The importance of playtime

Monopoly

"Save time for playtime."

This video from Hasbro made me shed a few tears. Play time is extremely important for children. We are so busy in our daily lives that we do not have time for the most important thing: Playing. We also forget that we should make time to play with our children as well. They crave the attention of their parents in fun interactive playing.

We CAN make some time each day to engage more meaningful with our kids.

Thanks for the reminder, Hasbro! This weekend we will take out the Monopoly again. (I had to scroll back quite a few months to find the photo shared above. That's scary!)

Visit Hasbro Gaming @MonopolySouthAfrica on Facebook for more information.


Disclaimer: We are not paid to post this, but we got a Hasbro Monopoly as gift a while ago, and we have not played in quite a while.

Breaking taboos - Unembarrassing periods!

#Unembarrassed

Libresse is breaking taboos with the Vagina Varsity and now with "Unembarrass your perod!" The Fearlessly campaign deliberately makes fun of the world's attempt to use strange metaphors when describing periods and pads!

"Worldwide, women just aren't comfortable talking about pads and periods. In South Africa's conservative society, stigma and shame about periods are entrenched. South African girls and women learn to not discuss vaginal care or associated concerns like odour control out loud and the result is that myths and health problems are common." 

                                                      - Boniswa Pezisa (Net#work BBDO South Africa CEO)
                                                                                   
                                             
We had lots of fun making our own videos on unembarrassed.co.za at the launch of Libresse's "Unembarrass your period"-campaign! Mine is here: Unembarrass your period by showing just how crazy it is when we don't say what we mean when we are talking about periods!

Make your own #unembarressed video
Unembarress your period!#vaginavarsity
Give our daughters the right language! https://t.co/6OXHiqLW9C

— Karen du Toit (@karentoittoit) June 6, 2017

This campaign rings true to home as we have just embarked on our own journey of opening up the world here at home. Little Miss has lots of questions that have to be answered. We have a book that helps, but most of the time we have to be ready with the answers! I had to field questions about condoms in Dischem two weeks back. I have learnt to keep a straight face, and answer as truthfully with the correct terminology as possible. As soon as she gets the answer, she moves on to the next thing.

Libresse has had so much success with their Vagina Varsity campaign. You and your daughters can sign up here for a free four week course delivered to your inbox every day: Vagina Varsity.

Vagina Varsity success

The Libresse pad ad is also not embarrassing! Space rockets, teddy bears and saxophones are part of Libresse deliberately making fun of the world's attempt to use strange metaphors when describing periods and pads.

Live fearless!
There is so much in the world to worry about! Let's make it one thing less for our daughters!

Duck Duck Moose apps review

Duck Duck Moose - Itsy Bitsy Spider, Math, Reading

Little Miss had the opportunity to play and review three apps on video through Xander Apps.
At this stage the apps are still free on iOS, Google Play Store and Amazon. (Go get it!)

Duck Duck Moose Itsy Bitsy Spider

A musical book based on the popular children’s song. Follow the spider through the captivating, inter-connected scenes as he goes up the water spout, comes down with the rain, and watches the sun dry up all the rain.

Duck Duck Moose Reading

Follow Milo the Meerkat and his sidekick Puffs through the zoo on a phonics learning adventure! Duck Duck Moose Reading has 9 different word and letter activities that help kids learn by feeding and playing with flamingos, monkeys, lions, and more. Collect animals for your habitats and make your own zoo scene as you learn more letter sounds.

Duck Duck Moose Math

Moose Math engages kids in a mathematical adventure and teaches counting, addition, subtraction, sorting, geometry and more. While playing 5 multi-level activities in the Moose Juice Store, Puck’s Pet Shop and Lost & Found, kids can earn rewards to help build their own city and decorate buildings.

The Duck Duck Moose Math app is Little Miss' favourite. She loves playing with it.
The apps are for children younger in age (up until 5/6 years). Maybe that's why we couldn't get her more excited while reviewing it, especially the Reading and Itsy Bitsy Spider apps. ;-) (*sigh*)

As a mom I love the characters, the bright colours and variety of actions of the apps.

