<< 部首>> Matching cards

This post was posted 1.5 years ago, I was reminded to go through the posts on how to make learning Chinese fun when I received the spelling list for the next term and not only that, behind was the Chinese "Ting Xie" ! I knew I have to start planning something for him to learn how to write those words.

I am not an expert in teaching Chinese and am neither an educator, so do help me or share your tips with me if you have better ideas on how to learn "Ting Xie"

I believed that it's easier to learn how to write the character after you have learnt to write the various "部首". After all the characters  are just like "Compound words". You add a "部首" to another "旁边" to form a word. Am trying to come up with a little kit for Xav soon !

From 2012...
Another new set of learning set for Xav. Get to know the various "部首" through matching of the correct words to it. He's super happy to get this ! He knows most of them. This game is just to reinforce what he has learnt, which I believed it's from the DVD on "部首". Perhaps after this, time to get him started on the easy ones first.

I utilised the chart which I bought from Growing Up moving out sales @ Vivo previously. Just nice to hang this up !

Anyway, how to make this is superb easy. I got the chart from popular through the help of a friend. Simple just slice up everything and here, you made yourself the set !

Here he is trying to match the cards

You can try with other charts like the chinese strokes chart <<  笔画 >> Make one today !

Incase, you are wondering where I did I get my hanging card holder from, I got them at Growing Fun.

Do link up if you have any fun learning activities for learning Chinese.






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Broccoli with scallops

Two weeks ago, I attended a wedding dinner and they served this. Pretty light and tasty dish and of course with short prepping and cooking time. Here's my own version of Broccoli with scallops.

Ingredients :
1. One egg white white
2. Some scallops (soaked in water and shred them after pouring away the water)
3. Two cloves of minced garlic
4. Broccoli
5. Cornflour

Method:
1. Fry the garlic until fragrant, add in broccoli.
2. Add a little water and cover the lid for about 3-5 mins.
3. Add a little cooking wine, stir fry and dish up.
4. Fry the scallop until fragrant.
5. Add in the desired amount of water and simmer.
6. Pour in the egg white and stir lightly.
7. Add in some cornflour to thicken the gravy.
8. Pour the gravy over the broccoli.

Linking up with Little Dino Egg's

My young botanist !

Motherhood has amazingly changed me to have a liking to start growing plants ! Especially those can be eaten like pepper mint and Blue Pea Flower which people used it to soak into water to get the blue colouring naturally.

Plants is one of the theme that his school is touching on. I thought it would be good to let him plant some of the seeds his own and let him observe the changes as well as explained to him the life cycle of a plant.

One of my friend, Angie, helped us to grab a set of Kang Kong Set from the vegetable farm they visited.

Filling up the tray with the soil.

After planting in the seeds when the tray is 3/4 full, cover the seeds with the remaining soil to fill the tray. Water the soil.

The kangkong seeds sprouted ! It takes about 5-8 days.

I taught him how to spot for yellow leaves and just snipped it off.

It's grooming time  !

Give them some water

Kailan sprouts during the inital phase

The re-potted kailan

I'm now in a midst of planting some Blue Pea Flowers Seed (Bunga Telang). Can't wait for it to bloom and use the flowers to make blue rice !!

I am planning an experiment next when the stalks are much bigger ! Stay tuned !

If you are interested to start planting and yet can't make out time to visit the farms, the Cold Storage has a large variety of seeds that you can buy back and start potting them !





V is for Vinegar Volcano !!

This is another fun experiment we tried during the mid year if I didn't remember wrongly. We bought the kit from Toy R Us or you can find them at Kiddy Palace.

The usage of using baking soda and vinegar, creates an awesome chemical reaction! Watch as it rapidly fizzes over the Volcano model and make sure you've got some towels ready to clean up or put the model into a plastic container big enough to accomodate the size of the volcano if you dread clearing the mess.

First, I assembled the vocalno model and Xav painted it.

After that, just prepare the following below :
•Baking Soda (make sure it's not baking powder)
•Vinegar
•A container to hold everything and avoid a big mess!
•Paper towels or a cloth
•Red paint
•a pump of handwash for a foamy effect if you want

Instructions:
1.Place some of the baking soda into your container / vocalno model.
2.Pour in some of the vinegar
3.Watch as the reaction takes place!

What's happening?
The baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is a base while the vinegar (acetic acid) is an acid. When they react together they form carbonic acid which is very unstable, it instantly breaks apart into water and carbon dioxide, which creates all the fizzing as it escapes the solution.

Try it out this weekend ! Have fun !

Floating eggs !!

This is one simple experiment you can try doing with your child while prepping for meals in the kitchen. That's floating eggs !

What you'll need:
•One or two eggs if you want to see both results together
•Water
•Salt
•Two cups tall enough for the eggs to float

Instructions:
1.Pour water into the cups until it is about half full.
2.Stir in lots of salt (about 6 tablespoons)while the other cup remains with just plain water without salt.
3.Gently lower the egg into the water and watch what happens.

Conclusions:
Salt water is denser than ordinary tap water, the denser the liquid the easier it is for an object to float in it.

