Nurture for the Future

Archives for 2017

Halloween Dress-up: Chick Costume

by

Halloween costume – number 2 of 3: the chick costume. Costume number 1 was the Gastly.

My SIL saw this on Pinterest and couldn’t resist the idea of dressing up her daughter in the same outfit for Halloween.

Chick costume
Image Source: Pinterest

The Internet is flooded with cute chick costumes for toddlers and I’m sure there are plenty of instructions out there. This is how we made ours…

What you will need:

Chick Costume Headpiece

Chicken costume

Cut the chick’s comb out of red felt. I did a free-hand version. You’ll need two pieces. Sew them together along the curved parts (shown below) and turn it inside out.

Chick costume - headpiece instructions.

Stitch one half of the opened edge of the chick comb to the top of the swimming cap. It should be positioned like a mohawk. Stuff quilt batting through the opening and sew down the other side. The end result should look something like this:

Chicken costume

A couple of things I would have done differently:

  • Stitch the comb lower down on the forehead because the a real chicken’s comb is attached almost from the beak.
  • Made it pointy instead of curved; again because a real chicken’s comb is sharp, not curved.

Chick Costume Feet

Turn the gloves inside-out and sew down the last finger as shown below.

Chicken costume

Turn it back the right way around. Take a chenille stem and fold it in half. Twist the two halves together.

Chicken costume

Bend the twisted chenille stem and insert it into the thumb and first finger of the glove. Stuff quilt batting into each of the four glove fingers and a little more to form the foot. Bend the glove thumb backwards to form the chick’s back claw.

Chicken costume

Draw a triangular wedge as shown below and cut it out.

Chicken costume

Use the two strips of glove to tie the chick’s foot around your child’s ankle like this:

Chicken costume

Chick Costume Bodice

Sew the white feather boa to the t-shirt/romper. The completed costume should look like this:

Chicken costume

Related:

More DIY Costumes.

MELSCIENCE

All the coolest Chemistry experiments in one subscription


Halloween Dress-up: Pokemon Gastly Costume

by

The boys wanted to make a Halloween costume this year. G1 and G2 wanted to be ghost type Pokemons. G1 chose Chandelure and G2 chose Gastly. G3, my niece, is going to be a chick. As the designated costume maker, the task has fallen to me to figure out how to make them. So here we are with the Gastly costume, number 1 of 3…

How to Make a Gastly Costume

Gastly costume designGastly costume design

What you will need:

  • 2 sheets of black felt (60cm x 70cm) – like the ones from Daiso
  • some scraps of white and red felt for the eyes and mouth
  • purple disposable craft fabric – like the stuff they use to wrap flowers bouquets
  • scissors
  • black marker pen
  • fabric chalk
  • ruler
  • coloured thread
  • elastic band

Gastly Costume Face

Gadfly Halloween Costume

Sew the eyes, mouth and fangs onto the front piece of black felt. Mark the pupils with a black marker pen. Cut a semi-circular neck line at the top of the fabric.

Stitching the Gastly Costume Vest

Gastly Halloween Costume Gastly Halloween Costume

Sandwich the purple fabric in between the front and back pieces of the black felt. Use a sewing machine to stitch the side and shoulder seams. When you turn the Gastly costume right-way out, you should get something like this:

Gastly Halloween Costume

Turn the costume back inside-out and sew a 1.5cm hem line. Leave an opening to insert the elastic band.

Gastly Halloween Costume

Thread the elastic band through the hem and secure it with a knot. This will bunch up the felt fabric around the hips.

Gastly Halloween Costume

At the shoulder, sew a strip of elastic (pulled taut) along the shoulder seam.

Gastly Halloween Costume Gastly Halloween Costume

Cut a vertical slit at the neckline of the back piece of black felt – this is so your child’s head can fit through the neck hole:

Gastly Halloween Costume

Turn the costume right-way out and shred the purple fabric to make jagged strips of purple “flames”. The final costume should look like this:

Gastly Halloween Costume

Here it is on my model:

Gastly Costume

That’s one down and two more to go.

Related:

More DIY Costumes.

