# data[].attributes.attachment_caption
EDF 3034 Reference List_Yeoh Yi Xuan Charmyne

# data[].attributes.body
Dr Chiang has been working with children for some time. She emphasises the importance of Occupational Therapy for children who faces challenges in achieving independence in daily routine.

Dr Chiang's reason of being an OT - "The reason why I want to be an OT is I wanted a profession that gives me variety and allows creativity while working with children. I love working with people and I have always wanted to contribute to society in a positive manner hence I decided on healthcare."

Dr Chiang's experience as an OT - "My experience as an OT is a steep learning curving. There is always so much to learn in every stage of the journey. Learning about intervention and also learning about families and the struggles that they face. It is also fulfilling to be able to help families particularly parents enjoy their children and for parents to see the strength in their child rather than their deficits. Also when a child is able to reach their goal and be functional and able participate in their occupations, the smile and proudness in their face is priceless.".

# data[].attributes.body
Teacher Shakeen (instagram - @readwithme_phonics) is a literacy teacher, who teaches her children through play.

# data[].attributes.body
This resource shows the importance of learning through play where the child sorts vowel and consonant, while recognising the sounds. This is a form of creativity that allows children to make connection in their learning.

This video integrates various parts of the Literacy Continuum Process, such as speaking, phonological awareness and grammer is being worked on at once.

According to Bruce (2011), play helps children to be led forward actively in their learning. Although the adult leads the child forward, the child must also have the opportunity to reflect on what they have already learned. Children who are encouraged to do this are easier to lead forward. They are easier to teach because through their play, they have been able to understand and bring meaning to their learning. This means they will come back for more and feel motivated and excited to learn more. Furthermore, Milteer and Ginsburg (2012) stated that play has a key role in healthy, positive development. Play promotes healthy child development, especially for those who lives in poverty whose access to safe, playful experiences may be lacking.

# data[].attributes.body
This activity allows children to think of things from different category (Animals, Foods, Movies, Books, Occupations etc).

Younger age group:
- Children may name anything as long as it falls in the category

Older age group:
- Children to name something in alphabetical order based on the category
- Children have to think of something starting with the last letter of whatever item was previously mentioned

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Whether on short trips to the store or long road trips, car games help make travel time more entertaining and distract your kids from the monotony of the drive. Even better is if those games help your kids learn. Here are some great car games for kids of different ages.

I Spy Bottles

Buy or make your own "Find It" or "I Spy" bottle. These contain small items that are mixed in with a lot of rice and glued shut. Kids shake the bottle to find the items.

Rubberneckers

In this card game, players must watch closely to find the items listed on the cards in order to score points.

What other games have kept your kiddos entertained while traveling?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
18 Great Learning Games for Car Trips | Brightly

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Whether on short trips to the store or long road trips, car games help make travel time more entertaining and distract your kids from the monotony of the drive. Even better is if those games help your kids learn. Here are some great car games for kids of different ages.

# data[].attributes.body
This resource provides parents an idea of what they could do with their child on a car ride. While on the car ride, they can play category games, which includes simple categories such as colours of cars that they see around them.

This activity links to the Language Continuum Process of speaking and listening, as children learn to take turns to state one thing from the category, and listen to others while they are sharing so that they will not repeat the same thing.

This activity would allow children to have fun playing the game, while learning at the same time. According to MOE (2012), engaging children in learning through purposeful play provides children enjoyment. It would motivate them to learn about themselves and the world around them. Play provides children an opportunity to collaborate with learning and allow them to take risk and make mistakes and cope with failures. Moreover, Vygotsky (1962) stated that children construct knowledge through active participation in social and cultural experiences.

# data[].attributes.body
This activity allows children to take picture of what happened in their day or draw it out.

While sharing, parents will take up the role as a facilitator and let children take the lead to share they day.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Sitting dow to eat is about so much more that just fueling our bodies. It's about connection, sharing, and yes - even learning.

Don't worry: You won't need a pencil or paper for any of these games and I doubt your kids will even know they are boosting their literacy skills because they'll be having so much fun. These games work on rhyming, listening, storytelling, letter sounds, and spelling which are all important parts of the literacy puzzle.

1. Food Rhyme. This game is exactly what it sounds like. One person calls out a food, and you go around the table trying to think of a word that rhymes with it. The first person to fail to produce a rhyme calls out a new food or ingredient on their dinner plate.

2. Telephone. You know this game: One person starts a message, and everyone passes it around the table by whispering in their neighbor's ear. This works particularly well with large families but small families can play too - the focus will just shift to retelling rather than listening. The trick is that you ask questions about your child's day. Things like "Tell me about when you felt angry today." Not only are your children going to practice listening they will also be practicing recalling events.

