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Hi there!

I haven't blogged for a while here, just because January-February turned out to be busy for us, because it's our (my son, my husband, and myself) birthday months!

So anyway, I am happy to report that earlier last January, we got to try the BuriBox. My son was very giddy and happy to receive a parcel especially for him. 

The smiling face on the BuriBox was too contagious, we were also smiling as we were opening it! I am very happy that the box was delivered with the contents all neatly packed - even bubble-wrapped!

We got a Toddler Buribox, recommended for young Filipino learners, aged 3-5yo. There is also a Young Readers BuriBox for 6-8yo children.

So, what is a BuriBox?

 BuriBox is a monthly, curated educational box with Filipino content for kids, delivered to your doorstep. 

 For just 799 pesos, you get 4-5 new books and multiple activities/worksheets and art materials every month.

Our box had all these in it...

We got 3 books, a coloring book, clay, crayons, poster paints, and a couple of worksheets, that are very well-made by the way, on specialty paper!

Both my kids love the books...and the clay! When we opened the box, they immediately wanted to get their hands on the clay, and they cannot be stopped!

I'm glad that the box comes with activities, because sometimes I am running out of ideas for activities for my little bulilits, hehe. 

My son even came up with copying the pictures in the coloring book and sculpting them using the clay...

The BuriBox also comes with a guide for Parents, so don't worry about just improvising, because you have different activities listed on how to use the contents of the box.

Turns out, it's also a great way to bond with your child :) We've read the books together, and they already know the song "Sampung mga Daliri" and we love the picture book that has both english and tagalog words describing them.

We still have some activities that we have yet to try... Getting this BuriBox was so worth it!
What makes the BuriBox special?

"[Adarna House] was founded to respond to the need of Filipino children to develop their minds through enjoyable learning opportunities and memorable literary experiences. (adarna.com.ph)"

  • Each book, activity, and material you receive has been carefully curated by experienced and expert educators and product developers.
  • Made for the Filipino child - the books and activities in each BuriBox are situated within the Filipino context and were made especially for Filipino children.
  • Teach your child Filipino the fun way - Ninety percent of BuriBox stories are in two languages (bilingual).

Good News!
Liquesantics has been tapped by Adarna House to offer my readers a special chance to get a BuriBox by just paying the shipping cost of 150php (for the value worth 799)! But it requires a PayPal account though.

 Simply sign up below, and I'll personally email you the link and instructions of the promo.

Cheers,
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It's Halloween Season, and you've probably attended some parties already. I'm sure you're excited to dress up your kids in scary or cute costumes... Yes, the parents sometimes are the more excited ones than the kids hehe *guilty!*

 But here at home, we play dress up most of the time already, and it's like halloween on most days. I've set up a Dress-up Box for my toddlers, and they just love pretend play!

 It's more than just wearing different clothes, but the idea that you get to be someone or something else! 

 Here are some reasons why you shouldn't pack away those halloween costumes, and start up a dress up box or cabinet too:

 1. Having a dress-up box allows them to recreate scenes from everyday life, which is important in a young child's development (Social Studies). My kids love to play with their DIY kitchen and copy me when I cook. They get to be doctors, builders, bakers etc.

2. Pretend play is one of the most magical things in a child's life, and it's wonderful to see what they come up with. It allows them to imagine and create stories, explore and go on adventures... Make Believe! My little boy would often pretend he's an inventor and build "machines" or sometimes he's a superhero with his cape and mask.

 3. It fosters independence. They get to choose their clothes, and dress themselves... and most of the time they want to it all by themselves! Yay!

4. It's a great parent-child bonding activity. I love joining in on their pretend plays. It's FUN! And we get to bond over picnics or pillow forts. Besides, I get to be whatever... one minute I'm a queen, and the next minute I'm a big, scary monster, RAWR!

 5. It develops their language skills and vocabulary. I am amazed how my 3yo makes up stories and conversations on his own. And he's very committed to his role. One time he pretended to be a detective to solve a "mystery" (yes, he was the one who said he was solving a mystery), with a necktie, hat, magnifying glass and all.

 6. Pretend play helps with their emotional development. They get to explore their different personalities and act out expressions. They pretend to cry, act surprised, be scared etc.

 Now, how to start setting up a dress-up box? 

 Well, just get any big box where to put clothes and accessories in. Ours is just a simple pull-out rattan box than I placed in a low shelf so it's easily accessible for the kids. If you have a big space at home, go ahead and make a whole dress-up corner, set-up a cabinet and fill it with clothes and costumes.

 So what do you put in your dress-up box? It's actually pretty easy to fill up a dress-up box. Once you get started, you'll find all sorts of stuff to put in there, trust me...

 What to put in your dress up box or cabinet:

  • Old costumes (yes, these aren't just for halloween anymore!)
  • Hats (Caps, beanies, helmets etc.)
  • Masks and play glasses (sun glasses/eye glasses)
  • Headbands (ex. Kitty/bunny ears) 
  • Scarves and ribbons (they can use this as capes, belts, pretend tails and ropes etc.)
  • Accessories: Bow ties, neck ties, belts, gloves, beaded necklaces/bracelets, bags (hand bags, small backpacks etc.)
  • Occupation kits (ex. Doctor/Builder kits)
  • Props: swords, shield, wands, crowns, boots, buckets/baskets etc.
  • Aprons
  • Jackets
  • Skirts or Tutus


You can add to your dress up box as time goes by. 

