Art & Craft: Our Chinese Zodiac Story

I promised Tiger a Chinese Zodiac story and we did it in the simplest manner.

This activity was done before Chinese New Year but I forgot to post it :p

First, I printed the animals of the zodiac from here.

Then I cut a sheet of pink A4 into half to prepare the background for the race.

If you don't know the story, you can print it here

He wanted to add some round stickers.

We used Tack-its to line up the animals.

They are a lot easier than using glue at this age

As I read the story to him, first in English and then repeated in Chinese, he searched for the animals.

We asked Grandma to label the animals in Chinese for us

*Cause Mommy's Chinese sucks*

 

Tiger pretty much ignored the zodiac until last night.

He suddenly decided to read the Chinese names of the animals, albeit in gibberish.

So, the zodiac line has a special place under the map for now :)

Next to the map is the new setup for his phonics station.

We are moving out of the CNY theme into a no theme week

&

I finally changed the tot trays after 2 weeks :p

Making A Greeting Card for Grandpa

I'm back! Happy Chinese New Year (4th day) to all of our Chinese readers

This activity was done last Saturday but since we were busy visiting people's house to collect ang-pow (Tiger) and giving away ang-pow (Mommy), this is a late post.

After the last glitter mess incident, we did the work outdoors ^.^

First, I let him play with the ELC easy painters to decorate a poster with his name.

Then we took out the printout that he had already chop-chop earlier

and added glitter to the wording.

As with the first time, he liked to play with the glitter more than the intended use.

=.="

The product/card which I laminated.

Grandpa loved it but he ermmm, had some difficulty reading the character with all the glitter

@@@ Happy Chinese New Year @@@

Activities: Red Packets/Ang Pow Time

As part of the Chinese New Year traditions, aunties like myself have to hand out red packets (紅包, hóngbāo) containing money to younger, unmarried relatives. So, will those who are old enough please just get hitched already? This is the first year hubby and I will be handing out the red packets. We didn't celebrate CNY the last two years after hubby's grandfather passed away.

I have fond memories of helping my own mom with the red packets. She used to have different categories like RM 10 for relatives and close friends, RM 5 for friends, RM 2 for workers, etc.

The packets are usually red for good luck. I have completed 200 packets for friends and relatives. That was no easy task..phew!

I wanted Tiger to help me and start a little tradition of our own one day. This morning, the opportunity presented itself.

This is his morning face.

No calender time because he saw my purse.

He loves to remove all the knick-knacks and hand out my money.  =.= "

So, I thought, why not try to do my siblings' red packets?

Yeah, the four bloodsuckers are in a different category.

Yawning away....

Hrmmm, you wouldn't think money's boring in a few years time..

Another yawn   =.= "

I showed him how to fold the money and he just kept going.

His uncles would be thrilled with the bulging cash.

Of course, I took the extras out  ^.^

 Tiger's work...Pretty neat!

There is one packet with an extra RM 50..thanks to Tiger!

Wonder who's getting it?

He also made two more for prettichubbi and himself  ^.^

@@@ 3 days to Chinese New Year @@@



Shopping: Tiger's First Play Kitchen

I have been eyeing the IKEA play kitchen for some time now.

Unfortunately it is not foldable and not storage-friendly.

It's not like I live in a mansion.

Then I saw this cutie in the shop.

This is an impulse buy on my part since Tiger loves to pretend cook and eat.

It is very pink but it is for mei mei too   ^.^

This is a picture of the original set:

Picture from alibaba.com



Mommy replaced the ugly blue windows with a cute cloth from Daiso.

I also left out the tacky stickers.

Then I printed out some labels for the stove, sink, oven and refrigerator

 and velcro-ed them.

A laminated sign board with Tiger's Chinese name completed the setup.

He already has some felt fruits and tons of utensils.

Tiger couldn't manipulate the tight stove knobs but hey, no problem.

Since this is a Made in China product, I'll leave it on and Tiger only have to slap the stove to on & off.

Just like a super high tech touch-stove!

The middle lid of condiment container was broken.

So, I made some clip art labels and mod-podged them.

His old place mat for table setting.

No chopsticks for now.

Little J came to play twice and they didn't fight...

Well, more like Little J didn't bully Little Tiger  ^.^

The cutest little chefs having a huggy huggy time after a hard day at work.

These little boys are best friends now.

They can actually share a chair!

This chair is probably the most stable and comfortable one you can get for RM 30+

Available at kids.net.my/gift2kids/ USL

The New Setup, again :)

Guess who's cooking for reunion dinner this year?

@@@ 4 days to Chinese New Year @@@

Writing: Chinese New Year Worksheets

Disclaimer: Worksheets means painting/scribbling/drawing to Tiger. No, we don't practise tripod grips or insist on good handwriting here. It's all about fun.

