Review – Red Riding Hood 小红帽 – you don’t want to miss this one!

As a parent whom myself is not very strong in Mandarin (apologies if I cant give a review in Mandarin), I am always on the outlook for Mandarin productions to expose my not-so-bilingual kids. I do know that there are not many Mandarin productions in Singapore. Often they are catered to older children, hence kids as young as 5 would not be able to comprehend especially if it is not a well-known story, it makes even harder for the child to understand (I myself may also be lost as my command of Mandarin is also sub-par)

I am thankful whenever Singapore Repertory Theatre’s  The Little Company(“SRT TLC”) stages its Mandarin productions often after their successful run of its English production albeit a year or 2 later. I do hope that in the coming years there is an equal weightage of English and Mandarin productions by SRT TLC –  in recent years SRT TLC stages 3 English and 1 Mandarin production annually.

5 reasons why you shouldn’t miss Red Riding Hood

  1. A story that every kid knows hence they won’t be too “lost in translation”

One of my biggest worries when I bring kids to Mandarin productions is the level of understanding. Firstly, they are not expose to many Mandarin productions (as there ain’t that many as compared to English). What I like about SRT TLC, they don’t use new story or unknown stories, they used stories that all kids will know – The 3 Billy Goats Gruff, The 3 Little Pigs , Goldilocks and the 3 Bears and of course the latest to be interpreted – Red Riding Hood 小红帽. And often their keep quite true to the story line and definitely at the end the moral of the story and a heartwarming end.

photo credit: SRT TLC

  1. Not your typical children production – a different kind of Red Riding Hood – a plot with a twist (no spoiler included)

I asked the daddy whether he enjoyed the show . I expected him to say “ok lor” but I was surprised that he said it was good, in fact very good. Then, of course I probed further ( I am interested to include the review from an adult’s perspective) why he gave it a very good rating, he said that it is not typical of children’s production. It had a twist like in the movie or maybe Channel 8 drama serial which makes the story telling more appealing to the older audiences who will not appreciate that merely a straight-forward story line. Actually at the very beginning when the wolf made its appearance,  the wolf already hinted that in all fairy tales, all bad characters have bad endings, why does it have to be so? I hope I didn’t give away too much.

I shall not do any deeper if not  I will divulge the twist and the end. That said for the youngest audiences like my 4 and 6 year’s old there is a need to explain the twist after watching the show as they had formed many questions. I would like to share what the director has to share about this production and this is truly one for the family!

  1. Stellar cast – with some  serious singing chops

For those who are not familiar with Sugie Phua, he played the lead actor in Lao Jiu to rave reviews and he played the forgetful wordcutter in Red Riding Hood. I guess given any one else, who would have taken this role, it would be more of a supporting role, but boy did he captured my attention, he was so so so so good ! I must also give due credit to Rick Liu’s interpretation of the very smooth and suave wolf and I thought he came close to my personal favourite (George Chan’s portrayal of the big bad wolf in The 3 Little Pigs in 2013) And the 3 ladies –  who played Red Riding Hood, mum and grandma are brilliant actresses and singers in their own rights too!

photo credit: SRT TLC

  1. Comical relief for both kids and adults

There are some slap sticks comedy to provide some comical relief to the kids – not too much but adults are not forgotten. I can hear my other half laughing to the jokes that were pitched more at the adult level. Thank you SRT TLC for not forgetting half of the audiences who may have doze off during the matinee show. There was one and only 1 English word used in the whole entire production – “Highlight” that word had the adult audience bursting into laughter (you have to catch it to appreciate it) . I am not sure if it was part of the script but Sugie Phua was so so smooth and he has such excellent command of Mandarin, that he does tongue twisters and a whole paragraph in 1 single breath. How can he possible remember all the words without getting tongue twist!

photo credit: SRT TLC

  1. Impressive background and props

With all SRT TLC’s production, I expect beautiful backgrounds, props and music to give the entire production a well-rounded and memorable performance. The scene changes from the bakery shop (Red Riding Hood’s family owns a bakery) to the forest and to the grandmother’s house effortlessly. The scene where the grandma was being gobbled up by the wolf (my younger ones were slightly afraid not sure why) was also done so smoothly even I can’t tell where is the escape route for the grandma.

photo credit: SRT TLC

If there is one Mandarin children production you need to catch this year, this has to be it. I am expecting another sell out run and I don’t know how long more I have to wait for another Mandarin’s performance by the SRT TLC.

Red Riding Hood 小红帽

Dates
20 July to 1 Sept 2017

Weekends and Public Holiday : 11am and 2pm
Weekdays: 10am

Venue

KC Arts Centre Home of Singapore Repertory Theatre

20 Merbau Road
Robertson Quay
Singapore 239035

Ticket Pricing

(Excludes Booking Fee)

Weekdays: S$28, S$25

Weekends (Sat & Public Holiday): S$48,S$38,S$35

Book here

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.  No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own. 


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Giveaway & Review – Remescar Eye Bags & Dark Circles – mummies, this is a godsend!

As you all would know I am no beauty blogger. I was slightly apprehensive when I was approached to try and review beauty products. However, I have heard of the rare review of the Remescar Eye Bags &  Dark Circles, a brand from Belgium which promises to see instant results upon first application, I knew I had to try this for myself.

However, if there is ever a product I truly need to cover my flaw, it would be definitely be a wonder product for my dark circles and eye bag. Even before I had kids, I do have very visible dark circles. Whenever I visit my facial therapist, she will never fail to mention my dark circles but with eye massage, eye mask etc, it doesn’t really solved it . After I had kids and all thanks to the lack of sleep, the dark circles becomes even more visible and concealer has become my bff.

So when I was approach to try and review the Remescar Eye Bags &  Dark Circles., I truly want to see how effective is the products. The distributor even shown me youtube video (shared below) of how instantaneous the results ie within minutes.

It is a small tube and at every application you only need to squeeze the size of a rice grain.  Firstly on clean washed face, you apply on the entire under eye area using 1 finger using gentle tapping motion. Thereafter, you should remain expressionless for 2 to 3 minutes for the cream to take effect.

 

It was amazing after a few second I felt the areas of my under eye area tightening (I guess that is why the eye bags can be reduced) . The effects on the eye bags are definitely more apparent compared to that of the dark circle. I wouldn’t say it has completely remove the dark circle but what I notice is there is a more even skin tone around my eyes. It is true that it is very effective from the very first application, hence I may not have to slap on concealers from now on as you can use it with makeup on.Those who wish to use it with makeup, you should apply your makeup first before applying Remescar. It is advisable to use it once a day.

You must be wondering what is the content of Remescar that allow this “miracle” to happen.

The product used a combination of clay minerals and bi-peptise complex which  helps with the following:

  • Skin tightening: As the serum is absorbed into the skin, clay minerals attach themselves directly to skin cells to help form a strong network, giving a visible skin-tightening effect
  • A decrease in water accumulation: A specialised tetrapeptide has an effect on the permeability of blood vessels around the eyes, preventing an accumulation of fluid.
  • Micromuscular-pause: Fine lines are a result of an overstimulation of facial muscles under the eyes. The product has a specific multipeptide that blocks muscular triggers, decreasing muscular contractions for a Botox-like effect.

Remescar Eye Bags & Dark Circles is priced at $52 and is available at Watson, Unity, Guardian, SA SA stores, Healthscoop, Redmart and beautiful.me.

Remescar 

website

facebook

Giveaway

Remescar Singapore has kindly sponsored 2 sets to 2 lucky readers.

1. Liked FB pages of mypreciouzkids.com and Remescar 

2. Followed mypreciouzkids on Instagram

3. Liked and share this FB post (tag 2 friends) and in the same FB post, let me know why you would like to win Remescar Eye Bags & Dark Circles.

Please keep your Facebook shared post public (as indicated in step 3)  in order to qualify so that I can locate your entry.

I will be picking the 2 lucky winners using random.org. The giveaway closes on 30 July 2017 2359pm (Sun)

Winner :  Ashley Tan and Rahama Tunnisa

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.  No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own. 


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Review – FIVE Square’s Saturday Family Fun is just too awesome!

My hubby and I love Saturday nights when we will go bar hopping and enjoy a beer or two and just to chill and relax after a hectic week /to recharge for the coming week ahead, but most places ie bars aren’t the most kids friendly places – high stool, crowded, I’d be lucky if they provide baby chair and we often leave the kids home for our night out.

Now we may no longer have to leave the kids behind on Saturday nights  as we found a gem right in the heart of CBD but away from the hustle and bustle of city on a Saturday night (how ironic!). Those who are working in the CBD will be familiar with FIVE Square as it is one of the more popular and crowded lunch venues on weekdays and  also for after work drinks.

