Portrait Of A Forest

We are enjoying the homelearning theme of Forest Animals so much that we devoted 2 whole months to this theme! Partly because I had been down and out by a nasty flu virus that is still wreaking havoc with my lungs now. Hence, I have not much energy left to start planning for a new theme! And also partly because Big Bee had just completed her CA2 tests, where I had to spend a fair amount of time coaching her academically. 

But advantages abound from a 2-month homelearning theme - impressions are deeper in their little minds. Little Bee can tell me that she is learning about forest animals and would exclaim with delight ("Mummy! Forest animal!") whenever she saw a forest animal on TV, in books or in our frequent saunters around nearby parks. Big Bee would also be on the look out for forest-related activities to do. So, I firmly believe in a child-centric learning environment at home where they recommend and brainstorm together on learning activities, rather than a top-down approach that is prevalent in their schools anyway. 

One afternoon, in one of my flu-infested stupors, the Bees decided that it was an apt time for some sketching and drawing. Since I lacked the energy to even take out their painting tools, I suggested for them to draw their impressions of a forest on pieces of recycled paper. This activity occupied them for about 30 minutes in which I could quietly rest, and got both of them very engaged as they were the ones who initiated this activity. 

These are their respective perspectives of a forest: 

Big Bee's forest with her dream kampong house and a little farm plot. This clearly demonstrates her rustic preference.

Little Bee's forest on a sunny day with birds in the sky and squirrel holes in the trees.

Little Bee's fenced up country house 

Little Bee trying to write "forest" with a tiny "t" due to lack of space on the paper!

Celebrations

Birthday wishes from the Bees. They were very excited throughout the whole weekend, and watched the entire 2.5 hours of the National Day Parade with rapt fascination!

We love National Day. Every year when the nation's birthday approaches, I will mentally appreciate and remember how our little country had grown so remarkably in these short 45 years. 

At this juncture, I would like to highly recommend this book that I had been reading early this year - which captivated me to no end. It is a whopping 663 pages, and took me a while to complete. I do wish for a concise or abridged version just for children, so that I can open up my Bees' eyes to a time when affluence and modernity were unheard of in Singapore. Two sentences that haunted me at the end of the book: "The (Singapore) people shared our feelings and were prepared to do whatever was needed to make an independent Singapore work. I did not know I was to spend the rest of my life getting Singapore not just to work but to prosper and flourish." 

True, the modern Singapore (the quest for our true identity) and him do have myriad naysayers. But for Hubby and me, who had been to so many parts of the world for work and not for leisure travel (we do have the ironical privileges of seeing many ugly sides of people from all nationalities through work!), we fall deeper in love with our country, our ethos and our special culture the more we travel. And we do hope to inspire our own Bees with this somewhat soppy patriotism too! And to imbue in them the fundamental drive for our fragile nation's continued survival.

Which is why it had always been a National Day family tradition not to travel out of the country, and we always make it a point to watch the National Day Parade together - as a family. So that we can remind ourselves that it is no easy feat for us to be sitting comfortably and safely at home, with nothing but our everyday life to worry about. There are many countries who would love to be in our position, but sadly, I know many cynics may not agree. That is just another aspect of our "unique" culture, isn't it? The culture of complaining :)

To commemorate this day in school, Big Bee was tasked to create a mural of her vision of National Day - and this was what she created all by herself :) I thought it is a colourful piece of work! 

Big Bee created a mural of herself watching fireworks at night, with helicoptors holding our flag up high. 

Throughout this long weekend, we stayed home and spent plenty of time with our loved ones. Dinners with grandparents on 2 separate occasions. Gatherings with close friends. And merely ambling around town to appreciate all of what we have. 

I hope your National Day had been blissful too.

Home Of The Black Swans

The long weekend was such a luxury - we spent long, languid days lingering in each other's presence at home, or out at uncrowded places to immerse in the pure indulgence of doing absolutely nothing.

We met PF and family for a relaxing Saturday evening at the Botanic Gardens, at our favourite haunt in the same old comfortable spot - on a little grassy slope, facing the soothing, placid waters of the lake, fraternizing with the 2 resident black swans and in the company of emerald hardwood giants.

We loved to just lie on our mats, engaging in relaxed, laid-back chatter and watching our kids creating amusing games of their own - no doubt disturbing the quiet, serene peace and disrupting the romancing couples around us!

