Our simple weekday lunch

Soggy Hokkien Mee with sliced pork,  cut up Caixin, chopped mushrooms, mixed vegetable, tofu , beansprout and egg.

Somen with pork, shredded cucumber and mixed vegetables.

Dining out : BBQ Chicken Rice

Fried Hokkien Mee with diced tomatoes, mixed vegetables, bean sprouts and egg

Spaghetti with minced beef, diced tomatoes and mixed vegetable.

Looks like frozen mixed veggie pack is my favorite choice of ingredient for making lunch! I had used it 4 times this week. It is so convenient to use and best of all, we get to eat assorted vegetables without much of a hassle!
What about you? Do you like to use frozen pack for your meal?

The start of holidays

14th of November was the start of school holidays this year. I did not plan much during this time of the year because it is the monsoon season. It was suppose to get worse in December. Oh well, I should plan more rainy days activities but I do not want to fix particular days for any activities so that we could just run and enjoy the sun when it is out. It would be roughly a park visit at least once a week. Probably running to the malls during weekends to hunt for Christmas gifts. While she is at home, there would be some crafts for her to do as well as her usual homework. There would be library visits as well. If we were to visit  any other places, it would be an impromptu decision. 

Home Activity 

#1 Egg hatching

We got this as a gift from my sister in law and since the egg takes 24-48 hours to hatch. Little One was very excited about it especially when the egg was starting to crack.

#2 Painting with Leaves, Paper Towel Roll and leftover veggies

We did some study on leaves Little One collected. We did leaf rubbing and paintings using them. Below is a painting using leaves, paper towel roll and leftover veggies.

# 3 Making a headband

I have bought this pack from Eat, Play, Love Cafe last year. We have not found time to do until now.

Other activities

Visited Singapore Art Book Fair

This was an impromptu decision to visit the site. Great art and books were found. We also found old school sweets.

Visit Pasir Panjang Nursery and Hort Park

We were lucky to be able to go to this guided tour in Pasir Panjang Nursery. This site is not opened to public for 20 years until 15th Nov to coincide with Clean and Green Singapore.

Pasir Panjang Nursery

The nursery is very near Hort Park, we paid a visit after the tour. Little One collected leaves, flowers and fruits along the way. Somehow these could not keep long in our weather. Within three days, it starts to smell and we found a worm. Eewww!!

Visit Westgate, - Portraits of the people for SG50

When we were at Westgate, Little One drew her own portrait for the art connector.

Visited revamped library: Sembawang library

We were here to attend a library programme. I love the library's new look. However, I will not recommend to bring young children here because I realised the smell of paints and varnish is rather strong. The whole shopping centre is under going renovation.

Source : NLB

Visit Jacob Ballas Children Garden

It had been some time since we last visited Jacob Ballas Garden. We decided to visit when the sun finally came out shining brightly. This was Little One's first time playing the Tree House. However, she ended up having her belly scratched probably due to the reason that she had been sliding down on her belly. We collected some dead leaves too but I made sure this time they are not too much. She had been collecting the saga seeds under the saga tree. 

We were lucky to see lots of butterflies flying around in and near the maze and spotted a couple of animals. Little One had a fun morning at the park. It was a pity that the water play area and the magic of photosynthesis is under maintenance. 

Tree House

We are reading...

Let us Protect by Dr Florence Teo

This is part of the nurturing good values series. I hope to instill the value of protecting our environment.

Greenery: Dakota Crescent

Lovely Bougainvillea

A mini Japanese Garden!

Lovely little flower

and a butterfly

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Making your own scratch art

Remember the scratch art which we did some time ago? This time we are making our own scratch art and it is simple to do. All you need is just crayons. Yes, JUST crayons.

Colour the whole piece of paper with crayon. Just don't use black. After that, use black crayon to colour the whole sheet black. And you will have a piece of scratch art to do. 

Little One's artwork

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Library Hop # 5 :- Let's hop to Library @ Orchard

Library@orchard reopened!  We went for a short visit recently.

Library@orchard, is originally situated in Ngee Ann City on 21 October 1999, a shopping mall within the famous Orchard Road shopping belt, designed to cater to the needs of young adults. It was closed on 30 November 2007. It re-located and finally open on 23 October 2014 at 277 Orchard Road, #03-12 / #04-11 Orchard Gateway. It is the first 2- storey public library to be situated in a shopping mall.

The library carries the largest collection on design and applied arts. The upper level is cosy with various personal spaces to enjoy reading while the lower level carries the biggest magazine collection in a public library. In fact, it is a magazine wall. These magazines are hot items, we peeped in several of them. The popular ones, like National Geographic, are empty. The library houses quite a number of Chinese magazines. The videos are available on the lower level too. These are unique collections of animation. The book collection is great, there are even ladders to access books on higher shelves. A pity that they do not have a dedicated collection for children.

