Play with kids

'Urumbe urumbe padachattam moottil urumbinu vechirunna palum pazhavum poocha kondupoyi'

It was a nice play with our hands. Its very nice to play with children. Hands are placed once over the other. We have to pinch the other hand just below us. After that singing this song move the hands in circular motion. After the last word abruptly take our hands and tickle others. Its about ants.

nursery rhyme

'Aarude thoni aarude thoni

hoy hoy hoy

aattilurumbiukal thuzhayum thoni

hoy hoy hoy hoy hoy hoy

aarkkum keram akkare etham

hoy hoy hoy hoy hoy hoy

Nursery rhymes

These lines are about an ant

'Njan oru veeran urumba

enne nattar vilikkum kurumba

veedoru pada varamba

ente kayyil muzhuvan kurumba'

Nursery rhyme about sea and sky

'Up in the blue sky what you see

Big stars and small stars are twinkling there

twinkling la la la la

twinkling ha ha ha ha

Down in the deep sea what you see

Big fish and small fish are swimming there

swimming swimming la la la la

swimming swimming ha ha ha ha'

Nursery song in malayalam

A Malayalam rhyme about Honey bee and flower

'Poovil ninnu varunnu njan

Poonthen kondu varunnu njan

vazhiyil ninnum marikko

vikruthikalellam marikko

vazhimareedam theneeche

vikruthikkaran neeyallo

chilare kombinu kuthunnu

chilarkku madhuram nalkunnu

poovil ninnu varunnu njan

poonthen kondu varunnu njan

Nursery rhymes in Hindi

A very small rhyme about Butter fly. Its like a conversation between the butterfly and the flower.

'Titali udi Ud jo chali Phool ne kaha Aaja mere pass titali kaha mein chali Aakash'

The next one is about fish

'Machali jal ki Rani Hai

Jeevan Uska pani hai

Hath lagao dar jayegi

Bahar Nikalo dar jayegi'

Nursery rhyme about Kozhi

Pappu will always come and spend time with me at home. Yesterday evening he sang a song for me. I had not heard it. I asked him about it, it was from his play school classes. The small rhyme was about Hen, it is in malayalam
'Thalla kozhi muttayittu kothi virinju
Onnu randu moonnu nalu anchu kunjungal
Karuthathundu veluthathundu Pulliyumundu
Valumilla chirakumilla Kalu randundu
Pattayeyum puzhuvineyum kothi vizhungum
Ammayude chirakinullil kunjurangidum aha kunjurangidum"
Is it interesting???

Playing with Clay

clay models made by our brother in law

It is very nice to observe children when they are working seriously. Making beads from the clay and arranging them in the board. This is his own creation. Sree was really interested to do things but always mix all the colours....

The above two works are done by Sree himself. He had made an ornament with clay beads. The next one is of Leech(Atta in malayalam). He had added different colours to the world of 'Attas'. According to him it is the 'Racing of Atta':))

Spider made by Hari. He had added only six legs

A water experience made by Hari. He will not cooperate with any one. He had clear cut ideas and will work on it. So when we play with clay sree and I will be in a team.

Clay ornament made by Hari

Clay jewellery is an interesting field. This was made by me and Sree.

A scene from nature by Hari.

Clay is an ideal material to play with. We have used modelling clay, it was non toxic. I had purchased it from A1 stores at South Railway station, Ernakulam. They had two models of the same. One model is brown or ash coloured rectangle another one has multicoloured clay. I had bought the two models. First day it was a thrilling experience. The next week our in law's visited us and they had done some good job with clay. It was a creative scene everyone in the house with a ball of clay and always appreciating and laughing at others creations. Our brother in law made a cashew nut and some amazing models with clay. The first picture shows the result of his work.

Its one of the effective ways to enhance your brain activity.

Ganapathi from Clay

We had made a Ganapathi with clay. It was small but cute. Then we planned to make a lamp and made some fruits in front of him.

Diwali craft

Hari had made this bike using card board and stems of coconut leaves. He had used two abandoned wheels.

Giraffe made by Hari. He had used non toxic clay.

Children with Clay

Hari had made this using non toxic clay. According to him its a whale!!!
He had taken this shot and planned to post it. Everyone needs to be honoured!!!!