3. Your Day in Photos. OK, so I said these games required no pencils or paper, but I didn't say anything about smartphones. Yes, yes, I know - I have a "no screens at the table" rule too, but rules are made to be broken, especially when it's for a good cause. Storytelling is an important skill and what better way to tell stories than with photos as prompts. This game is best if you prep for it by asking everyone to take photos of their day to share at dinner.

4. Around the World. This is a favorite road trip game that is fun after dinner, too. As a family, your goal is to go through the whole alphabet matching up each letter to a country, state, or city. You can play all together throwing out suggestions, or you can go around the table giving everyone a different letter. Psst! Xiamen is a city in China, just in case you get stuck with X!

5. Alphabet Soup Spelling. You can do this with any food that has letters. Our favorite is actually chicken nuggets in letter shapes, but chicken nugget spelling didn't have a good ring to it. The goal here is to spell the longest word you can, but you can only use the letters in your food. It has to be a real word, and all letters are equal value. I like playing this game when dinner has just been served, and we are waiting for it to cool off.

Every mealtime doesn't have to be learning time but incorporating some fun learning games from time to time pays off.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Sitting dow to eat is about so much more that just fueling our bodies. It's about connection, sharing, and yes - even learning. Don't worry: You won't need a pencil or paper for any of these games and I doubt your kids will even know they are boosting their literacy skills because they'll be having so much fun.

# data[].attributes.body
This resource provides family members an opportunity to build their child's literacy skills by letting children share what they do in their day and adults will act as a facilitator, letting this activity be child-directed.

According to Whorrall and Cabell (2015), children would benefit from multi-turn conversations during meal times that include more scaffolding from the adult allowing the child to expand his or her knowledge and thoughts, including the use of sophisticated vocabulary by the teacher (Early et al, 2010). Meal times is one of the few times during the day that talk tends to focus on children's interest and not adult-directed. Thereby, oral language can be developed during meal times as there is purposeful interaction between children and their family when children talked about what they do during the day through their pictures.

# data[].attributes.body
In this website, there are step by step for this activities, and there are different activities that can be conducted too.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Keep reading for some fun Dear Zoo activities for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. These activities are sure to be a hit with your littles!

We are a participant in the amazon services llc associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliated sites. This post contains affiliate links. Click HERE to read our full disclosure.

Our June story of the month is Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell. This is such a fun lift-the-flap book that preschoolers absolutely love!

The author starts this story by saying, "I wrote to the zoo to send me a pet." Each page shows the animal that the zoo sent...you lift the flaps to discover the animal! Then the author says why he sent each animal back to the zoo. This same pattern repeats over and over until finally, the zoo sends the perfect pet! Can you guess what it is?!
Click on the picture to learn more about this fun book!

Check out these fun Dear Zoo activities that can help bring this story to life for your preschoolers or kindergartners. Activities include a snack, two craft ideas, and a FREE animal movement game that gets your little ones up and moving!

MONKEY COOKIES

How cute are these monkey cookies? Any little one would LOVE having these after reading Dear Zoo. ( You could also make these Giraffe Cookies, too!)

Ingredients:

Directions:

First, cover the Ritz cracker with peanut butter. Then put a Nilla wafer in the middle of the cracker toward the bottom. Make sure to leave room at the top for the eyes!

Next, take a Nilla wafer and break it in half. Each half will become an ear. Put the ears on the side of the monkey's head.

Add googly eyes in between the ears on the Ritz cracker (above the Nilla wafer).

Add the nose and mouth on the Nilla wafer with your edible marker and voila! You're done! They're almost too cute to eat!

PAPER CHAIN SNAKE

Have a trip to the zoo coming up? What about something else fun you're doing this summer?! Making a paper chain countdown is a great visual for our little ones to know how many days they have left before something fun happens. And if you turn it into a snake as one of your Dear Zoo activities, that's even better!

Supplies: Directions:

First, decide on the pattern you'd like to make for your snake. We chose three colors, but you could choose however many you'd like! This is a great opportunity to practice making patterns.

Fold each color paper in half, then in half again, then in half again! You should end up with 8 columns.

Cut the columns apart, then start making the snake. Use a stapler to connect the chains. If you're going to write on them or decorate them, make sure to do that first!

Add a head by cutting out a triangle and gluing it to the first chain. You can also add a tail!

Glue googly eyes on the head and add a red tongue, then you're done!

LION MASK

I normally only include one craft for each Story of the Month post, but I couldn't help but include two this month! These lion masks are so easy to make, and they give your little ones the chance to practice cutting and gluing (two skills that are great for fine motor development!)

Supplies: Directions:

Cut out the inside of a paper plate, leaving only the outside circle.

Have your little ones cut out strips of yellow and orange construction paper.

Have them glue the yellow and orange paper to the paper plate circle, creating a lion's mane. Make sure they give a loud ROAR!

