Math Olympiad: A Platform for Math Recognition

The Math Olympiad is a globally recognized competition designed to challenge young minds and nurture their mathematical talents. It provides students with a platform to showcase their skills, improve problem-solving abilities, and compete with peers worldwide. These competitions encourage logical thinking and analytical reasoning, skills crucial for academic and future professional success.

Participating in a Math Olympiad boosts a student’s confidence and opens up opportunities for recognition, scholarships, and further education. High achievers often receive prestigious awards such as certificates, medals and trophies but beyond the accolades, the experience itself fosters personal growth and learning. The competitions are an excellent way for students to push their limits and discover their full mathematical potential.

Eye Level Math Olympiad 2024

One of the standout competitions is the Eye Level Math Olympiad (ELMO), which invites participants from Grade 1 to Grade 8 to test their math skills on a global platform. ELMO emphasizes individualized learning, providing participants with detailed performance analyses. This feedback helps students understand their strengths and areas for improvement, making ELMO not just a competition but a valuable learning experience.

ELMO participants are not only eligible for certificates and medals, but top scorers also stand a chance to win cash prizes. Open to both Eye Level members and non-members, this competition provides young learners with an opportunity to shine in mathematics, no matter their starting point. ELMO’s comprehensive approach ensures students of all levels benefit from the experience.

In 2024, ELMO registration runs from October 1st to October 31st, with the competition taking place from November 23rd until 24th November, nationwide. 

Interested students may register here and they can choose the venue they are convenient with. Eye Level members are charged RM30 while non-members will be charged RM50.

With over 60,000 participants from more than 15 countries, it promises to be an enriching experience. Whether your child is looking to challenge themselves or gain valuable insights into their mathematical ability, ELMO offers an exciting opportunity to grow and succeed. Register today and let your child showcase their math skills globally.

8 Ways To Encourage Children To Read

How do I encourage my child to pick up a book to read and continue reading? This is one of the most frequently asked questions by parents. When you give a child a book, it is a gift. When you teach a child to love reading that book, you give the child a gift for life.

Here are 8 Ways to Encourage Children To Read

1. Use Graded Readers

These are readers that progress in levels. New words and complexity of grammar structures increases as children. move from one level to another. Graded readers features a systematic ‘levelled reading’ approach with incremental vocabulary coverage, careful language recycling and increasing text complexity. Children become more confident as they recognize books found in the earlier series. The confidence that comes from being able to read independently encourages them to keep on reading and discover new words. Children should be encouraged to read books that are within their level of reading comprehension. Too low a level makes them bored while too high a level makes them frustrated and give up. Select books with tiers, levels or bands because these graded readers are written according to children's age and reading level in mind.

2. Read Stories that Children can Relate to

Children are like sponges, absorbing all information around them. They are curious beings. Stories that they can relate to will capture their attention and interest and make them want to continue reading. While there are a wide array of stories from the west, stories rich in Asian culture are also a good way to teach children about the different local cultures because it stirs their natural curiosity.

3. Design Matters - Read Books with Interesting Illustration

Books with colourful illustration and design attract young readers to pick up a book to read. They say pictures speak a thousand words. Words along with pictures tell a compelling story that makes you want to continue reading.

4. Read Different Genre Storybooks

We can broaden the horizon of the young reader and encourage them to read by introducing to them interesting stories across different genres including real-life fiction, adventure stories, traditional tales and non-fiction. Children will learn that reading can take them into a different world, time or place when they imagine the stories that they read taking place.

5. Let Your Child Choose What They Want To Read

While it may be tempting to select all your child’s reading material based on what you think is good for them, it is good to let them choose what they want to read occasionally. Perhaps they may need you to guide them along, allowing them to choose what they want to read will motivate them to pick up that book to read at home. You never know, they might find gems you didn’t plan to pick up. Set up a cozy reading book or mini home library for them to read books they had a hand in picking.

6. Read Books That Encourage Children to Think

Some books have guided questions at the end of the book or supplementary projects and activities. All of these help to facilitate value reflection and critical thinking development in readers. Parents can ask children questions or do projects together with children which encourages parent child bonding and further interest in the books read.

7. Read Stories with Themes

Popular thematic stories about festivals, families, food, animals, transportation etc educate as well as inform. For example, kids may be interested to read about the New Year as the New Year approaches making it something to look forward to and talk about.

8. Read Together and Read Often

Read to your child, or together with your child to encourage them to read. Bring them to bookshops, libraries and book exhibitions to open up the world of books and reading to them. Read often and discuss what you read with your child. Don't look at your mobile while your child is reading. Pick up something and read as they are reading. This will encourage them to read instead of playing with their phones too.

