Art and craft activities

Frankly speaking, I am not really an art and craft type of person. I do not like handling glue or scissors as I know at the end of it all, my hands will get sticky and the place will get messy which I hate. But, parenting is not about ME...

So, this afternoon, I decided to do some art and craft with them. You can do this with your kids too if you like. Its not that difficult.

I made snakes with Caleb and teach him about how the snake came about in the bible, in the beginning of time. I try to tie my activities to some sort of purpose so that they will not only enjoy but learn something from it too.

Firstly, you just draw the outline of the snake. Like this.


Then you just cut out circles or strips to decorate the snake. Or if you are lazy, you can just buy those circle stickers to decorate it. Then just draw the tongue, cut and stick.

Here's the outcome... (blue one is creased, all thanks to Danielle)


Here's another activity I did with them. Its also quite simple. Moreover, I had all the materials at home, without having to purposely go out to buy.

First, you need to have a paper bag, preferably white. Then you cut an arch out (on one sheet) so that your head could go in.

Then you cut strips of paper where you need to roll them up. Use a pencil to help you by rolling onto it. Then simple stick all the rolled up papers onto the paper bag.

Tada! The kids enjoyed themselves!

Keane's 1st year party

Today, went for Keane's 1st year (Actual date: 22 March) birthday party at his house. Birthdays are always a reminder of how time flies.

The birthday cake was specially done by Keane's mummy (my sister in law, Ally) which I am amazed as I wouldn't have the guts and time to do that! In the end, the cake was a success as it tasted great!



The cake was definitely a reflection of a mummy's love for her beloved son!



Happy Birthday Keane! May you grow up healthy and happy! Love you!

Eco-friendly mall

One of my favourite malls would be City Square Mall at Farrer Park. The draw factor would probably be its eco-friendliness. I am glad both CT and I are quite environmentally friendly. Here's a list of what we do:
-keep our aircon to 25 degrees. Lowest would only be 24 degrees.
-use the fan almost everyday when we sleep unless the temperature in our room goes above 30 degrees (yes, we have a cut off temperature), judging from our alarm clock which tells the room temperature
-drive a CNG (compressed natural gas) car
-switch off the lights or electricity immediately when we don't need it
-having a dustbin solely for recyclable materials like plastic bottles or cans so that we can bring it down to our recycling bin at our block once its full
-Use recycled bags for supermarketing about once every fortnight (do not do this every week because I still need the plastic bags for throwing my rubbish)

Anyway, back to the mall..

Went there today as the mall was staging some kind of performance. Its a story about a boy whose toys come alive.



Then we walked around and just did window shopping.




So glad the kids had fun! That's all it matters.

Play in the rain

When I was young, I enjoyed playing in the rain. Even as a student, I enjoyed getting myself wet by walking in the rain. Probably because of that, I want my children to grow up enjoying the rain too and having some fun with it! (though I know most parents would flip and scold their kids whenever they play with the rainwater)

So here's Caleb all dressed in his army boots, all ready to get himself wet!


Splish splash!


Both enjoying stomping their feet in the puddle and having so much fun!


Cant wait to find some cute little pink boots for Danielle!

Holiday Fun

Holidays are so fun especially when I get to enjoy them as well! That is actually one huge draw factor why I went into teaching.

Anyway, today, my brother suggested going to West Coast Park and so we did. My mum came to pick me up while CT went to work for a while and only joined us in the late morning.

We were first welcomed by this interesting-strange looking tree which I really wonder what it is called. Anyone knows?



West Coast Park is actually huge but for the most part of it when we were there, the kids were playing with the sand. They didnt even play with the slides.





Then my father went for a stroll by the waters. I joined them later with Danielle..


For the last part, the children had fun climbing up the pyramid. It was so high but Caleb, Janine and Danielle knows no fear!






As usual, CT would climb all the way up within seconds.


Then we went West Coast Plaza for lunch. My mum was craving for dim sum. So we went Paradise Inn for dim sum, porridge, duck, soup as well as a vegetable dish. The food was decent. No complains!




I was even impressed with one waitress who saw Janine so restless that she provided pencil and paper for Janine to draw.


This was my first time going to West Coast Plaza and I kind of like the place because it wasnt crowded and there were quite a number of interesting shops. If not for the distant, I sure hope to be back there again!

After lunch, the kids were roaming about...until they saw this!


There was car racing going on and the kids were glued to it! Dont they look so cute with their heads sticking in? I think they may look funnier if I took this picture from the other side!

Anyway, we all had a great day. Just wished the holidays were longer. But then again, to be optimistic, thank God for the hols!

