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Becks Kao Ben Kao Going Out! Invites & Tryouts Reviews

Review: Hey Little Mousedeer!

August 4, 2013

In an earlier post which I wrote when I gave away tickets to the drama-musical Hey Little Mousedeer!, I mentioned that this production couldn’t have come at a better time.

Set in the rainforest, the drama-musical promises to take us on a journey of discovering our region’s colourful heritage, and to teach us valuable lessons about saving the environment, bravery and facing the consequences of one’s own actions. I was really looking forward to bringing the kids for this production so we can learn a thing or two about conserving our environment with the haze crisis that happened a month ago.

What I didn’t expect was that this production also did me a big favour by teaching my kids the valuable lesson of honesty and sincerity in friendship.

We caught the production at the very comfortable and cosy Alliance Française Theatre on Saturday.

In the 50-minute play, we met Sang Kancil, a crafty little mousedeer who loved to trick the animals in the forest. In a bid to show how quick-witted and clever he can be, he was often proud and disrespectful, which annoyed and offended the other forest creatures like Cicak, Monyet Besar, Monyet Kecil and Harimau. They weren’t too pleased to be made fools by the mousedeer all the time and came up with a plan to teach him a lesson. Sang Kancil did eventually learn his lesson when the other animals banished him to the forest fringe, and that was where he witnessed deforestation and forest fires taking place. He returned to warn his friends and although they found it hard to believe him, they eventually heeded his warning and escaped danger.

It was like the story of the boy who cried wolf retold in another context, and this production taught Ben and Becks (besides respecting our environment) that you need to treat your friends with respect and honesty, and not play tricks on them. And that even if you were so clever, you needn’t be haughty!

This couldn’t have come at a better time cos’ these two kids are at this phase where they have plenty of tricks up their sleeves for each other, and I’m glad they learned a precious lesson from Sang Kancil himself!

There was a lot of laughter and fun as the five characters told the story about the clever little mousedeer and his adventures. The production was staged based on a selection of regional folklore and these classic stories came to live through brilliant acting and catchy songs. Becks was singing the ‘one silly crocodile’ song after the show, to my amazement, and Ben was recounting the scenes in the play that made him laugh while on our way home. We were also given a story book (in English and Chinese) titled The Mousedeer’s Adventures and Other Stories for keeps, and I was glad to be able to read about Sang Kancil and Sang Buaya to the kids before the show, and the rest of the stories after.

All in all, we had a wonderful time on a lovely Saturday afternoon. Thank you for inviting us, and for sponsoring the giveaway, I Theatre!

More details on I Theatre:

I Theatre is a non-profit organization which exists to create top quality theatre for children and families. Since April 2008, I Theatre has been a registered charity and an Institute of Public Character. It relies almost entirely on ticket sales to support its work of four quality productions annually. You can also make a donation to their ‘Theatre For All’ scheme which supports needy charitable groups who cannot afford to watch I Theatre’s shows by giving them free or discounted tickets. To support ‘Theatre For All’, email team@itheatre.org.

I Theatre’s next production, Grimm’s Fairy Tales, will be staged at the Drama Centre Theatre at the National Library Building from 1 – 17 November 2013. (Recommended for ages 4 and above.)

P/S: You can still catch Hey Little Mousedeer! from now till 6 August 2013. Tickets available at Sistic.

Disclosure: Ben, Becks and I were given media passes to watch Hey Little Mousedeer! and all opinions in this post are my own.

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Invites & Tryouts Learning fun! Motherkao loves... Nat Kao Reviews

And it’s a wrap at Gymnademics! [+a giveaway]

July 31, 2013

We’ve just completed a term of Gymnademics at their Pre-Fellow class, and it’s been A LOT of fun, fun, fun. Nat and I have learned and played SO MUCH together at every lesson, and for this, we really have Teacher Selene and her assistants to thank.

Every lesson for Nat at his Pre-Fellow class is parent-accompanied, which means both of us get a mental and physical workout! The class is an hour long, and we usually arrive 10 to 15 minutes earlier to get Nat used to the environment. By mid-term, Nat got pretty used to the gym studio and the routine, and even knew where to leave his water bottle!

