Batik Painting at Central Market!

It is a short school holiday, thanks to the National Independent Day, kids have a week long break so I decided to take a few days off to arrange for a short trip. Time to learn more about our own homeland through cuti-cuti Malaysia, which literarily means travel in Malaysia.  :)

(Of course I may opt to leave them in the day care, but what better way to learn but to walk the walk and experience the outside world?)

We have one extra day before the planned trip, to fully utilize the promotion period (until 31/8) for the newly launched MRT line which links the urbur townships from Sungai Buloh to Kajang with the city center and other parts of the Klang Valley I decided to take the duo to Central Market, or better know to the local as Pasar Seni (central art market) for a visit, and to get our hands dirty with some batik painting. I have read about it sometimes ago and the reviews were mostly good. So here we were, paid just $1.80 (adult) and $0.90 (kids 6y and albvoe) for the comfortable ride from Damansara Mutiara station (eCurve) and reached straight to Pasar Seni station.

We approached the friendly information counter staff and asked for direction (save us time to search!), and Aina Artwork Studio  was easy to locate -just head straight and it's at the end of the exit door.

We choose our frame each - RM10 for a small frame and RM15 for a big frame, there were plenty of template designs to choose from, E picked a Nemo fish while C was insistent with hisbiscus flowres, and I was attracted to the Helaconia drawing which reminded me of our garden.

After a brief introduction by the helpful staff. We started painting right away.

Painting time! C painted her hibiscus leaves in different shades of green.

Everyone was so concentrated to make the best painting, just look at E..

Cute little Nemo fish by E.

And we were all done 30 minutes later!

Pretty happy with their creations. Not bad for a first timer:))

If you are interested to try out this DIY activities too, just head straight to Pasar Seni & look for Aina Artwork. They open 7 days a week, from 10am - 9pm except some special public holidays such as Merdeka Day or Hari Raya.

The collage below shows the progress of my helaconia painting.. it's indeed pretty easy as we were "guided" by the template made with wax (that would be the next class I aim to join - batik drawing with wax!)

Before leaving, we decided to be tourists for a day - let's shoot a picture for memory! :))

Authentically Malaysian - 3D heritage buidling postcards! 

Happy Merdeka, my fellow Malaysian! 

Getting there:

Aina Artwork

Central Market (Pasar Seni)

Jalan Hang Kasturi, City Centre, 

50050 Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia

Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Little Bunny Learns to Play... Piano!

C has been watching the elder brother practicing his piano at home, in piano class, and occasionally she likes to disturb him just to annoy him; like tapping his keys, turning off the power supply... Cheeky girl, she is.

She had never shown interest in learning piano, despite I have asked her few times, she always just shook her head and walks away.

Until last week.

C suddenly asked me.. "Mommy, why only koko (the brother) gets to go piano class, why I don't get to learn piano?"

"You like piano too?"

"YES! I want to play by myself!"

So we took her for a trial class at the same music center, I can tell that she was excited. Kept rushing us to leave the home ("Quick, mommy! I am going to be late for my class!"), greeted the teacher upon arrival (she is usually very shy) and I noticed she was holding the hands at all time - sign of nervous or excited.

To my pleasant surprise, my cheeky girl who has short attention span sometimes, listened attentively to all the instructions and performed everything as the music teacher told her. Tapping her fingers (do-re-mi-fa-so), counting the notes (semi-breve, minim, crochet)... She did all as requested and even memorized bass claf and treble claf. 

Well done, girl!

Now that we have signed her up for one term, let's hope her passion will not cease... *fingers crossed*

Second class, still on full attention mode, learnt her first song.

E started his first music lesson at the same age too - 4.5yo, and he is now preparing for his level 2 exam. He truly loves music and often plays the songs he heard on radio. Learning piano is not about getting the certificate, but there are much larger benefits than that.. You may read my earlier post here:

Fun with music - Let's Play Piano!

May the music always flows in your heart, my sweetest C.