MELSCIENCE

All the coolest Chemistry experiments in one subscription


Managing Attention Deficits with Physical Activity

by

One afternoon, G2 was sitting down to do some Math homework. He seemed to be struggling with it, so I sat down with him to help him out. As we worked on it together, I also noticed he was yawning a lot and his eyes had a glazed over look to them. Realising the pointlessness of pressing on, I stopped him and we did some jogging on the spot and star jumps. The intention was to give him a quick brain break to get his attention back online. When we settled back down, he seemed a little more focused and was able to finish the rest of his Math homework.

Uncertain as to whether he had grasped the concepts from his Math homework, I decided to give him more problems the next day. Expecting him to run into trouble, I sat with him ready to assist as he worked through the problems. To my surprise, he zipped through them all without a hitch.

So what worked for him?

I don’t know. But these are the things that science says will help with learning and so we use them.

Resistance Training Improves Long-Term Memory

In retrospect, we should have done some resistance training as well, since it has been shown to improve long-term memory by 20% (Weinberg et al., 2014). And if you’re wondering what is resistance training, it is any exercise that increases strength, tone, mass, and/or endurance in the muscles. It involves the contraction of the muscles against an external resistance, such as body weight, gravity, resistance bands, or weights.

But wait, isn’t strength training bad for young kids? According to a review from the British Journal of Sports Medicine:

Current research indicates that resistance training can be a safe, effective and worthwhile activity for children and adolescents provided that qualified professionals supervise all training sessions and provide age-appropriate instruction on proper lifting procedures and safe training guidelines.

Mayo Clinic suggests that kids can start strength training as early as 7-8 years old. For our purposes, simple resistance training exercises, such as squat thrusts (burpees), push-ups, and knee bends (or squats) are sufficient.

Attention Deficits and the ADHD Brain

Attention deficits and ADHD are topics that come up from time to time because I have a child who is very active and quite inattentive at times. While that alone is hardly a diagnosis for ADHD, it has prompted me to look deeper into this often misunderstood condition.

Probably one of the biggest contentions, even among the medical profession, is whether ADHD is a real condition. Part of the problem lies in the fact that diagnosis is tricky and the signs and symptoms are ambiguous. A multitude of factors can lead to a misdiagnosis. That is why it is essential for us to gain a better understanding.

Is ADHD a trumped up medical condition? The recent study from the Lancet, published earlier this year, answers that question with resounding “no”. Imaging scans have revealed that there are structural differences in the ADHD brain compared to regular brains:

The study is the largest to look at the brain volumes of people with ADHD, involving more than 3,200 people. Researchers identified differences in five regions of the brain, with greatest differences seen in children rather than adults.

Not only are there structural abnormalities, but there are also functional differences and alterations in the brain’s chemical messengers:

  • ADHD brains function differently from non-ADHD brains.
  • There is 10% less brain activity in the ADHD brain.
  • Largest deficits are seen in the prefrontal cortex which is required for regulating behaviour.

Managing ADHD with Physical Activity

One of the best strategies for managing ADHD involves establishing an extremely rigid structure. This can be achieved through activities like martial arts, ballet, figure skating, gymnastics, rock climbing, mountain biking, whitewater rafting, and skateboarding.

ADHD boys age eight to eleven participating in martial arts twice a week improved their behavior and performance on a number of measures compared to those on a typical aerobic exercise program (both kinds of exercise led to dramatic improvement over nonactive controls). The kids involved in martial arts finished more of their homework, were better prepared for class, improved their grades, broke fewer rules, and jumped out of their seats less often. In short, they were better able to stay on task. – Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

What’s the link between all of these activities? They activate many brain areas, such as those responsible for balance, timing, sequencing, evaluating consequences, switching, error correction, fine motor adjustments, and inhibition. More importantly, they also require intense focus and concentration. The adrenaline rush created by these activities taps into fight or flight response. This is pretty powerful for helping us to focus. Additionally, the aerobic nature of these activities also boosts cognitive function, facilitating the learning of new moves and strategies.

Exercise, Attention Deficits and ADHD

In his book Spark, John Ratey writes about high-functioning professionals who had ADHD and were able to compensate for it by using exercise as a form of medication. Exercise helps because it boosts levels of dopamine and norepinephrine – which is what ADHD drugs do. Dopamine and norepinephrine are two chemical messengers that play an important role in regulating the attention system.