 Do you have a dress-up box at home? I'd love to hear what's in yours. If you don't have one yet, try it setting one up at home and see how your kids imagination start to unfold!

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Hello again!

 It's been a while since I posted about our homeschooling journey here. Honestly, we have been skipping most of our lessons, the ones I try to plan every week for us, mainly because we've been yaya-less (no helper/nanny) for 4 months and counting now. It's harder to keep up even with a routine, because I have my 1-year old to look after and breastfeed while also cooking and cleaning around the house. 

 Nevertheless, I make sure we do our read alouds and story time before nap time, and we do some worksheets or activities at least 10-20 minutes a day. And the one thing we never forget to do is our arts and crafts time, which we all love. Yes, sometimes my 1-year old joins in, she mostly just copies her kuya, hehe.

 I previously shared about our simple approach to the Letter of The Week Curriculum, and how we enjoy doing our Art projects. I have also mentioned this in my article in The Learning Basket: Learning Through Play. I admit, I may have strongly influenced my children in my love for Art as we mostly do drawings and doodles, coloring and painting, and DIY crafts. Why not? It's a lot of fun! And it serves as distraction from my work and chores, hehe...

 So let me share with you our complete Letter of the Week Projects.

 You may notice how we tried different media and materials, because I want it to be something new every time we do our projects. We tried:

  • Painting: with q-tips, paintbrush, fingers
  • Cutting and pasting
  • Drawing and Coloring
  • Stamping
  • Lacing (particularly with letter Y)
  • Crafts

Alphabet introduction: finger painting letters

I also introduced his nickname, he had fun using stamps

Letter A involved cutting and pasting

Letter B butterfly and bee

Letter C cat and caterpillar

Our dotted D dinosaurs

Our Eagle on an Egg (made from eggshells) and elephant

Letter F fence (from popsicle sticks), finger-painted frog and a fly

Letter G Garden and grass. The small g grapes made from stamping bottle caps

Letter H house and horse. Kiel had fun with the house, and played for a few minutes with it, just because he was fascinated with the flap-open windows and door

Letter I island and indian. Kiel showed his early drawing skills here, he drew Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Captain Hook

Tried out crafts this time, with our letter J jellyfish and jack-in-the-box

Letter K kite, Kiel, and kangaroo

We gathered leaves and colored over them for letter L.
And made a little lamb craft with crumpling crepe paper

Letter M mountain, moon, mouse, and monkey

Letter N night and nest. Kiel insisted on writing the labels himself, and I just helped him by spelling them out

Letter O octopus and owl

Letter P pirate and penguin

Letter Q queen and quail

Letter R rabbit and rainbow

Letter S spotted snake and seahorse, with seaweed and shells

Our watercolor tree and tiger (outlined by pens)

Letter U umbrella and Up

Letter V vegetables and vase

Letter W watermelon and worm

X is for X-ray. We made a pretend one by tracing his feet and arm, and pasted q-tips as pretend bones

For Y, we tried lacing yarn

Letter Z zebra and zigzag

Art projects help develop fine motor skills in young children, which helps them further to develop the tripod grip (pencil grasp) so they can draw and write properly.

 Plus, they also develop creativity and imagination of course! Other than that, I have observed that art projects improved my child's inquisitiveness and perseverance. 

 Let me end this post by sharing this beautiful quote, from The Artful Parent's page:
(Source)
Like this post? Bookmark it or Pin it for later:

 Follow Lique's board Letter of the week preschool art projects on Pinterest.

Hooray for Art!
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Last week, I posted this picture of us making our own Kinetic Sand. If you don't have an idea yet of what Kinetic sand is, here is the WABA Fun website. Watch the video and you'll be amazed!

 Ever since we started our Preschool Homeschool, I've been trying to find creative and fun ways to encourage learning through play with my kids. Sensory play is one of the many ways to have fun while learning, because children discover with their 5 senses (see, touch, smell, hear, taste). They also develop imagination and creativity during sensory play.

 So anyway, Kinetic sand isn't available in the Philippines, so we have yet to get our hands on some. Being the Google buff that I am, I searched for DIY videos or articles on Kinetic Sand, and I found this...

I was so excited to make some with my little tots since the recipe is SOOO EASY! 

 All you need are 3 simple household materials: 

  • Baking Powder
  • Baking Soda
  • Dishwashing Liquid

Yes, THAT'S IT!

The original recipe stated to use 2 parts baking soda, 1 part baking powder, and 1 part dishwashing liquid. But I guess our dishwashing liquid seemed too concentrated that our first try turned out to be a gooey mixture.

 To fix this, we added another part of baking powder to even it out.


Stir it all together and then get your hands in and knead until the mixture feels sandy and dough-like, but not wet and squishy.

 My 1 year old played for a little while, since she wasn't used to it yet, I guess she found it yucky, hehe. My 3 year old, loved it so much, it kept him preoccupied for a good 30 minutes or so.

 He pretended to build sandcastles and snowmen.




 The mixture isn't really as similar to the WABA Fun Kinetic Sand of course, but it was close enough in terms of it being easily mouldable but still as loose as beach sand.

 Besides, it was FUN! and that's the most important thing :)

 We stored our mixture in a plastic container so it doesn't dry out.

 You can find the original post about this DIY project HERE.

Cheers to sensory play!
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