Top left: The kids looking on as PF and A dished out their frisbee with a makeshift long branch from the bottom of the lake! Top right: The kids playing all sorts of innovative games that they improvised on the spot.

Lying on our backs provided us with new perspectives - of teal skies smudged with fluffy periwinkle clouds. These are moments when we feel life is truly beautiful and enrapturing - where time slows down, and we are eons away from the dire stress of work and everyday life in this material world.

We packed up as the day drew to a lavender close, sauntering to our cars, before adjourning to our place for dinner and more chatter.

The kids were wild with excitement, perspiration pouring out of their heads as they dashed about. Big Bee is fast friends with Eugene and Claire, having played with them since they were babies. However, Little Bee was rather intimidated by the rough play of these big kids, and I could see much hesitation from her who would prefer to stick by me. In time to come, she would soon join them, I am sure, abandoning the safe shelter of Mummy's arms for fun and adventure, just like Big Bee now.

Pentago

Other than her favourite word games of Scrabble, Hangman and Boggle, Big Bee also loves to play board games like Blokus, which is an amazingly fun game for the entire family, and most recently, Pentago.

Pentago is a brilliant mind-boggling game that nurtures the logical and creative problem-solving skills in children by encouraging them to open their minds to different possibilities and to strategise through forward planning.



I am still grasping with the intricacies of the game, as it involves a lot of twisting and bending of our mental concepts as well as comfort zones. Last night, Big Bee and I spent a quiet evening before bedtime playing this game. I am not sure if it is the late hour (it was 11pm, a treat for Big Bee as today is a school holiday), or if Mummy's poor old rigid mind is just too inflexible - but Big Bee beat me hands down 3 out of 4 games *utterly ashamed*. Big Bee was elated though, and went to bed with a sunny smile on her face.

A Homely Weekend

Last weekend was supposed to be a party weekend for the Bees. However, with Little Bee down with a high fever and cough that rendered me with a mere few hours of sleep each day, she had to miss all her parties! Needless to say, the party princess wasn't too pleased to miss her little Aunt Brianna's birthday party as well as her good friend from school, HY's birthday bash in a wonderful party venue. 

In the end, Big Bee and Hubby went alone to Brianna's 9th birthday party, and I heard from Hubby that Big Bee had a fantastic time. She barbequed satays for everyone, diligently fanning the satays over a broiling barbeque pit with a paper plate. 

She bonded with Brianna with games like water bombs, sparklers and catching, and she helped Brianna decorate her divine princess cake with candles. Eventually, Hubby and Big Bee came back really late - almost 11pm! The delight of a fun night radiated from Big Bee's greasy but glowing face after a sweltering night outside, and my heart warmed at how she is getting closer to all her relatives from both sides of our families. Family ties are meant to last a lifetime. 

On the other hand, Little Bee and I also had a ball of a time spending true blue quality time with each other - reading story books, squishing playdoh, taking short walks around our estate and generally chilling out so that she had plenty of time to recuperate and recover! 

Although it was a homely weekend for me, with sleepless nights as Little Bee's fever inched close to 40 degrees, I never felt more rejuvenated because those 2 full days at home certainly made my weekend seemed so long! I am sure Hubby and Big Bee also had a very memorable time going out as a couple :) 

Storytelling

When Big Bee was 4, she used to tell me all kinds of stories, and then Hubby and I would write down some of these stories in a little book. She used to be so tickled when she saw these stories written down. That exercise had since helped hone an avid reader now, through harnessing her passion in the beauty of the written language. We never needed to teach her to read. We just ignited her imagination and let her creativity pave the way. Sadly, many of these stories were now lost as I could not seem to find that wee little book! 

Little Bee is now approaching her big 4 in 4 months' time, and she has the luxury of being exposed to a wider range of literature during our read-aloud sessions because we try to read a more versatile variety of stories to appeal to both Big Bee and her. 

The night before, we were just fooling around before bedtime when I suddenly jested with her to tell Mummy a bedtime story instead. Drama-mama her was more than happy to do so, and without much encouragement, she quickly launched into this story, in her still struggling and limited vocabulary, no doubt! I am writing the remnants down from what I can remember - which was not much! And oh, please ignore all grammar mistakes - what does a 3.5 year old know about grammar!?

"One day, we are walking in a forest. There are many trees in the forest. The trees are very tall. It is very dark in the forest. Then suddenly, there are 4 bad people who appear. *at this part, jie jie was very excited and started prompting her, asking "Who are these bad people!? What are they doing in the forest!?", which probably explained this particular part of the story. She thought she could impress her jie jie because she took a cheeky look at her and continued with...* Then, the 4 bad people saw jie jie in the forest and catch her! Then they kill her!"

