{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} MK Junior Encyclopedia!

My little Captain received this MK Junior Encyclopedia as his birthday present last year, and gosh, how he enjoys reading this book over and over again. It's a really interesting book and I would like you to know why..

MK Junior Encyclopedia

So, What Do We Like about this Book?

Firstly, the book cover comes with a 3D layer where the images "move" as you tilt the book. It captures the kiddos' interest before they even reading it's content.

It's full colored and full of interesting picture and illustration to keep the kids interested. The content is brief and layout makes it interesting & easy to read for the little ones - not too wordy, not too dry. It has many "Quick Facts" and "Fun Quiz" on each chapter that my little Captain really likes. 

Apart from the colorful print, it covers quite a vast topic from Mysterious Space, Deadly Dinosaurs, Active Earth, Wild Weather, Ancient Egypt, Birds & Mammals, Knights & Castles, Super Science; there is surely a topic or two that your little ones will like.

If there is one thing that I dislike about this book, it's the weight. It is really thick and heavy and I guess it weigh nearly 1kg. So don't bother bringing it for travel, just keep it at home. However, most encyclopedia are thick and bulky, aren't they? ;-)

A few of my little Captain's favorite chapters..

• Mysterious Space.  The Sun, the moon, the planet Earth. The stars, the galaxy... We started on this chapter and my boy was hooked instantly that he refused to sleep just so that he can read the entire chapter! He was able to name all the planet and even gave the daddy a quiz over dinner the next day, testing if daddy knows what is the smallest planet in the galaxy (the answer? Mercury. Pluto was once the smallest planet until it's disqualified as a planet).

Learning about Earth

• Deadly Dinosaurs. Which kids not fascinated by these huge mammals that longer exist? Why dinosaurs died? can dinosaurs fly? Why are the front legs so tiny? My little Captain had ton of questions and I'm just glad that answers are available in the book! ;-)

• Active Earth. How is ocean created? What caused to volcano? Where does the lava came from? Things that I don't know how to explain precisely till I have this book which provide the illustration to better explain it. 

Comes with suggested activities in each chapter

• Ancient Egypt. Pyramid, Sphinx, Pharaoh, mummies, Nile, anthologist are what this chapter is about. He learnt about Pyramid, Sphinx & Nile river from the Little Einstein series when he was about 2.5 yo, so when he saw the word "Egypt" in the table of content he was so excited and requested to jump to this chapter directly. He kept making noise as we were on this chapter... "Look, the Nile river! where the naughty crocodile lives!", "The Pyramid, just like the one in the Little Einstein!". 

Bedtime was so much fun, thanks to this encyclopedia.

How to get kids interested in reading?

Some of my friends complained their kiddos do not like reading, only likes to flip the pages but no patient in reading... here's some of the techniques I deployed.

Make it RELEVANT
Kids will be more interested if they read about something that they can relate to. For example what makes my little boy so fascinated about the Dinosaur chapter? We got him few small dinosaur figurines as his bath toys, one of which is T-Rex and another that we named it "Spiky". He was so excited when he saw his dino appeared in the book and be able to learn more about them.

Make it FUN! 
Don't read the encyclopedia word by word. Make it alive like you have all these objects right in front of your eyes, read with excitement and expression. Get the kiddos enter the world of imagination with you and you may be amazed how much they enjoy reading.

Make it a CHALLENGE!
Many toddlers love challenge or race, they have the urge to proof that they are not small kids anymore and that they know things. So, after reading each chapter just give an instant quiz, you may have an excited kid who may try so hard to find the answer and keep asking for more quiz. Start with an easy one, like, what is the hottest star in the Solar system?

You may read the review of the book here, and our copy was purchased from Popular bookstore.

Happy 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.

Brush, Brush, Brush! 刷牙咯！

I started training Ethan to brush the teeth by himself when he was around 15 months old. He was able to stand steadily and had pretty good eye-hand coordination then. I didn't make record but I am certain he had at least 8 teeth by then.

Brush, Brush, Brush! by Alicia Padron.

I started brushing my little boy's tiny teeth when he was 8 months old - he had 4 teeth then. I bought this Pigeon set which have 3 steps toothbrushes within 1 packaging. I like the fact that it comes with a shield that can be attached to the toothbrush to prevent toddler from accidentally pushing the toothbrush too deep down the throat which may cause chocking or injury.

These tooth brush are useful to help soothe the gum discomfort caused by teething too. Just rub it softly against the teeth and gums.

I did not follow exactly the age indication showed on the packaging, but they were certainly useful and I managed to introduce brushing as part of my boy's bedtime routine without much resistance.

After he turned 3.5 years old, he had accepted that brushing before bed is a must and will go and brush his teeth without me asking. I couldn't stop feeling proud to see him being such an independent boy and hope he will grow up with bright white teeth.

Many mommies had complained of difficulties they faced when training the kiddos to brush their teeth, here are some of the techniques I deployed in cultivating brushing habit in my boy...

I started by teaching Ethan to brush with empty tooth brush and gargled with boiled water at room temperature. Once I'm confident that he will not swallow the toothpaste and the water (after gargle), only I applied toothpaste and continued to let him gargled using boiled water.

For gargling, I didn't buy any fancy cup, just used the small translucent cup that comes with my Yomeshu, he loves the mini cup and called it his cup. You may consider the measurement cup that comes with some cough mixtures too :) Remember to give your little one a personal face tower to avoid him from wetting his shirt when spitting out.

