Mother Tongue Language Symposium (MTLS)

Checked out MTLS on 19th August 2017 and came home with a heavy bag!

It's a great event! It's a pity that we went really late (ard 2.30pm and we spent an hour in a workshop), after the workshop we continued playing for almost 2hrs! we did not manage to participate in all the activities.. There were 40+ booths, we probably covered less than half.

W queued to complete some simple activities at the various booths manned by various community partners like :

• The National Library Board (Borrowed 2 books and got a free tote bag 😂)
• Malay Language Centre of Singapore (she she spun the wheel, picked a card and attempted to read the Malay word, ini mata)
• Singapore Centre for Chinese Language (used a application on the tablet to write some Chinese words)
• Wildlife Reserves Singapore (She tried to match names of birds in Chinese to the pictures)
• The Esplanade Co Ltd (Followed the staff to read a simple card) and 
• Lee Kuan Yew Fund for Bilingualism (Solve/match a dice puzzle and name the picture)

'Living with Bamboo’ Parent-Child Workshop. It's very interesting, so much that even Ash was interested! Well not for very long but to be able to hold his attention for that long it's an achievement! 😂 The speakers made presenting boring bamboo facts and ideas so fun that I felt enriched too! The simple song and dance is easy to follow and the lyrics are really meaningful too. The Bamboo for them to write/draw on for display is really unique. W wrote the chinese word 叶子 (which means leaf) on it and even drew bamboos on it. She even got to check out some items made out of bamboo, needless to say her favourite is the huge calligraphy brush!

After the workshop we had a little snack break and then back to the hall to play again! 😄 We went thru so many stations that I didn't know which was which. We enjoyed a short drama, she did a corner bookmark, played a few puzzle games and also completed a quest about Ma Liang and his magic paintbrush. (We spent a long time locating this Ma Liang guy to get the token from him to exchange for a badge)

W went up to "stage" for a contest and won a foldable tote bag 😂

Sleep

I have been following a Taiwan teacher on his Facebook live show for a while and this week's topic is on Children's Sleep! This is a super important topic to many mummies, so I thought I should try to summarise it as best as I can..

Initially had just wanted to just translate the points to english to share on Facebook but ended up typing way too much information so it became a blog post.. 😂

1. Children are sleeping at least 1hr lesser compare to children in the past. 
 ~ After 7pm, try not to allow children to have screen-time (Blue light from TV/Tablet/Phone/etc).


2. Naps should not be scheduled too closed to sleep time
~ Eg children find it difficult to sleep if they just woke up from nap 3-4hrs before sleep time.

 * If you find it difficult to make children sleep and start to scold them, it causes them not to be able to sleep too as scolding them would cause their stress level to go up, when stress level is high they will find it even more difficult to relax, thus even more difficult for them to fall asleep. (Instead of letting them nap at 3-4pm where they would wake at 5-6pm, it’s better to let them not take that nap and sleep earlier at night)


3. Secret of the Brain 

3a. Morning Sunlight 
~ Not exposing to enough sun light during the day would cause one not to be able to fall sleep easily at night. Minimum 15mins to 30mins a day.

3b. (Room light)
~ 1hr before sleep, use warm/yellow light instead of white light, room should be dim/not too bright.. Dimmed lights and some soft music would be a good setting for the children.

* If you read to your children, try to read to them earlier instead. Keep reading time to approx. 20mins.


4. Not having enough activities during daytime
~ Too much unused energy?


5. Food taken just before sleep 
~ Food to avoid just before bedtime (High Protein). High amount of protein just before bedtime would result in children finding it difficult to fall asleep. Eg. Milk. High amount = more than 150ml of milk. If they are drinking more than that amount it means that they are not eating enough during dinner!

 ~ Food to avoid just before bedtime (High Sugar).

 ~ Food to avoid just before bedtime (Caffeine).
We do not give coffee to kids however there are some food with caffeine, like chocolates!

 ~ Food to avoid just before bedtime (High Carbohydrates).

 ~ Food to avoid for dinner (Fried Food).
If you do want to give you children fried food, do consider giving them during lunch instead.

 ~ Food that aids sleep : Banana – tryptophan


6. Repeatedly asking your child to sleep
~ It gives them the chance to keep replying you.
Resist telling them off (this is so difficult but I shall try!)


7. Too much high-intensity? activities just before bedtime
~ Children do not sleep well when they are too tired!


8. Vestibular balance activity (前庭平衡觉) 
~ Throwing around, rocking, swinging around, rolling around, jumping around, turning around in circles, shaking, etc.. avoid these activities an hour before sleep.


9. Sensory Brush 
~ Lastly if you have tried all the points on top and your child is still not able to fall asleep, you can try using sensory brush to brush children’s arms/legs/body to help them to relax. (Suitable for toddler up till children in primary school!)

Kids Fiesta at Hillion Mall

Last Sunday we travelled to the new mall at Bukit Panjang to check out the on-going kid's carnival! The kids had fun so here's a quick post about the event!

The carnival is until this Sunday (19th March 2017) , so even if you missed it last weekend, you can still make your way there this week! More information about the event here: Smartparent and Hillion Mall.

With a minimum spending of $20 at the mall, redeem a stamp on your receipt (from the counter next to the stage at B2 Atrium) and you child can participate in the following activities:

• Art and Craft 45mins (non parents accompanied)
• Sport circuit and Sports skill station 10 mins
• Kinetic Sand Play 10mins
• Bouncy Castle

Other than activities, the event organisers gave some freebies too!
1x Free indoor playground voucher
1x Free voucher for trial class with readysteadygokids
1x Pass for "meet and greet" and to exchange a free toy (McDonald's Line toy)
1x Tote bag (hillion mall)

Here are my anyhow-taken photos of the event!

(Baby A kept moving so I had a hard time trying to take photos!)

Kinetic Sand Play 10mins

Photo taken before event started but I can assure you this is one of the hot favourite among the kids! Table is crowded since the start of the event!

Sport circuit and Sports skill station 10 mins

Photo taken before event started, set up for play changed after a few hours too, they limit the kids inside the play area so it's not that crowded.

It's fun for the kids, good for gross motor skill and most importantly tire the kiddos out for us! :P

Art and Craft approximate 45mins (non parents accompanied)

As it's a group lesson so you need to "book" a timeslot by leaving your name and contact number. Each session is open to only 8 kids, so if the tables are full, you would need to go for the next session. The good thing is it's a non parents accompanied session, so I practically just left my kiddo there and went to get other things done.. like redeeming tote bag, buying fruits and drink, checking out what other stations have to offer, redeeming pass for the meet and greet after the show etc..

Live Show by The Polliwogs

Live show is available on weekends at 1.30pm and 5pm.

Show last for about 20-25mins, thereafter they have a photograph session for 30 kids with the "meet and greet" pass. "Meet and Greet" pass can be obtained 1hr before show starts. Eg 12.30pm can start redeeming for 1.30pm show.

This is the pass and tote bag that I redeemed while my kid did her craft at the Art and Craft Station. :)

Pass can be redeemed next to the stage at B2 Atrium, Tote bag can be redeemed at Seoul Street located at Level 1.

Free class voucher given to us by the staffs at the sports station. Unfortunately the location of the schools is really far away from our place so we would most probably be unable to utilise the free class voucher.

Right after the photo taking session, we exchange our "meet and greet" pass for a free toy sponsored by McDonalds.

This is not a sponsored post, I spent $20 buying food at the mall and felt the event is quite worth it so sharing the details here. Hope you enjoyed this post! :)