Go see for yourself: Xander Kids apps review - February 2017

SING -tacular movie for the holidays! - *WIN* 2 sets of tickets at Ster-Kinekor

SING

I know a Little Miss who will love this movie animation starting on 23 December! She is always SING-ing along to her favourite music!

"Set in a world like ours but entirely inhabited by animals, SING stars Buster Moon (Academy Award winner Matthew McConaughey), a dapper Koala who presides over a once-grand theater that has fallen on hard times. Buster is an eternal optimist -okay, maybe a bit of a scoundrel- who loves his theater above all and will do anything to preserve it. Now facing the crumbling of his life's ambition, he has one final chance to restore his fading jewel to its former glory"

Ster-Kinekor is giving 2 lucky readers each a chance to win a three ticket set each to come see the movie Sing at anytime from the opening date which is this Friday,  23 December 2016, at their nearest Ster Kinekor cinema.

How to win the tickets:

Send in videos of your kids singing a favourite song of theirs picked from the soundtrack of the movie- please find the list of songs and lyrics attached below.
You can also do a Dubsmash.
(If the kids don’t know these songs, they can also sing their current favourite song/any).

The four songs: (Lyrics below)

Firework
Katy Perry
(Performed by Reese Witherspoon)

Shake It Off
Taylor Swift
(Performed by
Reese Witherspoon, Nick Kroll)

Stay with Me
Sam Smith
(Performed by Taron Egerton)

Call Me Maybe
Written by Carley Rae Jepsen
(Performed by Matthew McConaughey)


Send the videos/clips/Dubsmash to karentoittoit @ gmail.com. You can also DropBox it!
I think that 20 seconds for a video would be fine, but don't hinder our budding talents! ;-)

We will pick the 2 favourites to put up on the blog.
Two winners well each win a set of three tickets to watch at any Ster-Kinekor in South Africa.
This competition is only open to South African readers.
The competition closes on Friday 23 February at 12 pm.

Avalanche party

Avalanche

Little Miss was invited to an Avalanche party on Saturday! It was a real treat, and it was lots of fun!
It is especially nice for the older kids, but I have heard of toddlers going to these parties as well. (I presume they would not let them go down from the top?)

Avalanche party pinata 

Little Miss struggled with a bit of vertigo in the beginning, but to the end of the two hours she went down again, and again...



I love party ideas that's not at home, but where the kids get to do fun activities!

The power of a R2 coin #addhope

October focus on World Hunger Month!
Poor nutrition leads to stunted mental and physical growth, which is irreversible!

KFC started with their CSI campaign, Add Hope, in 2009. Each R2 added on a KFC purchase goes into a Trust which looks after beneficiaries which provides healthy meals to children in South Africa. Their crazy dream is to feed over a million children in the near future. At this stage there are 103 beneficiaries in their system which feeds over a 100 000 children each day.

The stats are overwhelming. 11 million people go hungry in South Africa each day, of which 3.2 million are children!

KFC has raised R263 million, and all the funds are used for the purpose that is intended for! The marketing gets funded from separate budgets.

A new advert was unveiled yesterday to grow awareness of the campaign! The images were created by one of the beneficiaries of the campaign, Afrika Tikkun. The children of Afrika Tikkun created the drawings used in the video.

When children are not getting sufficient nutrition, even their drawings reflect this sad state. The pictures lack definition, colour and vibrancy! The first character in the video shows a hungry character who changes into a bright and multi-faceted character in the story line.

It is a Story of Hope: Children who are hungry lose hope! They lose hope in the future!
A full stomach makes all the difference!

A wonderful young lady, Sinanzi Ndlovu shared her experience at Afrika Tikkun. They gave her a meal and a place to do her homework in the afternoons and learn extra skills after both her parents died. She was able to complete her matric and carry on with extra courses. She was given hope where it would not have been possible without it!