Trip down to Animal Resort

Taking opportunity of the March school holidays, my whole family, together with my bro's family and my parents all went to the Animal Resort at Jalan Kayu. Caleb was donned in his new sunglasses and his cap which he has not worn before because it was too big. It will still too big but he insisted on wearing them and thus, looking kind of strange.



Glad the horse came out to play with us as there are times when the horse can just stay indoors and not come out. Joyanne also had a go at feeding the horse.


And there's my bro trying to see if Joyanne could 'ride' the horse. Haha.Well for your info, he didnt manage to put her on it.



And there's a family shot without Pamela as she had to work


After this shot was taken, the horse started sniffing Janine. It was funny.

Caleb not only fed the goats, horse, but also the geese.


Then we also managed to witness kittens (rabbit babies). As I was blogging this, I never knew what is the young of rabbits called till I googled it and found that it is called a kit (singular) or kittens (plural).




They were so cute and tiny. It was a great learning experience for the children.


Another amazing thing we also witnessed was this!It was so cool as we saw how the peacock was trying to attract the peahen.





We also taught the kids the idiom, "as proud as a peacock" as it was really showing off to all of us as well!


It was awesome just watching the full glory of the peacock and admiring not only the beautiful coloured feathers but also its backside!


Everything about the peacock was so symmetrical that amazes me and just reconfirms the omnipotence (all-powerful) of God by creating this animal and taking note of its details.

After a while at the resort, we went into the pet shop to look at dogs and guess what? There was this chart on the wall with all the different kinds of dog and I managed to spot a dog which looked like mine! I never knew what breed she is and it now seemed like she is a Finnish Spitz. For those who knows my dog, Ashley, dont you think she looks like this one in the picture?


Then for lunch, we went to the new pub, Brewbaker's Kitchen & Bar at Anchorvale CC as they have lunch specials at very reasonable price. You can check out their website!

CT had the seafood ragout($12.50). which is basically seafood on top of mashed potatoes.

While I had NZ striploin ($12.50).

Most of my family ordered the battered fish and chips ($8.90) which Caleb ate too!


The lunch sets came with soup of the day, coffee/tea, garlic bread as well as dessert. So its quite worth it I feel. The food is also quite decent. Cant be that bad since it comes from the same management as Jack's Place.

Anyway, all in all, we had a great day of experiential learning, decent food and most importantly, great company!

Unleash your creativity

Recently during the March Holidays, I had staff seminar and it was on "Imagination and Innovation". It is actually set up by Oistein Kristiansen, the doodlemaster which most parents may know as you can view him in Okto Channel. Each time I see him doodle and draw, I am highly impressed at his creativity and how fast he draws them.

Anyway, the seminar thought us to unleash our creativity and just draw. They also taught us the techniques of drawing and how there is no right or wrong to creativity. Anything is possible as you stretch your mind.

So here's my work which I did during the seminar.



For the first 2 drawings right on top, we were told to draw common shapes and think of how to add to it. So I drew a star for the first one and a heart for the second one. And that was how I expanded my drawing.

Then for the third drawing, they asked us to write our name and decorate anyway we like it.

And for the last 2 drawings, they told us to close our eyes and just draw freely. Then with the random curves, we have to create a picture.

To be frank, this little activity was a self-discovery that I can actually draw. Even my friends sitting on my table said that I could actually be in this business and join the company. In the end, we were told to send in the best drawing from each table so that all the staff could vote for the best. And my drawing was sent. Though I didnt win, I was rather proud that I actually have a little bit of creativity in me which I never really knew I had. Ha.

Anyway, from this doodling seminar, I was very inspired to pass down whatever little creativity I have to my children. So here's what they have been up to!

First, I did up an activity kit which Pauline taught me. Caleb loved it and learnt the letters this way.


In school, Caleb has also been doing all these as I had a parent-teacher dialogue session with Teacher Susan and Teacher Lee Keng and they shared this with me.


Here's are some of Caleb's masterpieces.

Can you guess what he drew?


He was drawing clouds with face and rain because of the weather.

And during one of his painting sessions at home (which I can only do it with his when Danielle is asleep for obvious reasons) Here's his abstract artpiece!




As he was drawing, I was having fun doodling. Here's what I did...

This was the BEFORE shot (just simple close your eyes and let your hand loose by drawing whatever it wants)


AFTER


The I wanted to challenge myself again.So I drew another one.

BEFORE


AFTER


I think at this present day and age, its important to teach our kids how to be creative and to think out of the box. So if you have older kids,you can do this activity with them by asking them to close their eyes and do a random drawing as their hand leads. And then from the random drawing, think of how to develop by adding eyes, teeth, wings etc...

Remember not to correct your kids as sometimes, they have a better imagination than us. And like I said, there's no right or wrong to creativity. There is no limit.



Enjoy!