preschool


31
Jan 10

REVIEW: Ferdinand Uses the Potty by Jay Tucker and D.E. West

Ferdinand Uses the Potty Jay Tucker and DE WestNow that the preschooler knows that the postman brings goodies for him, I let him open up the parcel containing this book for review.

He was really excited (although he pointed out that the parcel didn’t have his name on it!) and LOVED the book cover, which was in his favourite purple :-)

He immediately clambered onto my lap and ordered Mummy to: “READ!!!”. Well, Mummy (who’s very particular about fonts) loves the handwriting-styled font the author and illustrator chose.

The race car in Ferdinand’s dream bubble scored another point with the boy and I could read through the story easily as “Ferdinand Uses the Potty” is written in a simple rhyming scheme.

Since the boy is toilet trained for the day, he can identify with the toilet, the word “pee pee” and having a tummy ache. However, the language used was slightly above his age level and also, the lack of descriptive words had him slightly puzzled…

Nevertheless, the storyline kept him hooked to the book from start to the end. For this, I think the author and illustator have down an excellent job.

At the end of the story, the boy turned to me and we had this conversation,

“What happened to the frog?”

“He went to pee.”

“Where? In the toilet? Show me…”

I showed him the page where the frog leaps up high above the toilet but it’s clear neither of us could see the frog doing the deed.

Because I’d found “The Potty Book for Boys by Allysa Satin Capucilli and Dorothy Scott useful for his potty training, perhaps the team may want to make it a bit more obvious what Ferdinand the frog is doing in the toilet?

“Ferdinand Uses the Potty” has bright and colourful illustrations with a flowing storyline – check out the book yourself hereif you’re in the process of toilet training a preschooler :-)


23
Oct 09

No Halloween this year?

Last year, I had to hunt for a Halloween costume when the preschool in China announced that they would be celebrating this dress-up event :-)

My boy was only 3 then, sweats a lot and didn’t fancy anything over his head. Also, there were limited characters he was familiar with since he’s a HUGE Thomas the Tank Engine fan. He also only knew about:
- Bob the Builder and
- Fireman Sam

Gosh, I wish we could have bought these *CUTE* costumes (with the accessories!!!):

As I only had ONE costume outlet to shop at, I only found the little Musketeer the most suitable. To join in the fun, I dressed up as a Musketeer myself. It was pretty easy since I only needed a buccaneeer blouse, stretch pants (like jodhpurs) tucked into boots. I also got myself a feathered hat to match LOL

This year, he’s into more characters as he’s reading more Winnie-the-Pooh books (he used to identify with “Roo” and loves “Tigger” but now he says he looks like “Christopher Robin”).

After watching Batman & Robin and Batman Returns (rather violent and I’ve hidden away the DVD), he’s declared himself as “Batman”. In jest, I said that I was “Catwoman” and he found that really funny! I guess poor Dad is Robin LOL

He just *LOVES* the segment when Batman puts on his costume – you know, the mask, the gloves, the utility belt and of course, the arrival and opening of the Batmobile!

For now, I approve of Batman (and not Superman due to the fantasy of flying off roofs) and think he’d look really cute strutting about in a Batman costume :-)

Check out the Batman, CARS, Musketeer and Winnie-the-Pooh costumes below:

Unfortunately, his preschool here will NOT be celebrating Halloween, which means his Batman fantasy is very much confined to the TV.

Sigh! I hope that they’ll have drama, dress-up sessions and theatrical events though because he LOVES imaginative play and dressing-up…

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! Have fun dressing up :-)


22
Jul 09

REVIEW: Two Little Trains by Margaret Wise Brown

twolittletrains-margaret-wise-brownAfter the success of reading Margaret Wise Brown’s “Goodnight Moon” I was happy to find “Two Little Trains” written by the same author for my No. 1 Thomas the Tank Engine fan.

My toddler was delighted to see that the first few pages had the illustration of a present, which contained a wooden toy train. He immediately said that the wanted a purple present for Christmas – and of course, a train!

“Two Little Trains” is a creative book which features two trains on their individual and parallel journeys “to the West”.

One is a real, modern, express train going up hills, across bridges and through tunnels. Another is a child’s wooden toy train, which mimics the real train’s actual journey throughout the house using various props like:

- the shower for rain in the bathroom,

- the banisters of a flight of stairs for a hill,

- a book propped up horizontally for a tunnel,

- the toy train going through a bowl of grapes, which looked like purple trees…

The trains end their journey at the boy’s bedside when he goes to sleep :-) Personally, I found the ending rather abrupt and had some difficulty adjusting my reading tone to end appropriately with the sudden ending.

I think my toddler was also hanging on for further action LOL

Reading the book again and again with my toddler, I’m amazed at how creative “Two Little Trains” is and how the best children’s books are built out of such simple plot structures! Pure genius…

Rating: ★★★★☆

Yawnnnn…my toddler’s asleep and I think I’m done for the day too. Good night, everyone :-)

Publisher: HarperCollins (September 23, 2003)
ISBN-10: 0064435687
ISBN-13: 978-0064435680

Buy “Two Little Trains” or other books by Margaret Wise Brown:


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