Little Architects from my home

Hari had made these homes. I always talk to him about other blogs. During navarathri days I had talked him about 'Bomma golu' and other craft activities by children. I was so inspired by the crafts made by Anuradha in her blog. After a week he planned to make some houses. Two of the houses are made by him.

We had used Camel water colour tubes, Fevicol craft glue and cellotape, chart paper and some coloured papers.

Hari and Sree so busy ....

i I loved this one with a muddy look and some greens. The black coloured object is the well!!!!

Children have so many hidden talents so let them do some activities, we must help them through giving ideas and tools for the activities. Nowadays they have no option for wandering and playing without limits. We can have some craft time together to express our joy and love towards them.

About the seasons

Hari has to submit a chart of seasons. We had planned to do a collage of seasons. It took a lot of time so we had completed with two seasons summer and rainy. It was a nice and hardworking evening it reminded me of my college days. We had done with some painted drawings and some cutouts. Sree was also eager to make a mess among all these works.

We had no acryilic colours at home because of that we had decided to end up with a collage. In summer season we decide to focus on the hot sun, Blue clouds, fresh water melon, Cotton cloth , ice cream and fresh flowers.

In rainy season we have to paste dark clouds, rain drops, a frog, a boat made of paper, an umbrella and a tree.

It was a nice experiment with Hari. He was so responsible and also comfortable to take more tasks. We have to make other seasons also and we are searching for new ideas.

Kakka koodu( Nest of crow)

We had seen two 'Kakka koodu' on the top of a tree near to our home. Pappu was so curious to know about the nest. It was made of twigs. We can see it from our terrace. Whenever he see the nest he will sing the famous song
'Kakke kakke koodevide
koottinakathoru kunjundo
kunjinu theetta kodukkanjal
kunju kidannu karayoolle'

Fly like a bird...

Craft time gives a positive solution to every thing. Hari has craft lessons at school. He had made this simple bird learnt at his craft class. He made one for his brother too. Pappu was so happy...

Is it interesting to make some moments of our life colourful and memorable than the usual time.

Craft time

Flowers from pencil shavings.
Three smiling flowers. Children needs our presence to do something. This is done by my son with my help. We have some colour pencils, some smiling stickers, white paper and fevicol craft glue.
If we are planning to do a round flower sharpen the pencils with great care. First glue all the flowers then draw the stem and leaves. I had drawn the stem and leaves with the colour pencil. Then I had pasted a smiling sticker at the centre piece. I love these flowers and we had pasted it in our living room because this image has a lot of love in it.
Its an easy craft. My four year old enjoyed all these works.
I decided to spend some time with my children to do crafts. All inspiration and thanks goes to the blog Mindful meanderer.

Games

Image courtsey:Internet

Hari has to study about games. What are the indoor games and outdoor games? He has to say about the chess, snake and ladder, cricket and football.
After the home works, I thought about the games I had participated in my childhood. I was very fond of 'Akku kali' and 'Chena kali'. Akku kali was with a small stone piece and we had to move that with legs to every box. Chena is elephant yam and we had to draw a chena with our legs. I feel so funny to recollect that days. Another play was 'Kuttiyum kolum' then 'Trunk kali' then comes the 'Thayam kali'. Kuttiyum kolum was the ancient form of Cricket, instead of ball we used two sticks one small and the other large. Thayam kali was like snake and ladder instead of the single dice we used small sticks made from the 'Ola madal' stem of the coconut leaves. According to their position we have to change our 'Karu'. This game was played by elders also. It may be an ethnic game of Kerala.
Valappottukali was another colourful game. There was a colourful collection of Valappottu that means pieces of bangles(kuppivala and plastic ones). It may be a girl's game.
Ittooli- no clues to the heading. Its a game with safety pin. One will throw the pin and others have to find out. Its the dearest game of my children.
There was a game with 'manjadikkuru' also. Its official name is pallankuzhi. It was a cool game and still remember the colourful combination of the red shining manjadikkurus in the back ground of wooden pallankuzhi board.
Pallankuzhi- A game passed through generations
A very nostalgic note on pallankuzhi
Researches on this Indian folk game
Another one was 'Kuzhi panthu'. Then 'Sat kali', 'kanjiyum karivekkal kali', 'pachila thodal kali' and 'Kannu ketti kali'. Any way its very interesting to remember about the nice things about the childhood because there is a child in every one of us.
There may be lot of other games. Please give your note on your favourite traditional plays.

