If there is a way to copy/paste icons into the forum, I could show you what I've got?

Has anyone any advice on how to show Itunes in different languages? It's automatically set up to French (due to credit card needing to match address), and I can only see apps comments in French: most of the apps I download are in English or Chinese and I don't have access to user's comments in other languages..

I don't have any advice to give, I just want to say I'm glad to see you back on the forum, Nikita 

Dear Emsmum
I feel for you. My daughter is in the same situation as yours.
Can I suggest this: If you daughter agrees to it, how about 'Mamou'? This is what 'young' grand-parents sometimes chose to be called these days. My daughter calls her French speaking Grand parents 'Mamou' and 'Papou'. Next time you see your mother-in-law, tell her that her nickname will be this, and that's it.

Languages and culture is a sensitive subject with grand-parents.. I can speak from experience.
Especially when the child, at some point, will speak more or less of one of the two languages.

Don't hesitate to PM if you need to talk!
 

Hi all!
Thanks to the Kumon workbooks we have, my 3 year old has developped an interest in writing (she tries to trace letters from memory, or copies them).
I'm looking for Chinese workbook which would be similar to Kumon: very kid friendly and full of colors, with gradual levels of difficulty, for her to draw simple characters.

Any suggestions?

Kumon workbooks, and I pasted plastic on the pages to re-use. It's well done and save me the hassle and costs of looking around for sheets and printing them.

Great ideas here!
Which Right brain apps do you use on the Ipad?
We have a small selection of puzzles, but I think that's left brain-I can't find the type of puzzle I want, it's either for babies or very difficult (such as famous paintings)
We play memory together. (left brain too I believe?)
She's not fond of stories unless the illustrations move around like a cartoon.

If imagination is a synonym for creativity, I would start to introduce pretent play with him, he's not 1 and a half. At that age we started showing my daughter how to 'feed' her plastic/stuffed animals with bottles, brush dolls, having stuffed animal speak to one another etc.

Kumon workbooks!
Available from 2 years of age: tracing, mazes, coloring etc..
Love them!

Could Chinese parents let us know which apps they are using?
I'm after regular 'intuitive' games such as memory, drag and match, puzzles etc.. with Chinese voice over.
(I've got quite a few stories and flashcards in Chinese but my daughter doesn't play with these, no matter the language)

Thanks!

[For those of you interested in French, here are my daughter's favorite apps:]

For those of you interested in French, here are my daughter's favorite apps:

Les aventures de Lola (lite) Excellent memory game with flags, three levels of difficulty.  (Available in Chinese too.) Fun for parents too. L'alphabet de Lola works with letters and words. Really catchy, as we follow a train which leads to many activities: matching small to capital letters, dragging letters to form the word, memory with letters...

Trouve les tous: à la recherche des animaux You need to find the animals by listening to their sounds, scrolling left and right. Word is shown. (available in English too, but with a French accent :-)

Tchoupi: Joue et apprend les couleurs A little expensive for the content (E2.99), but my daughter's favorite to work on colors.

Mes premiers mots (by Alexandre Menard): Can be played by non speakers. Drag the letter to match the word corresponding to the picture. Excellent for  reluctant readers and spellers. Limited to animal, colors and fruits, would love more themes!
There are many other apps from A. Menard: we have all of his puzzles (dinosaurs, insects, tangrams)

Decouvrions (+ Jouer à lire) With the first app, you identify the animal, with the second one, you find the word. Many animals, but the lady's voice is computerized and quite unbearable after a while.

For Spanish, our favorite one is IWrite Words Spanish. Excellent voice-over!

Have you considered getting an Ipad?

We have receive quite a few workbooks and my almost three year old has taken well to them. I added contact plastic (not sure if this is the term?) so she can erase the pages and do them over and over again.
She asks for them at least once a day, is there a certain progression I should follow or just let her finish the books as quickly as she wants? She's half-way through the easy mazes and tracing. We've started other ones which are a bit tricker (lower/upper case, maths..)

Great page with many suggestions on how to improve fine motor skills:
http://prekinders.com/fine-motor-skills/

I had the same question... not sure how to use those when they are downloads. Obviously don't want to print entire books with illustrations.
I saw two maths books which could be of interest for my daugher, if they are of the workbook type.
Anyone has tried them?

http://www.homeschoolmo.com/2011/05/free-online-resources-for-teaching.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HomeschoolMo+%28Homeschool+Mo%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

This bloger just published a selection of good links.