At this juncture, Big Bee was so infuriated at Little Bee's story plot that I must halt the entire storytelling immediately - to manage yet another sibling cat fight, sigh. 

I am always amazed by Little Bee's wide spectrum of affection for Big Bee - it can range from dazzling adoration to covert tale-telling about Big Bee which angered jie jie to no end. But what made me warm and fuzzy is how she would always think of her big jie jie everytime she gets a sweet from her school bus aunty or from the doctor's. She would always request for another sweet for her jie jie - "Can I have another sweet for my jie jie, please?" 

She also loves to create impromptu handmade presents for jie jie, like this little packet of gift that she gave jie jie this evening, with a little picture note inside and a pencil, much to jie jie's delight. I love how Little Bee would gaze at jie jie, with her signature sunshine grin, as jie jie opened her "present", revelling in jie jie's happiness. 

I hope both their love for each other will shine brighter every year, like a beacon of light in a dark, vast ocean. 

Handmade present from Little Bee to Big Bee. I helped to make the envelope while she wrote down both their names. She can now spell and write her own name unassisted since a few months back, and can spell "NICLE" for jie jie, always missing out the "o"!

Cerulean Skies

Big Bee striking a lone pose, with nothing between her and the brownish-green - albeit still pretty - sea, the bronze sands and the sapphire sky filled with happy cirrus clouds.


Last Sunday, the weather was close to perfect - spotless, azure skies with the absence of ominous low clouds, despite the weatherman's (inaccurate) forecast of a rainy weekend. Being a family who loves the outdoors, we immediately packed our beach toys and set forth to the East Coast for some sun worshipping.


We perched ourselves under the solicitous canopy of a large, shady tree right on the sandy shores. It was heavenly - the breeze was gently self-effacing, the sun was beaming cheerily and the sea was sighing sweet whispers of contentment.


We munched on our takeaway KFC breakfast with rapturous relish. The Bees were devouring my waffles and scrambled eggs at such a swift rate that I hardly ate them! This was our first time tasting the KFC breakfast, and I give it a thumbs-up, together with the very agreeable latte. I am not sure if the ambrosial delight was falsely enhanced by the picturesque surroundings though!




Delectable KFC breakfast - cheap and good!




Happy Bees munching on crispy hash browns


The Bees set to work playing with the sand and toys, busying themselves with the creations of sandcastles. As the sun crept up its linear journey in the sky, we decided to pack up at noon, much to the chagrin of the Bees.


Later on, I could not resist the enchantingly soft golden rays of the early evening sun, and decided to bring the Bees to the pool, much to their delight. With Hubby away for his weekly soccer game, the trio of the Bees and me spent a great deal of time hugging each other in the pool, and generally fooling around, rather than getting any serious swimming exercises!




Bobbing around the ultramarine pool with winsome mirth


That day, I did not conduct a single homelearning activity with Little Bee nor coached Big Bee in her studies. But I don't care. Because I think the greatest lesson in life is to appreciate what nature has to give us, and learn to live in the present moment, blending in with the breathtaking natural beauty that is omnipresent all around us!

A Love Affair With Yoga

I had been constantly practising yoga since year 2000. The only significant break I had from yoga was during my difficult pregnancy with Little Bee, when I was bleeding till my 7th month. 

Ever since my first session of yoga (I remember it was with my good friend, YM!), I had never looked back. I remember feeling brilliantly exhilarated yet miraculously calm on the mat, physically challenged yet relaxed, and spiritually invigorated yet serene. It is a practice of juxtaposition. It is a salubrious tradition of holistic well-being for both our mind and body. 

Since then, I had brought my yoga mat to myriad cities for overseas work trips, and had always depended on this reliable companion to immerse myself into a cocoon of tranquillity and peace on my lonely and sometimes stressful journeys abroad without my beloved family. I had escaped to yoga in times of stress, despair and anxiety - and never failed to emerge stronger, happier and calmer. 

Since the Bees came into my life, I had lesser opportunities for the standard 90-minute practice, but 2 years ago, I started a daily practice of just 20 minutes a day, in between that precious, halcyon respite after I fetch Big Bee to school in the morning, and before Little Bee wakes up. Well, almost daily - there are times when I do feel a wee bit lazy!  

