It’s back-to-school and as usual, my boys prefer Pallas Jazz school shoes for the best fit and comfort. Start the new academic year right with your best foot forward. Poorly-fitted shoes can actually hinder a child’s normal growth and comfort. It is recommended to get lightweight and flexible shoes that ensures better growing feet. Both Ethan and Ayden’s shoes come with Arch Support. This is the most important factor as Ethan has flat foot. School […]

It is that time of the year again – to be making Angpow decors for Chinese New Year.  We will be welcoming the Year of the Rabbit on January 22, 2023. The rabbit is the fourth in the twelve-year cycle of animals in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. Legend has it the Rabbit was proud and arrogant even of its speed. However, according to the Chinese Zodiac, people who are born in the year of the […]

It has been a challenging 2021. While the boys are getting used to studying online, I also noticed that they are beginning to get bored interacting through screens. Humans in general need social interactions. Being reduced to only interacting virtually may have affected their mental health where lack of personal interaction is a concern. At such, both my boys welcome recommencing of physical school with joy. While I still have mixed feelings sending them back […]

Teachers’ Day is here but this year we can’t bake anything or present red pens or beauty sheet mask to our children’s teacher due to the pandemic. So how do they convey their heartfelt gratitude towards their dedicated and hardworking teacher? Virtually of coz.. Ayden and his classmates with all their parents came together to make this video possible. We presented it to his teacher as an early Teachers’ Day gift. Needless to say, she […]

I don’t remember at what age money first fascinated me. I do remember though that I was always on the lookout for coins on the ground. The joy of discovering them was just priceless; not that I could do much with them though. Kids these days have it better than us. They are often pampered with luxury but I try not to splurge on my kid. I want him to learn to appreciate money. As […]

I’m not a gamer hence I know nothing about the game Among Us but Ayden is a huge fan of it. The other day he requested for an Among Us paper craft for him to play the offline version with his friends so I made him an Imposter. I used coloured paper, a cloth peg and glue to make this.  Watch this video to see how I made it: I also made AMONG US bookmarks […]

With a blink of an eye, the boys are going back to school. They spent most of their schooling days studying online from home in 2020 but now it is time to face the inevitable and return to physical schooling. I must admit that it is a mixed feeling to allow the boys to get back to school. In one way, I am glad that they are going to be reunited with their friends. They […]

What is PYTHON? I am not computer savvy so I have no idea what PYTHON is until recently. We were all locked at home due to the pandemic, bored to tears and then I saw it – in my email, a promotion for e-learning on Python from 5T3M. I asked my boys if they are game to give it a try and they looked at me wide eyed, as clueless as myself. Since we have […]

How is the New Normal treating you? For me and the boys, we still spend most of our time at home with the only time we are out is to school and back. Spending endless time at home also means having in hand lots and lots of games to keep us occupied. When I say games, I don’t mean online games but physical games that we can play together as a family. These are some […]

After a month of staying home and about 2 weeks learning from home, the boys are getting comfortable with online learning. Big brother Ethan has to wake up early on certain days for online lessons but the rest of us sleep in till noon 😅 Lil’ Ayden has more homework and video assignments to do compared to Ethan. Today I’m sharing one of his assignment video. He learns Science in Mandarin as he is in […]

During these restricted movement times, we are going to spend all our time at home. I was cooking in the kitchen when I heard Ayden talking. I wondered who he was talking to as Ethan is upstairs. Went out to see him recording a tutorial all by himself 😱 Kids these days…. Anyway here it is! This Paper Plate SUN tutorial video is recorded entirely by Ayden. I need to hide my phone after this. […]

The only thing Ethan talks about these days are cubes, football and drums. So to break into his world, I made myself learn one of his language ie cubing. The other day,  I tried to solve the 3×3 while Ethan tries to solve as many cubes as possible before I am done. Did I manage to solve the 3×3? How many cubes did Ethan manage to solve while I was working on my 3×3? Let’s […]