The Age of Distraction and Inattention

Whether or not ADHD is a problem our children face, there is no denying that we live in an age of distraction. It’s hard enough to stay on track as adults without ADHD when stimuli from a myriad of sources bombards our every sense. If exercise can boost attention in individuals with ADHD, surely it can help us manage any attention deficits we are prone to from time to time. I think it is safe to say that we can all benefit from physical activity that will help us to strengthen us our focus and attention.

How Much Exercise?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the 30 minutes 2 to 3 times a week I mentioned in an earlier post is just the minimum. The ideal target, according to Spark is 45 to 60 minutes, 6 days a week. It should be a mix of moderate and high intensity, and include some form of resistance training.

“The best, however, based on everything I’ve read and seen, would be to do some form of aerobic activity six days a week, for forty-five minutes to an hour. Four of those days should be on the longer side, at moderate-intensity, and two on the shorter side, at high-intensity…

…on the shorter, high-intensity days, include some form of strength or resistance training. These days should not be back to back; your body and brain need recovery time to grow after high-intensity days.” – Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

If that sounded a little too much, then just remember this: the goal is physical fitness. Anything you do that gets you closer to that state is good – even walking.

Enhancing Attention by building Cardio fitness

What We’re Up To

After reading Spark, I’ve decided it was time to up the ante on the boys’ physical activity regime. For complex movements, we’re working on Judo, basketball, ice skating, and anything on wheels. To build up their cardio fitness, we started “running” in the gym and at the track. The goal is 30 minutes, 3 times a week. Yes, I know, it’s baby steps, but like Dr Ratey says, the important thing is just to get started. We’re also tracking heart rates with the GEONAUTE ONrhythm that we picked up from Decathlon so the boys know when it’s time to step up the intensity.

Ice skating

Recently, we shifted over to the cross-trainer on a friend’s suggestion. To my surprise, the boys worked harder than they have ever done on the treadmill or on the track. Both boys covered a full kilometer more than they usually do in 30 minutes! We didn’t even get the usual complaints of sore legs or stomach stitches! Was it was the novelty of using a new machine? Maybe it was because the cross-trainer reminded them of the Mechs they saw in the new Ninjago movie. They played an imaginary game of “destroy the monsters” and 30 minutes of cardio training zoomed by.

Eric Barker has it right – sometimes you just have to make a game of it.

Related:

Disclaimer: Please be aware that the information posted here is the interpretation of the author. It should not to be taken as medical advice. It is not intended to replace consultation with a qualified medical professional.

MELSCIENCE

All the coolest Chemistry experiments in one subscription


Enquiry Learning – Raising the Next Generation of Problem Solvers

by Leave a Comment

There is a subject at school that the kids do which is called “enquiry learning”. It’s another term I’ve heard floating around but never deeply understood what it meant in the context of learning at school. Sure, I understand what “enquiry” means – it’s asking questions. It conjures the image of a science class where kids experiment with ideas surrounding the question of “what happens when…” But that was about all I gleaned from the term. Since parent engagement helps children do better at school, I figure I really ought to try harder to understand what the kids do in school.

The first time I wrapped my head around “enquiry” was when our school shared with us the details of the Large Scale Enquiry Program. Like everything else in life, it takes a few rounds of repetition before we really get the gist of an idea so this is my second fly by over the subject…

What is Enquiry Learning?

Enquiry learning is a learner-centred approach that emphasises higher order thinking skills. It may take several forms, including analysis, problem solving, discovery and creative activities. Younger children begin with structured enquiry that is led by their teacher. As they develop their enquiry skills, they move through a progressive curriculum that shifts from teacher-led to student-led. The teacher’s role then becomes one that is supportive. It is similar to the analogy of children learning to swim, shown below.

Enquiry

The Process of Enquiry

The children begin with an entry point. The entry point is usually a “big idea” from which all learning in the enquiry process revolves around. Taking an example from Year 6, the entry point was:

Technology: with Great Power comes Great Responsibility

From there, the children will ask questions, seek knowledge, develop skills, and gain understanding. The process culminates in an exit point where the students demonstrate what they have gained from the experience.