The intensifying light of the rising sun and the sweet, light morning air, coupled with a short yet gratifying practice, provide that fundamental fulcrum of insight and context that usually pulls me through a weary workday without the Bees. It gives me that sanity, that perception and most importantly, that realisation that life is ever so beautiful, manageable and liveable. And if I encountered a particularly debilitating workday, I would engage in a gentle practice after the Bees slept to ease my mind into a state of repose, putting everything into benevolent perspective again. 

I tried imparting the practice - although not on a regular basis yet - on my feisty and fiery girls, especially on days with vile, incessant spats of sibling rivalry. A 30-minute practice will never fail to cheer up their grouchy little souls and lighten their minds. 

Vivacious and unfettered Bees towards the end of a yoga practice

It is definitely a lifelong journey for me, and I am currently trying to renew my personal challenge of involving Hubby in a regular practice too! 

Time Alone

Every 3 weeks, it would be my turn to bring Big Bee for her protracted ballet and piano classes, which will last from early morning till after lunch! Although I do enjoy the majority of the weekends when I am at home with Little Bee, I will never fail to relish those rare weekends with Big Bee too. This is a perfect way for Hubby and I to spend some time alone with each of the Bees, making them feel special and precious. 

On weekends with Big Bee, she and I would saunter about in the bookstore, burying our noses in our common love - books! And we would then have lunch together, gleefully giggling and mirthfully chatting about anything under the sun, just like best pals.

On weekends with Little Bee, I would spend a beautiful morning engaging in homelearning activities without any distraction, conversing sweet nothings with her and strolling around the leafy estate with her soft little hand in mine.

Hubby shares the same joyous experience, and we certainly agree that it is so important to give some time alone for each child for that very special bonding experience.

In addition, I do love my solo time when Big Bee is in her classes - perfect me time for myself! I could read books at length, indulge in a long, leisurely breakfast with a newspaper as a companion or just ambling around, indulging in retail therapy! Last weekend, I even managed to steal in an indulgent yet relaxing hair wash session with a head massage - blissful indeed!  

Merrymaking

Last Saturday, we attended J's 2nd daughter Desiree's 1st birthday party. The kids had lots of fun together again. It was mind-boggling to see how fast children grow and transform - all of them used to be little babies, and now, most of them are tall and lanky, almost like little adults! Soon, they will surpass us in their heights, making us old foggies look like shrivelled old souls!

The Bees were utterly entertained by bouncy castles and a clown who created the most exquisite animal balloons. Little Bee was elated by her charming cat balloon, whilst Big Bee had an utmostly zany time frolicking on the bouncy castles with Joanne and the rest of the bigger kids. The poor little kids all fearfully steered clear of the bouncy castles that were bent and deflected to almost unrecognisable shapes by the rowdy big kids!

They had a great time thereafter munching on numerous dainty cupcakes, whilst we adults indulged in delicious moist chocolate cake! This is the start of many impending parties this month - what socialites the Bees are!

Math With Squirrels!

As part of our learning activities under the Forest Animals theme, I created learning aids from pictures of squirrels and acorn nuts to demonstrate to Little Bee how fun Math is, and how it is so applicable to everyday life.


Our cute little squirrels with their big fat acorns!

Little Bee is enthralled by this, and we take these out as "toys" to play with on a regular basis. With this learning aid, I could inculcate in her the concept of counting and addition/subtraction.

We also enact stories from these cute squirrels and acorns. One of her favourite games is about how she would pretend to run a restaurant selling acorns for the squirrels, who would then form a long queue with numbers on their tummies to indicate how many acorns they would like to eat. She loves this game and would be busy "dishing" out the right number of acorns to serve these greedy and impatient squirrels.


Learning the concept of numbers and quantity

This number game can be used for any combination of numbers, and hence, could be played over a long period of time for teaching numbers right up to 100 (and even groups of numbers, like counting in 2s, 5s, 10s, although I had not done that yet!). This was why I laminated these squirrels and acorns so they can withstand the rough handling of Little Bee! I also stuck velcro pieces on all the numbers and squirrels so Little Bee can have fun attaching and reattaching new numbers.

Plump squirrel with a velcro piece on its tummy

Simple addition the fun way!

Brand New Home

The grannies with their brood of grandchildren. What bliss! 

