Water color painting

I try to do water color paintings with lil Joy as often as possible. I have tired it on the easel but soon realised that the area to be covered seemed to be too big and tall for her at the moment so we are back to painting on the table.

So it's a single color painting session while I teach her how to say red. I mix the paint in an old milk bottle cap and lil Joy happily starts to paint.

It is always fun to see her looking so concentrated on whatever she is doing.

It did not take her long to discover that markings can be made using the back of the paintbrush.

Most parents cringed at the thoughts of cleaning up after every painting session. I try to extend the painting activity buy including the cleaning. Thankfully, lil Joy enjoys wiping out the marks on the table.

And it amused me even more when she runs to the play kitchen to wash the wet towel at the sink. It seems like she is starting to do imaginary play.

So while lil joy paints, I thought I might as well give watercoloring a try. This is my first attempt. I wished I could do better but the difficulty of painting has been levelled up when u have a little toddler doing the activity with you.

Here is my little red ridding hood.

Baby's basic puzzle review 童悦坊图形拼图

I wanted to get more puzzles for lil joy and after the experience with My Learning card series, I decided to try out the baby puzzles by the same company which is sold at $12.90. It is mainly in Chinese because this is produced in Taiwan.

Here is the front of the packaging.

The back of the packaging.

And to be honest, I was disappointed that the cardboard were not thicker. They have mentioned that it is for 0 - 3 years old. If the cards had been this thin, they would have been destroyed before the end of the days or maybe this only happens in my home. I feel the manufacturer had attempted to make the false impression to parents that the said 24 cards are thicker than it actually is. Just look at the height of the box, it is almost twice the thickness of all the cards.

I was able to open the box at bookshop and get a glimpse of the first card on the stack which is nicely shrink wrapped to the box. The manufacturer had put cardboard at the bottom of the box to raise the cards to the rim giving you the impression that the whole box is filled up. It is like eating Pringles in the olden days when you reach to the end to realise that they have risen the chips with this plastic packaging, giving you the false impression that you had more.

Other than that, the printing are bright and clear. they look fun and the shapes of the puzzles are varied which makes it an interesting play.

My Thoughts on the baby puzzle

I still find the puzzles relatively interesting for lil Joy. I let her play with 2 puzzles at a time for the moment and has to closely supervise her play with them because they are relatively flimsy for her rough handling. I would not have recommended these puzzles for older kids because they are too simple for kids above 3 years and again I am perplexed on why the manufacturer would think that it is a good idea to print these on such thin cardboards for small children.

A mental note for me to double check the thickness of the puzzles in the future before purchasing them.

Maped Kidi Cut Scissors review update

I have put Maped Kidi Scissors to use and I am glad that lil Joy's first pair of scissors are these.

Maybe I have started the scissors activity too early and the way lil Joy handle the scissors made my heart skipped many beats despite knowing that the scissors are relatively safe.

It took her a while to get the hang of holding the scissors and who knows that seeing your kid using the scissors for the first time can be such a happy occasion?

Here is lil Joy holding the scissors the right way after I have shown her how I use it. She have seen me using my scissors many times and have tried to steal my pair on too many occasions. I can imagine how proud she feel when I handed her own pair of scissors to her.

 One must plan before she cuts.

And make the smallest cut possible...

Using 3 fingers do the job better.

 My thought on Mapped Kidi Cut Scissors

They are not the scissors that you want to use for real crafts but they are the scissors that you want your child to use for practice to hold the scissors. I noticed that it only cuts at a certain angle but for the purpose of lil Joy at this moment, I feel that learning how to hold the scissors safely and confidently is the goal for the moment. I will upgrade her to a real metal scissors after more practices with Mapped Kidi Scissors.

Progess update: Perler beads alphabets

About 2 years ago, I was ordered to rest in bed for a short period of time. I cannot comprehend days of lying in bed and watching my days goes by while my brain is actively thinking of things to do. So I started making perler bead alphabets thinking that they will be useful as educational tools for my future kid. But alas, I stopped at the letter M and never went further than that since.

Recently I have pluck them off from the wall and try to round them up and aim to complete the army of 26. Unfortunately, letter C & D have gone missing but I proceed to make 4 more alphabets and hope letter C & D will turn up before I reach Z..

Here is another view of the alphabets and my messy table..