This post was brought to you by Oxford Fajar Malaysia.

Introducing Oxford Fajar Dragonfly Readers

Dragonfly Readers is a new print series by Oxford Fajar. It is designed for the 21st century reader to support the development of reading comprehension skills, featuring: 

• 204 beautifully-illustrated stores and non-fiction texts by Asian authors and artists
• Asian culture, themes and values infused in the series 
• Culture and vocabulary pages, supplementary projects and activities 
• Clear learner progression, based on Oxford Levels and aligned to CEFR 

The Dragonfly Readers is based on a levelling* system with 

• 9 tiered-levelling, each level denoted by a number and colour 
• 6 bands per level; each band offers 3-4 theme-linked reading texts within a printed anthology
• Each reading text introduces a set of topic-related new words with practice and support materials 
• A transparent vocabulary structure, with each reading text presenting new topic-related words and carefully recycling previously learnt new words 
• Text complexity gradually increases through the bands, so learners incrementally gain comprehension skills and reading fluency as they advance through the levels 

The Dragonfly Readers is available for purchase online here.

*Dragonfly readers is currently available up to Level 3. Stay tuned for the higher levels coming soon.

Oxford Big Read 

The Oxford Big Read is an English reading programme and competition for primary school students in Malaysia. Students who participate in the competition will be required to read Oxford Readers and do different age-wise activities based on their levels.

The competition is open to all schools in Malaysia, and features attractive prizes for students and their schools.

Click here to find out more.

Planting With Kids - Balsam Plant

Here is an easy to plant and quite hardy flowering plant to plant together with kids at home. Bunga Keembong/Balsam Flower/凤仙花 fèng xiān huā. You can also use it to explain primary school science on dispersion of seeds.

One of the examples that is frequently given for explosive mechanism for seed dispersal is this plant. It's really fun to watch it grow too. We planted ours from a packet of seeds we bought. The seeds take about 8-10 days to germinate and about 2 months to flower. Usually seed packets cost around RM5. Now we have a whole row of them but only one stalk has flowered so far. Eagerly awaiting the rest.....

The plant's scientific name is Impatiens Balsamina. Apparently, Impatiens got its name from a Latin word that describes the way they shoot out their seeds when their seed pods open as if they're impatient to grow and multiply. I couldn't resist adding that last bit in because it does seem that way.  It's a nice story to tell the kids in any case. They're also called touch-me-nots because the seed pods have projectile seeds that explode out of the pods when they are lightly touched when its ripe.


We managed to record the blooms. We spotted the first two blooms on 15th December 2018.

Two days later on 17th December 2018

Four days later on 19th December 2018

8 days later on 23rd December 2018

 10 days later on 26th December 2018.

There are many more buds but we will stop our recording here. Here's a quick playback of the blooms in progress.

Christmas Gift Box For Kids Who Love Arts and Science

Do you have kids who enjoy making things, exploring and experimenting? Most kids do and the good news for parents is, home practical experiments are not only fun, they have educational value. They also make great gifts!

You can shop for experiment ingredients if you have the time to search for them but what if it is all nicely packaged in a box addressed to your child together with materials for the activity, an instruction and trivia booklet along with a gift card, greeting cards and some discount vouchers and delivered to your home? Wouldn't that be a nice surprise?

Atom & the Dot, a pioneer in art and science subscription boxes for kids in Malaysia has done just that. Their monthly activity boxes are curated to inspire curiosity in kids and encourage discovery through hands-on activities.

You can try out a box for one month at RM 100 (or RM 68 from 3-31 Dec 2018)

Subscribers get a surprise box each month with materials and instructions for experiments, activities or games. Subscription rates are as follows:

• 3 months: RM 250 (~RM 83/ box)
• 6 months: RM 450 (~RM 75/ box)
• 12 months: RM 720 (~RM 60/ box)

You can also try an individual box from their Try-me collection before subscribing. These are boxes from earlier months. You can purchase these boxes at RM100 (or RM68 from 3-31 Dec 2018).

Christmas Gifts for Curious Kids

Christmas gift for the kid who likes gardening.

Alternatively, try out one of these Christmas boxes. Christmas boxes are mini boxes with one activity. They make excellent Christmas gifts for curious kids. There are 6 different themes for little gardeners, astronomers, chemists and even paleontologist (scientist who studies fossils) wannabe including

1. Chain Reaction
2. Dinosaur Fossil
3. Periodic Table
4. Robot Tester
5. Self -watering Plant
6. Solar System

Priced at RM45 per box, you can get these mini Christmas surprise boxes for RM35 if you pre-order  before 2 December 2018.