Let him stand on a stool so he is tall enough to see his own reflection in the bathroom mirror. At first I let him watch me brush his teeth, subsequently I let him do it himself, from squeezing tooth paste to brushing, gargling and wiping clean. Most little boy at the age of 2 would want to proof that he is a big boy capable of managing himself. So, make good use of this growing ego :)

We always brush teeth together so he felt that it's a norm that all adults brush teeth before bedtime. remember kiddo always likes to imitate what the parents do, so make use of that.

Read him books about bedtime, brushing teeth.. Explain to him why he should brush his teeth and consequences of not doing so (teeth turn black, fall off and he will become baby without any tooth..) He was so motivated to brush his teeth after understanding the consequence :)

These are some of the books I read to him...

Brush, Brush, Brush, by Scholastic. This book actually comes with a bedtime story at reversed print, little Ethan was very captivated by that.

The Things I Love About Bedtime, by Trace Moroney. This is a very interesting book with beautiful illustration to encourage a good bedtime habit.

I grew up with really ugly teeth when I was in primary school, my childhood photos always remind me of that "ugly past". I certainly hope that having cultivated this habit in my boy, he will not face the terrible toothache pain and horrifying dentist visit like I had before..

My little boy happily brushing his teeth



One last note. If you are concerned that your little one may have swallowed the toothpaste, you may use Fluoride-free toothpaste designed for children and pregnant moms, available in most major pharmacies and baby stores.


Hope you find this article helpful. Happy brushing! :)



A Note on Safety

Never, I repeat, never, leave your little ones left unattended in the bathroom as simple things like razor, toilet seat, can post danger to little ones. Especially if he's standing on a stool there is a danger of losing balance.

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.

Building A Bedtime Routine

One of Ethan's Favourite bedtime story books

Do you face difficulty putting your LO to sleep? I used to fear bedtime as it took me at least an hour to let Ethan settled down, by the time he finally fell asleep I was tired like a dead wood. However, now that I have established a bedtime routine with him that works, bedtime is so much enjoyable.

How does bedtime routine helps? Firstly, it helps to put LO into a calming mood and send a signal to their brains that it's time to rest. Besides, it also helps LO build up a habit such as cleaning up, changing to pajamas and brushing teeth before going to bed.

Here's the bedtime routine that I have developed for my Ethan and baby Claire. Not exactly the conventional type that most parents will agree, but I find that it works for us and I can put the duo to sleep within 30 minutes while enjoying some private mommy and child moment together.

I have made the 3 steps bedtime routine very clear to Ethan and he knows it by heart. This is how it works:

Step 1 - Brush your teeth!
Step 2 - Read a book!
Step 3 - Tuck into your blanket, close your eyes and sleep!

You probably wonder why the use of all asterisk, "!"? Well, that's because we always say these 3 steps in very passionate manner, just like Disney Junior's series, Special Agent OSO who always completes a 3 steps mission without failing. :)

After brushing teeth, I let Ethan picks a book or 2 he feels like reading for the night from the bookshelves and we'll read together. If Baby Claire is still awake, I'll let her lie next to me, give her a pacifier, a handkerchief, and she will listen to the story quietly. Most of the time she enjoys it and will fall asleep without much fuss (of course I must make sure she has a full stomach before hand)

Often, keeping the room dim with only bedside lamps turned on and playing of soft classical music help to set the LOs into sleeping mood too.

However, days where Ethan is extremely energetic and requires longer time to settle down, I'll pull out my iPad. Not to play a game, but to watch some music video on YouTube. That usually work for both of them and I think it's wonderful to fall asleep listening to some soft and beautiful music. Ethan has learnt a couple of lyrics from these YouTube videos too and it touches my heart when he sang me "Your Raise Me Up" in his kiddie tone with a serious look.

Here are some of the music videos we enjoyed listening together.

The Piano Guys
All time favorite for Ethan and me, this talented duo from Utah play wonderful music with their cello and piano in the most amazing way.

Twinkle Lullaby (Twinkle Little Star)

Me and My Cello - Happy Together

A Thousand Years

Where Are You Christmas

Beethoven's 5 Secrets

More Than Words


Super Simple Learning
Nice children songs with interesting animations.

Little Snowflake

Twinkle Little Star

Hickory Dickory Dock

Row Row Row Your Boat

The Eensey Weensey Spider


Other beautiful collections

Josh Groban: You Raise Me Up

Westlife: You Raise Me Up

Spirited Away: Always With Me

This Little Cardboard Box Boy is just so cute.. We enjoyed watching & listening to these together..

Just A Dream

Kiss The Rain


A Note To Parents
Like most parents, I do not like my LOs to spend too much time on iPhone, iPad or whatever PS games. Thats why I have been trying to inspire my little boy to join me for arts and craft, sports, reading etc just to divert his attention onto these physical activities instead of having his eyes fixated on the screen.

However, I understand iPad is inevitable since everyone in my family has one, and with right usage/Apps, it can be a good tool for LO to learn new things too. So I do allow Ethan to play but only within the time frame allowed. I'll tell him up front that only 30 minutes allowed and once time's up (I set an alarm), he will have to stop playing. Usually 5 minutes before time's up I'll give him a reminder, so when alarm rings he'll return the iPad to me willingly. So, iPad is not too all bad after all. :)


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.