Comes Saturday, this same place takes an entirely different feel and crowd – the family crowd! Yay! Kudos to the people behind FIVE Square for thinking of parents who want to chill and have a drink or not but not leave the young ones at home!

What I found at FIVE Square on Saturday family fun goes way beyond my expectations,

Baby/high chair – checked

Bouncy castle – checked

Ball pit – checked

Good selection of food for kids and adults -checked

Beer – checked

Bar snack – checked

Pool table – checked

Dart board – checked

Air-conditioning comfort – checked!

There are many restaurants in Singapore that will bring out the bouncy castles on weekend to attract the family crowd, but often the bouncy castle is placed in the outdoors. FIVE Square has so much space that they have catered a space indoors for the bouncy castle (on weekdays this space is where the live band will play -excellent use of space!). Given the hot & humid weather, I really do not really like my kids to be jumping outdoors.

So on ALL SATURDAYS, from 11 am to 8 pm, FIVE Square will set up their kids section/ play area complete with bouncing castle, slide with ball pits and motorised vehicles.

For the “bigger” kids’ entertainment, they have this!

Finally, I managed to pry the kids away from the play area to order for dinner. We were given a cosy corner with ample space and high chair, with the view of the play area too!

The food wise, it doesn’t disappoint at all but super friendly on the pockets too! I had ordered my food from cin.qo tapas which serves pizza, pasta, paella and tapas.

It is a no brainer as all my kids are huge pasta fans. There are 2 types- classic pastas at $9.90 which are your typical carbonara, bolognese, lasagna etc and DIY pasta for $7.90 where you can choose your own pasta base, type of pasta and a selection of 1 main and 2 vegetables.

So I ordered bolognese penne for missy C which came with shaved cheese while I DIYed two pastas – aglio olio spaghetti with tiger prawn with broccoli and mushroom (I know its not typical pasta ingredient but I love it that it is a more balanced diets and all the ingredients that small J likes) and I had white wine spaghetti with squid, asparagus and broccoli (I loved my greens).

For the presentation and taste it surely did not justify the price tag. Typically, such portion and presentation will cost me anyway between $15 to $20 plus in an Italian restaurant.

The older boys had a peperoni pizza to share. We ordered several tapas to share  – calamari, truffle fries, pork belly and my favourite – garlic cockles! It is a pity they didn’t have chicken wings as it is a must with our beer.

This garlic cockles is not a regular dish at such establishments, but this is a winner. Cooked just nice ( I hate overcooked cockles ) with tangy mix of garlic and lime and for the extra kick, the sambal belacan! And having it with beer is the best combi ever! I will return to FIVE Square just for their garlic cockles!

For those who are not a big fan of Italian food, you can hop over to Teppei Syokudo for its huge range of donburi and of course their very famous kaisendon minus the queue at their main outlet! Besides Japanese, there is also a Western food stall serving all kinds of grilled meat, Vietnamese food and a Malaysian cuisine stall (which opens on Mon to Fri).

As this is a kids friendly blog, I shall not delve so much into the variety of drinks ie beer and liquor , all I can say the list was 5 pages long  – beer, wines, sake, cocktails, shorts, spirits and 1 page just for whisky selection(for whisky lovers out there!). No worries, you can order fruit juices for the kids and there is your typical drinks stall just like in the foodcourt serving can drinks , kopi and teh.

the bar

After dinner, my kids had round 2 at the play area shortly before the play area  closes at 8pm (the place closes at 12 midnight!), by then there were  only a few families left and we almost that the whole play areas to ourselves. My family are crowd adverse people so we really like FIVE Square for the space and lack of crowd in the CBD on Saturdays.  My husband self entertained himself at the dart board and the pool table. There is really nothing to fault about this place, we all had a good  and pocket friendly dinner, the kids had fun and the adults too! This is also a perfect and comfortable place for large group gathering (with or without kids) due to the ample space.

As this place operates like a food court, you will need to place order of food at the self-ordering kiosks and key in your phone number so when the food is ready for collection, an SMS will be sent out to notify you.

If you are there for Saturday lunch, you can come by as early at 11am as the play area will be setup at 11am and for dinner, you may want to go ard 5ish so that the kids can have their bouncing fun before dinner. The play area will be closed at 8pm though the whole place is opened all the way to midnight.

Did you know that FIVE Square is also the home of Arsenal supporters in Singapore, so for those daddies/mummies who are Arsenal supporters,  they screened all Arsenal matches live there too!

FIVE Square also host events such as baby showers and birthday party on Saturday all thanks to the play area setup. Starting from $25 ++ per pax (Min 40 pax) which includes a 10 course catering food selection. The 3 hours party slot are from 11 to 2pm or 3pm to 6pm . In fact the day that I visited FIVE Square for dinner,  the afternoon children’s party was ending and they are totally booked for this month already. Do write to kelvin@fivebar.sg to arrange for your party. How have I missed on this venue for my party hosting, but alas I am done with my children’s party for this year. You have to visit the place to see for yourself the space that they have – it is a huge 13,000 square feet ! Now you know why there is ample space even to place the bouncy castle indoors!

cheers to a great Saturday!

FIVE Square

1 Pickering St

#01-03 Great Eastern Centre

Singapore 048659

Open from Monday to Saturday 10am to 12 midnight

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Which is also part of the FIVE Bar group which also has outlets Collyer Quay, Changi City Point and Cuppage Terrace but the Saturday family fun only happens at FIVE Square at Great Eastern Centre.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.  No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own. 


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Review – Marshall Cavendish Education’s Conquering Comprehension

I had friends who had attending Marshall Cavendish Education (“MCE”) ‘s parent workshops on Saturday which were 6 hours long and had raved about it, ie money and time well-spent. Saturdays are extremely busy days for me as the kids have classes and swim classes, so I never didn’t want to take time off from parenting duties just to attend a 6 hour long workshop.

However, as big J’s home work and review papers are no longer walk in the park, I came to the realisation that I am not equiped to guide him at home effectively, the best way forward it so to “upgrade” myself. It is just like work, what I am lacking I need to find information, attend course etc. And like what my friend put it I will reap the most value out of these workshops as I have 4 kids and they will gradually would go through the system and sitting for PSLE.

They had many workshops during the June holidays which were beneficial to me, however due to parenting duties on Saturdays I procrastinated until July and finally I took time off from my parenting duties and attended my first ever workshop with MCE which focuses on  Conquering Comprehension.

During term 2 review, big J lost most of his marks in the English paper in comprehension (and it wasnt even open-ended), but after I had a read of the comprehension passage, I faulted the boy less. Even at the level of understanding of an adult, I had a double/ triple take at the questions and answers – which all require Higher Order Thinking (“HOT”) which will be further elaborated below. I even thought the correct answer was wrong. I guess these are the types of questions that differentiate the better ones over the others.

Only recently as well did I realise that unlike Chinese comprehension, the child cannot just lift off the passage. It clearly show me that I do not possess the knowledge nor strategies to properly guide big J through his comprehension section of the English paper.

The workshop was conducted Chitra Pillay- Chua who was once a HOD of the English Department of a primary school and currently focuses her work solely on comprehension making her an expert in comprehension questions and strategies.

At the start of the workshop, she asked the participants what were the most common problem faced by us.

  1. Most were unsure of the level of understanding of the child after reading
  2. The child reads but cannot answer
  3. Improper sentence structure (during PSLE no marks will be deducted for grammatical error made in comprehension section, however this may not be the case during school reviews/test)
  4. Complicated questions which required Higher Order Thinking (“HOT” – will be further elaborate below)

Chitra told us the story of 2 word cutters- one a young woodcutter and one an elderly woodcutter. The young woodcutter work through lunch and chop wood incessantly non stop while the elderly woodcutter had a lunch break. At the end of the day, the elderly woodcutter had chopped more words than the young one. The young one asked the elderly woodcutter, how did you manage to chop so much wood ,and even took lunch break! The secret was that he spend some time during lunch break sharpening his axe.

So we parents who gave worksheets and drills after drills (I am also guilty of this) are liken the young woodcutter. However, if we had known the proper strategies and techniques to “conquering” comprehension, it is liken to a sharpened axe of the elderly woodcutter, ie you may not have to do many drills to get the results you want.

I also wonder how are the students in school taught composition in school. Apparently most schools test rather than teach composition. The difference lies in testing comprehension involves asking a series of questions to ascertain the level of understanding while teaching comprehension focuses on equipping students with a set of comprehension skills to assist them in understanding the text thoroughly.

The workshop was broken down into 3 components, what does reading comprehension means, common comprehension strategies and Higher Order Thinking (“HOT”).

Reading comprehension

Reading does not equate to understanding. A voracious reader may not necessarily do well in comprehension.

All the participants were given this passage to read. How much do you understand of this passage after reading? How would we be able to understand this better?