This is also the first public library in Singapore to allow users to self-collect books they have reserved even beyond the opening hours. However, users have to collect them within the mall's opening hours.
You can check items out and exit at both levels.

entrance at level 4 

history of Orchard Road

magazine wall at level 3. We love its neat look. The disadvantage is you do not know whether any magazines is available until you open the drawer.

High rolling track ladders to access to higher shelves

This shelf for storing DVD is quite unique and pleasant. A chic design.

You can test play the DVDs before borrowing

On the upper level, there are secluded spaces (cocoons) for people who wants to do their readings. There are 5 cocoons in the library but Little One only managed to find 2.

Reading space

Cocoon

Despite the lack of children books here, Little One still finds joy in locating the above cocoons. She thinks they are good hide and seek spot. 

Children book recommendations for pre-schoolers.

Reason for choosing the books:
Little One chose this series of books herself. She likes the cute illustrations. The books are filled with pictures and easy to read. This set of books are written by local author, Anna Phang, illustrated by Debbi P.

1) I want a puppy too!
This is a good book to tell children that taking care of pets is not a simple task. Great responsibilities is required from the owner. It is not simply just having fun with the pet. Little One used to ask for pets. After reading this, it dawn on her that taking care of pets is not easy task.

2) I Don't want to wash my hands!
Unhygienic Chicken Cha Cha does not like to wash his hands until he was hit by some serious germs that made him really sick. This book is good to teach children that personal hygiene is important.

3) I have Constipation!
Chicken Cha Cha is having constipation! The book offers great ideas for children to resolve the problem.

And do you know, this set is one of Winner of the Silver Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards 2014 under the Best Book Series -Picture Book? Little One loves this series a lot and she talks to me excitedly that she wants to read them again when she saw me writing this blog. Her reason: she finds the story humorous and the illustration cute. The best part? She still remembers the moral of the stories.

Tips for nurturing good readers
-Allow your child to pick his or her own book. He/She would be interested to listen to the story especially if it is something he/she had chosen. If the chosen story is too wordy and you do not have the time to read and summaries to the child, just explain that the book is too difficult for his/her level. If the child insist on having the wordy book, what you can do is a story telling from looking at illustrations.

How do you nurture good readers? Do you have tips to share?

_________________


Address

277 Orchard Road
#03-12 / #04-11 Orchard Gateway
Singapore 238858

How to get there

Nearest MRT: Somerset
Buses: 7, 14, 14e, 16, 65, 106, 111, 123, 143, 175, 502, 502a, 587, 590, 598

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Old playground

I used to play at such playgrounds

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Bridges and a waterway: Punggol Waterway Park

We love visiting and exploring parks. This was our first visit to the Punggol Waterway Park. Punggol Waterway Park is a 12.25 hectares riverine park located in Punggol, Singapore, along Sentul Crescent Road. We decided to explore this place since we were somewhere near it. There were lots of hidden gems in this park.

Introducing the Kelong Bridge, one of the landmarks of this park.

The Kelong Bridge

that follows the alignment of Old Punggol Road

The lovely view from the Kelong Bridge

At the end of the bridge, there is a Heritage Trail

To our surprise, we find this old bus stop which gets me very excited. 

This bus stop and a 160m stretch of the old Punggol Road were preserved as remnants from the past. You can take a walk down memory lane and see the development of Punggol from a plantation area to what you see today. You can do your DIY history lesson from the heritage panels and Heartwave Wall! 

Over view  of  the Water Sports Promenade

I like these aquatic plants

Lovely reflection 

Adventure bridge

The highlight for the kids!

Little One is so happy with the place that she starts to dance around!

A view of the water play area. There is also sandpit and a fitness corner

A jetty like structure

We end our trip by walking to here.

We love the serenity of the park. the view of running water and its reflection. Best of all, the water play area. If you need a guide, you can download from here

Getting there

By foot: From Punggol Mrt station or Punggol bus interchange, walk about 10-15 minutes from Punggol Central Road to Sentul Crescent Road.

By Train: Take the LRT train from Punggol station to Damai LRT station. From there, walk towards Punggol road and follow a path to the Waterway.

By Buses: The bus service numbers 3, 34, 43, 62, 82, 83, 84, 85, 136 will bring you to Punggol Bus Interchange.

By Car: The Waterway Park is accessible by Central Expressway CTE, Tampines Expressway TPE and Kallang Paya Lebar Expressway KPE.

Car Parks: There are 2 car parks here; one at Nature Cove with 18 +1 handicap lots and another at Recreation Zone with 15 + 1 handicap lots.