We can do the following:

1. We can add the R2! Off course!

2. We can share a photo of an empty plate on social media and nominate somebody else to do the same!

Pledge your plate @samomblogs It's super easy! R2 #addhope #pledgeyourplate

A photo posted by Karen Du Toit (@karentoittoit) on Oct 6, 2015 at 2:50am PDT

Please pay it forward on this Monday and give these students a view

                       Millennium Lady: We made a video about Management in SA



The Student is doing a post-graduate degree in management. For one of their assignments, they had to discuss the three levels of management... (Yes, boring!)


The group with the most views on YouTube can win R10 000 in virtual money for their project due in March. So, please view their video and hopefully you find it a bit entertaining. (Spoiler alert! NO!)


But you will do your good deed for this Monday!

(And a big please from a mother who can't afford another year of varsity! The Student needs to successfully finish this!)

Gymnastic Championships - a first

Little Miss has been doing gymnastics since she was 18 months.
There has been ups and downs. We had to deal with a reluctant gymnast about two years back, but the next year she went back with enthusiasm, and she has been going weekly "without a hitch".

(Just sometimes, the sun shines too brightly, or there's a bump, or...
Little Miss does get emotionally sidetracked quite easily! A phase? A preschooler characteristic?)

She did not want to practice her routine, at all, but told us that she was ready!

We had to slot her in with the younger group since we had other plans for the afternoon. She could not compete with the group, but she still got a score and a medal.

Luckily they practiced with the children before the final rounds of the championships.
Of course Little Miss did better while practicing, but she did very well overall.

This was the floor routine:


She got 9.3 for this floor routine, and 8.6 for the jump.
Not bad for a first time.

The MC told us that it was the parents' job to deal with questions about why only some gymnasts get more than one medal...
(We also got the questions!)


For now we will continue with the gymnastics for next year. Little Miss is still enjoying it! We saw with the occupational therapy that the gymnastics has given Little Miss an extra edge!

Frozen still huge here

How cute is this party bottle "Melted snow"

Little Miss does not get tired of Frozen and everything that goes with it. Her friends share her enthusiasm, because she has attended two Frozen parties in the past month.

Little Miss also loves singing "Let it go!"



(I have to save this. It is very precious!)

Gr R speech practise

Speech preps

The preschooler decided on Sunday evening to practise a random topic for speech for the next day at school.
It is in Afrikaans about the earth, dinosaurs, meteorites and humans.
They are allowed to do a speech any time they feel like it! Mom just needs to send an IM to the teacher in the morning.


I would never have done this when I was her age. Even much older!


One more thing that makes me think she is definitely ready for school next year!


Related post:

- Two wheels' milestone and a report card

iPad in Education at Sacred Heart College #iPadLearningZA

Ipad being used at Sacred Heart College
(Photo: Core Group)

Sacred Heart College has implemented iPads 1:1 in their learning environment.

Colin Northmore, the Head of Sacred Heart College, says that for a device like this to have a transformative effect, it has to be everywhere and it has to be invisible.
"What you really want to do is to focus the children on the learning. They are getting better results because the children want to be engaged in learning!"

The success of the iPad project at Sacred Heart College is due to the following: 

• The Emmaius Centre caters for students with special needs at Sacred Heart College. iPad is a critical tool for learning here and allows the school to meet the needs of individual students who may have specifi c barriers to learning. In these cases, iPad is used as a remediation and reinforcement tool.
• The Knowledge Cafe is a session that runs once a week and allows teachers to share ideas, successes and their experience with using iPad in their lessons. This allows for knowledge to be shared across all areas of teaching and facilitates collaboration among teachers. 
• The 3 to 6 Project is an after school initiative for underprivileged refugee students who do not attend school. The iPads are used regularly to aid in depth learning and understanding of basic numeracy and literacy concepts during this time.
• Some students at Sacred Heart College have special requirements when it comes to writing exams. The iPad is regularly used as an audio tool so that students can listen to their exams. These students no longer need to have special venues arranged for them.
• The registration of all extra mural activities in the primary school is done on the iPads and attendance is managed through an app by the teachers.
• Sacred Heart College is the first school in South Africa to develop a course on iTunesU which is based on a successful project they ran with their grade 7’s. The course allows students to create their own interactive books utilising an app called “Composer” and teaches them to be creators of content, rather than just users. It has allowed them to develop critical skills such as time management, teamwork, creativity, music composition, marketing, problem solving and technical app development.