I can’t believe I am saying this but WHITE canvas shoes will soon be a thing of the past in schools in Malaysia. I have been holding on to it for the longest time ever since our Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik announced that all students will wear black shoes in the near future. I have always loved white shoes. I mean we were not given a choice back then. Love it or hate it, […]

It is that time of the year again to start getting everything ready for the next academic year. It is wise to spend wisely as there will be a lot of stuffs to purchase. One of the first and most important things that comes to mind is school uniform. When we consider that school children spend at least 6 hours a day wearing their uniforms in our hot and humid weather, we know that this […]

We will be welcoming the RAT zodiac next year hence I’ll be sharing THREE videos on how to make a simple yet adorable ANGPOW MOUSE and ONE video of Meat Floss RAT cookies. Watch the tutorials here:    For more Chinese New Year Angpow decor ideas and tutorials, head over to our YouTube playlist here: DIY Chinese New Year AngPow Decor 

The rainy season is here and this situation is expected to last till the end of the year. With the boys cooped up at home unable to go to the playground due to these constant evening showers, I have to think of something to keep them occupied. Children these days get glued to their gadgets easily if we don’t practice certain control over them. With them getting more and more exposed to different types of […]

You know that feeling when you think you’ve got it all planned out and then all out of sudden it’s like as if your world has been shaken like a snow globe and everything got messed up? That’s me at the moment.  And it is regarding Ethan’s secondary school journey. You see, he’ll be sitting for his UPSR this September. Last week, he brought home a form for us to select the secondary school to […]

How do you guide your child to master languages other than their mother tongue? For me, I expose my boys to stories as well as videos. I can’t help them with Mandarin so I send them to enrichment classes but I personally guide them to read, write and speak in Bahasa Malaysia. I instill the love of reading in the boys from the very beginning when they were young. I make bedtime stories interesting. I […]

A couple of weeks ago, on a Saturday when big brother Ethan was busy with taekwondo, we brought little Ayden to a Hari Raya open house by a property developer.  Besides having a tour of their show houses, there were also a couple of complementary art and craft activities for the little ones.  Little Ayden painted this batik kampung house. It is his first time to complete a batik painting entirely on his own as […]

The internet is a wonderful thing and in our present world, it is almost impossible to live without it. In my household, we use it to communicate with others via the many social platforms out there. The Daddy uses the internet to work from home; enabling him to spend precious time with us. Big brother Ethan uses it to research school projects and assignments and to communicate with friends. Both Ethan and Ayden use the […]

Ethan’s school had recently held a briefing for parents whose children will be sitting for the UPSR exam this September. The aim of the talk is to brief parents on the latest UPSR format so we can guide our children better during revision time with them. While it is tougher today to sit for UPSR as the questions can be more challenging, with the right guidance and support, it is not impossible for our children […]

The kindergarten Ayden goes to has thematic learning whereby they focused on one particular theme for the entire month. The theme for February is All About Myself and the first thing he learned was how a person is ‘created’. His teacher told stories about how Daddies will eject many swimming champions that look like tadpoles yet are not really tadpoles and how they raced with all their might to reach the ‘egg’ from the Mommies. […]

Ayden experienced 3 days of kindy last week. It is his first time attending preschool. He is the only one in his class without a uniform as the rest of the children are existing students in that school since last year or maybe a couple of years before. I decided to send him to a year of kindergarten to let him experience sports day as well as graduation concert as he will be going to […]

It is the first day of school. Many young children are attending school for the very first time. To some of these children, it may be the first time they are separated from their parents. They may experience fear or anxiety when being parted from their parents or carers. I was a teacher before giving up my job to be a stay at home mom. Let me share with you my fair share of experience on […]

It’s the final day of 2018 academic calendar. Ethan bids farewell to some of his classmates as the school reshuffled their classes hence some of them won’t be in the same class next year.  Ethan did good, finishing in the Top 3 in his class as well as for the entire Primary 5.  He was also more active this year, competing and winning several Science and Art contests. Next year will be a tough one […]