The Pre-Fellow class (suitable for toddlers 1 to 2 years old) is structured and packed with mental and physical stimulation for the little ones from the get-go. The children engage in as many as 14 activities the whole hour, starting with the Welcome Song, followed by a recap of the previous week’s theme-based lesson. Then it’s the theme of the week, some warm-ups (in the form of song and actions) and then it’s movement time at the gym circuit and swinging on the trapeze.

Our last lesson at Gymnademics coincided with Racial Harmony Day and Nat got to wear ethnic Indon garb! Here he is learning about traditional costumes!

Our last lesson at Gymnademics coincided with Racial Harmony Day and Nat got to wear his hand-me-down ethnic Indonesian garb. Here’s a picture of him learning about traditional costumes!

Nat loves the gym circuit and he covers at least three rounds of it every lesson

Nat loves the gym circuit and covers at least three rounds of it every lesson

Unfortunately, Nat refuses to swing on the trapeze still. But he loves to hang on the monkey bar and so we let him do that instead during the trapeze segment while the rest are swinging.

Nat swinging on the monkey bar: He’s not ok with the trapeze but feels perfectly fine swinging from this!

Gymnademics is the only enrichment gym in Singapore affiliated with the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP) and its curriculum is based on methods developed by the late Glenn Doman which focuses on a child’s brain development and developing a child holistically. Which means in every lesson, the little tots, young as they are, get to read flashcards and learn new vocabulary related to the theme of the week. The toddlers also do a fair bit of singing and dancing, and holding percussion instruments – something which Nat enjoys tremendously.

Music, song, action: Enjoying sing-alongs and shaking the macara

Music, song, action: Enjoying sing-alongs, shaking the macara and throwing the beanbag

Other activities also include the fruit relay (which trains the child to run in a straight line), gymnastics (which trains hand-eye coordination and develops their gross motor skills), parachute time (story time based on the theme of the week), Mystery Box (one of my personal favourites because Nat and I get to do some hands-on together) and music appreciation (learning the solfeggio, a technique in music used to teach pitch).

Counting the number of fruits together after the fruit relay

A very focused Nat doing some colouring during th Mystery Box segment

A very focused Nat doing some colouring during the Mystery Box segment

What I particularly like about the classes at Gymnademics is that the entire hour is packed with activities for the little ones and they are never once bored or restless – and that to me is quality time spent learning and exploring! The teachers are an enthusiastic bunch who are so dedicated they would even set up the gym circuit or trapeze for you should you wish to revisit a particular segment with your child. There is a lot of positivity and encouragement going around at every lesson, and this really help to boost the little ones’ confidence.

Gymnademics has been truly fun, engaging and purposeful, and I am mighty glad that Nat got the opportunity to experience that. Thank you, Gymnademics, for the invitation!

*Time for a giveaway!*

Gymnademics is offering three trial passes to three Motherkao readers who wish to experience fun and purposeful play at Gymnademics! To take part in this giveaway, simply leave a comment here to say who you’d like to win this pass for, with your email address. Find out more about their classes for 5 months old to 5 years old here. Giveaway ends 8 August.

P/S: It would be really nice if you could LIKE the Gymnademics Facebook page too!

PP/S: I shared our experiences in an earlier review here and here. We were invited to Gymnademics for a term. All opinions are my own.

Update: AND WE HAVE OUR WINNERS…Congrats to Cheryl, Regina and Debbie! We’ll be in touch shortly!

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Going Out! Happy days Invites & Tryouts Motherkao loves... The Kao Kids

Hello Cinema!

July 27, 2013

The last time I stepped into a movie theatre was in 2008. Fatherkao and I (and Ben whom I was preggers with) watched Bolt on the big screen. We had deliberately selected a movie that would be sanitised for our unborn child. No violent scenes – check. No sex – check. No vulgarities – check. I’ve not watched anything else on big screen ever since that movie about a spy dog.

And I have been so deprived ever since motherhood consumed me. Even more so now, with 24/7 care-giving, once a day homelearning and 8 hours of co-sleeping.

So when Golden Village invited me and the kids to watch The Croods on big screen last week, guess who jumped for joy. The kids were like, “No…. we don’t want… we’re scared of the dark and the loud noise!” cos’ that’s what I told them theatres would be like, but I was like, “Come on, guys! Don’t be such a wuss! We have to go!”