Gift Boxes come with materials and instructions for experiments, activities or games like this Solar board game

Coming Soon in December...

December’s surprise box is a special Christmas edition “Toymaker’s Toolbox”. Kids get to play Santa’s elf with materials and instructions to make 6 mini toys. Like Atom & the Dot on Facebook to receive more details on this upcoming offer.

Redeem a box at RM0.99!

Here is a chance for you to try out a box (the Robot Tester box) at just RM0.99!

All you need to do is refer 3 friends to Atom & the Dot. Limited to first 50 customers. You need to purchase your Robot Tester box by 2 December 2018. Shipping fees apply. Refer friends here.

Besides Christmas gifts, subscription boxes are great as birthday gifts too. Parent and child can have a nice surprise each month with a new hands-on activity to explore together.

This post was brought to you by Atom & the Dot.

How To Make Chinese New Year Angpow Lanterns

Chinese New Year is coming to town... You know because when you go to the malls, you will hear Chinese New Year music and you will see red everywhere, red decorations that is.

Nowadays, you can buy many Chinese New Year decorations from the supermarkets, "kedai runcit" (grocery store) and "pasar malam" (night market) too. They're not cheap though and nothing beats the satisfaction of making your own. So why not give it a try?

It is easy to make your own Chinese New Year decorations from angpow paper, so easy that even kids can make them as you can see from the videos below. They range from easy to intermediate. However, kids can make them if they follow the step by step video tutorial. It will be a fun activity for the whole family. The reward? Nice bonding and memorable moments for the whole family and a beautifully decorated house for Chinese New Year!

These videos are from the Merryn Tan YouTube Channel. Check them out below.

1. How To Make DIY Angpow Ancient Coin Lantern Tutorial. (You need 16 pieces of Angpow packets)




2. How To Make DIY Angpow Flower Tutorial (You need 60 piecces of square Angpow packets)




3. How To Make DIY 3D Angpow Koi Fish (You need colourful angpow packets. The number of packets depend on how many koi fish decoration you wish to make)




4. How To Make A Simple Chinese New Year Angpow Lantern (You Need 12 pieces of Angpow Packets)




You will find more videos like this when you Subscribe to this video channel. Merryn frequently updates her channel with kids crafting, kids cooking videos and interesting reviews on places of interest and activities for parents with young kids.

Besides Crafting Tutorials, you will also find kids cooking and baking videos on this YouTube Channel.

Here's one of her kids cooking videos.

How to bake Cute Doggy Cookies for Chinese New Year 2018 Year of the Dog. There are plenty more videos on simple bakes and crafts done by kids for kids. Check out the full list of videos here. There are more Chinese New Year cookies baking with kids ideas in the list including Happy Nut cookies, Cranberry Cornflakes cookies and Almond Cookies baking tutorials. All videos are kid friendly. Kids can even cook Peranakan dishes.

Latest Attractions In Penang For Families

It has only been a year since we went back for Chinese New Year but there are a lot of new attractions for families in Penang now. Penang has remade itself for tourists. Besides the wonderful food, there are so many things to see and do. So many museums popping up like mushrooms all over the town. Besides that, there are some new attractions for families to visit too.

In this post, I will write about 3 of the latest attractions in Penang for families although we only managed to visit two because of time limitations. Got to visit those relatives too you know.

1. THE HABITAT @ PENANG HILL

We hadn't been to Penang Hill for some years so we decided to go just for fun. The rail is much faster now compared to the older one but not the queue. It was a peak period after all. I don't mind queueing but I do mind that they now have a fast track lane for those who are willing to pay 3 times the price. I thought that was a bad idea by management. It's discriminating between those who can afford and those who can't. It is allowing people to pay to jump queue. We had senior citizens in our queue and we watched as our queue got longer due to the fast track lane. It is okay for a fast track lane to be open for senior citizens or the disabled but not to others in my opinion.

Anyway, we went up and were pleasantly surprised to discover The Habitat. The Habitat is set on the fringes of a 130 million year old rainforest. Some of the eco-friendly attractions at The Habitat include a 1.6km nature trail, Giant Swings, Canopy Walks and The Tree Top Walk.

The nature walk was an easy stroll and there are many friendly park rangers along the way.

The Canopy Walks are not ready yet but we managed to experience The Tree Top Walk which was open specially for visitors during the Chinese New Year period (see the instagram posting by The Habitat embedded below). After that it will be closed for further works till they launch. You can catch amazing views and marvel at the trees that have been around since the English colonial days.