MOVE LIKE AN ANIMAL GAME

Ready to get your little one up and moving?! It's time to Move Like an Animal! This is such a fun game that helps your little one work on their gross motor skills. Plus you can add in literacy practice, too!

First, download the FREE printable from our FREE Activity Library. Then, make the playing cube by gluing or taping one card to each side of a square tissue box. You can also cover the tissue box with wrapping paper first if you'd like...that's what we did! There are both color and black/white pictures, and there are enough for two different tissue boxes.

HOW TO PLAY

To play the game, take turns tossing the box and acting like the animal that's on the top. To add in some literacy practice, have your little ones spell their name or a sight word while acting like the animal. (They could stomp for each letter of their name when they're the elephant or flap their arms for each letter in a sight word when they're the parrot.)

Don't have a tissue box? No worries! You could also just flip these cards upside down, then take turns flipping them over and acting like the animals. Or tape them around the room and go on a safari! You could also print two sets and play Memory, acting out the animals once you get a match. There are so many possibilities!

And since this is one of our Dear Zoo activities, you could also use the animal cards to retell the story and talk about which animals are the same/different as the book.

This activity is free to download from our FREE Activity Library. The FREE Activity Library is password protected. If you'd like to get access, join our email community HERE and the password will be emailed to you as a thank you for joining! If you're already subscribed, you should already have the password. The password is updated every so often, so make sure you stay subscribed so you don't miss any of our freebies!

Have you read Dear Zoo? Do you have any fun zoo-themed activities that would be great for it? Comment below or find me on Instagram [@littleslovelearningblo g] and let me know! love these ideas? pin for later!

Did you miss any of our past Story of the Month posts? Click HERE to check them out!

Happy Learning!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The BEST Dear Zoo Activities for Preschool & Kindergarten

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Keep reading for some fun Dear Zoo activities for preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten. These activities are sure to be a hit with your littles! We are a participant in the amazon services llc associates program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to amazon.com and affiliated sites.

# data[].attributes.body
This resource encourages meaningful communication through the story telling and 'Move like an animal' activity between both parties as one is sharing the story, and another is listening. When a question from the child arises, the adult can help to answer or help scaffold the child.

This links to the Language Continuum Process of listening and speaking as children would listen to the story and speak when they have a question. During this story telling and game activity, there will be interaction which requires speaking and listening.

This is supported through a research done, that language development occurs during oral communication and engagement in authentic situations. Children have to have audiences for speaking and listening (Fellowes and Oakley, 2014). According to Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD), the more knowledgeable adult will guide the child through ZPD and scaffold the child too. Furthermore, Moll, et al. (1992) stated that teachers can use support networks to 'bridge between the students' world, theirs and the family's funds of knowledge and the classroom experience. Teachers will be able to design appropriate, authentic experiences and programs when their opportunities to meets parents and carers increases (ACEL, 2016). When parents collaborate and work closely with teachers, children will be able to learn more and better.

# data[].attributes.body
It is important to learn language and communication because we need to build connection and communication with other individuals and groups in society. Oral language meets this need during interaction with family or friends, to share or seek information (Fellowes and Oakley, 2014, p.18).

This relates to interacting which falls under the speaking and listening section in the Literacy Continuum Process Model. The collaboration with an Occupational Therapist (OT) can help children who are facing challenges in their semiotic system (Fellowes and Oakley, 2014) through guidance.

This interaction can be supported by a local professional - OT, who would improve various aspects of child's development that are directly related to speech and communication. In an article by SpeechTherapy (2018), an OT would work with children on their attention span and regulation, which help them to focus and engage. They even assists with Executive Function Skills that help children plan, organise and sequence their thoughts and ideas logically in order to improve overall communication and expressive language.

# data[].attributes.body
Dr Chiang and her team and specially created these sets of resources for parents and caregivers to guide their child as they are home in the midst of the pandemic.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The COVID-19 pandemic can be a stressful time for families. Here at the Khoo Teck Puat - National University Children Medical Institute (KTP-NUCMI), we are committed to support parents and caregivers during this challenging period. We have created resources and information on how to care for your children, including tips on encouraging learning through daily routines, and helping them cope with the changes and uncertainty brought about by the outbreak.

Children with special needs will also require extra support to understand what is happening around them, to feel safe, and keep up with healthy routines.

We hope that you will find these resources useful. If at any point you feel overwhelmed or require additional support, please seek professional help for your children or yourselves.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
COVID-19 Resources for Parents and Caregivers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The COVID-19 pandemic can be a stressful time for families. Here at the Khoo Teck Puat - National University Children Medical Institute (KTP-NUCMI), we are committed to support parents and caregivers during this challenging period.

# data[].attributes.body
This is a resource, written by Dr Chiang, aims to help children develop self-regulation. It is an important role in children's academic learning, development, interpersonal relationships with friends and family, and participation in everyday activities.