When you lower the egg into the liquid it drops through the normal tap water, whereas in the cup containing salt water, the egg actually floats and Xav was of course amazed with what he saw ! Floating eggs !

Try it out and have fun !

Simply toast !

Finally, last sunday was free from all the activities ! No weddings or party, no lessons or whatsoever you can find in my calender for the past two months. Practically all weekends are filled with events !

Seriously sick of having Macdonalds every weekend. Made up my mind to cook a fast breakfast.

It's simply just a toast sandwich spread with strawberry Jam, sandwiched with omelette with cheese and tomato slice.

Simple and tasty ! Both Dear and Xav loves the toast and requested for more.

Note * When frying the omelette, add a slice of cheese and when it starts melting sandwich the omelette together and sanwich with the lightly toasted bread spreaded with jam and add in tomatoe slice for a crunch !

Sentosa Island

Yes ! Get Xav to name you which beaches he has hit at Sentosa Island. He will tell you "I have been to Siloso where the wave house is located and some of the other beach restaurants around and Tanjong Beach but not Palawan Beach ! We told him that will be our next beach to hit when we plan to go for another picnic.

Glad that he has overcome the fear of getting his feet dirty in the sand and best he loves waddling about in the sea !

Making daddy into "Muah Chee"

In one of his super good mood to pose and asked to have his pic taken.

Popped by his usual favourite shop "Candylicious"

The cheeky him pretending to bite the cupcake !

Get onto the sunny island on weekend for some beach fun, cycling or roller blading or any forms of activities that you can spend quality family time in!

Trashies !!

Does it occur to you that the mini little creatures that stays in garbage can be such a hit ?This is Xav's latest craze and started his collection with the help of daddy.

These are call Trashies (Click HERE to find out more about them) and each of them has an unique name.

His current collection is about 40-50 units of them ! He called them his babies !! and can literally name all of them that he has.

Something non educational for him this time. This will be his second collection after Thomas & Friends diecast trains.

60 plus more to go ! Happy collecting my dear boy !

Sea Transportation project

Ahoy !!! But it's not pirates but Alvin (Chipmunk) !

The project for Xav's school, sea transportation theme. They need to use recycle materials and make a boat out of it. Hence, material used for this boat : scrap felt, buttons, a cardbox from my mask, a straw and some washi tapes as deco.

This is the back view, with Xavier's name at the stern.

After cutting the holes as port holes, Xav used markers to decorate the port holes by adding dots around it.

He was given the washi roll with letters and he formed his name.

Here it is ! The proud owner and his sail boat !

Diaper-less nights begins !

Just two weeks ago, my lil' man asked me "Mummy, can I sleep without diapers at night ? I want to tell Owen that I, too , can sleep without diaper."

See the power of peer pressure ? I just told him vaguely that Owen has been diaperles at night for a long time. When is he ready to do that ? Then, his questions came.

First two nights, was a stuggle for me. I woke every hourly to check if he stayed dry. Good enough, it was a great start ! About 5 days straight with no accidents, until last night ...

He woke me up and told me he wet his pants and he got real upset about it. Despite telling him and reassuring him that it's ok, he still dropped his tears a little.

Well, guess, he got the experience of it and hope he can wake automatically and pee himself, without having me to wake him instead. Anyway, it's another great achievement for this young man here !

Scoops of "Contractions" Fun !

A contraction is a shortened form of one or two words (one of which is usually a verb). In a contraction, an apostrophe takes the place of the missing letter or letters. Some contractions are: I'm (I am), can't (cannot), how's (how is), and Ma'am (Madam). For example, "don't" is a contraction that is short for "do not"; the apostrophe in "don't" takes the place of the missing "o". Another example is "o'clock," a contraction "of the clock." A less common example of a contraction is "jack-o'-lantern," short for "jack-of-lantern"; in it, the apostrophe takes the place of the missing "f" in "of." (Taken from http://www.enchantedlearning.com/grammar/contractions/ )

Lately, after the Mindchamps half yearly assessment review that @ Panda level, they'll be taught on contraction. I thought of this matching game to help facilitate learning of Contraction for Xav. During his test, he was given an unexpected question on a contraction in the passage. So I though, this would be fun enough to reinforce and revise with him at home.

I printed my list of contraction using the worksheets provided in the link above. Get creative and make your own set now !

Customized Wedding Packets

One of the activities that have kept me busy apart from work, meals planning and homeschool materials making, is non other than scrapbooking and cards making. These are some of the personalized ang pows I made from scratch for my friends' big day as well as some orders I received recently.

These are Meiqi's order. A traditional double happiness coupled with a string of butterflies, crystals and pearls.

Shun Wei's order - A more westernized design with the cut out of suit and gown lined with lace design borders.

These two packs below are order requests from Nazima.

One of the 5 pieces that Regina Ordered - Traditional double happiness with fluttering butterflies and crystals !

A Summary of the five packs from the rear.

The back view of the humming bird design.

For Michael and Weiyi, I made them the pack below with their initials and added the headgear embellishment. More designs to be loaded for the recent orders. Drop me an email @ serene_seah@hotmail.com for any ordering or sms me at my mobile ya. Preferably 2 weeks notice to be given.