We enjoyed the giant swings. Four of us fitted into it nicely and it was nice and windy to swing in them. You can opt for guided tours by the friendly rangers or walk the nature trail free and easy. We had to miss the guided tours as we were in a hurry. My boy was disappointed because he loves nature and plants and wanted to learn all about the plants that he sees along the way.

To go up Penang Hill, we paid RM10 for adults and RM5 for students for a return train ticket. To enter The Habitat, we paid RM20 for adults and RM10 for kids plus RM10 each for The Tree Top Walk. Since we were in a rush, we also took a buggy back at RM15 for the 1 km plus way back after exiting The Habitat nature trail.

Remember to wear proper clothing and shoes. I had to tiptoe my way all around the tree tops on the grill like flooring of the tree top walk in high heels because our visit was an impromptu one before visiting relatives. The park rangers said they would consider loaning slippers or proper shoes to crazy ladies in heels in future. ;)

Below is the picture taken by us from the other side of the Tree Top Walk.



Below is the Instagram posting by The Habitat.

We are super excited to announce the reopening of Curtis Crest Tree Top Walk for this Chinese New Year (28th Jan. - 5th Feb.)! Purchase park entrance ticket & add-on RM10/- to enjoy 360 degree panoramic views of Penang Island including our 130million year old rainforest, Gunung Jerai & the mainland! May the Year of the Rooster 🐓 bring us all to new heights! - We are Open throughout the CNY & School Holidays 28th Jan. - 7th Feb. Operating Hours: 9.00am - 6.00pm (Last ticket sold 6.00pm. Exit closes 7.00pm).

A photo posted by The Habitat Penang Hill (@thehabitatph) on Jan 27, 2017 at 12:10am PST

2. THE TOP @ KOMTAR

With the addition of The Top, Komtar is no longer the same. It has been totally revamped. There are many family friendly attractions at The Top. Some of the attractions include DanceOki, Magic Mirror Maze, 7D Discovery Motion Theater, Tongkat Ali King, Jurassic Research Center, Musical Carousel, Ocean Explorer & Dragon Regatta (for children only).  MyKad holders can enjoy these attractions at RM98 (adults) and RM50 (children).

Alternatively, you can go up to the Observatory Deck and Rainbow Skywalk at THE TOP@Komtar, Penang (Levels 65 and 68) for RM88 (adults) or RM58 (kids). You can also dine there should you choose to do so.

Tickets are pricey (it may cost you up to a night's stay at a hotel if you go as a family of four with parents and two tall kids as they charge according to height for adults/kids) maybe that's why we had an enjoyable relaxing walk without having to wait long queues or squeeze with lots of people.

We skipped the theme park and went straight for the higher levels as we had mostly adults with us. My boy took the following panorama pics at the Observatory Deck and Rainbow Skywalk below. You can experience a glass floor walking experience at both. Other mini attractions include the luckiest chair in the world made of golden horse shoes, the double rainbow & pot of gold plus the upside down orchestra of dreams.

Credit for panorama pictures below: My boy trying to take panorama pictures for the first time.




You can walk around on level 68 and try out the Rainbow Skywalk as shown below. Before you go on the skywalk, you will be asked to don a plastic covering for your shoes.

Credit for picture below is from the The Top



While you are in Komtar and within walking distance away, don't forget to stop by this "attraction": The Penang Road Famous TeoChew Chendul stall.





3. ENTOPIA BY PENANG BUTTERFLY FARM 

Finally, there is the Entopia which is the newly revamped Butterfly Farm. We didn't have time for this and my son just visited it during the December holidays so we will save this for another time.

You can read more about this rebranding of the Butterfly Farm into the Entopia of today in this article:
The Man Who Gave Us The Butterfly Farm. That's our next stop for next year.

Free Christmas Themed Colouring Pages For Kids, Teens And Adults

I didn't realize that we are so close to Christmas because I have been busy working. I work online so sometimes working equals to surfing. It was while surfing that I came across this wonderful free Christmas Themed Colouring Pages For Kids, Teens and Adults. No, actually it is not merely colouring pages but a whole free downloadable holiday colouring book with 92 pages of Christmas themed art! The paperback copy is available on Amazon for $11.49 but you get to download the ebook for free. 

I downloaded a copy for myself and was delighted to find so many different styles of Christmas themed colouring pages. You will find Santa, Reindeers, Christmas Trees, Ornaments, Quotes, Snowmen, Christmas Wreaths, Angels, Gingerbread Houses, Christmas Doodles, and more. The illustration styles from participating Art Licensing Show Artists are varied and the designs suitable for everyone who loves colouring from kids to adults. 

Here's the download link for this free Christmas Themed Colouring Book. Enjoy! I'm off to colour my Merry Christmas Wreath now.

