more kindy pics ...

I love that Noel's kindy teachers set up different stations to cultivate their interest in different subjects. Above were the underwater table.  The table was decorated with blue sequin and blue silky fabric so kids can explore different texture and they threw in all the underwater creatures for the kids to play with too..

Next, a sandbox with seashells. Coming from a town with no beaches, I've never seen seashells until I was quite old.

Here, Noel was busy at the playdough table.  The teacher had made fresh batch of playdough. And he was making ice cream and they used real equipments on kid-sized table.

The table was set close to their pretend kitchen.   If Noel's play kitchen at home is a home kitchen , this one is definitely a commercial/industrial sized kitchen :P it came with proper rangehood, and heaps of equipments.

What are you baking Noel?

He'd made some gingerbread cookies :)

 

Abel the painter...

Here Abel playing at BDK while I dropped Noel off.  He was painting from the various buckets.
These buckets are so cool, they are made of silicone and they can be folded and put into one's pocket.
Just fill up with water and paint away. The water just dries off and he thinks he's done some great paint job.

Fireman Noel to the rescue....

Quick, there's a fire. Fireman Noel and his crew were off to save the day... 

Extinguishing the fire with a fire extinguisher and coming down the fireman pole..

What an adventure Fireman Noel

CB Kindy

This is Noel at CB kindy.  Here he's been appointed the helper.  His task is to hand back the 'things' that the classmates brought in for Alphabet time.

When Noel first started, I prepared his 'letter' of the week object for him.  Now that he's turned 4, he decided to choose his own thing. For example, when it was letter O, I prepared an onion for him to bring but he's decided to cut out picture of oranges from the supermarket flyers. When I decided to let him be fully responsible of picking his own object, he will not choose anything and then tell his teachers, " My mum did not prepare for me." 

Barnyard animals

You would have read my ranting about looking/hunting for the farm animals few days back.  I took this picture much earlier.  Here all the animals and farmer were intact.  The brothers were enjoying the 'new' toy.  Noel was more interested with the mechanism of the barn while Abel was clearly more into those animals.
As for the most current status, Piggy and Sheep have gone AWOL. *sigh

The Washing Machine

 

Here's a series of photos of Noel and Abel at one of the last few session of playgroups in December.  This one is at Eastview Baptist .  This playgroup is more suitable for younger group of kids, ie Newborn to 2 years old. But Noel was wanting different toys to the other playgroup he was attending.  The main attraction for Noel at this playgroup was the washing machine and dryer.  See the pics above.  The Brothers were engrossed with the appliance.  I found out it also had an ironing board attached. 

Abel hoarding the ball and the trike. Abel....please share..

Here's Abel taking a picture with his little toy camera.

Chips from the Pacific

 

My SIL went on a short- term missionary trip in December.  She brought us back souvenirs and chips all the way from Vanuatu.  One is savoury and one is sweet. They are pretty yummy...

piggy bank

 

Skills developed: Dexterity - Hand-Eye Coordination, Fine motor skills

p/s: This activity needs to be supervised closely as toddler can accidentally swallow the coins.

Roadside rescue

Every year, there is an inorganic collection and these things are usually not collected in the normal rubbish collection.  The council would set the dates of collection. In the pre-trademe days, I heard from others that you would be able to collect all sorts of things by the roadside, sewing machine, pianos, all sorts of things.  Anyhow, we(more like I ) rescued this kids outdoor furniture on our way home from the supermarket.

I nearly put it out again as it looked very faded and full of spider webs.   Noel told me "Don't throw it out Mummy. I WILL USE it after you cleaned it". So after washing it with tons of bleach and jif, and tons of water, the boys have been enjoying this little piece of furniture.  They didn't mind that it was very faded. In a way I am pleased that I have prevented something from going to the landfill and I didn't have to pay $299 for a brand new Step 2 similar product at the Baby Factory.

Dear baby Jesus..

Noel loves you..
- a piece of work that Noel did at ECK in December-

Emergency vehicle - The making of an ambulance

Noel told me he would like to draw an ambulance.  So I gave him a piece of paper and he started working on it.  First, he traced the side profile of the ambulance on the paper. Then,he coloured it and cut it out. I was pretty impressed as he worked on it solely without my help.

This is a postings for all the moms ...

Do you feel like you are constantly hunting for lost toys for your kids?
Today aside from working a real job, I have been hunting for this d*rn Goat!
First time I found it in the bedroom and then  A has been carting the animals around and now Mr G has gone missing again! Maybe I should take it easy and let Mr G come out by itself. Meeeehhhhhhh

2012 Bike-A-Thon

Noel's kindy had their annual bike-a-thon event yesterday.  His teacher  posted a video  link.
Please check it out.  Can you spot Noel amidst the kids?

Shoessssssssssssss

One evening I found Abel arranging all our shoes.

C is for Carrot

This is my first attempt on planting carrot. I bought some seedlings and decided to put them in the pot. My garden bed is very shallow and probably no good for planting carrot. I am not far away from harvesting according to the growing instruction. I can spot some carrot tops in the pot now. Look forward for our baby tiny carrots.

Happy Birthday Mickey

Noel's kindy celebrated Mickey's birthday party. It was such good fun. I found out Micky turns 83 in last Spring. Here the classroom was decored in such a way that there were Mickeys everywhere.

Abel ventured to the Music corner and found himself the tambourine.

Then NOel was out in the play area.

Abel found himself a new bike. He's still too short to ride in it but he tried.

Noel also found himself a police bike.

Ocean creatures and below Abel driving a bus.

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See-sawing together.

making ice cubes

Making ice-cubes with sippy cup/bottle is so much fun. They are each given a ice-cube tray and off they go, squirting, squeezing and filling up the tray. Skills developed: Concentration, Fine Motor Skills, Counting, ...