Last Saturday, Irene and I - together with the grannies! - gathered for an evening of relaxation and bonding at Fio's brand new home. I am suitably impressed with the all-embracing balcony hugging the entire perimeter of the house! Her home is lovely with sleek and clean-cut decor. The kids loved the balmy balcony and all of them chose to have their dinners there. They definitely know how to enjoy life at such young ages! 

We then adjourned to a scrumptious zi-char stall and ate our hearts out. The cousins (both my generation and the Bees' generation!) and grandparents were contented with so much delicious food in our stomachs. The grannies were luxuriating in the delectable local delights while catching up with each other, and we cousins were gorging incessantly while minding our active kids. And our kids were cheekily making faces while eating alongside each other too. What enjoyment indeed! 

Downtown Fun

Shopping queens in the making...

We had a relaxing weekend by ourselves, gorging on scrumptious food, meandering through the dense crowds of Orchard and rummaging through cheap buys along downtown weekend bazaars.

The Bees had developed Hubby's and my loyal affinity to local food, and we could see them relishing yummy favourites like roti prata, chwee kueh and fried carrot cake!


Their love affair with prata...


You wouldn't want to be caught in between them and a piping hot plate of chwee kueh!


Reminiscing our Japan vacation with Japanese food in Orchard Central: We were treated to some really mouthwatering Japanese food over lunch. I love the kid's bento set!

Formidable Fractions?

I didn't recall learning fractions at a tender age of 8, in primary 2. I remembered all we learned then was some basic addition and subtraction. This evening, when I was in the midst of some reading activities with Little Bee, Big Bee - with furrowed brows - remarked that she was utterly confused by "this difficult Math thing called fraction", in her own words. 

That provoked my radar screen immediately. "Fractions? Oh, you are learning that today?" And she told me her class just launched into their first fraction concept today. I quickly wrapped up my learning activity with Little Bee and whipped out a pencil and paper to teach her the concept of fractions, using everyday elements at home, like wedges of cakes and trays of ice cubes. 

Unfortunately, poor Little Bee was constantly interrupting us as she was displeased with the fairly abrupt way in which I concluded her learning activities. So, it was truly a game of juggling the concept of 4/8 = 2/4 = 1/2 with Big Bee versus getting Little Bee to identify words like "bear" and "duck" in our forest animal theme - all at the same time! 

Big Bee understood the concept and was beaming at the end of the evening. Little Bee could also read "bear" and "duck" independently. 

It could be frazzling with 2 kids demanding for your attention simultaneously. But instead of feeling frustrated or distracted having to turn my head left and right every 5 seconds, and reprimanding the children, I chose to take a deep breath and imbue myself with patience. True enough, that led to cheerful, contented Bees who learned constructively and a more peaceful Mummy. 

Patience is truly a virtue that we should stock up our Mummy larder with :) 

The Path Less Trodden

The weekend before, Hubby dragged the entire brood to a secret road just behind our estate. A road that was still in the midst of dishevelled construction, where a dense profusion of dark grey shale and gravel lay innocently, ignorant of the fact that they would soon be compressed into hard, cold and unfeeling asphalt soon. A road that penetrated right through the beautiful green meadow that we used to run through with carefree, abandoned spirit, and where many little beasts of the wild used to call home. A road that infiltrated right through the core of nature.

One may not have heard the moans of the large raintrees as they were felled by the ubiquitous foreign workers. Nor the wails of the cut shrubs from the thick foliage that used to be part of a virgin rainforest. But my heart bleeds for the devastated woodland that was annihilated to pave way for vainglorious urbanisation that supposedly made the lives of humans more convenient.

We strolled for almost 2 hours in this long stretch of supposed civilisation, ambling beside the formerly impenetrable frondescent rainforest. We were a captive audience to the myriad bird calls from an orchestra of different birds. We witnessed an explosion of flourishing impermeable antiquated trees - trees that were so sturdy that one is led into the delusion that they are invincible. But we know they are far from indestructible. Under Man's noxious, malignant machines, they are but frail, feeble beings.

We were silenced and awed by the omnipresent dewy existence of living, breathing trees, flowers, grass and shrubs. Elements of nature that were silently, sullenly and oppressively observing our every movement, wary of our next moves. This silence, this tranquil quiescence is precious and sadly temporary. For it would be destroyed like a brittle matchstick the day the road is open, when cars would whiz past, bringing with them sound and air pollution.