4 Family Friendly Movies To Watch This December 2016

I really like Common Sense Media's Movie Reviews because they are really useful for parents who wish to check out whether a certain movie is child friendly. They will first list out the age group for the movie and give ratings on the educational value, positive messages, positive role models, violence and scariness, language and other inappropriate stuff.

Below you will find the official trailers of some of the movies currently playing in cinemas. Do hop over to the common sense media links before each video trailer to find out the suitability of the movies for your kids.

1. Moana 

Moana is an animated Disney adventure about a teenager who navigates the seas on a mission. She meets the demi-God Maui and they go on an action packed adventure amidst great music and a kaleidoscope of ocean views.

What parents need to know about this movie.

Released on 1 December 2016, Moana is rated P13 and is 113 minutes long




2. Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them

This is a prequel to the Harry Potter movies. That means it is about the back-story or events that come before the Harry Potter movie series. Set in 1926 (about 70 years before Harry Potter studies his textbooks at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry), the story follows the adventures of Newt Scamander, the author of the Hogwarts textbook. Expect witches, wizards and lots of magical creatures in this prequel.

What parents need to know about this movie.

Released on 17 November 2016, Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them is rated P13 and is 135 minutes long.




3. Marvel Comic's Dr Strange

Dr Strange is not your average superhero. He is a brilliant but arrogant surgeon who trains with a mystic known as the Ancient One after his career was destroyed to become a powerful sorcerer who defends the world against evil.

Is Dr Strange suitable for kids?

Released since 27 October 2016, Dr Strange is rated P13 and runs for 115 minutes



4. Upin & Ipin Jeng Jeng Jeng (BM)

We all know Upin & Ipin. In this movie adaptation, they interact with a real world girl, Balqis. Balqis is a 10 year old orphan girl who can communicate with the animated characters Upin & Ipin. She gets Upin & Ipin to help her find struggling rocker Awie to help raise funds and save her orphanage from being taken over by a heartless businessman.

Read Star 2's review on Upin & Ipin Jeng Jeng Jeng here.

Released on 24 November 2016, the movie is rated U and runs for 98 minutes.



UPDATED: MOVIES WHICH WILL BE RELEASED SOON (AFTER THE POINT OF WRITING) HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE POST

5. Sing

The world's greatest singing competition is here. Sing is like a cross between glee, zootopia and American Idol. Sing is an animated comedy about a koala named Buster Moon who tries to save his theatre by running the world's greatest singing competition. Looking forward to the Sing Sountracks.

To be released on 8 December 2016, this movie has a running time of 108 minutes. Since it will be released overseas on 21 December, you will probably have to catch it before you can read the full review for Sing.





6. Star Wars Rogue One

Remember the recent Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope? Rogue One precedes that. All this going back and forth can sometimes be a little bit confusing but when you're a fan of any series, you're a fan and you don't mind watching them in any order. In this part, a group of unlikely heroes unite on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction that can destroy entire worlds.

No review at this time of writing, here's a preview of Star Wars Rogue One instead.

To be released on 15 December 2016, this movie is rated P13 and has a running time of 134 minutes





7. Ballerina

Ballerina is an animated musical fantasy adventure about a poor orphaned girl who dreams of becoming a ballerina. She runs away to Paris and pretends to be a spoiled rich girl to train at the Paris Opera. This is the story about her training and the challenges she has to go through to make her dreams a reality.




To be released on 15 December 2016 and running for approximately 1 hour 30 minutes, Ballerina is rated 7.9/10 at IMDB


You may also like to read:
4 Places To Bring Your Kids Skating In The Klang Valley
12 Klang Valley Malls To Bring Your Kids This Christmas 2016

Other interesting links:
School Holiday Programmes December 2016

Network with Malaysian parents
Malaysia Primary and Secondary School Parents On Facebook

4 Places To Bring Your Kids Ice Skating In The Klang Valley

City kids, preteens and teenagers love to get together to skate these days. You can see groups of them meeting up at the malls for a fun time skating. Parents looking for activities for their kids during the school holidays can also consider skating as a fun school holiday activity. In this post we make a comparison of 4 ice skating venues in the Klang Valley including the entrance fee, opening  hours, price of accessories and whether any school holiday programmes or coaching is available for your kids this December 2016.

Check out some of these venues for ice skating fun for your kids. Information is from the respective websites at the time of writing. Please visit the links provided for detailed and latest information.

