Puzzle Post #3

I've found that I've made an error regarding the Melissa and Doug Sound Puzzles.
They are actually activated by light or light-sensitive.
So, you and your kids should play with it in a well lit room.
In the day, near windows should be perfect.
At night, I find that it works best under the orange-y light rather than the white-ish light.

And how lovely, my sister in-law surprised darling Son with this:

Vehicles Sound Puzzle

The Mothercare sale was still on and all Chunky Puzzles were sold at 40% off.
So we borong these puzzles, keeping it for Baby Adek.

 Construction Chunky Puzzle

 

Tools Chunky Puzzle

Vehicles Chunky Puzzle

Happy puzzle babies, insyaAllah.

Puzzle Post #2

Faris is very much interested in puzzles. He absolutely loves them.
Wooden puzzles.
Cardboard floor puzzles.
Puzzle books.

So, we got him more puzzles.
Alhamdulillah ada rezeki lebih-lebih.

These two Melissa and Doug Sound puzzles were gifts for Faris' birthday.
He loves the Train Sound puzzle. When you complete the puzzle, there's a train sound.

Mothercare is a having a sale from June 1st, 2012 until July 1st, 2012. All Melissa and Doug products have a 40% discount. So we bought these puzzles.
One thing about the Sound Puzzles, though.
At first, not all of the pieces produced sound, which was quite frustrating.
Thank goodness we didn't pay the full price for it.
After awhile (and much banging and clanging on my part), the puzzles seem to work.
For awhile.
And then, it doesn't. And then it does again.

The Sound puzzles' concept is good. Just maybe too sensitive of a wiring system.
You can't have a toy with sensitive wiring system when it's for toddlers.
The world doesn't work that way. :)
I'd stick to Chunky puzzles, from now on.

Earlier on, we bought this Melissa and Doug Alphabet Art Puzzle.
When I saw it online, I thought "Nah, it doesn't look like it has that much play value. And the artwork is something I can't appreciate".
Then, I saw it at the store. It was actually really lovely. And Faris loves it.
After completing the puzzles, he'll tip them over and start again. And again. And again. :)

To teach Faris upper case and lower case alphabets, my parents bought him a magnetic whiteboard, along with the Melissa and Doug Magnetic Wooden Alphabets.
This combination is made of so. much. win.
 Here, Faris arranged the alphabets, paired with their upper case and lower case counterparts.
So proud of him.

When he's looking for a big challenge, Faris brings out his Alphabet floor puzzle.
Got this from Toys R Us.
Learning, motor skills, patience - it teaches them all.

Truly, Faris is a puzzle baby. :)

Puzzle Post

I love all things Melissa and Doug, especially their puzzles.
Their puzzles are just exquisite.
The play values are just unlimited.
And they are solid. Sturdy.
Not to mention, so pretty.


This isn't a puzzle but it's one of the first Melissa and Doug products we bought. It's the Classic Wooden ABC Blocks. Faris learnt alot of his alphabets and letter associations from this. And his stacking skills.

Peg Puzzles are great for toddlers' motor skills, by using pincher-like fingers to lift the pieces and putting them back.



The Alphabet Peg Puzzle has pictures underneath the alphabet pieces, for word association. Faris has fun identifying the words i.e. Z is for Zipper.


The Shapes Peg Puzzle is a bit easy for this 2 year old, but he has alot of fun with it anyways, playing teacher and teaching me the shapes and which shape goes where.


The Colours Peg Puzzle taught him new colours like Brown and Black.

Faris found a video of a baby girl named Emma putting together this exact puzzle, the Jumbo ABC Chunky Puzzle, and he loved it so much that he asked for it. We tried looking for it here in KL but the stores that previously sold Melissa and Doug products, Think Toys, closed down. Fortunately for us, his Aunty Long managed to buy and ship it to us from the USA.




 

The Jumbo chunky puzzles are just that; Jumbo. They are huge! And solid wood. And the pieces stand up when it's not in the puzzle so you can use it to build simple words with them, which is another great and educational play value.

 We love love love these puzzles so much.