They have never step foot in a cinema ever and this was going to be their first.

And watched The Croods we did, at Golden Village City Square.

Picture credit: disneydreaming.com

Clutching on tight to the soft toys they brought!

I was surprised that for a ‘Mums & Babies Movie Screening’, which GV does on a regular basis (ticket at $6 and kids below 90cm go free!), they didn’t turn up some lights and turn down the volume. It would have been perfect if they did, because I needn’t have to sit Becks on my lap the whole time and have her almost bruise my arm every time there was scary music, loud sudden sounds and “bad stuff” happening on screen. The little girl was squeezing my arm so tight I had to cover her eyes and ears to stop her from injuring me. There were also a couple of kids and babies crying at different parts of the movie, and I guessed if the lights were turned up and volume turned down a little, it would probably help soothe some of them.

Ben, on the other hand, was cackling away and enjoying the show and his huge bag of popcorn. It was a really good movie, one of learning to embrace change and sticking together as a family. Very heartwarming. And funny!

As for Nat, the littlest caught the first ten minutes of the show, took a walk outside when he got cranky, fell asleep on the helper’s shoulder and slept through the entire movie with her covering his ears. I guess the only good thing about the complete darkness was that it was perfect for him to take his nap.

I am thankful to be seated in a movie theatre once again, after so many years. I’m also so glad to be able to lug all three kids to a movie, and watch it with so many other parents and their kids. We’re all parents there, so it was perfectly ok when a kid yelled / cried / screamed / talked / asked questions. No glaring. No shushing. No tsk-ing. We were all in the same boat — all deprived of a movie experience ever since parenthood but made possible by the Mums & Babies Screening at GV.

Yay, we did it! We watched a movie!

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. We were invited to the Mums & Babies Movie Screening at Golden Village. All opinions are my own.

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Going Out! Invites & Tryouts The Kao Kids

No sweat at the Drypers Little Day Out

July 18, 2013

We were at the first Drypers Little Day Out last year and I wrote about how the kids were averse to crowds at 3 and 2 respectively. Now that they’re 4 and 3, they are not so allergic to people anymore and welcome any opportunity to play, jump on bouncy castles and hop on carnival rides.

So we checked out the 2nd Drypers Little Day Out that was held two Saturdays ago at the Expo.

It was somewhat different from the first one we attended last year, in that, there was a lot more space, there was a lot less jostling we had to do, and it was a lot more cooler to be having carnival fun in air-conditioning comfort.

There was a whole host of activities for learning and family bonding from the get-go till the evening. There were activity stations on the left of the hall which included parent-accompanied music jamming for toddlers by KinderMusik, gym play by Gymboree, and a make-your-own-cupcakes booth. There were also story-telling sessions by Creative Ark on the stage, but of course, none of these were as enticing as those bouncy castles and Uncle Ringo rides that bade Ben and Becks come.

And go they did, the whole afternoon long. On foot and by wheels.

Good thing there were chairs for the adults to sit around.

I was a little disappointed that there weren’t snacks available for the very hungry and tired mother that was me who needed to space out while the children played. Some tea and popcorn would be nice! I remembered having popcorn and candy floss the last time round. This year, I had to walk out to one of those push carts to pay for a super-inflated cup of corn for two-frigging-fifty. Oh well, things I do for my kids – eat so they can play longer.

Still, the kids had fun with Uncle Ringo and were practically still bouncing away when we had to leave. They were like, ‘Can we please go to this carnival again, we like doing this in aircon!’ These are spoilt kids, I say, but I must thank Drypers Singapore for pampering them silly. At least this time we had a cool, lovely Saturday together, and the kids didn’t have to queue in the heat and sweat buckets!

This post was brought to you by Drypers who kindly sponsored our Drypers Wee Wee Dry and Drypers DryPantz and invited us to make time for the family at their Little Day Out.

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Going Out! Invites & Tryouts

Hey Little Mousedeer! [Tickets giveaway]

July 14, 2013

This production really couldn’t have come at a better time. We don’t know if hazy days are really over – and will never again return – but it’s a good time to reflect about what we can all do to help save the environment.