Xoxo,

PH



Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

{Christmas Special} Pop Up Christmas Tree Card

The kiddos are spending home with me this holiday season so I though of doing a series of Christmas crafts with them. Good for bonding and to have some decoration for the home & family too. 

After the Christmas Wreath I made last weekend, I found it is not quite suitable for little ones with the use of hot glue gun (I burnt my fingers few times), I decided to start with activities that are kids-friendly and something that would be fun... So when I told them we are making Pop-Up Christmas Tree card, they got super excited. I have not met a kids who do not like pop-up so far. I insisted they had to call me Teacher PH instead of mommy, they loved the idea! Lol.

We had a good 45 minutes making these cards. From left to right - by Ethan, by teacher PH, by Claire. 

The duo drew, cut, glued and decorated the card all by themselves. I just gave suggestions and jumped in for damage control, e.g. When Claire accidentally squeezed too much glue or could not cut a round Christmas ball. So these cards may not be perfect, but are truly their own artwork. I am emphasize on the kiddo's learning progress than to cheat a perfect outcome.

Ethan and I completed this wrapping paper strips Christmas trip for the card cover. He found the paper stencil punchers so we made some flower & little people punch holes, how cute!

The pop-up Christmas tree with 2D gift box. Noticed the little soldier I added? *smile*

The pop -up Christmas tree as done by Ethan. He dedicated it to Yuky 姐姐, one of my buddies whom we are meeting up for lunch later.

It was a total mess on our dinning table, but we managed to clean up within 10'minutes. The kiddos had been trained to clean up and we have a pretty good team work by now. :)

What you need to make some Christmas cards with your little ones..

• Some colorful papers

• child-friendly scissors 

• artwork glue

• used wrapping papers / ribbons / buttons / washi tapes 

• pencils & market pens

• paper stencil punchers (optional but adds fun to the making)

• cutters (optional, NOT SAFE FOR KIDS)

• old newspapers to protect the work surface

• some creative juice ;-) 

Here's the simple tutorial on how to make the pop-up tree..

Cheers!

Xoxo,

PH

Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

{Music Journey} Little Handsome's First Band Performance!

It has been 1.5 years since I had started little E on his piano lesson. We enrolled him into audition on the recommendation of his tutor, to our surprise he was selected to participate in the band performance for the annual concert! Honestly I don't think he is great at the keyboard, far from being a child prodigy, but he enjoyed playing at his own pace and loved challenging himself in learning new song.

My little handsome at the audition. He was the first in queue, he played calmly with many pair of eyes watching behind the glass door, myself included.

This was his first band performance at 5 years old and he was the youngest among the whole lot. Although he was only one of the 8 keyboard players, big guy and I were feeling really proud of him. He was steady on stage, got along well with all his band players, diligently practiced his piece at home and totally enjoyed himself on the stage; no stage freight, no chicken feet. Way better than his mommy. I still recalled how nervous I was during my first story telling contest at primary school, I avoided eye contacts with any of the audience and just starred at the ceiling fan the whole time... Urrgg, let's not dwell further on that topic.

The band. The drummer and lead singer not in sight.

Their band performed "Do You Want to Build a Snowman", they did not made it to the top 3 among the 17 bands performing that day, but the exposure gained was priceless.

I am so glad we made the decision to let him tried out the piano lesson when he was 4, otherwise he would not had discovered his interest in music. The Piano Guys has been his role model since I first introduced their youtube clip to him, Big Guy and I had done our parts to encourage him by playing with him (I actually learnt the song at home and play side by side with him, and mind you I have no music background..). I make recording of his progress whenever he mastered a new piece, that really give him a sense of achievement. 

You may read more about the benefits exposing little ones to music here.

As for our little girl, we have yet to discover her music talent. She seemed to be more interested with singing and dancing albeit she likes to play with the piano at home pretending that she's practicing. Well, we shall see as she grow older, there is no need to hurry as learning shall be a journey to be enjoyed, not rushed. 

My little diva all dressed up to attend the concert. Isn't she looking beautiful? :)

Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. 

{Book Review} Stick Man by Julia Donaldson, fun book for the earlyreader!