Enquiry Learning
Image source: Inquiry Learning

Unlike traditional methods of learning, Enquiry learning is not linear. Students may move forwards and backwards in the process before arriving at the exit point. Even though the process can seem quite haphazard, the learning goals are clear. In the case of our technology example, the student learning goals are to understand:

  • how digital technology can have a positive and negative impact.
  • that we have a responsibility to use technology safely and appropriately.
  • the need for people to be educated about the responsible use of technology.

At the exit point, the students need to be able take what they have learned and to be able to:

  • communicate it clearly and with confidence to an audience.
  • choose and create a method that is well organised and appropriate.
  • organise and share roles and tasks with a team.

Why Enquiry Learning?

The “ability to crack complex problems is key to the economic success in the future”. Today’s students “with poor problem-solving skills will become tomorrow’s adults struggling to find or keep a good job”. – The OECD

If we want to raise problem solvers for tomorrow’s world, we need children who can ask questions, seek knowledge, develop the skills, and present the solutions. Now doesn’t that sound like an enquiry process? If that didn’t sell it to you, here are nine more reasons why:

Why Enquiry Learning
Image Source: Teach Thought

Related:

MELSCIENCE

All the coolest Chemistry experiments in one subscription


Physical Fitness and Exercise Increase Cognitive Performance and Brain Health

by 1 Comment

There is so much evidence supporting the brain benefits of exercise and physical fitness that I am convinced this is our magic pill. I was also convinced that I knew all I needed to know about reaping the benefits from exercise. When a friend passed me a copy John Ratey’s book – Spark: the Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain – I almost dismissed it. Surely there was nothing more he could possibly share that I hadn’t already read about. Just as I was about to reach past it to read a different book, I thought about how I am always reminding G1 to keep his mind open. It is a mistake to believe we know everything and the greatest danger lies in the fact that we close ourselves off to other possibilities. So I started reading Spark and it did not disappoint.

exercise and physical fitness - Spark

These were some of my main takeaways from the book:

Personal Bests

Personal bests was one of the ideas from Spark that caught my attention. Being a nonathlete in school, I can identify with the feeling of discouragement in PE when you’re not as good as the other kids. Phil Lawler (PE teacher from Naperville Central High School) assessed his students on effort rather than skill. That meant they didn’t have to be natural athletes to do well. It also had the added benefit of promoting a growth mindset as the students link their effort to their PE grades.

…[Lawler] quickly recognized that the grading scale discouraged the slowest runners. To offer nonathletes a shot at good marks, the department bought a couple of Schwinn Airdyne bikes and allowed students to earn extra credit. They could come in on their own time and ride five miles to raise their grades. “So any kid who wanted to get an A could get an A if he worked for it… Somewhere in this process, we got into personal bests. Anytime you got a personal best, no matter what it was, you moved up a letter grade.”

Tracking Your Child’s Effort

It can be pretty subjective to assess how much effort a student puts in just by looking at them work out. As Phil Lawler discovered, heart rate monitors are a better way to track student effort.

During the weekly mile, he tested the [heart rate monitor] on a sixth-grade girl who was thin but not the least bit athletic. When Lawler downloaded her stats, he couldn’t believe what he found. “Her average heart rate was 187!” he exclaims. As an eleven-year-old, her maximum heart rate would have been roughly 209, meaning she was plugging away pretty close to full tilt. “When she crossed the finish line, she went up to 207!”

“Normally, I would have gone to that girl and said, you need to get your ass in gear, little lady! It was really that moment that caused dramatic changes in our overall program. I started thinking back to all the kids we must have turned off to exercise because we weren’t able to give them credit. I didn’t have an athlete in class who knew how to work as hard as that little girl.”

Suddenly I wonder if I been expecting too much during our family hikes. Perhaps it’s time to get the boys a heart rate monitor to check their effort more objectively.

Physical Fitness is the Key

The link between exercise and the brain is physical fitness:

  • Higher IQ is linked to higher heart and lung capacity
  • Improving fitness could increase IQ

Studies from the California Department of Education consistently demonstrate that fitter students have better test results. In a review of over 850 studies examining the effects of physical activity on school-aged children, they concluded that physical activity has a positive influence on memory, concentration, and classroom behaviour.