The answer:  Background knowledge

If we had knowledge about galaxies or astronomy subjects, we would have a better understanding of this passage. However, none of the participants had a clue what this paragraph means as we have little or zero background knowledge to the subject in this paragraph. Many a times the child is able to read the passage but unable to comprehend the passage given due to lack of background knowledge.

There are some factors which could assist in understanding what you have read

-Knowledge / background to assist comprehension

Most of the times, the child may just be focusing on recognising the words , blending the letter sounds to read the words ie decoding. Those who are weak in comprehension do not make connections between what they read to what they already know (ie background knowledge) and they do not think deeply what is being read which bring to the next point. Some of the ways to mitigate this to accumulate a variety of knowledge and experiences through reading, exposure through travels, trip, outings, museum, etc.

-Good readers think while they read

One of the best ways to encourage this is to model our thinking. Reading a comprehension and articulating our thinking as we read along  is one way to improve understanding of the content. So instead of just reading the comprehension passage with child, articulate your thoughts throughout the passage so that when the child does the same during his own reading.  .

– Annotations

This is a good practise to make little notes, arrows or even emojis – sad face, smiley face, question marks etc  as the child read the passage to activate the thinking process as the child is reading.

The participants had a hands-on practice on annotations while reading through the passage

Common Comprehension strategies

There are many comprehension strategies, Chitra shared the 4 more common strategies.

1.Make connections with background knowledge

Throughout the workshop, much emphasis has been given to the importance of background knowledge. For example while reading a passage about going to the beach, you can relate an experience of  a recent beach outing so that they can make connection to the words/passage that they were reading. If you make a connection to yourself, it is called a text-to-self connection; if you make a connection from the story you are reading to another story you have read, it is called a text-to-text connection; and, if you make a connection to something you have seen on the news or to an experience someone you know has had, it is called a text-to-world connection.

2. Inferencing ie reading between the lines

This strategy requires readers to evaluate or draw conclusions from information in a text. Authors/ writers  do not always provide complete descriptions of, or explicit information about a topic, setting, character, or event. However, they often provide clues that readers can use to “read between the lines”-by making inferences that combine information in the text with their background knowledge.

3. Summarise

Somebody…..wanted….but….so….then. Doing a short summary of the passage after reading also improve understanding and for parents a way to test the level of understanding. For example the story of The Little Read Riding Hood could be summarised as a somebody wanted to visit her grandma but met a wolf along the way and told him about her grandma, so the wolf ate grandma , then the woodcutter manage save the grandma and her.

4. Ask questions

If the child ask questions about what is happening in the story, a character’s feelings, or wonder what will happen next, the child will be engaged in his reading, and that will help him understand on a deeper level.

Higher Order Thinking (“HOT”)

There is a difference between answer that can be found in the text or in my head. Answers that can be found in the text falls in the lower two level of Bloom’s taxonomy which are more on remembering and understanding typically for p1 and p2 level.  For more difficult questions which requires application, analysing, evaluating or even creating, this require HOT. For such questions, the answers are in my head  , is not located in the text and can be obtained by making inferences. Some questions may requires your own opinion/experiences which is the highest level in the Bloom’s taxonomy – creating!

Hence for one same passage, can be used for lower or upper primary depends on the type of questioning. For lower primary, the questions will be more in the text, while in upper primary, the questions will require more HOT and in your head.

It was a very informative 6 hour session as I learnt skills  to teach (not test) my son in doing his comprehension and most importantly, how to improve understanding when reading (not just for comprehension but any form of reading). We also had many hands-on practices to further apply what we have learnt with hope that we can guide our child more effectively at home. At least, now I have a clearer picture on how to use the comprehension strategies to teach comprehension to my p2. There was also an article on Straits Time early this year on parents attending tuition to help the kids. I believe such parents (myself included having attended my first tuition) would like to be avoid the tuition route , to be more involved and hands-on in our child’s education and to better understand the MOE syllable.

Marshall Cavendish Education is currently working on the second half year schedule and relooking at the formatting of the workshop . Do bookmark this page for their future workshops that you maybe interested in. Below as some of the type of courses that they have organised for parents of p1 to p4 and PSLE preparations for parents of p5 and p6.


Marshall Cavendish Education

No.1 New Industrial Road
Times Centre
Singapore 536196

T: (65) 6213 9300
E: marketing@mceducation.com

Website

Facebook 

Instagram

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.  No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own. 


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Giveaway: Owl Readers Club – not your regular bookstore

After the previous post which was my most difficult blog review ever to date, having to review Chinese books, phew, now I can heave a big sigh of relief to review a beautiful set of English books.

I guess the month of July will be all about books (and of course prepping for p1) and most coincidentally, the next online book store that I will be reviewing curate her Chinese collection through Meiru’s Flip for Joy which I have reviewed here previously. So you can get the Chinese books from either website.

Owl Readers Club is not just your regular online book store, but one where they want to bring together like-minded book loving families to share and even exchange titles. They have a membership and reward programme which will be elaborate below.

But firstly, lets look at the beautiful books that I have ordered this time with small J and small C in mind. As Owl Readers Club curates books for kids aged 7 and below, so it is only fitting now to add to library for the younger books who normally only get the hand me downs from the older siblings.

I had a hard time choosing the books. I had it a bit easier as I had ordered my fair share of Chinese books from Flip for Joy previously (my review here) , hence, I didn’t really look at their Chinese book collection which I had gone through one round. Just by concentrating on the English book collection alone, I am amazed by the variety and genre of books that Owl Readers Club has curated, I had so many books I wanted to order!

Ordering online is a breeze, with a simple synopsis of the books and reviews from club members. For some of the books, they have also provided links to their facebook posts of their review and some even have video book review. However, due to the sheer amounts of books that they carry, they are slowly but surely adding the video review/page insert on each book online. They accept payment by major credit cards and free delivery for orders above SGD 60. They also have a price assurance policy whereby if you found the similar book selling at a cheaper price at the brick and mortar store in Singapore within 2 weeks, there will be a refund policy.

Finally, I narrowed down to a decent haul , and when my kids saw the latest loot, they were overjoyed. They went on identifying the books that have seen before in their child care etc.

It is no secret my kids adored Julia Donaldson and had a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the author/ songwriter/singer (she is so talented!) earlier this year. You can read all about it here.
Small J is big fan as he recognized that his name has “Julia” in it and whenever he come across a title from Julia Donaldson he will tell me to buy it. I do have many Julia Donaldson’s books in kids collection but there are still many that I do not own. So I took the opportunity to add two more books to my/kids collection of Julia Donaldson’s books, these were to easiest to choose as I knew that my kids will love them.

A Squeeze and A Squash

The kids are familiar with this story as I had borrowed it from the library before and this story was also covered in the recent show by Julia Donaldson. Even though the kids had read and know the story by heart, I still think there is a need to keep a copy at home. This is one of those stories that the kids will request me to read over and over again. Even small J even though he can’t read yet, he is so familiar with the story that he can flip page for page and narrate the story. There is even a song for this as well. I have inserted the link below too.

The story of how a wise old man prove to the old lady there is enough room in the house when he asked a hen, a goat, a pig and a cow into the house and made the house a squash and a squeeze. Then she realised once all the animals were out of the house, she knew the wise old man was right and that she has no need to grumble and grouse.

 

The Smartest Giant in Town

George the Giant brought himself new clothes  and proclaimed that he is the smartest giant in town. Along the way, he generously gave away his tie to a cold giraffe, his shirt to a goat, his shoe for the mouse, his sock for the fox, his belt to the dog which eventually made his pants dropped. He didn’t manage to get new clothes as the shop was closed but what he received in return was a card that proclaimed he is the kindest giant in town. It is a very heart warming story for the kids.

 

Draw me a Star

Another bestseller from a famous author, Eric Carle. I do not know of any kids who doesn’t know The Hungry Caterpillar or Brown Bear, Brown Bear , What do you See by heart. Frankly, I have not read this book from Eric Carle before, but small C is into everything about stars so I thought he will love this book and with all Eric Carle books, all books written and illustrated by him are keepers! And maybe passed on from generation to generation.

The book started with the artist drawing every requests -star, sun, tree,house, animals, flowers of different colours. Finally, the moon requested for the artist to draw the star which was illustrated step by step. It doesn’t really have a morale to the story, but it fuels the little minds with imagination and perhaps the ability to draw a star of their own.

Fish is Fish

I chose another famous author/ illustrator, Leo Lionni. My kids’ child care has a wonderful collection of Leo Lionni books and hence they are very familiar with his stories more than me. I got acquainted with his books through my kids as there was a month in school some years back that was themed after books written by him.