1. Sunway Pyramid Ice



About: Sunway Pyramid Ice is the first world class ice sports entertainment in Malaysia
Location: Jalan PJS 11/15 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Opening Hours: Weekday 9am - 8pm, Saturday/School Holidays/Public Holidays 9am - 10pm, Sundays 9am - 8.30pm
Rates (Per Entry): Weekday RM20; Weekend RM25; School Holidays/Public Holidays RM28
School Holiday Package: 6 lessons in 3 days for RM160 (29 Nov - 31 Dec 2016)
Accessories: Socks RM6; Gloves RM9
Resurfacing Schedule: Every 2 hours starting from 12pm and ending at 8pm (Weekends), 12.30pm, 5pm, 8pm (Weekdays)
Rink Size/Capacity: 39m x 22.5m
Website: Sunway Pyramid Ice
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PyramidIce/


2. Icescape Ice Rink, IOI City Mall, Putrajaya

















About: Icescape Ice Rink is the only Olympic sized rink in Malaysia
Location: IOI City Mall, Lebuh IRC, IOI Resort City, 62502 Putrajaya, Malaysia
Opening Hours: 10am - 10pm (Thursday close at 8.30pm)
Admission Fee (Per Entry): Weekday RM30; Weekend/School Holidays/Public Holidays RM35
School Holiday Package: 3 day course, 1 hour lesson per day for RM180 (28 Nov - 31 Dec 2016)
Accessories: Socks RM6; Gloves RM10 Locker RM2 Penguin RM30/hr
Resurfacing Schedule: 2.30pm, 5pm, 7.30pm (1/2 hour each time)
Rink Size/Capacity: 30m x 60m

Website: IOI City Mall

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/icescapeicerink/

3. The Royale Ice Skating Rink at Royale Chulan Damansara


















About: Ice Skating Rink at a hotel
Location: Royale Chulan Damansara, 2,Jalan PJU 7/3 Mutiara Damansara, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Opening Hours: 10am - 10pm
Admission Fee (Per Day): Weekdays RM25 (Early Bird)/RM30 (After 12 noon) Weekends/PH/School Holiday RM30 ( Early Bird)/RM35 (After 12 noon)
Coaching Fee: RM60 for 1/2 hour. Booking required 1 or 2 days beforehand
Accessories: Socks RM7, Gloves RM9, Locker RM2/lock, Penguin RM30/hr
Resurfacing Schedule: 1pm, 3pm. 5pm and 7pm
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RoyaleIceSkatingRink/


4. Like-Ice Asia, Setia City Mall, Shah Alam



About: LIKE-ICE! Asia is a portable Ice skating rink from Germany
Current Location: Setia City Mall 7, Persiaran Setia Dagang, Setia Alam, 40170 Shah Alam, Selangor,
Opening Hours: 25 November-25 December 2016
Admission Fee (Per Session/30 minutes): RM10
Coaching: RM15 for 30 minutes
Accessories: Socks RM2, Gloves RM3
Age Limit: 5-15 years old/100cm max height
Rink Size/Capacity: 20 skaters at a time (30 minutes per session)

Website (For Current Location): Setia City Mall

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/likeiceasia/

Go here for list of holiday programmes in the Klang Valley

Join the Malaysia Primary and Secondary School Parents On Facebook 

Clay Animation Workshop For Kids From 7 Years Old And Above

Stop motion is an animation technique where you physically manipulate objects so that they appear to move voluntarily. Clay is often used because clay is soft, pliable and can be easily molded. The reason for this is because clay animation involves sculpting your characters and arranging them on a set and photographing them. They you repeat the process by molding the clay characters into different positions and photographing them in their new positions. Finally, you playback your recording. Upon playback, viewers will perceive the different positions as movement. Famous animations using this technique include Pingu and Shawn the Sheep.

In this workshop, kids will learn how cartoon works. They will be able to create their own stop motion using clay plus they get to keep their own stop motion clay characters as a memento after the programme.

Kids will have a chance to get really creative by sculpting and producing the animation scenes. In addition, they will learn valuable lessons about making cartoons digitally. This one of a kind digital creation workshop is suitable for kids from age 7 and up.

Call 03-9054 2033 or visit Crafty Minds on Facebook to get more details about this workshop. Crafty Minds is located at 11-2 Jalan Radin Bagus, Bandar Baru Sri Petaling, 57000 KL.

Free Voucher Worth RM100 is available for Mumsgather Finds Website Members. 
Sign in here to redeem voucher

SuperCamp! Year-end 2016 Motivational Camp For Preteens And Teens

The preteen and teenage years are important growing years. These are the years when kids become more independent in terms of studies and friendships. They have a growth spurt not only physically but also psychologically, emotionally and intellectually. It is important for kids this age to be equipped with life skills and guided through these changes because this is a confusing time for them. 