“I tell people it’s not my job as a PE teacher to make kids fit. My job is to make them know all the things they need to know to keep themselves fit. Exercise in itself is not fun. It’s work. So if you can make them understand it, show them the benefits – that’s a radical transformation.” – Paul Zientarski, PE Coordinator at Naperville Central High School

It’s not just about getting kids involved in sports and it doesn’t matter whether they’re good or bad at it. What we’re after is physical fitness. We want children to develop a healthy relationship with physical activity for life where the focus is on being fit. As Phil Lawler discovered with his runners, being fast didn’t necessarily have anything to do with being fit.

Physical Fitness Requires Heart Rate Monitors

In order to build physical fitness, you need to know what heart rate zone your child is working in. That’s where heart rate monitors come in handy.

Physical Fitness
Image Source: Polar

If we’re going to monitor heart rate, we need accuracy. I don’t want to get into this because it is a huge discussion that is an entire article in itself. You can read about it here if you’re really interested:

The bottom line – for now anyway – is that chest straps are still more accurate than optical wrist monitors. Since our aim is to meet specific fitness goals, accuracy is paramount.

Exercise and Learning

How exercise improves learning:

1. Prepares the brain for learning by increasing alertness, attention, and motivation.

While most of us think of motivation as the thing we need to get exercising, neurophysiology shows us that exercise creates a positive feedback on motivation. Exercise increases the levels of dopamine in brain, a hormone that motivates us to act. It also increases the stress hormone, cortisol, which boosts attentiveness, our desire to perform, and motivation.

2. Makes the brain learn faster and function more efficiently.

3. Promotes the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus.  

Sustained aerobic exercise promotes neurogenesis – the creation of new neurons. These new neurons are important among other things for learning temporally and/or spatially complex tasks.  – Science Daily.

While exercise may create new neurons, it is equally important to perform mentally challenging activities after exercise to build and strengthen connections to these neurons. In other words, creating these neurons won’t do much for us unless we wire them into our existing network through complex brain activity.

Physical Fitness and the Exercise Prescription

If exercise is a magic pill that provides all these wonderful benefits, then what is the prescription? What sort of exercise should our children be aiming for, when should they be doing them, and how much is required? Unfortunately, that’s not quite clear, yet, but this is what was suggested in Spark:

  • When to work out: before a cognitively demanding task – e.g. a project that requires complex analysis, a brainstorming session, or learning new material.
  • How much to work out: aerobic exercise, like jogging for 30 minutes, 2 to 3 times a week for twelve weeks was linked to improved executive function.
  • What sort of work out: aerobic exercise (like running) combined with activities that require complex motor skills (like rock climbing). Alternatively, you can choose a sport that simultaneously challenges the cardiovascular system and the brain (like tennis or dancing).

Aerobic exercise creates the neurons and factors that support it. Activities with complex movement builds the connections between the neurons. Combine both activities and you’ll have a pretty effective exercise prescription.

Related:

MELSCIENCE

All the coolest Chemistry experiments in one subscription


Petrosains Science Festival: Little Plans for the Big Planet

by Leave a Comment

When I was a child, I remember going on a school excursion where we learned about our dwindling fossil fuel energy resources and the need to move towards renewable energy sources. This was back in the 1980s when the concept of solar-powered homes were still a new concept so when they took us through a model home that was entirely powered by renewable energy sources, I was blown away. That experience changed the way I looked at energy usage and my attitude towards recycling. So when I saw the Petrosains Science Festival on “Little Plans for the Big Planet”, I hoped to give the boys a similar experience.

Petrosains Science Festival

Petrosains Science Festival

The Petrosains Science Festival is an annual community initiative designed to inspire a love and interest for science and to foster a future generation of scientifically literate, critical thinkers. This year, the theme is “sustainable living” and it focuses on the importance of protecting our planet. By showcasing ideas on how to embrace a sustainable lifestyle, Petrosains hopes to show the community how small changes to our daily lives can have a positive impact on our environment.

Petrosains Science Festival: #MyDigitalMaker Fair 2017

This national initiative by MDEC was a celebration of Malaysian students’ innovation, technology and creativity. We made the terrible mistake of leaving this for after lunch. By that time, the queue lines were so long, we had to give up the idea of getting in. It was a pity since they ran a number of pretty cool activities on Drones, Robotics, Coding, Virtual Reality, 3D Printing, Games and Animation.