A modern fable of a minnow who wants to follow his tadpole friend, who becomes a frog and venture into the great big world and came back to the pond to tell his fish friend the things he saw – birds, cows, people. The fish decided that he also should go see the world and jump out of the pond. He couldnt breathe when he landed on the grass only to have the frog rescue him and came to realise his world is the most beautiful and that fish is fish. What amazes me about this book was the illustration where the birds, cows and peoples were illustrated in the shape of fish which can be a great talking point with the kids.

A Color of His Own

This was another book chosen with small C in mine to introduce to him the different colours through the beautiful illustrations by Leo Lionni himself, as we explore the different colours of the chameleon and his question of whether he could have a colour of his own.  A pretty straight forward story for my 2 year old to appreciate the colour and for my 4 year old to appreciate the wonders of a true friend.

Cloudette

I am not familiar with Tom Lichtenheld but I was attracted by the cover of the book. It talks all things about a small cloud named Cloudette. Due to her small size, she couldnt do things the big clouds do  like make a waterfall fall. One day a big storm blew her to a new place and made new friend. A frog needed a pond and hence, Cloudette grew into a big cloud and poured on to the puddle and which grew into a pond. All the frogs thanked her for the pond and made her realised that she has the ability to do important despite her size. This is the perfect story for the little ones to make them believe that there are important things that they can achieve despite being small and young.

Do the kids have a favourite among these books? They loved each and every book from my recent haul from Owl Readers Club. I recalled the morning after the books arrived at my home, it was a Saturday morning, and the kids were up early, so they were in their room, those who can read were reading through it, those who cant read, were flipping through or being read to. It was a very heartwarming scene all thanks to the beautiful books from Owl Readers Club and their pursuit to cultivate the love for books and reading to the very young ones!

As I mentioned at the start of this blog post, Owl Readers Club is not your average online book store. A little more of them and their initiatives….

Owl Readers Club

Owl Readers Club is a club specially designed to encourage families to cultivate good reading habits. With these beliefs in mind, we have created an array of features to allow families to embark on an engaging and exciting reading journey. Apart from curating quality children’s titles at competitive prices, organizing interesting reading-related events, providing opportunities to meet with fellow book-loving families and rewarding active club members, we are also constantly working to tie up with merchants to provide added benefits for our members. We are committed to creating a club where members will enjoy both tangible and intangible rewards of reading with their children.

 Membership System and Rewards Programme

Basic and Paid members earn reward points which can be redeemed for purchases. 5 points are awarded for every $1 spent, redemption begins at 500 points which can be exchanged for $5 credit.

Basic Member Owl Star Member (6m) Owl Star Member (12m)
FREE Usual Price $98 Usual Price $188
FREE Promo Price $68 Promo Price $98
200 welcome points 200 welcome points 200 welcome points
1000 reward points 2500 reward points

–          Sign up as a basic member for free and start earning reward points (e.g. 200 points for sign up, 50 points for writing book review, 200 points for attending book club events and writing reviews)

–          Upgrade to a paid 6 or 12 months Owl Star Membership to enjoy benefits (e.g. discounts off HUA language centre, BYKIDO, Annie+Alex, Liliewoods, Little Llama, bouncy castle rental, to name a few).

–          Upgrading to a paid 6 or 12 months Owl Star Membership also allows you to earn double reward points for every dollar spent, as well as double reward points for writing book reviews, attending book club  events etc.

Phone APP

Owl Readers Club has also develop their own application (Android version on Play Store and the iOS version)and its currently on beta launch.  Apart from the sale of books through the apps, Owl Star members would be able to use the apps to connect with other members to exchange books or organise book related activities together! You will be given points as well upon downloading and using the app.

You can access more info at: https://owlreaders.club/blogs/benefits and https://owlreaders.club/pages/member

Owl Readers Club

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Owl Readers Club has kindly sponsored a complimentary 6-month membership (worth $98) and $25 credit (in the form of points to be redeemed) to spend in their online store.

  1. Join Owl Readers Club as a basic member (free signup) and state your email address for the membership used in IG post for verification (or PM me separately)
  2. Liked FB pages of mypreciouzkids.com and Owl Readers Club
  3. Followed mypreciouzkids and Owl Readers Club on Instagram
  4. Repost this visual on IG(tag 3 friends or more (on my IG post, one tag per comment) with hashtag #mypreciouzkidsgiveaway

Please keep your Instagram profile public (as indicated in step 4)  in order to qualify so that I can locate your entry .

I will be picking the 1 lucky winner using random.org. The giveaway closes on 23 July 2017 2359pm (Sun).

Winner @iam_mswee

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.  No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own. 


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Preparing your child for Primary 1 -welcome to a new milestone for both child and parent

2 years ago when my first child, big J embarked on this milestone, I was  all “excited” as it was a new journey for me as a mother to a primary school kid. I did have a p1 prep series on my blog covering mostly things I have gotten for big J for his primary 1 but as I was an inexperienced parents myself, I wouldn’t be able to elaborate on more intangible items which I will elaborate in this post as I have gone through 1 round with big J. Hence, I am better prepared as a parent as big C starts her journey next year.  I wouldn’t say that I am expert p1 prep mummy but I have gone through one round, but by 2022 when my #4 small C enters primary 1, I will be an EXPERT!

After the excitement of the p1 registration was done and dusted 2 years ago this time, I went on a retail therapy to prep big J for his milestone journey (partly to counter my own anxiety as my first born enters his important milestone.. For this time round, I started much earlier in preparation for this blog series of p1 prep enlisting the help of some sponsors along the way and my own personal experiences.  I hope that you will find this blog useful as you navigate through this milestone with your child especially for the next coming half year before school beckons in 2018.

Things to purchase

  • Ergonomic table – You can read about my review and current on-going giveaway (giveaway has ended) of the I-Study T120. 
  • Ergonomic school bag – Ergo or non ergo? I believe this is what most parents will be asking.  We grew up in the era where we have never heard of the word ergonomic and I think we all turn out pretty fine, though the loads that the primary school students carry today maybe be far greater than what we had carried during  our time. I do acknowledge that ergonomic bags are much heavier than regular school bags due to its make and its spinal support, but I personally prefer to spend a bit more on a better structure bag especially as the child will be using it on a daily basis. There are many ergonomic bags which are in the range of SGD 100 plus and it probably can last 2 years or more. Some brands also offer trade in for the old bag for a  discount for the new purchase. Big J has been using Impact’s Comfort Spinal Protection since start of p1. You can read my review here  and 1.5 years old I must say it is still in pretty good shape despite being thrown everyday on the floor. There are many ergonomic brands in the market, Ergobag , SPI, Lego, Deuter, Dr Kong, Moonrock.  My word of advise, do bring along the child when you try on the bag, what is pleasing to you may not be suitable depending on the child’s height and built. See review here for IMPACT IPEG 223 by Ergoworks. 
  • Pencil case, stationery etc -I will not encourage to prep the child with the fanciest stationery like from Smiggle etc. They are bound to lose at some point in time. Also fanciful stationery will attract attention and take the focus away from class proper. Some school teachers do find it a huge distraction when pupils gather to “play” or “fiddle” with the fanciful gadgets or stationery. The best place to get the stationery will be from Popular School fair which happen every year end where I will go on a massive stock up of stationery of school. This time round, I also manage to do get a personalized school kit from Stuck on You for big C.   See my review for the school kit here.

  1. Name label, clothes label, shoe label – see my review from Stuck on You

  • Lunch box/snack box – with the implementation of snack break, there is a need to bring a lunch box to school . In the past when there is no snack break, J prefers to buy from the canteen during recess (coupled by the fact I do not have time to prepare for him) , hence there was no need for any lunch box per say. For the new mandatory snack break implemented by MOE ie healthy food and less messy food are to be consumed in the classroom. Big J’s preference is fruits which is easy for me. For big C, I will have to think hard on what to pack for her. I got her a cutesy my little pony lunch box (I cant remember where but was at some departmental store and check out the Stuck on You label. Do check out the latest and newest personalised bento boxes from Stuck on You , newly launched –  big C will get her own personalised bento box from Stuck on You – see my review here