The time of transition or impending change from primary to secondary school requires them to become more independent in their studies, to be able to learn to study on their own instead of being spoon fed. They need to be able to handle peer and exam pressure. In other words, they need to become increasingly responsible and less dependent on their parents and teachers.

Through its annual motivational camp for kids, SuperCamp has been successful in guiding many teens to develop their personal learning styles and use this knowledge to their advantage in school.  It is back this year by popular demand. This is a 7-day/6-night residential event focused on academic and life skills that promise to inspire brilliance in youths from ages 10-18. It is a world renowned programme that has been established since 1982 which has inspired the lives of over 70,000 students worldwide.

SuperCamp empowers teens and prepares them personally and academically for their chosen path in life. It lays the foundation for our youths of today to achieve more than they ever thought possible. Instead of hiding behind the judgments and opinions of others, they learn to live as who they truly are by breaking out of their “shell”. They learn the power of stepping outside of their comfort zone to experience all the opportunities that life brings. 

Along with new confidence and increased motivation, students learn a combination of specific study strategies, time management, and test-taking skills that make a big difference in the classroom.  SuperCamp gives your child the opportunity to become a super learner by using the world’s leading academic acceleration techniques.

Happening on 11 December to 17 December 2016 at Paradise Valley, Broga, Call Quantum Education today for more info and discounts for the program.

They can be contacted at 03-6203 0525 / 017–381 7099 OR email them at camp@supercamp.com.my OR visit their website at www.supercamp.com.my

Why Is Coding Important For Our Kids?

Why is coding so important? What are its applications? Why are many countries putting more effort in including coding as part of educational syllabuses? What future career options will it open up for our children?

Our children are born in the digital world. However education systems have not been keeping up with the speed of change in the digital age. Recognizing this, many countries already started to include computer science as a compulsory course in children's education from 2011. They incorporate this with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and focus on equipping children with computational thinking skills.

If you are thinking of introducing your kids to computer science to expose them to programming, there are many ways to do it. One of the easiest ways is to send them for holiday programmes and workshops that teach kids to code and program their own games and applications.

Before sending them to a coding workshop, here are some basic facts you should know about coding.

What Is Coding?

Coding is telling the computer what you want it to do using different languages like Python, Java, C++, and more. Learning to code help kids understand the world around them, teach them new problem solving skills, and most importantly, it’s fun!

Why Is Coding Important In Education? 

Coding is everywhere. It is used to create every app on smartphones, websites, and everyday gadgets we use to simplify our lives. In this app driven world, people are relying more and more on mobile apps and computers to get things done.

Not only that, many other gadgets, household equipment, kitchen tools, etc. rely on coding to power up and perform.

It is not an exaggeration to say that coders are the architects and builders of the digital world we now live in. 

Programming has become a basic literacy for the digital age. Children are now encouraged to learn computer programming at a young age because those who learn to program early will develop a deeper and more complete understanding of the logic and computational thinking skills necessary for programming.

Coding will help kids to:

• Understand how technology works
• Improve on their patience, concentration skills, and capacity for detailed work
• Develop analytical, logical, and computational thinking skills

A programmer needs to understand complex instructions in order to code, be able to write lines of code and problem solve in detail because even a small mistake can affect an entire program. Kids who learn to code early will develop all of these essential living skills.

Future Jobs And Career Possibilities For Those Equipped With Coding Knowledge

Programmer, IT Analyst, Software Engineer, these are the few job options that immediately come to mind. However, in a digital world increasingly powered by computers and various applications, knowledge of coding is useful in the fields of medicine, journalism, banking and finance, newer fields like web and game development. You will need an understanding of programming and coding in almost any field. In other words, coding is the future language of business. Every field now contains positions that require expertise in technology. An employee that knows how to code will surely be an asset to any company as more and more corporations transform themselves digitally.

So How Can I Expose My Kids To Coding?

Coding is not a fad; it is now an essential skill for the younger generation. So how do you expose your kids to coding? If you want to stay ahead of the loop, you can start your kids with coding courses and computer programming workshops this coming school holidays. Still not sure? Then attend the free demo class on computer programming organized by KidoCode. The free trial class is on weekdays (Tuesday – Friday) and every weekend (Saturday and Sunday) at KidoCode at Solaris Mont Kiara. The demo class is 3 hours long and will provide good exposure for kids and parents who have the passion in learning computer programming.

Click here to read more about the FREE Computer Programming Class For Kids And Teens. Parents are welcome to learn together with their kids.

Courses Offered

KidoCode offers courses in Mobile App Development, Electronics & Robotics, Web Development, Game Development, and Python programming combined with IGCSE Mathematics for kids & teens age 6-18. By using a dynamic kind of system which follows the students’ abilities, they will be creating their own learning paths basing on their level of knowledge.