And what better way to drive the message home to our little ones than through story telling!

Hey Little Mousedeer! is a drama-musical by I Theatre which explores the challenges that the Little Mousedeer and his friends face in the forest. The jungle creatures find out about jungle fires and the devastating consequences for all the inhabitants of the jungle. Through a carefully interwoven selection of fascinating and fun folk tales, the clever mousedeer and friends take us on a journey of discovering our region’s colourful heritage and teach us valuable lessons about saving the environment, bravery and facing the consequences of one’s own actions.

The production is recommended for 3 to 14 years old.

*Giveaway*

I Theatre is giving away two tickets (worth $56) to the drama-musical on 27 July (2.30pm) to Hey Little Mousedeer! for one reader of this blog! Leave a comment telling me how you kept well during the haze season, together with your name and email address, and we’ll be randomly picking one winner!

Giveaway closes on 20 July 2013.

P/S: I’m bringing my two older kids to learn a thing or two from the little mousedeer himself about saving the environment, thanks to I Theatre who also sponsored our tickets! I shared about how we kept well in an earlier post here, and have been thinking of ways to educate the kids about forest fires and the devastation they bring, besides showing them news and Youtube vids. Again I say, this production couldn’t have come at a better time!

Results of the giveaway: The random number generator picked Akila as the winner of the 2 tickets for the 2.30pm show on 27 July! Congrats, and a big thank you to all who participated! Thanks for sharing how you kept well in the haze. I picked up a few tips from all who shared.

You can still get tickets from Sistic and catch the production!

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Everyday fun! Going Out! Homelearning fun Learning fun!

Oh, what a month!

June 30, 2013

Ah, June! The month we threw routine out of the window and embraced spontaneity!

We checked out EatPlayLove Café, had a crazy time crafting (more like playing with glue) and making a huge mess…

We took the MRT to Lavender and Bus 107 from the bus-stop along ICA for 2 stops. EatPlayLove Cafe is at 28 Aliwal Street, #01-07 Aliwal Arts Centre, Singapore 199918.

Blast from the past at EatPlayLove! All the candies and snacks I used to love as a kid!

Craft materials were aplenty at the crafting corner: Ben, Becks and Nat got busy with cutting, glueing, threading pasta shells and colouring!

Went to the zoo to say hello to Inuka and spent some time drawing at his new Frozen Tundra enclosure…

Inuka, the first polar bear to be born in the tropics at the Singapore Zoo – oh, how we ♥ this beautiful boy!

Had a happy time at Happy Willow

Getting our indoor playgym fix!

Met Barney & Friends

We said hi to Barney, BJ and Baby Bop at City Square Mall

Tried out FoodArt at Nutriville

Nutriville is a social entreprise that is focused on helping the aged in our community. They’ve just started their FoodArt programme for the young which encourages inter-generational bonding, and we were invited to a hands-on session at their pre-opening. More on that on the blog soon!

Becks also attended her first Chinese Language enrichment at Chengzhu Mandarin Centre (review coming up in July) and finally started speaking some Mandarin.

Becks was invited to the holiday programme at Chengzhu Mandarin Centre from 10 – 14 June

We also stayed at the biggest deluxe room we’ve ever seen that gave us the most awesome view of our city skyline…

Staycation at Marina Bay Sands

And checked out the world’s first green library for kids at the National Library

My Tree House at the Central National Library

We had to stay indoors for a week because of the haze and watched so many episodes of Word World till we lost count, read (and read some more!), played with jigsaw puzzles and coloured on giant colouring sheets…

Reading, playing with jigsaws and colouring on giant colouring pages
(Why the giant ones? According to Mama, they can occupy us longer!)

Played with our toys and games like Honey Bees Hive and Snort!

Vroom vroom vroom!

Stuck indoors, but still having fun playing games!

Helped Mama clean the house when we got bored

Little helping hands: much needed when the haze hit to keep house clean

And geared up to look this cool when PSI hit 321 to go to the supermarket!

Looking cool this haze season!

Now that the skies are clear again, and the month of July is approaching, we’re back to more homelearning and more fun times ahead outdoors. June has been good to us, but July’s gonna be so much better, with ballet and swimming lessons coming up, and a colourful birthday party for a special someone turning three!