photo credit: Stuck on You

  • Wallet – I find the nicer one at Toys R Us or Smiggle and the elastic chain you can get it from Popular or the school’s book store
  • Water bottle – as the kid will get to refill it often at the water cooler, there isn’t a need to get a giant size one. Also no particular need for a strap as they normally placed the water bottle on the designated table before purchasing the food
  • School shoes and polisher – There are many brands such as BATA (there is a model which is lightweight that J particularly liked though it does not last very long – so far a pair last him half a year), the school uniform vendors also sell them especially for  some schools which uses black school shoes instead of white . If you are making trips to Malaysia, the white shoes are generally cheaper in Malaysia too! White shoes are just more functional than fashionable at this juncture. As the feet grow in size and daily wear and tear, there isn’t a need to invest in a branded white pair of sports shoes (in my opinion those some parents may differ).  There is also a brand called Raymax which seems to be a popular choice among students as well. http://www.raymaxscience.com.sg/
  • For girls – hair accessories in approved colours ie black
  • Name stamp or label printers (in substitute of of name labels) My mum actually used this for me during my schooling days! This is an alternative to pre-printed name labels.  There are also printer labels from brands like Brothers or Dymo  . See this for review of Brothers’ label printer.
  • Watch – big J didn’t have a watch in p1 and he survived through it. There is a wall clock in the classroom and school bells at the end of every period,hence there isn’t much need for a watch. However, if the child start attending cca outside school hours and when you think time management is a critical skill , you can invest in a rather inexpensive watch such as Casio. Big J started to wear a digital Casio in p2 to better manage his time and have some sense of time.  Digital smart watch is currently in the rage, some are rather pricey and you require a sim card plan in order for it to function at its full capacity. It has phone calling and GPS capability. It is targeted who pupils who does not own a smartphone – an in between till they are officially allowed to own a smartphone.  The prices of such high tech gadgets cost from SGD 60 to SGD 200++ This device will be useful when the child take public transport on his own and leave the vicinity of the school compound on his own – location tracking. If the child is either in student care or school, there isn’t a real need to do location tracking. Big J already lost a Swatch watch (not brought for p1 but his birthday present) in school , so no thank you for now, and I don’t feel the need for a smart watch at this juncture and more so for the p1. As in point above, the more fanciful an item that the child brings to school , there is more distraction created which is most unwelcome by the teachers! 
  • Uniform – a tip – buy more PE attire than uniform, it is more comfortable. I cannot speak for all school but big J wears it every day because it saves me the trouble of ironing and more comfortable as well as he is in the afternoon session. The school’s general rule is on days of PE and CCA, they are allowed to wear PE attire. It may differ from schools to schools so do check with the school teachers on orientation day and gauge the correct proportion of uniform vs PE attire when you are about to purchase from the uniform vendor during orientation day.
  • Textbooks – most parents will purchase them lock, stock and barrel during school orientation day as it is all pre-bundled with exercise books, folders,book covers etc . However, if you have the book list you can also purchase the text book at Popular with some additional savings and credit card rebates, however, you will still need to purchase some school specific items like journal, exercise book etc (hence you still need to make a trip to the school book store) So in short, if you want to save the hassle (as the savings is not huge), do get it all at the school book store. Some school book store also offer delivery service saving the hassle of carrying it all home. Do remember to get the plastic book covers as well to save you from the hassle of cutting and wrapping their textbook.
  • Alarm clock – this is good to train independence, however if you have sleeping log like big J, the loudest alarm clock wouldn’t rouse him from his deep slumber

Skills to learn

  • Handling money – Money counting skill and most importantly how much to bring if the child eats in school and saving. Some preschools and child cares will also organize a trip to a nearby primary school’s canteen to let the current k2 the joy of purchasing food on their own. In this aspect, I am not too worried for big C as she often tag along her brother to buy “safe” food and drinks at the hawker centre but she hasn’t really learn to count money. Rest assured even if the child is unable to count money by the time they enter primary 1, the canteen aunty are always helpful to return the correct change to you, and it is a skill they will learn in no time.  Its for the parent to gauge the correct amount of money to be given to the child in the initial periods. Some school canteens have electronic payment system whereby it can be deducted from the child’s preloaded student pass. A trip to the canteen on orientation day will give an idea the average cost of the food. Recently, big J’s primary school introduce healthy meal eating which has raised the cost of canteen food due to inclusion of healthier food such as fruits and multigrain rice etc. Some school also have a buddy system during the initial days at the canteen  or some school  will have parent volunteer to assist them in the first few days of schooling.
  • Cleaning own-self in the toilet – When I ask my fellow mummies what are the main concerns in primary 1, one common response – cleaning themselves after big business. I didn’t have an issue because big J never did big business in school (don’t ask him how he does it, but he only does his big business at home) but letting the child try on his own (with monitoring) and maybe bring along a Kleenex toilet tissue will ensure a cleaner wipe than regular toilet paper.
  • Reading analog time – This is similar to handling money, even if you don’t read time, with the school bells ringing at every period end, you will be able to survive p1. Then said, it is part of the p1 Math syllable but nearer to the end of the year.  It will still be good to teach the kid to teach analog clock during the school holidays but do not stress over it too much!
  • Class of 40/30 kids vs a small size class setting in childcare or preschool – I was not prepared for this until big J started p1. I didn’t think it was an issue but it was for big J. His K2 class was smaller in size and he is often the one contributing in class etc. When he transited to primary 1 and in a class size of 30 (all strangers to him) he is unable to contribute as much as he wish to as the teacher would want to give every one an opportunity especially the more quiet kids. I do not have a solution to this for big C but I would have to mentally prep her that it is a much bigger class than her current k2 class with unfamiliar friends and teachers.
  • The school book store – Some kids discover this early, some not so. But as parents we have to navigate it carefully. This is similar to the snack store in school. First rule of them, do not give them excessive money – when there is no excess they will not be able to buy unnecessary items. Then again there are kids who skipped the meal entirely to buy unnecessary items or snacks. From the start of the school, parents have to be firmed on what the money can be spend on. If there is a need to buy something from the book store, ask for permission before purchasing it. Big J had been caught a few times buying country eraser and some fancy erasers from the bookstore.  If all stern warnings do not solve the issue, then the most extreme measure will be cut away the pocket money entirely.
  • Journalling – the habit of writing homework, outstanding items etc . Most school will require students to purchase My FTGP Journal ie diary where the main purpose is to jot down notes, and most importantly school homework so that the child/parent do not need to rummage through the whole school bag to search for undone homework. Do not worry as the teachers will guide them through the initial weeks and they will be an expert in no time.
  • Being responsible for items required in school ie no helicopter parenting -School not allowing parents to bring missing items to school, I am totally for it. The child will need to learn to be responsible for his /her own items.
  • Adapting to student care – some student care encourages the p1 going child to join in Dec so that the child can get use to student care before p1 begins, you can explore this option with the student care when enrolling your child in the student care
  • Phone call – As the p1 are not encourage to bring handphone to school, if there is ever a need to call the parents, there is a coin telephone (ie your child need to remember the handphone of either parents or both) or the final resort will be to seek the assistance of the school office admin who will definitely have the parents’ phone number in file.

Knowledge to acquire

  • Hanyupinyin (“HYPY”) – There is heavy emphasis in HYPY in primary 1, even more so that the Chinese character recognition.  It is best to expose them to some foundation before going to primary 1. I do know that most k2 syllable and Chinese enrichment classes which will touch on HYPY in K2.
  • Handwriting – I was shocked when I discovered there is hand writing book in p1 and even p2 called Stellar. It looks rather elementary to me but I had realize that legible and neat handwriting is very important and should be inculcated from a young age. Generally girls have neater handwriting than boys based on my general observation . That said, I realised big J has improved on his handwriting neatness so that hand writing book does help in a way.
  • English–  you can check my review on some supplement material for your p1 going kids. I found this interesting write up on young parents on 8 things your child must know before he starts primary school from the English language perspective
  • Mathematics  – you can check my review  and here  on some supplement materials which could be useful for your p1 going kid
  • I found a few articles on young parents website on the level of knowledge your child should have entering primary 1-  English, Math and Chinese. That said, do not be overly worried as most schools will have remedial classes for weaker students as early as the beginning of primary 1 so that they can catch up with their peers. The articles’ content were mostly provided by enrichment centres hence expectations maybe on the high side. I also know some schools which practice segregation to cater to students of different learning abilities by class too.