This has been my little handsome's favorite bedtime book for the past 1 month. Every night even after we have read other books, he will still BEGGED to read his favorite book. "Stick man!", he yelled in excitement.

Personally, I enjoy reading this book with him too (despite we have been reading this for over like 20 times or more?) . It is fun to read with all the rhymed text and the series of unfortunate incidents that Stick Man got into that made the children want to read on more. I particularly love the twist at the end of the story, how Stick Man finally got home to his Stick Lady Love and stick children three after the long adventure that kept him away from home.

  

Stick Man
Written by Julia Donaldson
Illustrated by Axel Scheffler

What is the Story About?
"Stick Man lives in the family tree With his Stick Lady Love and their stick children three." But it's dangerous being a Stick Man. A dog wants to play with him, a swan builds her nest with him. He even ends up on a fire! Will he ever get back to the family tree?


It started with me reading for the first 2 nights, but subsequently my little 5 year old decided to take over and I just relaxed and listen to him reading aloud. He loved this book so much that I wonder when would he finally allow us to move on to next. :)

His favorite parts had got to be these:

"I'm Stick Man, I'm Stick Man, I'M STICK MAN, that's me!"

"And I want to go home to the family tree!"

and

"Stick Man, oh Stick Man, beware of the snow!"

"Stick Man, oh Stick Man, beware of the sand!"

"Stick Man, oh Stick Man, beware of the girl!"

The illustration is rich and captivating. It is also interesting to find that there are so many ways to play or do with a stick!

Want to make reading more FUN?
Check out the tips on sharing this books with little ones, as shared by Scholastic.

Something You Should Know About the Author...
Did I mentioned Julia Donaldson is also the author behind the best-seller children book, the Gruffalo's Child? We have 3 of the books and they are all beautifully illustrated with great story line that captivate the curiosity of the child. I shall share about the books in a separate post.

Can't wait to read this fun book with your little ones? Find it online today..

Scholastic 

Book Depository (free delivery world wide)

Amazon.com

Have fun reading!

Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

{Book Review} Grooming a Star Wars Lover... Young Jedi who Loves to Read!

Who usually plays the bedtime story reading role at home? Is it mommy or daddy? In our home, 95% of the time it's done by me, Big Guy hardly has the patience to read through the books with the duo.

But not with these books. He read them far more animatedly than me. It's easy to tell why... He's the hard core Star Wars fan since teenage years, he can name every character in every Star Wars episode and Darth Vader was probably his childhood idol. He has a few lightsabers so he can trains the little ones on lightsaber fighting skill. In the dark. 

So yes, he is no doubt one die hard Star Wars fan.

So here are some books I would like to recommend to the Star Wars fans out there, especially for daddy who find reading boring. You shall enjoy this and have some good laugh with your little ones, or even just to yourself.

#1 Darth Vader and Son, by Jeffrey Brown

About the mighty dark lord and his 4yo son, Luke, this is an adorable comic that illustrates how Darth Vader's life would be as a father in a funny yet touching way.  Each page is a short story of how Darth Vader attempts to coach Luke to use his Jedi power, or how Luke got himself into mischief with his R2-D2 and C-3PO. My boy was deeply in love with this book and would read it aloud all to himself. Reading the book gave me good laugh, really. I can totally picture myself in his position. :)

It's a 64 pages hardcover with beautiful illustrations by Jeffrey Brown. You may read out more about him here or discover his blog, I truly admire his creativity and humor. Here are some snippets..

#2 Vader's Little Princess by Jeffrey Brown 

Who says Star Wars is only for the boys? Little girls too can enjoy some exciting galaxy quests! Princess Leia, the teenage daughter of Darth Vader is smart, curious and strong will. She gave the Sith Lord equal if not more headache than managing the brother Luke or even the Galactic Empire, especially when she met a boy friend, Han Solo. Reading this book some how made me laugh hysterically, as I can really imagine my girl being the rebellious Princess Leia as portrayed by Jeffrey... 