I love what the schools are accomplishing with these projects!


The link and information is supplied by the Core Group.

Ipad in Education - Transoranje School for the Deaf #iPadLearningZA

Following on the inspiring story and challenge by Abdul Chohan, "What would you do if you were not afraid?"on Friday, we were shown this video as one of the iPad in Education projects in South Africa that is transforming Education.

The Transoranje School for the Deaf, located on the outskirts of Pretoria, is home to 200 deaf and hard-of-hearing pre-primary to high school students.

The children are developmentally behind their peers because of a lack of language exposure.

Photo: Core Group

The iDeaf Project on the iPad originated out of a necessity to better equip the deaf students with the critical reading and language skills needed to accelerate their learning to desired levels.  The developers set out to combine a variety of visual and language elements because their learning are centred around visual methods.

Picsterbooks developed a series of locally relevant and interactive story books in both English and Afrikaans that would teach deaf students to read using South African Sign Language. The books are not only engaging but also enables a level of in-depth understanding that has surpassed previous learning methods.
It has transformed the way the school teaches students to read and communicate effectively.

The iDeaf app overview

"The storybook apps were designed locally to meet the needs of deaf students who use South African Sign Language.

• There are 6 storybooks which include folk tales such as 3 Little Pigs, Goldilocks and The Gingerbread Man, as well as uniquely created stories which are based on the local curriculum such as The Clever Plan and The Big Carrot.
• All the storybooks are based on the objectives of the South African curriculum and contain beautifully illustrated stories designed in a standardised format.
• The storybooks can be read in English or Afrikaans and contain various visual elements: simplified text and syntax, picture animations, highlighted words, finger spelling and SASL (South African Sign Language) interpretations and video.
• The highlighted words in the app are words that deaf children commonly struggle with. When selecting these words they are explained in 4 formats: text, an animation or an image, SASL and finger spelling (deaf ABC). By combining the learning elements into 1 place, the student is able to move through the book and develop a range of skills in an easy to understand format.
• The books also contain an audio element for only partially deaf children so that they can also hear the book read aloud, while reading the text and learning the sign.
• The storybooks were created using the Demibooks Composer app only available on iPad."

"We are working with children who are naturally language users with their hands 

and this was just an extension of their own language."

                                          Karen Hart, App Developer and Digital Publisher

I love the fact that the students AND teachers have already found new ways to use their iPads in their learning at the school, not only for reading and language skills!

Why iPads? #iSchoolAfrica

I got a first-hand experience of the implementation of iPads at Moshoeshoe Primary School in Daveyton. It is part of the iSchoolAfrica project with support from the Peermont School Support Programme

The question is of course why iPads are being used, and not other tablets as well?
Especially since it seems that the initial cost of the iPad is higher than that of other tablets.

- "The total cost of operation and ownership when compared to other devices are significantly lower once one looks beyond the cost of an individual item to the cost of the iSchoolAfrica mobile lab solution and the advanced educational ecosystem offered by Apple."
                                                      - Peermont School Support Programme

- The solution for unprivileged students are on par with the same comparable technological level that is required in the workplace, by implementing iPads.

- Apple offers a range of standard applications that support creativity in teaching and learning...
                                                       - Peermont School Support Programme

- Apple technology has fewer systems failures and fewer viruses, keeping downtime to a minimum. Fraser Speirs - who helped in implementing iPads 1:1, the first in the world - had the same experience.