Others

  • Silent reading books (most school do not encourage comic, even it is from general knowledge magazine like Young Scientist etc) . Personally I prefer a light thin books or books from the library, non hard cover etc as the school bag already weigh a ton! Especially for Chinese books, there are many suitable thin Chinese books from the Singapore collection that you can borrow for your child to bring during silent reading during assembly. For your home’s Chinese book home collection, I would recommend Flip for Joy to build your own library of Chinese books. See my review here.
  • Daily cleaning of classroom – since the 2017, students are tasked with different cleaning duties, be it at the canteen table, sweeping the floor in the classrooms . Parents are also encouraged to reinforce such good habits at home.
  • Have good personal hygiene– ensure they have proper hand washing technique and also when they should be washing their hands ie before and after meal, after toilet, after sneezing or coughing or after class duties
  • Being involved as a Parent Support Group (“PSG”) – I am a PSG myself though due to work commitments (signed up on the first day of school), I am not the most active but I do try my best to volunteer my time for school activities and the week –long programme. When your kid sees that their parents are involved in school activities, they will feel a sense of support and pride. PSG also allows me to know the parenting networks and the teaching cohort better.
  • Familiarising with the new environment – As compare to the childcare or preschool, the primary school compound maybe be intimidating to the child. Do take the child around the school during the school orientation day to familiarize themselves especially the important areas like toilet, assembly hall, canteen and office.
  • Helping your child develop a routine – As more and more schools are turning into single sessions should, it’s time to get the child to go to bed early and waking up earlier. Do try to develop a routine closer to school reopening so that the transition will be smoother. Pace year end activities – do not come back at the tail end of the school holidays so that the child will get ample rest before his big milestone. It would also be useful to help them develop an after-school routine/ time- table, such as setting aside time for homework and play.
  • Buy food and eat faster -To make the transition easier, you may to pack a small sandwich or snack for your child for the first 2 weeks of school so that they will still have something to eat if they find it too difficult to manage at recess time.
  • Guiding kids to make healthier food choice  – no child can resist snacks or sweets especially when they have their own pocket money. As parents we should model and guide them on selecting healthier food and leave the snack and sweet treats for special occasion or rewards.
  • Do a Transport Dry Run– Whether you will be walking to school together, taking public transport, or using the school bus, it is always a good idea to do a dry run together –this is also to gauge the approximate travel time , though morning rush hours and traffic and bad weather will add on to the travel time.
  • Set aside time to talk to the child after school – often the teachers will relay informations for the parents tthrough the child. You will also be able to find out about his emotions, fears and and on-goings in school. There are kids who would just spilled everything once they reached home, others will be only say when asked.
  • Communication with teachers and other parents – the most popular will be an app called Class Dojo. This is a platform for teachers to communicate with parents (without divulging their phone number). For parents, there is the group whatapps chat group though they are two camps of thought on whether is it beneficial to join. Some parents do not feel the need to have the safety net of information if the child has missed out a spelling or homework. For myself, I use those reminder by parents as a reminder to myself more than that of the child as I have multiples kids in different schools, it is sometimes quite tough to remember it all.
  • Tuitions for parents –  For parents who wants to be more involved and guide the child, and not so familiar with the requirements and MOE Syllable, Marshall Cavendish Education organises parents workshop for subjects like Math and English for the lower primary students. Recently I attended a workshop on comprehension, you can read my review here. I thought it was time/money well spent on a Saturday and if you have multiple kids like me, you will bound to reap the most benefits….well until the syllable changes.

Useful sources:

Here I share some useful links / videos that may be helpful to you and your child as you navigate to the “whole new world”

ISBN: 9789814765206

http://www.armourpublishing.com/product/timmy-tammy-guide-to-primary-one/

ISBN : 9789814765749

http://www.armourpublishing.com/product/timmy-tammy-saving-and-spending-money/

Last but not least, enjoy this milestone with your child. It may not be one that you are excited about (manage your own anxiety as your child will be able to feel it) but unless you going through the homeschooling route, you have the embrace the challenges ahead with an open mind and desire to learn this new journey with your child. For non first timer , I  am sure you are like me, more confident to be able to guide the child as he /she navigate her way into primary school. And if there is anything that I missed out to make this list of mine more comprehensive, do drop me PM on my blog’s FB or comment on this post, I would be more than happy to include and make this list as comprehensive as I possibly can for future reference and sharing. Feel free to share this blog post with your friends who are going through this same journey as you -the 2011 babies and hopefully we can all help and support each other! And for all those still awaiting registration into the school of choice, all the best!


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Giveaway : Flip for Joy – time to build the Chinese book library at home!

I didn’t learn Mandarin as my second language and my ability to converse was all thanks from watching channel  8’s drama serials. I can recognize probably less than 100 Chinese characters and big J at  p2 already knows more Chinese character than me now.

Our inability (including my husband’s ) to provide a Mandarin-speaking environment at home was my greatest fear that they will one day hate the language in school ( I often fear that I may need to migrate to another country if my kids struggle in their Chinese) Hence, the kids were send to Chinese enrichment classes the year they turn 3 and it is the only enrichment class that daddy was totally supportive of it.

So when it comes to sourcing for good Chinese books I am often at lost. I like buying set of Chinese readers books as it is easy  to procure at once. it comes in 1 big set and it has naturally progression ie it gets harder and harder with more characters  recognition. It is similar to the English readers like Peter and Jane. It helps them in learning to read and recognize the character but the storyline was simple. There is no imagination whatsoever or morale of the story. They are just very boring and repetitive stories to get the kids to recognize more and more characters are they go along. Those books lack interesting and imaginative storyline so after a single read, the books are “chucked” aside.

I recalled once I had a friend (who is super proficient in Mandarin) buy Chinese storybooks on my behalf as I do not know what is good and what is not and suitable at their level.

So for me, e-store like Flip of Joy is  like a godsend. I cannot be always asking my friend to procure books on my behalf. The owner behind Flip for Joy , Meiru was ex-JC Chinese teacher who curates good Chinese books for the different age group and she is more than willing to share what is think its suitable for different ages for helpless parents like myself.  There are many e-stores will carries children books at a competitive pricing but they normally carries more English books than Chinese books. Flip for Joy is probably the only e-bookstore that carries 100% Chinese books for pre-schoolers till lower primary school kids in Singapore.

The website has been made easy for buyers like myself (ie lost in translation) to narrow down suitable books for different age good. By using search words like bud (0-3 years), bloom (3-5 years) and 5 to 9 years (blossom), the e store will show Chinese books suitable for the different age categories.

The other way to search for books is by genre , fun, knowledge and love.

Flip for FUN books are highly interactive and a whole lot of fun.
Flip for KNOWLEDGE are insightful and have rich elements of story-telling.
Flip for LOVE books help children love the important values in life.

What I really appreciate about the e-store is that it comes with an English synopsis and also a few sample pages of the book. I never buy the books by the cover. I usually will try to look for sample pages before making my purchase decision. For eg if I were to purchase English books from Book Depository which doesn’t have sample pages, I will go to Amazon to look at the sample pages before deciding.

In my kids’ primary school’s silent reading session before assembly,  Mon to Wed’s are for English books while Thurs to Fri are for Chinese books during silent reading before assembly. I do hope that there is a swap because as it is whenever big J goes to the library, all he brings back are English and more English books. He is pretty strong in his Chinese all credit to his enrichment classes and teachers  since young but he still doesn’t read enough Chinese books (and it makes it even harder than I am unable to select /procure books on his behalf unlike English books).

As this post will be part of the blog series for preparation for primary 1, the books that were ordered from Flip for Joy were for big C in mind (of course the kids will be sharing) . Hopefully will be part of her silent reading Chinese books when she enter formal school next year. Do forgive me as my review of the Chinese books would not be as perfect as my English books review due to my Chinese language proficiency (lack of). I have even enlisted big J for some of the reviews as well.

图书馆狮子 Library Lion

This was the only book  from my order which came with a small booklet in English and an audio CD (so thankful and hence the reason why this is the first book to be reviewed) . A small part of me hopes that all Chinese book will come with its English version and audio CD so that I will be a more confident story teller of Chinese books.This is an English bestseller but the translation has kept its essence of imagination when a lion visits the library. What I like about books from Flip for Joy, the books have stories and imagination are what is lacking in my collection of Chinese books (which are just readers and hence surely has made my Chinese book collection least favoured compared to my award winning /best seller English books.

This is a super heart warming tale too where the lion was allowed in the library if it abides by the rules of the library. However, on one occasion where the lion actually went against the rule (for the right reason), he was told to leave the library. I won’t create a spoiler on how it ended but it has a happy ending. This is probably the one with the longest story-line of this set that I had procure from Flip for Joy -which is actually good for k2 to lower primary school kids.

100层的巴士

This book was part of the series by Toshio Iwai, a renowned Japanese artist that big J enjoyed reading as we have the earlier 3 books.  I think this is a new edition to this series and I knew  I had to get it to complete the collection. Not only does this book fill the kids with imagination at each level, the book opens up vertically to give an extraordinary reading experience  – even as an adult reading for the first time, I was filled with anticipation as the more and more level are being built onto the bus!

need i say more, this is what you cant get out of kindle

What I really love it how much the content fills the kids up with imagination. How is it possible to have a hundred decker bus and what make it more “real” is when the vertical page which opens up to show that hundred decker bus.

勇气 Courage

I do have one exception, I actually chose this book based on the cover as I have seen the cover vaguely , my guess it was a popular English book. The book explore the different kinds of courage and often than not, my kids are lacking in courage to try new things or new challenges. This book explores the different kinds of courage and celebrate whether is it a big or small achievement.