STEM is a curriculum based on the idea of educating students in four specific disciplines: Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics in an interdisciplinary and applied approach. Rather than teach the four disciplines as separate and discrete subjects, STEM integrates them into a cohesive learning paradigm based on real-world applications. It is the end of the academic year for 2018 hence I took the advantage to sign Ethan up for a Parent-Kid Experimental Workshop with me at […]

Ayden has a little blue whale pouch that he brings everywhere he goes these days. In that cute little pouch is Möbi Kids number tiles and Möbi Activity Booklet. WHAT IS MÖBI KIDS? Möbi Kids is a fun, gentle and collaborative math game by the inventors of Mobi – The Numerical Tile Game in a Whale Pouch! Möbi Kids is the perfect introduction to math for the little ones – fun, simple and multi-coloured.  HOW TO PLAY? Each player […]

I dislike last-minute shopping. I always prepare stuffs early especially when it comes to special occasions such as festive celebrations and school related items. I prefer to shop early to avoid the massive crowd closer to school reopening. Would you believe it if I tell you that I’ve settled Ethan’s school uniform as well as school shoes for next year? We went shopping last weekend and I am so relieved that everything is already sorted […]

Ayden is into the 4th month of learning the drums and has shown vast improvements as he practices regularly at home. This is the best age to be learning music as he has all the time in the world. He is not burdened with school nor homeworks so he can enjoy playing the drums as and when he wishes. Ayden learned another song over the week. It is his favourite song – Uptown Funk. I […]

When are we celebrating Parents’ Day? Some told me it is in June yet some said it is in July? Anyway, Ayden learned to recite a simple poem for mother and father in his Mandarin enrichment class recently. He kept pestering me to learn it with him but try as I might, I just cant do it. Finally to make him happy, I tricked him to record it so I can watch it all the […]

I homeschool Ayden. I think I have said that too many times. The benefit of homeschooling is we have the leisure of time in our hands. It is up to me to draw up a schedule for little Ayden and learning is not confined to home only. I bring him out on week days when there is lesser crowd in the mall. We go to the bookstore to read some books. Sometimes we’ll buy the […]

It’s been a week since I last updated my blog. Our entire nation is having ELECTION fever and now that we have created history and have a brand new government, all eyes are glued on our handphones for constant updates. I checked my Whatsapp and various news portals every 5 minutes till I have no time nor interest to blog as I doubt anyone is keen to read anything other than our country’s political updates […]

For parents with children going to Primary 1 in 2019 & 2020, it is time to register online for your child at https://public.moe.gov.my Online registration is only for schools in Peninsula Malaysia and only parents are allowed to do the registration on behalf of their children. I registered Ayden today. Here’s how you register ONLINE. Step 1 Go to https://public.moe.gov.my Step 2 Create an account if you are a new user or simply log-in if […]

I homeschool elder brother Ethan during his preschool years. I’m doing the same with little Ayden presently. I wonder how other young children aged 4-5 years old are able to learn in a classroom seating environment as from my observation, both my boys require tremendous individual attention during their formative years. What I love about homeschooling is they can learn at their own pace, anywhere and anytime of the day. This way, Ayden gets ample […]

Alright, where do I start? I was invited by Bernama to be one of their esteemed panelists for their LIVE, English language talk show, ‘The Nation’ on Monday, 12th February 2018, speaking about CHILDHOOD OBESITY IN MALAYSIA.  As I’ve mentioned in my previous blog posts, I wasn’t feeling well the past weeks with me and the boys down with some kind of bug going around but this is a topic I feel strongly about. I advocate outdoor playtime […]

It’s the beginning of the new year and that means time to get busy again with DIY Chinese New Year Angpow decorations.  We’ve been receiving requests on doing tutorial videos for the many DIY Chinese New Year Angpow decoration written tutorials I’ve shared in the past years.  I was not into video making then hence there were no video tutorials for them but we are now so I’ll be sharing all our Chinese New Year […]