But for now, we revelled in the beautiful juxtaposition of laconism and eloquence of nature. So close to us. Savouring the last bit of the unexplored frontier before it is rudely interrupted by noisy urbanisation. Such little pockets of bliss are so rare, yet we are witnessing the destruction of these tenuous spaces gradually but surely in this city we call home.

Resilient mushrooms spouting up against all odds.

Learning At Home: Japan

As we had planned for a vacation to Japan in June, I thought this provided a marvelous opportunity to immerse the Bees through homelearning activities on Japan, so that they would be very familiar with the country as we travelled through Japan. It was really fun organising a lesson plan on Japan. I was seriously astounded by the wealth of activities surrounding this theme and learned a lot myself as well! That is truly the beauty of learning at home with our children, isn't it? Not us merely imparting and teaching, but cultivating and nurturing together as a family. 

Featured books

There is a small but impressive collection of books on Japan for children in the library, and we borrowed the following:

A Visit To Japan (this is my favourite - very easy to read with eye-catching facts and large attractive photos that captured the attention of the Bees. Big Bee picked up lots of amazing facts to include into her lapbook, eg Japan has 1,500 earthquakes a year!)

We're From Japan (great for letting the Bees understand the lifestyles of fellow Japanese children)

A-Z Japan (good for teaching the alphabet to Little Bee, while imparting simple concise facts to Big Bee)

Games

A fortnight before we left for Japan, I played pretend games of going to the airport, getting on a plane, stepping into a new country, sitting in a bullet train and checking into a hotel (the whole works!) with Little Bee. From these games, she was able to pick up the concepts of the myriad transportation in Japan - plane, bullet train and bus! We arranged chairs to create a makeshift plane, and Mummy here was the old aunty air stewardess serving children's meal to an eager Little Bee! 

Song and dance

We learned to sing the song Sakura and watched (as well as imitated!) geishas dancing an ancient fan dance online. Little Bee, whose learning style is highly kinesthetic, loved the geisha fan dance, and even sang and danced to Sakura in a shabu shabu restaurant in Kyoto! In fact, she was humming the song all across Japan, and even bought a fan to accessorize her dance!

English - Reading

We learned the letters "Jj" for "Japan" and "jet", as well as "Ff" for "fan". Little Bee can now read "Japan" and "fan". Unfortunately, she was so familiar with the association of "J" with "Japan" that she will refer to all words starting with "J" as "Japan"! 

Big Bee and I created a worksheet for Little Bee to match words that she knows to pictures. Big Bee drew the pictures on the worksheet and Little Bee was thrilled to work on a worksheet that jie jie created!

English - Phonics 

I am not a believer of learning to read by phonics, as phonics merely make up less than 50% of all English words. However, I had been told by Little Bee's teacher to try to imbue phonics reading at home, so here I am, being an obedient mum and trying my best to impart something I do not really believe in. 

So, we worked on the word family of "an" this month (and we are still in the learning process, with Little Bee a wee bit confused!). I chose "an" because we were learning to read "fan", so naturally I made flashcards for "man", "pan", "can" and "ran". I used a different colour to differentiate "an" from the beginning letter to enhance the learning process. 

Mandarin - Reading

Little Bee has more affinity to reading Mandarin words. Perhaps it has to do with her other dominant learning style, of her being a strong visual learner. Mandarin words do not involve any phonics or mental matching of sounds, so I suspect it might be easier for her to look at a Mandarin character as a symbol and utter out the right pronunciation. She has a longer memory tenure for Mandarin words, being able to read more words that she used to learn, compared to English words. 

This month, we learned the Mandarin words "飞机" and "火车" to reinforce the theme of travelling in Japan. She can now read both words independently without needing to refer to the pictures.

Math

I could not think of interesting Math activities for this theme, so Little Bee created a flapbook for numbers 1 to 10. She had great fun creating it with her jie jie! 

Geography

We have a globe map at home, so I took the opportunity to let the Bees identify the locations of Singapore and Japan from the globe. Right before we depart for Japan, both the Bees can confidently point out to where Japan is on the map. Little Bee tended to struggle a fair bit when looking for Singapore though, and I can't blame her! 

I also printed out blank maps for the Bees to colour and identify where Japan is, and for Big Bee to understand the geographical borders (both land and sea) of Japan. We had great fun exploring the globe and I also learned lots of new things, eg Singapore is 5,000 km away from Japan! 

Big Bee's map

Little Bee's map

Big Bee also learned to identify all the Japanese cities she had visited, as well as understood the meaning of the Japanese flag through some reading and research. 