Maram Kothi

Sree and Hari always alert to the creatures around them. I had bought a book which describes lot of small creatures around us. After that they watch every birds and small insects around us. The above picture is of 'Maram Kothi' or wood pecker. They had noticed four of them on a coconut tree in front of our house. But we didn't got the four because they are on the other side.

I became so happy that they are also loving birds and creatures around them. In my childhood we had a story related with maram kothi. Maram kothis wants to build his own home and he checks the wood with his beak. But he is not satisfied with anyone thus the search continues. I had told them that maram kothi is searching for the small creatures inside the wood for their food. Pappu then commented that it is amma, achan and children. He was sure that they are playing and also they are in a park!!!!!

Pappu always connects the real things with imagination. He is always hesitant to bath. Then I told him that there will be lot small creatures in your body with dirt. We can not see them. They will make you sick so we have to clean the body with soap and water then you will be in the pure form and you will smell good. After that he always tell soap is the king and water is his assistant who fight with their enemies: enemies are dirt, sweat and bacterias.

A very nice story in Malayalam about Maram kothi

Pictures of birds from a fellow blogger

Our Bapuji

Picture courtsey:http://www.kamat.com/mmgandhi/gandhi.htm

Hari has to present some words before the assembly. He can choose the topic and he can also read it before them. I suggested him to say about Mahatma Gandhi. Then I have to explain them about British rulers. He was also curious to know more about Gandhi appooppan. I told him about his attire. He was so firm to choose his dress as a layman in India. It was a nice evening with lot of discussions about some great men who gave up their luxuries for the freedom struggle of India. I told him about 'Ahimsa' non violence and 'Satya graha'. Then came 'salt satyagraha' and Swadeshi movement.

Its a great thing to tell about a topic. We have to be precise. It must be digestible to an 8 year old. It must be simple. This effort by the school is appreciable because its a window to the great ocean of knowledge.

At last we finished our task with these words

'Mohandas Karam Chand Gandhi is the father of our nation. He was born in Gujarath.
He was the main leader of the freedom movement against British. He introduced different
methods of strikes against British in a peaceful way. 'Satyagraha' and and 'Nissahakarana' are
some of them. He introduced 'Swadeshi movement' and urged people to use our own products.
He was a true lover of humanity and spend almost all his life time for the freedom of India.'

More stories of Mahatma Gandhi for children

Nursery songs in Malayalam

In this post I had listed some malayalam rhymes for children its response made me to write this post. Its very great to be a part of your effort to make your child happy. These are from my children's collection. I say a great thanx to all of you and request you to list some of your favourite songs in detail.

Some clay efforts by Hari and Sree

It was very interesting to work with some clay. Its a nice way to bring your mind to the present moment. Some works by Hari and Sree. I am submitting these to Mindful Meanderer.

Pookkalam by kids

Creative Leaves

I liked these works from Smitha, I got it from this craft blog, mindful meandearings.
I think its an expression of love, creativity and a bliss of nature. I appreciate all the team behind this post.
I love leaves. When we observe nature we can see unique creations. Each leave is unique with smell, shape, texture , colour and shape. My son had a dry leaves collection project in last summer vacation. We enjoyed that project, my parents also collected leaves from our neighbourhood. From that I fell in love with the leaves and this post is the result of that. Leaves have an important role in our life. Please share your experience with leaves...

Iva Motto's Cycle and some confusions

Some questions from children make us silent. Yesterday I am showing some photos of the bomb blast in Hiroshima to my children. It was very painful to convince them about the most innocent people dead after this attack. They want to know how war will come. How can we know the time and escape from the present place. In that pictures one was of a small rusted cycle. Story accompanied with the cycle as follows. Iva Motto was a small boy in Hiroshima who loved his small cycle as any other child. When the bomb blasted he was playing with his cycle, he dead sitting at his dearmost playmate. Cycle remained as a close monument to that little child who became a martyr of war fronts. The cycle is now kept at a museum in Japan.
After hearing the story Hari asked me 'Will you keep this cycle of me as my monument, If anyone will attack with a bomb' I told there will not be any bomb attacks and this happened long ago. But I am also not so sure of what I am saying...
To know more about the monuments after Hiroshima Bomb attack
Hiroshima Peace memorial Park
Story of thousand cranes, another haunting story of a little girl who tried to save her life by creating 1000 paper cranes.
More images