This particular book is bilingual hence it has both the English and Chinese text. It talks about all kinds of courage, normal one  – ie everyday’s courage and also special courage too! There is one particular courage which speaks very closely to big C, the courage to eat the vegetable before making a face. Once she read that, she went in stitches…obviously it was talking about her! It is a very simple book and yet it is very relatable and definitely a keeper especially for age 4 and above where they can apprehend the concept of courage even though courage may not be in their vocabulary.

经典童话系列（三）(10册）

I love this series as big C would have know the stories in English and the books are thin and light , perfect to be brought to school’s silent reading sessions. Not too many words in 1 book and she will be able to finish 1 book in 1 sitting and light enough to be added to the “heavy” school bag.  The set include classic stories like The Little Prince, Cinderella , Puss in Boots using clay figurines as illustrations. And the best part, it comes with hanyupinyin!

如果地球被我们吃掉了

Rarely can we find children’s book with message of environmental conservation. My kids in childcare have been taught to save water and not to destroy Mother Earth so I thought it was apt to add a book of this genre into their library. I don’t believe I have any English books which discusses about the environment as well. Coupled with beautiful collages, the book has simple sentences and it is not intimidating to young readers.

点 The Dot

This is another translation from the English bestseller by Peter H. Reynolds. It talks about a young girl, Vashti who didnt know want to draw on a blank piece of paper. Her teacher asked  her to make a mark so she simply drew a dot .After finishing the dot, the teacher told her to sign her name on the paper. And after she saw that her painting was being framed up in the teacher’s office, she was further inspired to make different version of dots and goes on her own artistic adventure until she had her own art exhibition. During the exhibition, a boy told Vashti that he couldnt draw a straight line. So Vashti told the boy to draw and also sign on it.

This is an excellent book to motivate reluctant learners or kids who are lacking in self confidence, and this story line can be easily understood by 4 years old as it is not a wordy book and my kids loved this book very m

As you can notice from my selection of books, many of the books in the Flip for Joy e-store are bestsellers in its original languages and now translated to Chinese to retain the beautiful storytelling and illustration but to expose preschoolers or even the lower primary school kids to Chinese. I suppose it is easier to understand the Chinese language if the child had read and loved the English version before.

Flip for Joy offers free local standard mail for all orders and free courier delivery to your doorstep for orders S$50 and above.

Flip for Joy

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Do follow their social media as Meiru will recommend new titles and promotions regularly. And you can also ask her for her recommendation of books for the different age group and interest before buying.

It is really time for me to build their Chinese library at home to “counter the effect” of an English speaking environment and also an almost 100% English library at home.

Giveaway

Flip for Joy has kindly sponsored two of our favourite books to share with mypreciouzkids’ readers –  点 The Dot (FB winner)  and 100层的巴士 (IG winner).

1. Liked FB pages of mypreciouzkids.com and Flip for Joy

2. Followed mypreciouzkids and Flip for Joy on Instagram

3. Repost this visual on IG(tag 3 friends (on my IG post, one tag per comment) with hashtag #mypreciouzkidsgiveaway for the IG giveaway if you would like to win 100层的巴士 or liked and share this FB post (tag 3 friends) for the FB giveaway if you would like to win 点 The Dot.

You can join both giveaways too if you can keen on either books.

Please keep your Instagram profile public or the Facebook shared post public (as indicated in step 3)  in order to qualify so that I can locate your entry or BOTH to double your chances of winning.

I will be picking the 2  lucky winners using random.org. The giveaway closes on 16 July 2017 2359pm (Sun) (1 from FB and 1 from IG).

IG winner: @thornedsapphire

FB winner: Ng Mei Ping

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.  No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own. 


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Kidzland – one unforgettable party venue with 12,000 sq feet of play gym, arcade, entertainment fun

I am not a big fan of having parties at indoor playground however due to the age of the birthday boys , age 2 and 4 respectively, my hands are tied as I cant be too adventurous in choosing the type of activities – the older kids had bowling party, ice skating party, soccer party, karaoke party before, but due to age and physical ability limitation, the best bet will still be in a place where the birthday boys can enjoy and not forgetting their older siblings too who are never too old to enjoy their indoor playground. In fact, big J has been visiting indoor playground for the past 8 years and still looooovvvveeee it!

With the two boys, small J and small C (time for me to update my blog’s profile too! ) turning 2 and 4 respectively (their birthdays are only 4 days apart !) so they will have to share their birthday celebrations for the rest of their lives, though on their actual days we do celebrate again specifically to the birthday boy, I feel bad they always have to share the limelight. They are also the lucky ones as their birthday falls during the June school holidays , so we get to do a birthday celebration overseas too!

Please note that this review is only limited to the party room hosting experience and The Forest indoor playground experience as we didn’t have time to explore the rest of the mega huge Kidzland area as we were hosting a party of the younger boys.  This also means the kids will be able to go for another round some other time!

Many may not have known the latest and biggest play gym/arcade/entertainment centre for kids in Singapore, Kidzland, located next to Pasarbella at the Grandstand as it opened without much fanfare in April 2017.  Grandstand is well-known for another mega huge play gym, now the lucky kids in Singapore has another mega gym to choose from.

Kidzland has been boasting many new elements unseen in typical indoor playground in Singapore. I understand from the manager, Jack that this concept is super popular in Japan and China where it is like a mini theme park complete with arcade and different play zone areas in air-conditioned comfort –  an entertainment centre for the younger ones.

As I hosted my party at Kidzland, I would like to do a review of that for parents for planning for birthday parties at indoor playground.

The party room

What I really liked it was a very good size party hosting room. I really appreciated the availability of many adult’s  bar stools.  Many times at children’s party, the adults need to stand (ie coz not enough or no adult chairs at all) or the really tired one will sit on the kids’ chair, hoping the kid’s chair will withstand the weight.

Jack told me this will be changed regularly according to the theme of the month

There is also a fridge for the party host usage ie for the cakes, or bottled drinks etc.  Most party rooms have little excess space, and this room even has its own fridge for the usage of the party host and guests. I had ordered catering from Pasta Mania and I conveniently chilled the coke in the fridge before the guest arrived so that we have ice cold coke for the adults!

The kids table and chairs  – there were more than 20 chairs for usage, for bigger parties (as the room has space) I am sure the Kidzland will be able to accommodate more chairs and table for their usage. I had a small cosy party hence, it was definitely more than what I need.

 

As much as I appreciated a colourful wall-papered party room to make the room cheery, I do a need a clean white wall just for my party banner and the backdrop to my diy dessert table so that it doesnt look so cluttered with colourful walls.

I guess one of the biggest disadvantages of this party room, is that it is situated at the end of the whole area, which was some distance away from the reception area (as the place is huge) and also The Forest pla ground. I guess the reason behind this is for exclusivity of the party guests etc but sometimes  it is difficult to look for help from staff or to look for kids! That said, there are staff coming in to check if everything is ok, and if I needed any additional help. You can also hire photographer or party host through Kidzland as well.

If you need an area for your magician/ show/ etc to perform for the kids, you can also rent the Dream Stage area which located next to The Forest.

The Forest

A good-size 3 level jungle themed play gym area for kids from 2 to 12, complete with soft gun, slides, climbing structure and one very interesting and very instagram worthy area – Rainbow Net!

rock climbing wall

mini carousel

And the structure that piqued my interest the most, Rainbow Net has to be the most instagram- worthy feature of this play gym and unseen in any other play gym currently. It was very interesting as I had a hard time looking for the opening to enter the structure. Once in, the kids can bounce, climb, lounged and have other kids head popping down from the upper net.

All the other unexplored areas

As I was busy hosting the party, I didn’t have time to bring the kids to explore around the other play area (even till today, I can hear my kids asking to be brought back to Kidzland) Just a quick photo and video preview of the unexplored areas!

– Block and Sand

– Magic Pen

Reminds me of Mosh! at Sentosa where you doodle on the electronic screen and it gets displayed on the big screen.

-The Beach
Projection and sand play

– DIY corner

– The Arcade

For older kids and those who has been going to Timezone, this is like Timezone where you get to collect winning tickets in exchange for rewards. There are also many claw vending machines to try your luck too!

 

The place is so massive I had to do a video tour of it just to show there is so much to do

I honestly think that any kid can stay from the start of the opening hours till the end as there is simply so much to do and play and I am lost as to where to begin with! There are also many adults reliving their childhood at the arcade machines like this shooting arcade game! This is one play gym in Singapore where I believe the adults themselves will not get bored too !