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Going Out! Invites & Tryouts Reviews The Kao Kids

Fun at Happy Willow

June 22, 2013

The kids are big fans of indoor playgyms although I’ve always insisted that they do more outdoor than indoor play, because a bit of sun is always good for them (and also because it’s free and bringing 3 to an indoor playground costs a bomb). But with the haze shrouding our skies, we’ve deserted all parks, promenades and playgrounds and have taken to hiding indoors.

Earlier this month, we were invited to Happy Willow at Fusionpolis to check out their playgym. Needless to say, the kids were excited and didn’t even mind being dragged out of bed at 8 in the morning to travel from northeast where we lived, all the way to the west. We took the circle line from Bishan to one-north, and arrived at the playgym all ready to play by 10 in the morning.

The experience

When we arrived there, Ben was a little disappointed. He’s always loved exploring huge spaces and his favourite has got to be the new Kidz Amaze at Safra Toa Payoh. The size of the play structure at Happy Willow didn’t wow him much, but I didn’t mind it being small actually. Although it wasn’t jaw-dropping, the place felt cosy and welcoming enough for the kids to plunge right into play. Without the need for adult company (yay!).

Off they went to explore!

The kids checked out the entire place all by themselves and didn’t bug me to climb up and down the play structure with them, and I could happily plonk myself onto one of those couches outside the Kids’ Den that were bidding me invitingly to come rest thy exhausted self. Nat also fell asleep when we arrived, so I was just glad to be sitting around, watching the kids play, and catching up with other mom bloggers who were also there that day.

Comfortable sofas and chairs for the adults to chill

The playgym also has a small toddler’s turf which had some stacking blocks, a small ball pit and those big semi-circle cushions. Not much to engage the littler ones, I must say. When Nat awoke, he spent a few minutes there and was bored quite quickly. He preferred the bigger ball pool with the slide at the kids’ play area, and wanted to spend time playing with Ben and Becks there.

At the bigger (and better) ball pool

When Ben and Becks were done with the playgym, they zipped over to the pretend-play area where they did some cooking, gardening and mega-bloking. And when they were done with that, they hopped to the reading corner which had a nice tuft of artificial grass and interesting collection of children’s books. After reading (or rather, trying to read) some books there, they explored the art materials at the tables in the reading room, and spent some time playing with stencils and colouring away.

Becks playing with Mega Bloks, gardening and colouring

The reading corner: there was even a storytelling session that day we were there!

And after they were done with all these, they went back to the playgym again for another round of fun.

What we liked

I liked that Happy Willow is a play area with activity “booths” of sorts to keep the kids constantly entertained despite its size. The kids were always up to something new – Let’s go colour now! Let’s go ride the rocking bull! Let’s play supermarket! Let’s make pizza! Let’s go back to the slide again! Let’s go colour one more picture! – and it was difficult to call it a day. We stayed there the entire morning, and even had our takeaway lunch (from Pastamania upstairs) there. The folks from Happy Willow were too kind – they took our orders, collected our packed lunch and allowed us to eat in so the kids could continue playing (my kids were zipping in and out of the playgym after every mouthful of pasta).

We finally left when the little one was too cranky to be playing at 3 in the afternoon. All in all, it was a fun day out worth getting up early for!

More details:

Happy Willow is located at 1 Fusionopolis Way, Fusionopolis, Connexis Tower, #B1-06, Singapore 138632
Admission fees: $18 per child (2 years old & above) and $10 per child (9 months – less than 2 years old) for Weekdays 3-hour play; $18 per child (2 years old & above) and $10 per child (9 months – less than 2 years old) for Weekends (Sat, Sun & PH) 2-hour play
Like Happy Willow’s FB page to stay updated on their storytelling and craft sessions and promotions

Disclosure: The Kao kids and I were invited by Happy Willow to have some indoor fun this holidays for the purpose of this review. All opinions here are my own.

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Going Out! Invites & Tryouts The Kao Kids

Meeting Barney & Friends

June 11, 2013

Regular readers of this blog will know that my kids don’t watch regular tv programming.