Noha's Ark

I had bought a book for Sree. He had not started reading yet but I think pictures will tempt him to read the book. It was a nice book with lot of pictures and very nice event that happened in Noha's Ark. Wonderful Pictures and an easy rendering. He loved it and started to imitate the happenings of the book.
When we select books for small children, more pictures will result in more fun. More than buying a book we have to find enough time to read with them also. I wrote his name on the book and the date. He was overwhelmed with joy seeing his name on the book. It was a grateful moment for me for having them make my world more happier.

A news about Noha's Ark

Story about Noha's Ark

Quality time with children

Yesterday I was too tired and told Sree to tell me a story, after great attempt he started to tell the story of Aama chettan and Ottakkaran Muyal. It is very nice to hear the story that we taught from my little one's. Then we sung the lines of the story'Pathu pathungi pammi nadakkum kunjikuzhimadiyan' . It was a nice time. I enjoyed it thoroughly. Lines of the song.

More about the story of Aamayum Muyalum

More stories

The great panchathanthra tales

Brothers in Ramayana

'Bali Sugreeva Yudham'
When we go through Ramayana, we can see all type of family relation ships in it. Whenever we talk about brothers we can not forget Rama and Lakshmana. They were always together. It may be due to the fact that Sumitra got two portions of Kheer from Kausalya and Kaikeyi. She gave birth to two children, Lakshmana and Shatrugna. Lakshmana was always with Rama and Bharatha with Shatrugna. So many instances in Ramayana which reveal the love and affection of Rama towards his little brother.

Another pair is Jatayu and Sambathi. Two eagle brothers, also play an important role in this great epic.

Another one is Sugreeva and Bali.

Another one Ravana and Kumbhakarna.

Story of Jadayu and Sambathi

'Jatayu Vadham' This painting is by the great artist Revi Varma. To see more paintings of Revi Varma, the legendary artist from Kerala.

Its a story with lot of brotherly affection. Jadayu and Sambathi were two eagle brothers. Oneday they made a bet and started to flew high in the sky. They neared the sun. Sambathi was the elder. He saw Jadayu nearing to the sun. Fastly he over ride Jadayu and spread his wings over him to save him from the scorching heat of sun. Then his feathers burnt and he lost his wings. He fell on the top of rocky hill in a sea side.
After that jadayu tried to save Sita devi from Ravana. After the encounter with Ravana he dead. Before his death he told Rama about the kidnapping.
During the search time of sita devi the monkeys found Samabathi and told about the death of jadayu. He gave valuable information to monkeys about Sitadevi.

An interesting story of Jatayu rock from Kerala

Amar chitra katha was the source of these stories in my childhood, still remembering that pictures in that stories.

Story of Valmiki

Karkkidakam is the Ramayana month of Kerala. A creative ritual to read an epic in one month, it may be a compulsive reading but we can go through the whole epic. Ramayana is rich with spiritual principles and small stories. My children like these stories...
Story of Valmiki
The story of the great author of Ramayana. Its a story to convince children about the power of 'Rama' sound.
The original name of Valmiki was Ratnakara and he was a thief. He looked after his family through robbery. One day saptharshis came through his way. He tried to attack them. They asked him about his work. He said that through this he have to look after his familly. They asked if the family will share his sins also. He went to home and asked his family members whether they will share his sins also. They rejected . Very sadly he came back to the saints and told them about the happenings. They told him to sit below a tree and tell'mara mara' without any break. It will eradicate his sins. Then he started to do the process and rishis continued their journey. After several years they came back through the same path. Then they saw a 'valmikam' an ant hill in the place where he meditated. They found him under the ant hill still uttering the words 'Ramaramarama'. After that he got the name Valmiki, who emerged from Valmikam. Its the story behind the great saint. With the blessings of Sri Rama he became the first poet in Sanskrith. Thus he got the name Aadi kavi.

Children will like these type of stories and they will become aware of the power of such sounds. Please share your views..