Entry to The Forest

  • Children (3 yrs old & above) –SGD 22.00 Peak, SGD 20.00 Non-Peak, Unlimited Play Time
  • Toddlers (1 yr old & above – 3 yrs old) –SGD 18.00 Peak, SGD 16.00 Non-peak, Unlimited Play Time
  • Babies (Below 1 year old) –Free, Unlimited Play Time.
  • Adults (18 yrs old & above) –For toddlers and children: Free for first adult/guardian, S$5 per subsequent adult(s)/guardians ; For baby: S$5 per adult/guardian.
  • Construction Theme Park: $4 per play
  • Claw Machine (Big): $3 per game
  • Claw Machine (Small): $2 per game
  • Other Game Machines: $2 per game
  • Carousel: $5 per ride
  • Magic Pen: $5 for 15 minutes, $2 for printing
  • Hunters Alliance: $5 for 100 bullets
  • The Beach: $5 for 30 minutes
  • Battle King: $ 6/ 5min
  • The Boat : $6 / 3min

Party package

Kidzland

The Grandstand

Level  2 Unit #02-14

200 Turf Club Road

Singapore 287994

Tel: 65 67633773

Email: admin@kidzld.com

Free parking (hence no worry if you really spend the entire day there!)

Operating Hours: 10am – 9pm (Mon – Fri), 9am to 10pm on Saturday and 9am  to 9.30 pm Sunday.

we will be back and I have allocated a day for it after spending close to 4 hours at the party and The Forest

Thank you Kidzland for the very cosy and comfortable party room to host small J and small C’s paw patrol party and at the end, every one was to reluctant to leave even though its almost 8pm! Just leave your party hosting in the good hands of Jack and his team!

Disclosure: We were given 3 hours complimentary park room usage. I paid for the entry for the The Forest playground for all 10 kids to the party at a special rate.  No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own. 


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Raiders of the Lost INK by Monsters Under the Bed – Imagination is the KEY to writing

I will be reviewing a creative writing holiday camp for a well-known creative writing centre with the greatest pressure. I am sure the writing instructors at the school will balk after reading my review over my poor English and fraught with grammatical errors. My weakest and my worst subject in school was language subjects and the very section that pull down my overall scores was composition. Even till JC, I struggled through the General Paper,  scrapping it with a C6 and how I end up being a blogger and doing writing is not reflection of my writing skills. I am only blogging in “spoken language” about things I am passionate in. I have no imagination or creative words to make my writing very descriptive nor very engaging. Big J is somewhat like me, not very much of a language person, he prefers Maths. At primary 2, I do worry as the requirement to write composition becomes compulsory and carries weightage to the final marks for the English paper. So far composition has not been tested but I do know that in term 4, there will be graded picture composition, I guess it is easier as the plot and scenario has been shown however you need proper grammar and descriptive words to SHOW and not TELL.

Monsters Under The Bed (“MUTB”) ’s unorthodox holiday writing camp/workshop has always been followed by me with the greatest interest over the past years but my eldest was too young to participate then.  When I told big J that he is going for a writing workshop, he doesn’t seem too enthusiastic as compared to the previous coding camps that he has done in previous school breaks.  So I printed the below taken off from MUTB’s holiday camp write up and attention to big J to pique his interest, and indeed he was seems more interested – I guess he knows he will be in for an adventure not just doing endless writing at the table.

Excavate Escapade

On a small island North of Indonesia’s Riau Islands, there lies a forgotten treasure of a special chalice which grants its drinker power of an unknown sort. However, not a single man had discovered its whereabouts… until now. The 25th Generation of the Carter Archaeologists, leading prodigies of modern day Archaeology, have banded together to recruit the brightest, the boldest and the best minds they could find. With the need for brilliant assistants in our band of Archaeologists, we are recruiting children aged 7 to 13 years before we set off to unravel and unearth the mysteries that were hidden away in the lost chapters of the Lion City.

Be prepared to dig deep with not just your spade and shovel, but also your pen and wit, both of which will be sharpened for the occasion. Craftsmanship skills will be put to the test on not just paper but also in the creation of your own relics and maps. Be prepared to learn how to write exciting adventures which include perilous obstacles and how to overcome them. There will be role-playing and games to bring your epic quest into reality, not to mention the chance of you becoming a celebrated Archaeologist complete with your own whip and hat!

In fact on the actual day of the camp there were more boys than girls, I guess adventure and exploration theme seem to excite the boys more than girls! They even encourage the workshop participants to come in explorer outfit to more the experience make wholesome.  No worries if they are not dressed like explorers, the kids were given explorer hats to complete the feel of being an explorer.

 

Writing is not just about writing good and grammatically correct English sentences. Writing is  also about having an imagination and articulate it in words. Of course of the best ways is to experience it yourself , else it would be through reading of books that you acquire an imaginative mind which will be helpful for writing composition.

They started the session by picking their skills set and equipments/tools to bring along their exploration.

They has a video presentation to set the flavour of the theme –pyramids, exploration, etc.
Thereafter, they will be led to another breakout room which serves as the “pyramid” in small groups to begin their exploration.

Before entering, they were given a puzzle to solve before they are able to gain access to the pyramid. In the room, the lights were dimmed (just bright enough to reads the clues and puzzles). The explorers will need to solve riddles, clues, challenges, defeat all the evil elements from mummies to ghosts before they can defeat the final evil – a pink-eyed cyclopean mummy!

I heard the explorers spent more than 2 hours going through the whole expedition and exploration. With such experiences, they can better imagine to be able to write better , hopefully.

As it was nevertheless a writing workshop, the instructors shared what components makes a good story –

They were taught the what is a narrative structure where there are 5 major parts – intro, rising action, climax, falling action and conclusion. In their yellow booklet, they were given helping introduction sentences for each component of the story to help them as they complete their story writing based on the experiences from the exploration that they have just completed.

In the past,  they used to carry out a 3- hour 3-day workshop, but for this time, it was formatted in a 5-hour 1-day workshop which is good for working parents like me but I did find that it is was tad too long for them to go through a 5 hours session as the writing component will be at the end of the session. I guess it would have been better to split into 2 x 3 hours so that they can concentrate on games and puzzle (I called the imagination section) and the other days (mind fresh) to concentrate on the writing.

MUTB is aware that most kids would not have completed their writing by the end of the day’s workshop hence, there is a top up option of SGD 100 for 2 extra sessions of INK ++ (consists of a 1.5 hour guided writing course to follow up on the writing done during the workshop). Students from the centre will be able to do complete their writing during their weekly class.

A 5-hour workshop will not miraculously turned a child into an accomplished writer, however , it was a good exposure what it entails to be able to write a good story where imagination is key!

 

Monster Under the Bed 

Waterloo Centre
261 Waterloo Street,
Waterloo Centre #02-19
Singapore 180261

Contact:
+65 69044345 / anthony@mutb.com.sg

Opening Hours: 10am – 6.30pm daily. Closed on Public holidays.

Website

Facebook 

Instagram

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions are my own. 


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Giveaway : Singapore Repertory Theatre’s Red Riding Hood 小红帽 (Mandarin)

Even though bilingualism is very much advocated in Singapore, it is sad to see that there are very few Chinese children theatre productions annually (especially the younger audiences) . So whenever SRT’s The Little Company produces its Mandarin production, it will be a must go for my family in my feeble attempt to introduce the kids to more Mandarin speaking environment. The English production of the same title was shown 4 years back to very rare reviews!

What I really like about SRT’s Mandarin productions, they use well-known story as their bas. Using a story that is familiar to all kids, even if the kids is somehow “lost in translation” they will be able to follow the show for most parts.

After successfully staging it in English, SRT’s The Little Company now presents Red Riding Hood in Mandarin. Red Riding Hood is an uplifting story about a brave girl named Red who must journey through the forest to reunite her family and save Mother’s bakery from closing down.

Will she reach Grandma’s house in time? Or will the charming Big Bad Wolf distract her from her quest? Join Red on her adventure into the woods, where no one is what they seem!

Filled with humour and packed with original music, this is a fantastic show to be enjoyed by children and adults of all ages.

Red Riding Hood 小红帽

Dates
20 July to 1 Sept 2017

Weekends and Public Holiday : 11am and 2pm
Weekdays: 10am
Venue

KC Arts Centre Home of Singapore Repertory Theatre

20 Merbau Road
Robertson Quay
Singapore 239035

Ticket Pricing

(Excludes Booking Fee)

Weekdays: S$28, S$25

Weekends (Sat & Public Holiday): S$48,S$38,S$35

Book here

Giveaway

SRT will be giving out 1  set of family package (4 tickets ) for the 29 July 2017 (Sat) 11am show.

  1. Liked FB pages of mypreciouzkids.com and SRT
  2. Followed mypreciouzkids and SRT on Instagram
  3. Repost this visual on IG(tag 3 friends – one tag per comment) with hashtag #mypreciouzkidsgiveaway

Please keep your Instagram profile public (as indicated in step 3)  in order to qualify so that I can locate your entry.

I will be picking the lucky winners using random.org. The giveaway closes on 25th June 2017, 2359pm (Sun).

IG winner: @laiswl


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