My First Learning Card Series Review

Not long after lil Joy was born and after I have gotten into the groove of caring for her basic needs, I realised there is not much I can do with a newborn lying on the bed. It was then when I decided to do flashcards with lil Joy.  I started out by making number dots flashcards for her in the earlier days. I did attempt to make word cards but the results are not satisfying and that was the end of my flashcards making days.

Recently I came across My First Learning Card Series at the Popular Bookshop and was happy that for the price of $7.90 I can get 40 picture cards with photographs instead of cartoon drawings. The cards are of good size and have both Chinese and English words on the back of the pictures. I got the vegetables and fruits and animals series first and soon realised that they are such good cards that I went back to get the rest of the series except for the 123 and ABC series.

I have already discarded the boxes of the first 2 series but is sharing with you the front and back packaging of the rest of the series I have just gotten. Ya, it seems long winded but I had wished that I could read these online instead of trying to figure out what is in the box at the bookshop with a young toddler in tow.

Front of the Transport series

Back of transport series which is in Chinese.

Front of Food series



 Back of Food Series

Front of Daily Necessities Series

Back of Daily Necessities series

All the boxes come with a plastic handle which makes it easy for you to carry it around. However this feature was not very useful to me which I will let you know why shortly.

The flashcards are brightly coloured and the words are big and clear on the back. As stated on the box, these flashcards are meant for 3 years old and above so the cards used are of not thick enough to withstand the rough handling of lil Joy who is less than 2 years old.

And so.. I laminated all of them painstakingly. i have laminated two of the series which means 80 cards. There is no laminating pouches that is the size of the cards and so I have used the A4 pouches and cut them out by hand. But it is totally worth all the hard work because the quality flash cards seemed to have levelled up after the lamination and I have no worries about them being chewed, crushed or drawn on when I am using them with lil Joy.

Only thing to take note is, never leave these cards with young children because it will not be long before they get thrown onto the floor which is the perfect formula to slip and fall.

Here is the comparison of a stack of cards before and after lamination. This is the reason why I have discarded the boxes because the laminated cards does not fit anymore.

My thought on My First Learning Card Series

The fact that I have gone back to get the rest of the series shows how much I liked them. The colours of the photographs are vibrant and clear. If I do not have a laminating machine, I will just deem them as cheap and flimsy cards. Considering that I have having the plan (without action) to print pictures and laminate them as flashcards on my own, these cards have been a shortcut for me. In a nutshell, the cost for each of the card cost about 35 cents plus the time I spend on laminating them.

Now I just have to go back to laminate the rest of the 120 cards that I have just bought.

Maped Kidi Cut Scissors review

Lil Joy is coming to the age of using scissors to cut papers up. As a first time mom, I have great concerns about her safety even if I am going to supervise all paper cutting activities personally.

It was a pleasant surprise to me when i came across Maped Kidi Cut Scissors while searching for children scissors. It uses plastics instead of metal for its blades.

Here is the scissors in its original packaging.

In case you are wondering, I got it at Popular bookshop in Singapore at the price of $1.95.

Here is the front of the scissors.

Here is another close up of the scissors when it's opened. I love the little rabbit's paw prints on the blade.

For the sake of safety, I tried cutting my finger with it. I am happy to see no harm was done onto my fingers which means, I do not need to worry about lil joy getting her fingers cut.

Next, I tried cutting straight cuts on the paper and is amazed that it made such a clean cut on the paper.

And then i tried cutting a circle and heart which was successful but did not yield amazing results. I get torn off effect at curved edges of the cuts. I conclude that a 21 month child most probably would not fault it.

My thoughts on Mapped Kidi Cut Scissors

It seems like a great First scissors for young kids when safety is a big concern. I suppose as long as it cuts thru the paper and gives the little ones a kick start to their paper cutting skills it is doing the job well. It comes in cute designs and I see light green and purple on the shelves for selection.

For first impression review, I think it is a pair of great scissors for very young children and the price is very reasonable.

I have yet to let lil Joy tried these scissors but will share with you soon on the activities that we are going to do with it.

One must reach for the door

It is funny what parenthood does. Small little things makes your day.

This evening, hub caught lil Joy trying to reach for the door with the help of a stool. He got the pictures and was so amused by it.

I suppose we might have to start to lock our doors soon.