Painting

Japanese flag

Little Bee painted the Japanese flag, so she was always zealously shouting out "Japan flag! Japan flag!" whenever she spotted the Japanese flag as we trudged all across Japan. Back home, my mum - probably with passed-down memories of the Japanese occupation in Singapore - was aghast as to why Little Bee can recognise the Japanese flag and showed such strong enthusiasm in identifying it! 

Cherry blossom tree

Little Bee painted a cherry blossom tree and wrote the word "tree" above the painting. It is wonderful how children can absorb information so much faster if they spent time in the creation process, and this was what happened with Little Bee. 

After this painting session, she would exclaim "cherry blossom tree" whenever we read books about Japan (as it is almost impossible to avoid this ubiquitous emblem of Japanese nature!). Sadly, we did not see any real cherry blossom trees by the time we arrived, although Little Bee was still excitedly identifying cherry blossom trees from those large attractive billboards in Narita airport. 

Japanese woodblock printing

Woodblock printing in Japan was very popular in the 17th to 20th centuries. We replicated this technique using a recycled thin styrofoam fruit box from the supermarket. I cut the styrofoam box into small pieces on which the Bees drew pictures on, using a pen. They then painted the styrofoam pieces and stamped them on a paper - and we produced our very own woodblock prints! 

This craft proved to be rather challenging for Little Bee, as we need to use a delicate balance of restrained strength when carving out pictures and painting them on the styrofoam pieces, so only Big Bee was able to complete this successfully. She loved the end product tremendously, and was immensely fascinated by this painting technique. 

Crafts

Before I started researching on the types of crafts to work on for this theme, I could never guess at the rich variety of divine Japanese crafts that we can work on! I really enjoyed creating these crafts with the Bees so much! 

Japanese family fans

We created these Japanese fans with all our translated Japanese names, and the Bees were thrilled! They were waving and fanning them around, much to my amusement. This is such an easy craft to make, just took us under an hour to create all 4 fans, although I assisted a lot in assembling the ice-cream sticks. Big Bee was able to write her Japanese name independently after only a cursory glance at the computer's translated name. I wrote Little Bee's Japanese name in pencil and got her to trace it out with a black marker. They both enjoyed the process so much! 

Japanese garden

After visiting the ancient 400 year old Nijo Castle in Kyoto, we were somewhat enraptured by the serenity of Japanese gardens. I decided to let the Bees create a Japanese garden, using simple materials like construction papers, egg cartons, toilet paper roll and tiny pebbles that I secretly borrowed from our estate's landscaping!

It was a great team effort by the Bees, and we spent a peaceful afternoon on it. Big Bee drew the cheery orange carp and Little Bee drew ripples on the stream. Both of them laid out the pebbles conscientiously, and Big Bee and I tried our utmost best to make the tree resemble a maple tree, but I think it looked more like a tropical banana tree!! The egg carton was assembled into a mini Japanese pagoda replica, and I thought it was rather realistic! 

After completing the landscaped garden, I created flashcards for the Bees to identify elements of the garden. Little Bee was able to read and identify "tree" and "fish", whereas Big Bee effortlessly matched "pagoda", "bridge" and "river" to their rightful structures on our craft. This was really enjoyable! And I did get some quiet time to myself as they both laid out the pebbles :) 

Japanese paper lanterns

I did a very simple craft with Little Bee to create paper lanterns. We then strung the lanterns over old phosphorous light strands that we brought home from a party, and voila! Hanging Japanese lanterns. I would love to light little candles inside and see these lanterns shimmer and glow with bewitching incandescence. I also taught the "opposite" concept of "big" and "small" as well as "tall" and "short" while working on the craft. Little Bee also learned about patterning when deciding which lanterns to string.

Lapbook

Big Bee created a lapbook on Japan, after we reviewed the abundance of knowledge that she gleaned from this theme, and we truly enjoyed the entire process of shaping this lapbook! 

Field trip

Needless to say, we learned all there is to understand about Japan by traversing throughout the country - getting mired in its highly efficient transport system, attempting to talk to the locals off the beaten tourist track and observing the locals at close range in the many metro rides. 

Enjoying a bowl of cold Japanese jelly noodles at a beautiful hillside Japanese hut with maple trees surrounding us in Kyoto.

Sisterly love on board the Shinkansen (bullet train) from Tokyo to Osaka.

Monday Humour

Snippets of random (but hilarious) conversations with the Bees...