The school term holidays and school festive holidays for year 2018 have been announced on the Ministry of Education Malaysia’ website. 2018 School Term and Holidays For schools in Kedah, Johor, Kelantan and Terengganu For schools in Perlis, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Pahang, Sabah, Sarawak, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya. 2018 School Festive Holidays Now that the cuti perayaan and cuti penggal 2018 dates are all out, hurry make your holiday […]

Happy Halloween! We don’t celebrate Halloween but the boys always enjoy participating in public Halloween events.  This year, Ayden’s Mandarin enrichment class will be celebrating Halloween in class and the kids are encouraged to bring something related to Halloween.  I baked chocolate chip cookies for Ayden and got the boys to make Ghost Lollipops to share with Ayden’s friends.  Materials needed are: 1) Tissue Paper 2) Lollipops 3) Thread 4) Scissors 5) Black Marker Instructions: […]

The boys were a little under the weather with flu and cough recently, so I bought them lots of tissues for their runny noses. Anyway, Ayden and Ethan are better now but since we have so much tissue paper at home, I thought of making a tissue craft with them. We made a candle transfer craft art. Materials needed are: 1) Tissue papers (We used Vinda Deluxe 3-ply Facial Tissues in soft packs) 2) Candles […]

We visited the fire station at Sri Hartamas on Sunday. The excursion was arranged by Ayden’s Mandarin enrichment school. He had been looking forward to this for weeks since he first found out about it. It’s so cute to see they actually have uniforms for the little ones. This is even more awesome than Kidzania because everything here is REAL! Ayden brought his fire truck toy along to this excursion. He wanted his little fire […]

It rained the past couple of days so I had to find something interesting for the boys to do as they can’t go to the playground. Both Ethan and Ayden love colouring and painting. Usually I’ll print something out for them to colour or paint but today I tried something different with them.  Today, I introduced the boys to augmented reality colouring app for smartphones or tablets. It is not something entirely new as it […]

Ayden has been attending Mandarin enrichment class for over a month now. This has totally changed our routine and I am still trying to adjust having to go to bed earlier at night so that we can wake up early for his class. This also means I now have less time to work on my blog and it kind of driving me crazy a little but it’s okay. I’ll find my way to make this work […]

Being home-schooled, one of the activities I frequently do with Ayden at home is painting. Painting provides endless benefits to children. Even myself as an adult find painting therapeutic. Here are some of the benefits of painting for children: Hand-Eye Coordination – This is a very important skill at their age; to be able to coordinate their hand movements at par with their vision. It may sound easy to us but for young children, practice makes […]

This is the story Ayden and I have been reading last week – The Hare and the Tortoise in Bahasa Malaysia. He learned many new words through this story such as mengejek, mengajak, berlumba dan laju.  Here is the video of Ayden summarizing the story for us. Hope you’ll enjoy it. Ayden @ 3Y5M Let me also share this video of Ayden summarizing the story of The Grasshopper and Ants in Bahasa Malaysia (in case you missed […]

Ayden is 3 years 5 months. He is still not attending any preschool at the moment so it is entirely my responsibility to keep up with his total development. Children pick up a new language best below 6 years of age so I take this opportunity to teach Ayden an extra language besides English. I teach him to speak in Bahasa Malaysia. I wish I can teach him Mandarin but that is totally an alien language […]

Homeschooling Ayden has its ups and downs. There are days when he refused to touch any books and prefer to just play. On days like that, I’ll improvise and see how we can make it a learning session nevertheless. I saw that Ayden was engrossed playing with his PlayDoh so I suggested for us to make a stop motion animation out of it. This is the first time he is involved in the making of […]

With just a blink of an eye we are now in 2017. It is time to start getting the children (and us parents) ready for school again. That means waking up early preparing Ethan’s bento box to ensure he stays energized throughout the day. I got lazy midway last year as I found it complicated and tedious to pack his bento box and resorted to letting him buy food from the canteen. I lost the […]

Chicken Floss Roll is one of the more popular Chinese New Year snack around. It is extremely addictive that once you start, you’ll find it difficult to stop eating them. It is also expensive to buy them so I decided to resume making them this year. I used to make this every year before I have kids. The boys are pretty okay on their own these days so I can sneak some time making one […]

