Saturday 25 May 2013

Art Garden

What can I say, Art Garden 2013 at Singapore Art Museum at 8Q (8Q is a separate building from the main SAM) totally exceeded my expectation. Maybe it's because it offers more than what I initially thought it does. Who can blame me when the picture posted at SAM website and pictures by two friends who had been there were all taken at the Fairy Tale Room. I thought the Fairy Tale Room (I don't know their real names so I'm just going to give them my own names) WAS Art Garden. You know, like a garden of arty fairy tales? So when I reached the place and saw that the Fairy Tale Room wasn't exactly big, I thought to myself, this is it?? Luckily I didn't verbalise it or I would have looked like a complete bimbo. In fact, there are other rooms over four floors.




Fairy tales with a local spin

The next room was the Whimsical Room, a black-and-white room interspersed with bits of red and blue. You could do some artwork with hot air balloons (I think, we didn't stop there at all) but the children went straight for the games inside. I think the room was a homage to games in the past and the children had fun tossing hoops, spinning a wheel, pulling a stretchable slinky, making paper birds fly and moving wooden cat puppets. My daughter's favourite had to be the chair which looked like its four legs had given way. She kept sitting on it, and asking me to sit on it, and saying, "Uh oh!"


Spinning the wheel with her friends 

I love the black-and-white artwork on the walls

I think I could have spent forever in the Whimsical Room, taking picture after picture but the heat stopped us. It was so hot in both the Fairy Tale room and Whimsical Room that it felt like being in a sauna. I thought the air-conditioning wasn't switched on but it was! So after a while, we escaped to the nursing room which was just beside the Whimsical Room. Aaah... what a respite from the hot and humid rooms. 

The room was much cooler and it was spacious! There were two sofas, a big toddler-friendly sink, two low tables and some low stools. There's a divider with an armchair for mothers who want to nurse privately. The guard told us that the children could eat there and so the little girl and her friend had some food there while the mothers chatted for a while. Men are not allowed inside though.


By then, the air-conditioning in the different rooms was working well and so it was bliss again. There was a room on the second floor that was screening movies but we skipped that and went to the third floor. There was the Dark Room but I totally forgot to take pictures there, or maybe the pictures are in my camera. I'm just going to describe it and you would have to use your imagination. 

The room is dark except for the many luminescent deer on the upper walls. There's also a big stag head with giant antlers. They are made of many, many strings that criss cross each other to form those pictures. I thought they were fine tubes that emit blue light, but hubby said that they are normal white strings that glow in the dark because of the special light that was shone onto them. Oh cool! Needless to say, I was mersmerised and so was the little girl. She wanted so badly to touch the deer but she couldn't because there was a barrier.

The last room that we went to was the Gothic Room. I didn't get good vibes from the room and I thought it was kind of scary. You could put on the 3-D spectacles to see the 3-D paintings, wallpaper, cartoon and sculptures but there were all morbid in nature. In what way? In scary dolls, animals with weird proportions, weird faces and melting-mouse cartoon kind of way. The children were not disturbed at all, maybe because they have not grown any fear for those. 

The room was after all about the fear of growing up or something like that. In fact, the little girl wanted to touch this huge stuffed half-elephant-half-man monstrosity in overalls that had fangs instead of tusks. I approached it with much apprehension, let her touch it for a second, then whisked her away. Even the music in the room was haunting. Or maybe I just cannot appreciate morbid art.

I was glad a wooden rocking giraffe caught her attention from the elephant monstrosity and she later went on to do some stamping with her little friend. After doing some stamping, she asked me to stamp too. The stamp is the kind that teachers use to stamp for parent's signature so it brought back old memories. Each stamp you make gives a loud sound. So when she passed it to me, I gladly stamped in quick succession. Hubby said I stamped like a true blue teacher. Hahahahahaha!!!!


The mini teacher stamping away 

There was another floor which we didn't go to. I heard that it has some static art display. Anyway it was almost dinner time and we were hungry. The little girl wanted to touch the elephant again and so I brought her to the kid-friendly one in the Fairy Tale room with a mahout seated on it. It was almost empty then, unlike earlier with children running around and pushing each other on the rainbow stairs till the little girl was scared to go onto it. Well, it was a public holiday, after all. Note to self: Go on a weekday.


A fun day with her little friends

I very much want to go back there again as I love the Whimsical Room. There is also an art station in every room for the little girl to doodle, colour or stamp away. Not only is the place free, but it's only a few MRT stations away from my house. It's just a 2-minute walk from the exit of Bras Basah MRT station. Before the exhibition ends on 1 September, I foresee us spending a few more (weekday) afternoons there.  