Schedule now for a FREE Trial Class in this link: KidoCode Free Session

Schedule For Free Trial Class
Oct 20 – 23 – 11am & 3pm
Oct 25 – 30 – 11am & 3pm
Nov 1 – 6 – 11am & 3pm
Nov 8 – 13 – 11am & 3pm
Nov 15 – 20 – 11am & 3pm
Nov 22 – 27 – 11am & 3pm

Venue: L-2-3A Solaris Mont Kiara, Jalan Solaris, Off Jalan Duta Kiara, 50480 KL Malaysia
Contact: 03-64110968

School Holiday Ideas - Making Snowskin Mooncakes

Since its the school holidays, we had nowhere to go and the Mooncake Festival is round the corner, we decided to bake mooncakes.

Baking mooncakes is an extremely fun activity to do with kids especially snow skin mooncakes. You don't even have to bake it. Its just like playing with playdough. We had a lot of fun today playing masak-masak.

We wanted to make it even easier, so we bought readymade snowskin mooncake flour also called "Bing Pi Flour" in Chinese. We also bought readymade lotus paste for the filling.

This is the bing pi mooncake mix.

This is the readymade lotus paste. I forgot to take the picture of it in the packet. The packet lists a whole lot of other readymade pastes from yam to, green tea, red bean to durian. My son likes melon seeds in his so as you can see he stuck a lot on one of them.

I thought that the bing pi flour was all you need but then I realized that you needed shortening and emulco as well. Since I didn't have those, I substituted them with butter and olive oil and pure fruit juice. I accidentally bought coffee emulco so I used that too with some three-in-one coffee mix thrown in for good measure. No colouring was used. The boy said he wanted to make ribena mooncakes so we made that too!

Strawberry juice from 4 strawberries and Mango juice from 1 Mango.

Coffee Emulco and Three-in-One Coffee Powder (Did not use the colouring)

Then we set off to work. 

"Mom, how much of everything do we have to put?"

"Just put in flour and butter (supposed to be shortening) then add enough cold water and juice to form a soft dough. If you have too much water, add more flour. If you have too much flour, add more water."

We mixed the bing pi flour with butter, cold water and our fresh fruit juice till we got a dough.

Next we used a rolling pin to roll them into a skin to wrap the paste in.

Finally we used a plunger mould to shape the mooncakes.

And tadaa... we have our mango, strawberry, coffee and ribena mooncakes! We had read that the colour would look pale if we didn't use any colouring but they look just fine to us. They are more healthy that way.

After that, the kids had fun being creative with the leftover mooncake ingredients.

Since we have the lotus paste we decided to make baked mooncakes as well. That recipe calls for all purpose flour, alkaline water and golden syrup. Again, we didn't have those, so we used the wheat flour from our kitchen, maple syrup for the golden colour and lemon infused water as substitute for alkaline water.

Making alkaline water

Our wheat flour and maple syrup

And finally tadaa..... (Ok ok we cheated. Our mooncake lost its pattern after baking and it was hard. Hopefully it softens after the oil seeps outwards in a couple of days.) We were hungry after all that baking so we had some store bought mooncakes. The ones below are from Baker's Cottage and Foh San. If only our mooncakes look like that. Next time... we'll get the proper ingredients and a nicer more authentic looking mould. We had wanted a flower or Chinese words design but we ordered online without looking at or selecting the product and got Doraemon when the courier man arrived. 

Snowskin Mooncake Ingredients:

• roasted glutinous rice flour (Gao Fen)
• icing sugar
• shortening
• cold water
• Food coloring
• Mooncake filling (red bean, yam paste, lotus paste etc)

We used

• snowskin mooncake premix flour (bing pi flour)
• butter
• olive oil
• cold water
• fresh fruit juice from slow juicer
• ready made lotus paste

Baked Mooncake Ingredients:

• all purpose flour
• golden syrup
• alkaline water
• vegetable oil
• egg wash (added halfway through baking)
• Mooncake filling

We used:

• wheat flour (not recommended)
• maple syrup
• water with lemon soaked for several hours without squeezing the lemons
• olive oil
• egg wash (added halfway through baking) - We baked for 10 minutes, added egg wash then baked for another 10 minutes
• ready made lotus paste

We are not serious bakers. Just having a fun time with kids. The above is for our own reference, a record of it so we don't have to rely on memory the next time we try it. This was our first time baking mooncakes.

If you are serious about getting your mooncake right, please google for snowskin mooncake recipes or baked mooncake recipes. You will find plenty. Better still search on YouTube to see how it is done the proper way. Have fun and Happy Holidays!