How to Teach Your Toddler to Use Chopsticks *updates

Chopsticks are a great way to eat your food quickly and conveniently.

Studies have shown that using chopsticks can have some added benefits, such as improving memory and increasing manual dexterity.

There are many different types of chopsticks, from the Japanese wari-bashi (disposable chopsticks, could not be used more than one time due to can harbor bacteria if not properly cleaned) to different styles of chopsticks used for cooking, eating and picking up cakes and other sweets.

Although they are a great way to eat your meals, to the uninitiated chopstick user, they may be a bit tricky to use at first.

Try not to become a man of success but rather to become a man of value ~ Albert Einstein

Most of Chinese children start using chopsticks as early as age 1, and most are competent by 5 or 6.

Our chopsticks: made from Japanese lacquered bamboo ~

I love creating fun and challenging moment for my kiddies

Toddlers just love playing with any games!

For my kiddies, using chopsticks can make an ordinary meal exciting *Alhamdulillah*.

Note: Never Learn To Quit Learning

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Step by step guide:

Step 1: Prepare your toddler favorite food
My main tip would be that beginners should probably avoid the more slippery looking items of food.

Our Foodies!
Bon appetite!

Us ^_-
Cheerful faces

Step 2: Pickup Sticks
Please do not encourage your child to use training chopsticks.
Don’t screw it up.
We’re the Asian dining equivalents of helicopter parents.
We should just be handing our toddlers the real sticks and letting him/her to figure out how to eat somehow and we should keep on guiding them. They’ll pick it up soon enough from watching us.
Plus, your toddler will surely learn the value of patient, appreciating their valuable foods and time efforts.

Me ;)
Me: ambidextrous in action!

Step 3: Get a Grip
Toddlers will first grip chopsticks in their fists, as they do forks and spoons.

KiruaMi-cHan!
Gambatte ne KiruaMi-cHan~

ReiHi-cHan!
Gambatte ne ReiHi-cHan~

Step 4: Show & Tell
To demonstrate the proper technique, try this method: Have them rest the end of one chopstick in the V of their thumb and forefinger.
Show them how to support it with their little and ring fingers.
Help them hold the other chopstick as if it were a pencil, between the middle and index fingers, anchored with the thumb.
Then try this imagery used by Chinese parents: The sticks are a bird’s beak. Holding the bottom stick still and moving only the top one, imagine the beak opening and closing to pick up food.
As for my KiruaMi-cHan’s, I told him: The sticks are a truck crane, while my ReiHi-cHan’s loves “Pinching Sticks” method *tackle your lil toddler interest*

Step 5: Make It Fun
Bowls work better than plates.
Try cheese cubes, apple chunks, or mini-marshmallows.
At playtime, put cotton balls or pom-poms in a bowl and take turns moving them with the chopsticks to another bowl.

KiruaMi-cHan!
Great pleasure~

ReiHi-cHan!
Total satisfaction~

YunaFi-cHan!
YunaFi-cHan joined the club!

You also could teach your child a number of etiquette rules when it comes to dining with chopsticks:

When your chopsticks are not in use, you should lay them down with their ends pointed to your left.
Do not stick your chopsticks into your food and leave them standing up. In Asian funerals, chopsticks are left standing in balls of rice that are placed on the altar of the deceased.
Do not pass your food from your chopsticks directly to another person’s chopsticks. Once again, this is also a funeral custom, where the bones of the cremated are passed from one family member to the next in this manner.
Do not lick your chopsticks.
Do not use your chopsticks to point at objects, whether it is food, the table, etc.
Do not wave your chopsticks through the air or play with them.
Do not use your chopsticks to push or pull bowls or plates around on the table.
Never cross your chopsticks except if you are at a Dim Sum restaurant. It is acceptable to cross your chopsticks on the table here because it indicates to your server that you have finished your meal and are ready to pay. Sometimes, your server will cross them for you, to indicate you have paid your bill already.
If you have already used your chopsticks for eating, and you want to move food from a shared plate to your own plate, turn them around and use the opposite end to get the food.

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May Allah swt blessed your family

Keep on trying mommies.

Best of luck!

February 28, 2008 | Filed Under My Fun Homeschool | 4 Comments

Leisure Time

Alhamdulillah, today I had accomplished my mission on reading a wonderful book written by Sir Muhammad Yunus who created the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh to offer micropayment loans to the poorest of the poor.

Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire ~ William Butler Yeats

Book: Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus

His book ‘Banker To The Poor‘ describes the road Sir Yunus took to free 35 million from systematic slavery - a journey that led to him winning the Nobel Peace prize.

Of course, it’s an inspiring book that details the positive impact of a project on millions of lives - but it’s also a daily life business book we can learn from.

This book truly energized me because many of the community structures developed by Sir Yunus reflect the social networking of modern businesses and organizations who are leveraging the web.

There are many lessons contained within which we could apply today to respect humanity in building family strengths and modern business.

Last but not least, “Don’t count every hour in the day, make every hour in the day count”

May you have a great weekend!

Lots of love,

Our Sunday Sandwiches
Our Sunday Sandwich

February 24, 2008 | Filed Under MamaFiza's Blog | 5 Comments

Science for Toddler: Volcanic Eruption

Last Monday, my kiddies and I made “Volcano Eruption Project” *Alhamdulillah*.

In the afternoon, we produced edible play dough to make our volcano at home.

At night, we brought the creation to my grandma’s house.

These simple but fun experiments will introduce younger children to the basics of science, and at the same time they are simple and easy to prepare.

Volcanic Team
1, 2, 3: V-O-L-C-A-N-O ~

Indeed, by using everyday, household products you can teach your child some amazing things!

Plasticine or play dough
Bicarbonate of soda
Vinegar (or lemon juice)
Food coloring (red - for lava)
Normal kitchen equipment, such as spoons
Small bottle

Step by step guide:

Step 1: Prepared your edible play dough together with your lil toddler.

Volcano 101
Da pure play dough~

KiruaMi-cHan *excited*

ReiHi-cHan *electrified*

Step 2: Make a volcano shape out of plasticine or play dough, or even old newspapers crushed together, with a hole in the center to allow the volcano to “erupt”.

Us!
Us ^_-

Us!
Hard work!

Volcanic Team
Zoom in~

Volcanic Team
In actions~

Our Volcano
In the making~

Volcano 101
Tadaa~

Step 3: Place a small container or bottle with 2 tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda and a little red food coloring under the volcano.

Volcanic Team

Step 4: Quickly add around 1/2 cup of vinegar, stand back and watch your volcano “erupt” with red foam spray out of the top and down the mountain like lava from a volcano.

Volcano 101
Volcanic eruption! *runs*

Volcano 101
Lava *uh oh!* ~

Note: This one is messy, so stand the volcano on an old tea towel, or a pile of papers.

You also may watch our homemade videos about “Volcanic Eruption“.
p/s: please ignore my voice. Thank you

Why it happened (explain to your toddler):

The baking soda reacted with vinegar to produce carbon dioxide gas.
The gas built up enough pressure to push the foaming liquid out of the top of the bottle.

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Lets try this project with your toddler!

Gambatte ne

May Allah swt always blessed your family. Amin~