Thursday 23 May 2013

Baby Bird

Some experiences are so significant to a young child that they leave a lasting impression on the child. After all, most things are new to them and death and burial are definitely new concepts for a young child. 


I wrote last week about the little girl telling me about Blackie the cat killing a bird and since then, she's been talking about Blackie the "naughty cat" and the bird. I found out later that the bird that was killed was a baby bird and sometimes the little girl will say, "Baby bird cannot sing." It's true, isn't it? The baby bird is dead and it can't sing anymore. I always feel a tinge of sadness when she says that.

When we read books together, especially those by Julia Donaldson, the little girl likes to look at each page before going on to the next. Truthfully, I love looking at the pictures too as the pages are so beautifully illustrated and the little details in the pictures are just so delightful. In fact, she says longer sentences with 5-6 words when she's describing the pictures as compared to the usual 3-4 word sentences during our other communication. So yah, I do encourage her to talk about the pictures. 




During our recent bedtime reading, after we had finished reading The Gruffalo's Child by Julia Donaldson, the little girl stopped to study the cover of the book and I welcomed the break before the next book. Then she said, "Baby bird sit on the tree." Then she continued nursing and looking at the bird. I didn't ask her further but I wondered if she was thinking of the baby bird that was killed. 

Wednesday 22 May 2013

Huruf Hijaiyah

I'm not into flashcards; I really am not. I just told a friend a moment earlier that I'm bent on contextualisation. With flashcards, contextualisation goes out the window. But I'm making an exception because it is for something important. 


I've been using these hijaiyah flashcards every night before bedtime with my 21-mth-old daughter and MasyaAllah, I'm amazed at how fast she has learnt. After consistently using them for two weeks (I started last year but I wasn't consistent then), she has recognised and is able to pronounce eight huruf hijaiyah with fathah - aa, ba, wa, ma, sha, ka, ta, ya. 

When I flash the cards, I try to relate the sounds to things that she knows. For example, I will say, "The sheep says ___" while showing the card with "ba", "Vroom vroom goes the ___" while holding the card with "ka". I notice that she learns much more quickly that way. You could say that's using some form of contextualisation. 

Although some she took a few days to recognise, but she recognised "sha" in just one night. The second syllable of her name is "sha". Now I'm teaching her "da" and "ra" because my name and my husband's name have those sounds respectively but it hasn't been as quick as "sha".

Truly, Allah is All-Knowing and all knowledge belongs to Him. May my daughter receives the knowledge that we are trying to impart to her. Ameen.

Sunday 19 May 2013

Farm Reading Corner

This is my second out of the three themed reading corners that I've set up for my daughter but I'm starting with this first. My friend Ren's next theme is Farm so I'm writing this down in the hope that it may benefit her.

We had a trip to the zoo where we watched a dog show and saw some goats and ponies. I noticed that the little girl was fascinated with what she saw and during the drive home, and also during dinner, she kept talking about the dogs, goats and ponies. And so, I decided that it was time to change our reading corner.


The dog show 

 Munching goats

That night while she was asleep, I put together some story books, Islamic books, farm Toobs, finger and hand puppets, animal matching cards, and later on a puzzle. The little girl was delighted to see the little farm when she was awake and immediately wanted to start reading and playing.


The delighted girl at her little farm


Then my sister gave the little girl a Lego Duplo set which totally matched the theme! She was so captivated by it that on the first day when I opened it for her, she didn't allow me to play with it at all. So all those were put together solely by her. MasyaAllah I was surprised that she knew how to put the Lego pieces together although it was the first time that she was playing with Lego.


Creating a Lego farm


Since I have replaced the farm corner with another theme, the following was put together for recording purposes. 


The items at the reading corner

Farm-related books

Farm Toobs (farmer included)

Hand-made finger puppets


Those finger puppets were handmade by a friend of mine. I had ordered a busy book from her and those puppets came with it. They were so well-made and detailed, and they came in a cute red barn with doors, that I cannot begin to imagine the amount of time and effort that she had put in into making it. May Allah reward her for her patience and effort.

Thursday 16 May 2013

Shadow Play

A few weeks back, we were walking around downstairs, heading towards the playground at night. Suddenly the little girl pointed to the ground and said, "Shadow". I was shocked as I don't think I had pointed out shadows to her before. I looked at my husband and he was equally shocked, as he said the last time he told her about shadows was a long time ago. 