So whenever we’re invited to Meet and Greet sessions and live shows at malls, my kids usually go, “Huh? Who?” We usually still accept the invites because we love the electrifying atmosphere at live shows, and it always turns out to be a fun day out for all of us. But we usually don’t go as fans.

There was once we were at T3 and it happened that the Strawberry Shortcake folks were staging their live show. Ben and Becks saw the performers on stage and went, “Who are these girls with funny hats?” I think those children around stared at them for the longest time with utter disbelief.

So when I received an invitation by City Square Mall to catch Barney and his friends live, and to do a Meet and Greet after the show, I asked the kids, “Hey, wanna go meet Barney?”, and they were all “Yay, yay, yes! Meet Barney!”

You see, everybody knows the purple dinosaur. Even these kids who’s not watched a single episode of Barney at home. He’s everywhere. On their friends’ shoes, bags, water bottles, stationery, and clothes. Sometimes, the teachers in kindy play them Barney videos (and other programmes like Mother Goose, Veggie Tales and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) at the assembly room while waiting for all the other children to arrive before starting praise and worship, and daily prayers. So thanks to their friends who are fans and their teachers, my children who don’t watch kids’ channels at home now know who Barney is and actually can’t wait to meet him.

Last Friday, we were at City Square Mall to catch the Barney Live Show. When we arrived at 3.45pm for the 4pm show, this was what we saw:

So many Barney fans!

I didn’t know the SOP for catching live shows was to queue up 1 to 2 hours before the starting time so you can chope a seat in the front. We were thankful we were specially ushered to a cordoned off corner where we needn’t jostle with every ~~crazy~~ Barney fan present, and were told we would be the very first family to go give Barney and his friends hi-fives. Which explains why most of my shots were taken from this angle.

Watching Barney & Friends Live

When the purple and green tyrannosaurus (yes, he is a T-Rex! A friendly, monotoothed one!) appeared, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The cheers and squeals were similar to those fan girls screaming at a K-pop concert. The little Barney fans were ecstatic! They sang with Barney, Baby Bop and BJ, belting out familiar tunes together with Barney as he sang and danced his crowd favourites.

It’s Barney, everybody’s favourite purple dinosaur!

And what were my kids doing? Watching the live show, of course. They were stunned, in fact! Some girls a few feet away were singing at the top of their voices, the kids in front were jiving and grooving, and everyone around seemed to know every single Barney song and dance. Ben and Becks didn’t, but it didn’t matter. They were soaking up the atmosphere, nonetheless.

Watching the show

Occasionally, they would turn around to ask me if there was a person hiding inside those costumes. These are my kids for you – they were more concerned if the Barney they would stand next to later was a real dinosaur or a fake one.

Despite knowing full well that there were people inside those costumes, they were still kinda freaked out when we had a photo taken with Barney, Baby Bop and BJ. Which explains the looks on their faces.

Looking a little worried here: are they real, or not, Ma?

When we walked around the mall later that evening after the show, Ben and Becks asked if they could watch the live show a second time, when they saw people starting to fill out the space at the atrium for the 7pm show. That to me was a clear sign that they enjoyed the show, and wanted to experience it again.

I told them I had a better idea.

We headed home and I got their father to download Barney vids to the computer which was then synced to the tv. The kids finally watched Barney & Friends on tv at home, learned those familiar tunes (If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops is my personal favourite now, hurhurhur) and are now officially fans!

Barney’s on TV at home!

How do I know? Becks is loving the Barney water bottle from her goodie bag from City Square Mall, and taking more water than she’s ever done after Barney came along, and Ben’s asking for more Barney on tv now!

Thank you, City Square Mall, for inviting us to be part of yet another exciting live show!

More details:

City Square Mall is Singapore’s first eco-mall, and is located at the junction of Serangoon Road and Kitchener Road. This Great Singapore Sale, redeem an exclusive pass for the Meet & Greet session with Barney & Friends with a minimum spending of $50, and sing and dance along with Barney, Baby Bop and BJ at the Level 1 Atrium at 4pm & 7pm (Tue-Fri); 1pm, 4pm & 7pm (Sat & Sun) from 7 to 16 June.

Disclosure: The Kao kids and I were given media passes to the Meet and Greet session with Barney & Friends. All opinions here are Motherkao’s own.