Big Bee: Mummy, is Chestnut a name for a girl or boy? (Referring to her favourite reindeer soft toy)

Me: Hm...I think it can apply to both boys and girls.

Big Bee: Oh, so my reindeer can be a boy or a girl!

Me: Yup!

Big Bee: Or it can be a gay!

Me: !?!?!?!?!?!? 

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Little Bee (in a taxi, staring intensely at some swanky condominium along Orchard): Mummy, I want to buy that house (pointing to the swanky condominium)

Me: !?!?!??!?! Don't you have your own house, living with Papa and Mummy?

Little Bee: No, that is Papa's and Mummy's house, not my house *frowned* (She probably has the notion that parents do not live with their children after seeing how our parents - her grandparents - all live in their own houses)

Me: Oh. Then you need to use your own money and buy that house, or you can wait till you are married and buy it with your husband.

Little Bee: I have no money! And I don't want to be married!

Me: When you grow up, you may get married and stay with your husband. 

Little Bee: Can I marry Papa and stay with Papa?

Me: Noooo, Mummy is married to Papa, so you cannot marry Papa. 

Little Bee: *started sobbing* I want to marry Papa, I don't want to stay with other boys!! (She probably could not bear the idea of living with other boys, just like Big Bee!)

Of Museums And Theme Parks

LP and I brought our brood of eager, zealous kids for an entire day of adventure in Singapore last Thursday. We met at 2pm and played till 10pm. It was exhausting not just for the kids, but for us, the parents!

The Bees with WW and WD

I love this display at the entrance!

We met at the Singapore Art Museum to explore the Art Garden. The kids were thrilled with all the various displays, but I must admit that both LP and I thought this exhibition was over-rated and not up to our expectations. I was somewhat peeved by the shushing museum assistants the moment we entered the Floribots exhibit, who kept warning the kids not to touch the exhibits. That largely killed their interest in what could be a charming display of a flower's life-cycle, but with the assistants who were scared to bits about the kids even poking a fingertip at the exhibit, I thought it wasn't apt that such a display should be labelled as "interactive" in a "children's exhibition".

Other than that, we all appreciated The Enchanted Forest, which I thought was very beautifully done, and enabled the kids to be immersed in a magical, wild forest. Big Bee and Little Bee, together with WW and WD, diligently coloured butterfly pictures to paste them alongside other kids' butterfly artworks on the wall, and I thought that was a fantastic way to encourage the kids' creativity through displaying their works.

I also thought that the confined space at 8Q, where the exhibition was held, was extremely friendly for children to dash all over the entire building with very minimal supervision, especially for Big Bee and WW. As for smaller kids like Little Bee and WD, the spaces for freeplay, drawing and colouring were adequate, and the 2 little kids busied themselves with art and craft activities. I even had an opportunity to watch a local short film in the screening room with Little Bee!

Of course, the highlight of the Art Garden for the kids was the highly interactive motion-sensor play of light and movement in the Funky Forest and Daisies display. We spent the longest time there. LP and I could sit down, relax and chat whilst the 4 kids went berserk, bolting around the exhibit, playing with the 2 interactive iridescent displays.

The interactive Funky Forest, where kids could magically play with fireflies, swish moving streams around, tease fluttering birds and make fruit trees grow just with touches of their hands and feet.

We decided to stop for coffee and plentiful snacks after 2 hours of boisterous activity. I was amazed at how much LP's boys could eat!

Thereafter, we went our separate ways (I went home with the Bees for a short break!) before re-meeting at Universal Studios! We dragged our hubbies (and my mum) along this time, and I felt like I am a tourist in Singapore! We entered Universal Studios with the $2 night visit pass, and were overwhelmed by the dense, thick crowds. We took a leisurely walk around the Studios, and were all rather pleased by the overall ambience and experience. It certainly felt like we were in another world with the beautiful setting in the Hollywood Boulevard. We will be back for a full day of play one day - it is simply wonderful that Singapore now has our own theme park!

We all sat down for a long and absolutely delectable dinner at the Chinese restaurant along Hollywood Boulevard - Hollywood China Bistro. Scrumptious food, festive atmosphere, moderate service. We were all highly satisfied by the wonderful food, especially our hubbies!

In all - what a day! I think it is so delightful to spend a full day wandering around parts of Singapore that we had not been to before - truly marvelous to feel like tourists yet with the comfort of knowing we can pop home to relax anytime!