But there she was, pointing at our shadows on the ground, so I took the opportunity to tell her that shadows form when light is blocked. I made different poses with my arms and legs so that she could see how my shadow changed when I changed my pose. There was a snail nearby and I pointed out the snail's shadow too. After a while, we proceeded to the playground.

Fast forward to three days ago: 
I was looking through my stash of busy bags and found something that my friend Lin had done. I received it last year but I didn't think she was ready then to play with it but I think she can appreciate it now.

Shadow matching cards

Taking apart and matching the cards

Lin had made these shadow matching cards with letters to trace on the back. The little girl was excited to see the animals at first that she didn't even realise that the animals are stuck to their shadows. When she realised what's behind the animals, she tore apart every single one excitedly. With all the cards spread out on the carpet, I held out an animal card and asked her to look for its shadow. I was surprised that she could! 

Fast forward again to today: 
The little girl wanted to read a book while nursing so I took The Gruffalo's Child by Julia Donaldson. I read the book as usual and when I got to this page, it suddenly dawned upon me. I pointed to the book and asked her what it was and she said, "Shadow!" 

The Big Bad Mouse!

Aaah... So that's where she learnt about shadows! All this while I've been reading the book and I didn't even realise it. MasyaAllah.

Wednesday 15 May 2013

Daily Updates

I love the updates that I've been getting from the little girl. Yesterday, she came home from her grandparents' place and said, "Aunty put on sandals." Later she said, "Aunty feed banana." Yup, she loves her aunty.

Last week, after being home for a while, she suddenly said, "Naughty boy!" I asked who the naughty boy was, and she said, "Naughty cat!" Ah, so she was referring to a cat. I asked again who the naughty cat was and she said it's Blackie. Blackie is the house cat at my in-laws' place. I asked her what Blackie had done and she said, "Blackie kill bird." Then added, "Uncle take bird." I found out that it had really happened. You've been a naughty boy, Blackie! Apparently he did it again two days later.

I told her that Blackie killed the birds and brought them home as he wanted to give presents to the little girl. After all, when some mean soul poured Super Glue on his body and he looked like a monster after patches of his fur had dropped off, everybody freaked out at the sight of him except for the little girl. She still wanted to pat and stroke him and  cheerfully said Hello to him. The innocence of the child... Everything is beautiful to her.

Poor Blackie!

I love the updates I've been getting from her. I guess once the chatting starts, there's no turning back. But I'm not complaining!

Number Cards

I love cheap stuff. Who doesn't, right? I got these at only $2 a set. Each number card is A4-sized and printed on glossy paper. If I were to do this myself, the time taken would definitely be a lot more than the $2 I spent. 

The number cards in the playroom

When the little girl saw it the next morning, she immediately climbed onto the sofa to look at them. She's been trying to count, or more like imitating my constant counting. I try to count aloud at every opportunity that I have. Recently, I heard her counting as she was going up the steps. Sometimes she does the finger-pointing too as she counts pictures in a book but that's a hit-and-miss. Most times, the counting and the pointing don't tally.

To me, imitating is better than nothing, especially since the little girl is only 21 months old now. The journey has only begun and it's still a long road ahead.

Monday 13 May 2013

Bug Lollies

Za, Sha and I had an animals playdate at the zoo before and we thought it would be fun to organise another themed playdate for our bubs. We decided on bugs since Za was going to the Mega Bugs exhibition at Science Centre. The date was set, the theme was decided on and the venue was Botanic Gardens. 

The details for the playdate were confirmed only 2-3 days before the actual day and I didn't have much time to prepare. The playdate fell on Mother's Day so the day before it I had spent the whole evening at my parents' place. After the little girl was asleep at 12.30am, I decided I had to do something. I couldn't just go empty-handed with some sandwiches! Za had planned her activities and I was sure Sha, the energetic bunny that she is, would do something too. So at 2am, I googled some bugs pictures to go with a book that I intended to read. 

The actual printing, cutting and pasting of the pictures took place 2 hours before the playdate (Yes, I love the adrenaline rush of last-minute preparation). Self-praise is no praise but I think the final products were really pretty. The pictures were big, printed on glossy photo paper, then pasted on jumbo ice-cream sticks. I call them my bug lollies. 

Bug lollies

These are the bugs - tarantula, leafcutter ant, peacock butterfly, stag beetle and ladybird. I chose them as they are the same ones mentioned in the book. I thought the title of the book is somewhat misleading since the tarantula is not an insect! Oh well.

If you are interested in making your own bug lollies, or just print them out to paste around somewhere, leave a message and I'll be happy to email the pictures to you. I've added two more insects - grasshopper and dragonfly. More details of the actual playdate in another post!