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Becks Kao Ben Kao Everyday fun! Milestones and growing up Nat Kao The Kao Kids

Just like that, the three of ’em

June 5, 2013

And just like that, the three of them are playing together and doing everything together.

Playing with shoes: all ready for a fashion parade

They shower together. They eat together. They watch tv (when I allow it) together.

Bath time is fun time: guess who can’t wait to jump right into the shower?

Watching tv together: they sit in a row, and enjoy the show!

They have conversations with one another, yes, all three of them. The youngest can reply by nodding and shaking, and knows exactly what the older ones are talking about.

Most of the time, it’s monkey see monkey do. If Ben and Beck troop around the house, Nat follows. If they bounce a ball, he follows. Whatever they scale, he scales. Whatever they climb, he follows suit behind.

Monkey see, monkey do. Small monkey can copy anything!

Anything small monkey see, small monkey do – with JieJie!

And just like that, the three of them are growing up so quickly. Quicker than my tired feet can run after.

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Learning fun! Reviews

Learning fun at Gymnademics – a mid term update

May 23, 2013

We’ve been attending Gymnademics for half a term now, and Nat has never been happier. At 15 months, my littlest baby is starting to babble a lot, and responding to routines. He looks forward to the fun to be had in his Pre-Fellow class every week, and I too, look forward to Friday evenings to join him in his learning, and sharing some special ‘Nat and Mama’ moments – just me and him, without the older kids.

Saying ‘cheese’ before class

After attending just five lessons, I watched how quickly Nat catches on to things taught by routine and repetition. For one, he is able to respond to the ‘Welcome Song‘ by raising his hand and pointing to himself when we sing, “Nathanael, Nathanael, are you here?” He’s also learned the actions for the ‘Hip Hip Hooray’ part in the goodbye song, and which parts of his body to touch when we sing solfège – do (we touch our knees), re (we touch our tummies), mi (we touch our heads) – and I must say I’m pretty impressed at how much my boy absorbs and the speed he’s learning things.

The goodbye song goes, ‘Hey hey hey, we learned something new today. Hip hip hooray, we learned something new today’ and here’s Nat jumping for the ‘hip hip hooray’.

This little one has also indicated quite clearly what activities he enjoys and what he doesn’t fancy. He loves sitting on my lap to look at the flashcards Teacher Selene shows in class. Since we started, we’ve learned a whole range of really cool stuff, from food types and food preparation methods to science concepts like magnetism and gravity. We’ve also looked at flashcards of birds of prey and all kinds of butterflies and moths. The last lesson, we met the Queen Alexandra Birdwing, the largest butterfly in the world. Bet you found that impressive, eh? Ok, I have to admit, I was impressed myself. I didn’t know that I didn’t know until I attended Gymnademics!

So this is the largest butterfly in the world…

Other activities that he loves? Balancing on a beam (and doing it very well!), the ‘Mystery box’, watching Teacher Selene teach him the actions to a new song, and oh yes, the water break!

Balancing on the beam

Learning actions to a new song!

Mystery Box – a secret revealed! (The activities are usually theme-related.)

Nat finds his bottle and gets his well-deserved water break

So what does he not fancy? Swinging on the trapeze. He hears the music leading to the activity and starts clinging on to me and shaking his head vigorously. He’s not even willing to hi-five the trapeze bar when it’s his turn. I don’t get this part, actually. For someone who has no sense of fear at the playground, I can’t believe that I’m seeing an intensely petrified face even before he swings.

Spot the koala!

We’re going to have work on that one for the remaining weeks of the term. The reason why swinging on a trapeze is included in every lesson is because hanging from a bar increases a child’s lung capacity, which in turns allows the child to take in more oxygen, and more oxygen to the brain is always good for a child who’s constantly learning. Swinging from a bar also strengthens his grip, which is a necessary motor skill, especially for writing later on. See those children on monkey bars? These are going to be smart kids, I tell you.

Let’s hope by the end of the term, my little koala can become a confident little gibbon.

Disclosure: Nat and I were invited to attend the Pre-Fellow Class at Gymnademics for review purposes. I shared previously about our experience in a review here. All opinions in this post are Motherkao’s own.

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