How many days do we have before Chinese New Year? Not many I tell you. If you haven’t start baking, you should. If you still haven’t start doing anything, come, let Sifu Ayden teach you how to make this extremely simple Chinese New Year snack that is very popular with children, adults and even old people that still have their teeth intact.  Seaweed Popiah Crisp With just 3 ingredients – seaweed, popiah skin and egg […]

It’s the school holidays and since I have a little more time to spare, I would like to share an insight of Ethan’s journey in improving his grasp on English. I don’t speak, write nor read Chinese so the only language I use at home with the kids is English with a mixture of Bahasa (as I am after all a Peranakan Nyonya). I thought he would not fare too well in the Chinese language […]

It has been raining the past evenings, Ayden has caught a cold. Yesterday, it looks like it was going to rain again so I decided to bring the kids to the playground much earlier. At least if it rains, they would have gotten some sunshine and fresh air before rushing home.  Since Ayden is nursing a cold and won’t be able to play with the other kids, I let him do some art work in the […]

November is here and that means Christmas is NEAR! LoL I know, I know, I can get a little over excited sometimes. But it is never to late to start decorating our house. I love filling the house with the kids’ handicraft so I get Ayden to make one today. The elder brother will make more during the holidays. Handprint Christmas Mitten Watch this video to see how easy it is to make this lovely […]

Just the other day I shared the benefits of stamping for toddlers. In case you missed it, you may read all about it here. Today, we explore further on stamping with a new paint tool – sponge. Ayden loves Koi fish so I thought let’s make today’s art activity more interesting by letting him paint his very own koi fish. I did this same art activity with big brother Ethan back in 2012 when he […]

Ayden is 3 years old. It is important to work on his soft motor skills. At this age, I pay more attention to his finger muscles and hand strengthening as it is crucial in helping him to hold the pencil when he starts going to school. Stamping is one of the best activity to work those finger muscles as he will be utilising all four fingers and his thumb to hold the stamp. It helps in […]

Ethan came home from school one day showing me the instruction for his school craft project. I took a look at it and asked him what is that supposed to be. He said that is an owl. We got into a heated argument as I refused to believe that is how an owl is supposed to look like but he insisted it is an owl.  I don’t read chinese so I don’t know if Ethan […]

As you know, Ayden is home-schooled just like his elder brother Ethan during his preschool years. However, I intend to send Ayden to school earlier as I believe he may benefit socially in school. By school I meant those enrichment centres that is not classroom type of learning. We actually planned to send Ayden earlier this year but has been procrastinating as I’ve been busy. We finally made the effort to pay a visit to […]

As you may know, Ayden is home-schooled. I did the same with the elder brother until he is ready to go to Primary One in a public school. I intend to do the same with Ayden. I am thankful that I have the luxury of time to guide my kids during their formative years.  It requires a lot of discipline to homeschool a child. If I am lazy, my kid won’t be doing much hence […]

The past few days have been frustrating as it rained in the evenings, today included. We were all ready to go to the playground but as we stepped out of the house, it started to rain   You don’t know how important it is for us to go to the playground. The boys need to go to the playground to burn off whatever surplus energy they have otherwise they’ll have difficulty sleeping at night. I need […]

It’s the school holidays so let’s make something useful on everyday basis for the kids or even better when they get back to school. My boys love to read so we’ll be making an Angry Bird bookmark I learned from here. We’ll start with a red square paper. Fold it half as shown above.  Fold both ends up to form a crisp line as shown above.  Unfold the two ends.  Fold the tip of the paper down, […]

It has been a while since our last arts and crafts project. Today’s project is making paper popsicle out of the boy’s footprint. Ayden can’t do much here so Ethan assisted him when it comes to tracing and cutting.  Materials needed are coloured paper, popsicle stick, glue, pencil and a pair of scissors.  Big brother Ethan helped trace Ayden’s footprint.  He also helped to cut it out.  Ayden is able to apply glue onto the […]