#3 Star Wars: the Jedi Academy, by Jeffrey Brown

This is a paperback children book and also the latest publication of Star Wars chronicle by Jeffrey Brown. We got from Scholastic and it's a paperback in black & white print, the bonus was, it came with a free figurine of C-3PO (which got my boy super excited..) It's about how all the young Jedi name Roan who couldn't make it to the Pilot academy but was recruited into the Jedi academy instead. 

Roan undergone his Jedi training under the wise Yoda master along with a bunch of other gifted kids. The book was written like a journal or doodle, which makes it really fun to read. My little handsome especially likes it when I read to him in Yoda's signature voice, always giggled and asked for more. Personally, I like this book too for the awkward sense of humor. :)

The description on Master Yoda... approximate 10lpm and 15hpm?? LOL

#4 Star Wars: How to Speak Droid with R2-D2, A Communication Manual

This 12 pages hardcover book was a present the duo got from a good friend's son who returned from his Aussie trip. It is published by Chronicle Books which also published an earlier book on How to Speak Wookie, which apparently was another bestseller... Gosh, there sure is lots of Star Wars fans out there else there won't be so many Star Wars books being published!

As you can tell  R2-D2 is the main character here with a built-in sound module that makes 10 different droid phases akin to R2-D2. You know, the ti-li-tu-lu-beep-beep-bap or the bi-rap-rap-tap-wa-tee-tee-pee. It's a fun book that let you discovers the other side of the droid, like how they walk the dog, gives a back massage or even serves in a restaurant. Something that will make the little ones laugh. :)

My little girl has yet to be able to read by herself as she's barely 2yo, but she enjoys flipping and pressing all the buttons, and laugh in the most care-free way. I love listening to her chuckles, really washes away any troubles in my mind.

#5 Goodnight Darth Vader (Coming Soon!)

Another new book of Jeffrey Brown is expected to be released on 22 July 2014. Since I have yet to get this book for my little captain, let's read the published synopsis.. 

"In this Episode, the Sith Lord must soothe his rambunctious twins, Luke and Leia—who are not ready to sleep and who insist on a story. As Vader reads, the book looks in on favorite creatures, droids, and characters, such as Yoda, R2-D2, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Darth Maul, Admiral Ackbar, Boba Fett, and many others as they tuck in, yawn, and settle down to dream. "

Even since we introduced these books to my little captain, he loves to start his story by saying:

"Long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... 

On a planet called the Death Star.." 

He spoke with a low deep voice which he finds cool. It excites me too to see how much he enjoys the books and narrating the stories to us, he is now fondly curious to find out how stars and planets and robots are made and been flipping his encyclopedia over and over. 

The power of curiosity, is the source that leads to the quest for knowledge.

- by PH
Well, since we are on the topic of Star Wars, and I assume you must be a fan of Star Wars or you may not have read this far, do you know when was Star Wars the comic first published? *hehehe*

It's on  1 July 1977 by Marvel Comics and was on sale for USD$0.30. That makes Star Wars 37 years old this year!

Cover of Star Wars Volume #1

So, can't wait to get one of these books?

Most of these books were acquired oversea (from UK and Australia respectively, the first 2 were flown in from UK by their favorite uncle) but some local stores may have the books too. I just found one of the books on MPH Online, so feel free to try your luck by visiting Kinokuniya, Borders or MPH.

Otherwise, online purchase is available too.. 

Book Depository

Darth Vader and Son

Vader's Little Princess

Amazon.com

Darth Vader and Son

Vader's Little Princess
How to Speak Droid with R2-D2, A Communication Manual

Goodnight Darth Vader (pre-order)

Scholastic
Star Wars: Jedi Academy

MPH Online
Darth Vader and Son
Star Wars: Jedi Academy


In case you wonder.... I'm sharing these books not because I have any commission or received any benefit in any form, it is purely for the love of books and Star Wars. 

"May the Force be with you"

Copyrights © Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones, 2012 - present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of any materials/photos within this website without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Pui Hua and Fun With Little Ones with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.