Coding Resources

If you missed out, you can check out these online resources for coding:

  • Scratch – tutorials on various projects.
  • Computing at School – teaching material, training and newsletters to promote and support computer science education in schools.
  • CODE – tools and free coding lessons.
  • Remake Learning – resources for shaping the future of teaching and learning.
  • Barefoot Computing – free resources created and recommended by teachers for teaching computer science.
  • Lightbot – educational videos games for learning software programming.
  • Codeacademy – online interactive platform offering free coding classes in 8 programming languages.

Science Competitions for Students

Or join these competitions:

  • Young Innovators – a national-level STEM-based design competition open to secondary schools in Malaysia.
  • LEGO Education – a competition opened to primary and secondary schools.
  • Young Inventors Challenge – a challenge for secondary school students to create products that can make a positive change to our society.
  • Malaysian Computing Challenge – an annual online computing competition.
  • INTEL ISEF – the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the world’s largest international pre-college science competition offering high school students to showcase their talents and research.
  • Liga Remaja Kreatif – a multimedia competition for secondary students to create a video, internet portal or application.
  • National Science Challenge – open to Malaysian students who will qualify through an hour-long online quiz before representing their states in the Grand Final where they will be tested on theoretical knowledge and scientific skills.
  • VEX Robotics Competition – design and build a root to play against other teams from around the world through a game-based engineering challenge.

Petrosains Science Festival: Workshops/Talks/Forums

Over the course of the two days, they offered a variety of workshops, talks and forums on ways to live sustainably, not limited to but including:

Renewable Energy and Solar Robots

Petrosains exhibition - Sep 2017

This was the only workshop that the kids attended. Although the topic was a very pertinent one, I felt it was not very engaging for the age group of children that attended. Personally, I thought the educational segment on sustainability in Gardens by the Bay was more impactful.

Create Your Own Perfume

Petrosains exhibition - Sep 2017

The Mums wanted to do this one but we didn’t think the boys would be up for it. Luckily, it’s actually pretty easy to make your own perfume at home:

The Meteorites and Other Collections in Beijing Planetarium

Petrosains exhibition - Sep 2017

In this talk, Dr Zhang Ziping talks about meteorites. We didn’t attend the talk, but you can find loads of youtube videos on meteors for kids:

Sew Sprouts: T-Shirt to Treasure

Petrosains exhibition - Sep 2017

We missed this one, too, but luckily, that’s what Pinterest is for: T-shirt craft ideas.

Petrosains Science Festival: the Innovation Lab

At the Innovation Lab, the boys had the opportunity to explore the science projects created by Malaysian students.

Petrosains exhibition - Sep 2017Petrosains exhibition - Sep 2017

A maze and 3D Printer:

Petrosains exhibition - Sep 2017Petrosains exhibition - Sep 2017

A smart lamp that turns on or off when you clap; and an infinity light.

Petrosains exhibition - Sep 2017Petrosains exhibition - Sep 2017

Balloon music keyboard and Mario Bros using electrodes for controls:

Petrosains exhibition - Sep 2017Petrosains exhibition - Sep 2017

There were also stations that allowed the kids to try their hand at basic programming using Arduino Kits.

Petrosains exhibition - Sep 2017

Petrosains Science Festival: Smart Home Showcase

The Smart Home Showcase showed the kids how they could control various features at home, such as lighting, air-conditioning, music, and security, wirelessly through a smart phone. The two systems they played around with were Amazon Echo and Google Home.

Petrosains exhibition - Sep 2017

Petrosains Science Festival: 3D Treasure Hunt

There was a 3D treasure hunt we were supposed to be able to play using the Petrosains app but for some reason, we couldn’t get it working. We asked the staff for help but they didn’t seem to know why it wasn’t working for us either. I don’t know if it was a glitch in the app or whether we didn’t get the right instructions for the treasure hunt but we gave up in the end after sweltering under the midday heat.

Overall, it was a fun day out. Although in hindsight, we should have gone to the #mydigitalmaker Fair first.

Related:

MELSCIENCE

All the coolest Chemistry experiments in one subscription

Raising Successful Children

In Education


feed-dreamstale27 facebook-dreamstale25 twitter-dreamstale71 instagram-dreamstale43 linkedin-dreamstale45
Comodo SSL