A white board

We had arranged a white board for children to draw and to write. In my school days I was very eager to have a black board. I was very curious to play teacher games and to write whatever I want. Now I fulfilled my wish through my children. But this board is not a black board its a white one.
After its arrival Hari's study time changed into a fun time. He write more words and more spelling games. One of the games he is interested is making words from the letters of the given word.
Sri also trying his best to make this board a platform to paint. Before its arrival it was a common scene in our house, sri with an urge to draw and desparate to find paper and sketch pen. It may be under a cot or under a cupboard after the last days encounter. Now he is happy and he can draw whatever he want. Yes, its a pleasure for me to have their smiling face more than anything else....
I am trying to find more spelling games through internet.

An interesting post about the topic from Preethi Shenoy

Stories to Children

Blogging helps me to know more about parenting. I follow more than 15 blogs and it help me to get different perceptions about different topics. Sometimes I wonder how they manage to do so. I like to read mother's blogs. They have to tell a lot about their little ones. Every child has its own plus and minus. My elder one is having a great craze to cars. From the age of 2 he began to identify the model. Now he wants to know more technical details like mileage and space etc. He is not so interested to stories but like to read Auto magazines. My little one have an innate affection towards dance.
Hari and Sree are eager to hear stories of puranas. Yesterday I had told him about Sree Shankaracharya. I had told him about the story with crocodile and about the raining of gold gooseberries by chanting 'Kanakadhara sthothram'. You can read the story behind this stotram here.
My little one is more curious about these stories. Seeing their response I decided to tell them more about the eminent personalities of the world.
I liked these posts of Preethi shenoy. Have a look at it.
Are you in search for stories to children. Nice rendering of story Gajendra moksha

Vacation project

To make a chart of different types of dry leaves that was Hari's vacation project. We really enjoyed to do the project. It was a nice one. His grand parents also collected leaves from surroundings. We pasted them in a book. I wondered how many variety of leaves. Different colours, different textures and their smells. We have to become more close to the nature to know every aspect of it and to know how it cares us.
He had collected more than 100 leaves which included big trees like Peral, Arayal, Aanjily, Koovalam and Plavu. Creepers like Koval, Padavalam, Paval and Achinga payar. Herbs like Thulasi and panikkoorkka. I am eagerly waiting for his teacher's comment on this work.

Vacation games from Kerala

Some interesting funny games for your children from Mangalam daily
http://mangalam.com/index.php?page=category&lang=malayalam&cid=66&TmpId=15

Chembakam and children

Flowers of Chembakam tree

Friendly tree at Subhash park, Ernakulam.

Vacation Projects for Hari

He has to do some yoga during vacation which include surynamaskaram. But his main project is to collect various leaves and make an album using dry leaves. It sounds so interesting to me but he is least interested in it. He always thinks about cars...cars and cars. He is very familiar about power window and power steering.

Any how we had collected some leaves and kept it for perfect drying. I hope to take some pictures the dry leaves album.

Kariyila thoughts...

In malayalam we had a story about 'Kariyila' and 'Mannangatta'. It was an interesting simple story. Kariyila is fallen leaves dried in sun light.
Kariyila and mannankatta went to Kashi ..
In Kerala everymorning we have to clean courtyard of our home. Most of the homes contain shady trees in front of the house. This cleaning process is known as 'Muttamadikkal' broom is called 'Choolu'. Choolu is made from the core portion of coconut leaves known as 'Eerkil'.

Making of the broom is a tedious process.

Summer Camps for Kids at Kochi

A technical summer camp will be held on Kaloor by Yemmar Technology group . Starting from May. They are aiming to invoke the technical qualities of children by helping them to do hobby kits in Electronics.
The camp introduces campers the exciting world of electronics . They will receive an introduction to basics electrical concepts, components, circuitry, safety, and soldering techniques along wiht ahnds on experience by building a hobby kit.The camp also have lot of recreation and entertainment for the campers with packs of games and talent show.t
he camp ends with a take away ready to assemble hobby kit to all..For further details and registration please contact us.
Contact No. 9037995552

For vacation activities and jigsaw puzzles

http://www.kidzpark.com/jigsaw/online_jigsaw_puzzle.asp

Holidays in Highrange

Children on the side of the rock

We spent some days at Idukki District in my in law's Home. The home is in the side of a big rock named 'Murukan Para'. This place is in Thookkupalam. It is a huge task to climb this big rock. Anyway children liked it. They climbed the rock without fear....

Anchuruli -nice spot at Idukki District of Kerala