- The IT support required is less than other solutions and less intimidating to ordinary educators. 
                                                        - iSchoolAfrica
   
- The applications are mapped to the South African curriculum.

- ZA Books covering over 1000 SA text book titles, are offered on the iPad.



I just love my own iPad 2, and how easy it is to operate! I was even able to upgrade to IOS 7 in recent days, and it has given me immense pleasure. I have an older version of the product, but I am still able to use all the most recent upgraded applications.
I am totally biased! I know!


Disclaimer: Nobody has given me an iPad or an iPhone (I wish ;-)) to say these on my blog.


Related posts:

- iPads at Moshoeshoe Primary School - changing the South African landscape #iSchoolAfrica 

- iPads in Education - I want to be a teacher now! #iPadSamG

Vine - A great app capturing those special moments

 This is one of those fun apps that also comes in very handy, capturing all the best moments of the little ones, and being able to share it immediately!
You can email, or share to Facebook and Twitter, as well as embed it on websites and blogs.

Vine is available on iOS and since June 2013 also available on Android.

It only captures 6 seconds, and it loops continuously in the playback.

I found it through librarians busy learning mobile, and are having lots of fun exploring it!

Movie Clip Monday #25 - Feeding the birds & squirrels

 


"Okay"
"Squirrel! Squirrel! Birds!"
"Where are you?"

 Clip from weekend camping at Kokoriba the previous weekend.

Movie Clip Monday #16 - Toddler with Grandfather

The Toddler loves her Grandfather James.

She is very lucky. She also has another grandfather Dries that she is also very fond of. I think it is the greatest gift to children when they have the company of the grandparents!

Grandfather James  helps to drive the children around for the day care, and the Toddler gets to see him almost every day of the week. First she used to cry every time he had to go, but she has now become used to saying goodbye when he has to leave her for another round of picking up kids.

She usually walks around the play ground, and goes to the teachers, saying: "Oupa nie hier nie?" (Grandfather not here?) An she gets very excited when she hears he is around!

I think it is great that she gets to see him on a regular basis!

Lending Tasneem's Movie Clip Mondays on MumDrum.

Movie Clip Monday #10 - Toddler on the Gautrain

Cellphone video of our Gautrain trip yesterday.

Linking up with Mumdrum and her idea of Movie Clip Monday.

Movie Clip Monday #3 - Toddler demands to see self in clip

The toddler now understands perfectly when I take a picture or video clip of her. She demands to see herself immediately, not giving enough time to record a video clip.

Linking up with MumDrum and her Movie Clip Mondays.

Movie Clip Monday #1 - The toddler and insects

I am linking up with Tasneem over at MumDrum, who has this great idea of a Movie Clip Monday.

This video is of Mieka's encounter with a beetle. She gets excited about seeing insects, and has a huge fascination with them, but she does not want to touch them yet.

"Goggatjie" means off course "insect"!

Girl talk - short video of toddler on cell

A day in the toddler:

"Hi, you can’t believe the day I had today!
Mom had to wake me up, and I did not want to open my eyes.
Myer at school gave me such a headache. He pestered me the whole time. I wanted to tell Mom and Sis when they came to fetch me, but all I could muster was “Meya, Myea, Meya…”

It was raining, and Mom had to run with me with an umbrella. I think it was quite a big deal, because Mom was singing and laughing while the rain made everything wet.
Yes,yes, yes…(nodding)
Dad was working late.
I wanted to walk around in the nude, but Mom said I could only help her with the dishes when I had my clothes on again.
I got everything wet, but that was the highlight of my day!
I wanted to play more in Arnia’s room, but she was very busy. I don’t think it was homework; it was that card for the boyfriend she is working on. They are going out for a year now!
Bath-time was nice, but I got upset with all the thunder! Mom had to take me out of the bath and cuddle me for a while.
I was very glad when Dad arrived, and we could play with the crayons for a while.
What a day!
Bye! Bye!"