshot from Sudder Street in Kolkata

Today (not today) Shyamala will have a checkup. She has been taking her meds since Sunday. We forgot last night's dose. I am not sure what to do in those cases. I will have to ask Dr. Dey.

We meet her dentist today, Rashmi. I hope she's nice and willing to do some research on S's condition.

Little sleepy head, still sleeping in our hotel bed. Cool and stormy morning, perfect for a sleep in. I love you little S.

Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 1. Chapter 14

I've mentioned before that R and I have joined a Children's Bhagavatam group.  The group is run by parents from all parts of the world headed by the esteemed Arrudha devi dasi.  We work through a chapter of Srimad Bhagavatam a week according to our child's abilities.  Many parents write up possible questions and create activities based on the chapter to share with other parents.  

This week I was inspired my Madhavi Radhika's activities.  I adapted them a little to 'fit' with R's abilities.

Nice activities.  Thank you Madhavi Radhika.

Marble Painting with Shaving Foam

We used food colouring, paper, shaving foam, a tray, the end of a paintbrush and some droppers.

Spread some foam on a tray, we used a ruler and our fingers to do this.

Then drop some colours here and there. 

With the end of a paint brush, or anything similar, swirl and squiggle and zigzag and loop, etc.

Then print by placing and gently pressing and rubbing paper on top.

Pretty isn't it!

And the process again:

This was fun!  We'll be doing this again for playgroup this week.

Peas in Pods

This is another of our more recent playgroup activities; removing peas from pods.  This simple activity promotes fine motor development (development of the control of small muscles) as well as healthy eating.

The little children started wanting to munch on them pretty much as soon as the pods were open, so we quickly offered some peas to Lord Jagannath who we were sitting just beside.  

Soon all the peas were free and ready for our pea and mint soup later that evening...yum!

Magical Art in Playgroup

I remember doing this as a kid.  I still think it's a lot of fun.  

It's super simple.  All you need is a wax candle and food colouring (watered down).  Have the children first draw with the candle on white paper, you won't see anything at this point.  When they have finished drawing, with the colouring and a soft, thick brush let them paint over the top.  The wax from the candle won't mix with the paint and their wax drawing magically appears.

For smaller children use a smaller piece of paper.  If you think your child might get frustrated when they draw with the candle and don't see anything, demonstrating the activity first might help. 

Bhagavatam Study- 1.13

This week I thought we'd have a break from the art projects and have a go at some vocabulary building exercises instead.  After reading the chapter (translations only) to R (5) I selected some verses to work with.  In each verse I chose words and gave their meaning below.  After reading the a meaning R (5) then had to find the word in the text.  

This definitely wasn't an independent activity, he needed support.  Still, it made him think and hopefully even learn a few new words.

Animal Study - Bats

We're still working with the book Stellaluna by Janell Cannon.  We've just completed a simple study on bats.

We managed to find a lot of information here and a great children's story about a family of microbats here.

This is R's (5) summary on bats. We worked on it together.  R is still working on forming sentences in his head that are clear enough to be written down in a way that they can be easily understood (I still find that challenging :) ). This activity gave him an opportunity to practise this skill.  I also wrote relevant words on his paper to help guide him in his writing.

Next, we're going to check out the bats around here and see if we can work out if they are microbats, or macrobats like Stellaluna.