Building Blocks

Son loves building.
Wooden blocks, LEGO Duplo.
Together with his father, they'll build so many wonderful (and weird) structures.
It encourages his imagination and further his motor skills.
Two of Son's current favourite building blocks are:

LEGO Duplo #6051 : Play with Letters
We use these blocks for alphabet identification and build short words i.e. cat, star, frog, etc.
It's hours of fun and quality time.

LEGO Duplo #5497 : Play with Numbers
These blocks encourage counting, and simple additional math.
So far, we've accomplished 2 + 3 = 5.
It makes learning simple and fun.

Colour Wonder

Son loves his art time.
Doodles and squiggles.
He outgrew crayons.
He prefers markers.

However, the problem with markers, although they're washable, he draws on any surface he can find, including on his own skin i.e. face.
Not on purpose though.
He walks about with the marker's top opened and just, shall I say, transfers the colours onto surfaces not his paper/easel.
Well, sometimes, it's on purpose. :p

So we found this wonderful alternative by Crayola.

Mess Free.
Color Wonder.

The ink is invisible, non-toxic.
And it only appears on the special paper.
It's amazing.

Parents with toddlers looking to encourage art time should definitely consider this.
We bought it at our one-stop Crayola store, Tango Mango at The Curve.
It's about RM30+ for a set of the booklet of special paper and 5 markers.

Anis

Parenting Motto

Our parenting motto is simple:

There can neither be too many books,


nor toys.


But still, it's not about the quantity.
It's about the time and lessons you, as parents, impart on your child(ren).
Toys and books are just aids.

Precious, Priceless Moments #010

This monkey taught our Son how to dance.
And it is AWESOME!

*proud*

Personal "Jungle Junction"

Our Knight doesn't have that many toys.
Only a fraction when compared to the niece's.

And he likes Playhouse Disney's Jungle Junction.

So, when we found a Playskool Wheel Pals toy that resembled the Jungle Junction world and characters, we didn't hesitate to buy the toys for him.

We started collecting one set at a time. And now it's complete:
(Although we didn't manage to get a set of 4 Farm Animals Wheel Pals... yet)





It's fun.
For Our Knight.
And his parents.

*sorok the toy so that parents can play*
:D

Little Collection

Started a small collection of Fisher Price's Little People for Knight.
He loves it tremendously.
More so because the figures fit snugly in his tiny hands and
he can nibble on it without Ayahanda and Bonda gasping and taking it away.

So far, he has;
Surprise Sound Zoo - Sonya Lee the Zookeeper.
Lil Movers School Bus - Carlos the Bus Driver, Michael and Maggie.
Lil Movers Airplane - Pilot, Mia and Roberto
Musical Zoo Train - Eddie
Build 'n Carry Matching Animals - Carlos the Zookeeper.

Looking forward to expanding the collection.

Finally!

You know how people say that sometimes,
when you're looking for something - you usually won't find it.
But then when you're lookinf for something else, you'll find the other thing you were looking for in the beginning.

I think it's true.

Initially, we were looking for Fisher Price® Little People® Lil' Movers School Bus.

Since Faris' first birthday is looming near, we wanted to get him some blocks. Because he absolutely loves blocks. Blocks and balls. (We've collected all 3 sets of Playskool Busy Balls). So we were looking for Fisher Price Peek-a-Blocks™ Aphabet Blocks (amongst other Peek-a-Blocks™).
But then, we found the Fisher Price® Little People® Lil' Movers School Bus.


Finally!
Happy.

(But we're still hunting down those blocks)
Hmph!

Toys. Toys. Toys.

Faris' maternal grandparents came home for a few days,
and *poff*
Faris has LOADS of toys.
(In the span of 3 days)


Lamaze My First Fish Bowl
Lamaze Balancing Bug Stacker
Lamaze Pond Stacker
LeapFrog Shapes with Ella, Musical Elephant.

And Faris loves them all.
He'll just sit on the bed/in the playpen and fiddle with his toys, occasionally giggling or let out an excited scream.
:))

(Haha. Macam Ayahanda & Bonda dia tak pernah beli toy kat dia. But in truth we just don't want to spoil him. Kalau senang sangat dapat benda takut nanti dia tak pandai appreciate *na'uzubillah*)

Alhamdulillah rezeki Faris.
Thank you Grampa & Nenda.

Bonda/Anis