Homemade Teacher's Day Gift

Teacher's Day is round the corner. We have been so busy with so many other things. In addition, the kids were having their end of term tests. Suddenly, panic! Teacher's Day is in the same week. What shall we do?

We went to the bookshop and grabbed some cute Teacher theme post it notes for Teacher. However, they look so impersonal and worse still, cheap! What shall we do?

Let's look in our craft cupboard and see what we've got. Ok, we've got string, beads, ruler, scissors, a cute punch out snowflake thingy, colored papers, glue. I think that should be good enough to make a last minute Teacher's Day Gift.

We made a bookmark for Teacher's Day this year. All we did was cut colored paper using craft scissors, then we pasted the soft colored paper into the harder one. We wanted to use our cute craft puncher to punch a cute hole at the top but it didn't work out because the card was too hard so we used a normal punch instead. Finally, we stringed in some cute glass beads to give the bookmark a little bit of bling bling.

Ah, let's see. We have some transparent paper and some shiny gold ribbon in our craft cupboard. We can wrap the bookmark together with the post it notes for Teacher

Tadaa! We have a last minute Teacher's Day Gift for Teacher. Not as creative as some of the other amazing moms in my next post but hey, it's the thought that counts right?

Go here for More Homemade Teacher's Day Gift Ideas

Parenting - You Know You're Doing The Right Thing When....

My Boy: Mummy, you know the kids that were bad to me last year? Well, they are not bad to me anymore?

MG: Why?

My Boy: Because I taught them to be nice. 


I'm glad he remembered my message to him not to be afraid of people who are being bad to him but rather, he should teach them to be good like him, instead. :)


My Boy: Mummy, you know yesterday one of the kids used the word "Idiot". We were playing shop and then they got angry with each other. One of them said that she won't buy anymore handbags from his handbag shop and he got angry and wrote "Idiot" on a paper. I'm sorry I called you and cheh cheh (sister) idiot last time. What does idiot mean?


MG: Well, you didn't know the meaning of the word but you still should not have used it because you know it means something not very nice, right?


I love hearing funny stories from my boy about his school day. One day, he told me that he was discussing about eating junk food with a girl. The girl told him that her parents allowed her to eat a lot of junk food and he told her "No, wonder you're fat." He asked me why the girl was mad at him. Lol.

The Power of Imaginative Play

Kids really don't need to have expensive toys. Kids do not need a portable dvd. Kids do not need a tablet computer or a cellphone with games. Kids no not need handheld gaming gadgets. Why should they? Kids come with an auto manual. All kids have the power of imaginative play. All kids need are some erasers and highlighters and .....

 then there is a secret hideout from bad guys

or a a peaceful temple

or a palace with a fountain in the courtyard

or ruins from an old building

or skyscrapers and tall buildings in a city

Well, at least that is what the kids tell me. That is the power of imaginative play. So keep away that tablet computer for a day and give yours kids some erasers or a paper and a pencil or some blocks or old tissue boxes or used toilet rolls. No, we don't have a tablet computer but it is on mummy's wish list (not the kids). 

Home Science Experiment - Growing Plants From Stem Cuttings

One of the easiest and most fun home science experiments you can do with your kids is growing plants. Previously, we had done a home science experiment on Germinating Bean Seeds. I posted the images of our Bean Germinating experiment on this blog so that the kids can remember it better. Today, I am going to post up the images of our home science experiment on how to grow plants from stem cuttings. The girl is at the moment studying the various ways plants grows in school. One of the ways is through stem cuttings.

Here are the images of our plant grown from stem cuttings.

Day 1 (1st April 2012) - We stuck the stems into the soil

Day 3 (3rd April 2012) - The shoots are appearing from the stem!

Day 4 (4th April 2012) - You can see the leaves of the shoots opening up now from the stems

Day 4 (4th April 2012) - Close up view of the new leaves on the stem cuttings

Day 15 (15th April 2012) - By now almost every stem has new leaves growing from it

Day 22 (22nd April 2012) - The leaves are growing bigger now

Day 38 (8th May 2012) - The leaves look luscious now

Day 38 (8th May 2012) - Closer look of the almost fully grown leaves with more and more shoots and leaves appearing

Practical and Simple Home Science Experiments like growing plants from stem cuttings are easy to do and a wonderful way to teach kids about life and science. It will help them in their school work and they will remember it better too. 

Now, if I remember, I will post updates on how the fully grown plants look like. This plant is an edible and very tasty vegetable (Unfortunately, I don't know what it is called), so we will harvest it and eat it (yum yum) when it is fully grown. Then our experiment will be complete. We have harvested the same vegetable and cooked it in the past. You can see a picture of the cooked vegetable here. 

The Importance Of Play

These days I often see many children hunched over some device, totally engrossed in it, while the parents dine peacefully. It never used to be like this but with digital and portable devices like portable dvds, games on iPhones and iPads or other Android Tablet computers, it would seem as though we have forgotten how to play with our children.

Perhaps we have not forgotten but rather, it is easier to let the children play with the interactive device, games and stories instead of interacting with our children ourselves. For those of you who are interested to learn to play again with your kids, you may be interested to know that there will be a workshop on The Power Of Interactive Play brought back to you by popular demand.


The workshop is brought to you by Fisher Price. It will be conducted by child development expert; Ms. Carrie Lupoli, Founder of Live & Learn (Singapore). 


Here are the details of the workshop. The workshop will be held on 16th June, 2012. 17th June, 2012 is Father's Day. I think that is very timely for Fathers to learn to play with their kids again. Mothers too. Just nice for a family outing. You'll receive RM100 worth of door gifts when you participate.


Those interested can contact 03-7803 5310/012-292 1378 or email admin@mamababyworld.com.

The Power of “Interactive” Play Parenting Workshop:

Date:  16^th June 2012 (Saturday)

Time: 10.00am – 1.30pm

Venue: Grand Ballroom, Empire Hotel Subang,

                   Jalan SS 16/1, Ss 16, 47500 Selangor.

Entrance Fee: RM60 per person plus over RM100 worth of goodies.