I was planning to so some plumbing and cleaning, so we were slacking a little. The little monkey seemed to notice and the moment I got home, he was bugging to go "up' and "book". Thank God we have passed the You tube phase for now. Lately, it was all about books  ^.^

He picked out his stickers at first and so I printed out some magnet pages under the Chinese New Year Theme from Making Learning Fun. Gosh, I love this site, seriously. At the last minute, he decided that he wanted to do dot painting instead. He just grabbed them from his art center.

I adore his concentration. I just sit back and stare at his little face.

Then he wanted to paint with his Crayola paint brushes.

I printed a CNY card from activity village.

Excellent site for activities and printouts for older kids.

These are his worksheets for the day.

Check out the O is for Oranges. Not bad, huh?

I didn't realise it was so neat until I saw this picture 

The card, despite its appearance, will be given to Daddy.

Can I just show off a little more?

You can stop reading if you want to...

I just need a reminder why I am doing all this crazy work....

He was playing with his fractions puzzles (that he still couldn't master but love)

when he was distracted by the sticky alphabets on the whiteboard.

He removed Letter 'p' and said peh, peh, peh.

With his back facing me, I could see he was placing it onto the top row of his giant floor puzzle.

I thought he was placing it randomly but this was what he did.

An upside down 'p' is a lowercase 'd'!!

 

No praises or cheers, he picked up letter 'z' and placed it on the puzzle.

Then, letter 'o'.

After 'o', he abandoned the game and asked for singing.

We did his Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Song, his current hit song.

Downloaded for free from You tube.

This is how he sings it.

He would point to the alphabets in the book while listening to the song.

I usually read the sounds and let the song do the names of the alphabets.

After that. we did some trays and I tried to engage him in Doman Math spots game.

He didn't seem too interested but I'll let you know how the new method goes.

@@@  5 days to Chinese New Year @@@

Art & craft: Making A Glitter Dragon

This simple but messy activity is part of our Crafty CNY countdown.

Materials:

1. Empty container
2. Glitter: Red and gold
3. Template for the chinese character of Dragon from childbook.com . They have other templates as well.
4. Glue and brush

Print out template on coloured paper of choice.

Place paper in container

Use a brush to apply glue in the character.

Allow toddler to gently sprinkle glitter onto paper

 Gentle my butt!

Hehe  ^.^

The lil' monkey at work..

I forgot about the fact that he can uncap bottles.

Who wouldn't want to make a mess and let mommy do the clean up?

To his credit, he did want to help with the clean-up.

He asked for his 'boom' and made a bigger mess  =.="

I laminated Tiger's work so that the glitter stays put and displayed it in the living room.

Good job, babe!



We are nearly done with the 'spring cleaning'

Now I just have to google some plumbing for idiots and pray I don't flood the house.

@@@ 6 days to Chinese New Year @@@

Art & craft: Chinese New Year Inspired Calender

This isn't exactly a Tiger led activity but we love it, so I thought why not share it?

This is the calender outside our bedrooms. I usually change the theme monthly, if I am not too lazy ;p

The Chinese New Year theme adds a festive feel to the house.

Materials:

Clear Pocket Calender from Daiso. Cheap but the squares are not equal. Can't expect too much for RM 5 :)

Red packets from Fun & Cheer: I chose these for the Tiger graphic. Not so clear in the pic but I assure you they are gorgeous.

Origami paper for dates from Daiso: Lovely Japanese-inspired designs.



*I wrote the days in Chinese, hence the ugliness...LOL



Labelled coloured ice cream sticks from Craft Haven that Tiger loves.

The fake grass at the bottom is from Daiso as well. These are the same ones they use to decorate your sushi.

Chinese New Year is about welcoming spring too, hence the grass, bugs and butterflies :)

The calender is part of our wake up routine:

• If I kiss or bug Tiger in the morning, he will usually wake up, smiling.
• Then he will run towards me, trying to jump off the bed, laughing.
• He will then switch off the air-conditioner and wave bye bye to it while I say. Check if it is closing.
• Then he will point to his calender and we will name the month, day and date while he tries to insert the sticks randomly :p
• After that we will go and bug Daddy.

This was the calender in October 2011 with the Ocean Theme. So fun!

@@@ Gosh, only 7 days to Chinese New Year!! @@@

Family: Mini "Lang Sai" and Tot-Schooling Uncles

Last night, my Lil sister and her not-so-little daughter, prettichubbi came over after their Tweedlewink class.

Their main intention was for me to buy dinner..yeah...

So, my two Lil bugger brothers

(who will be named white bro and black bro for anonymity purposes)

decided that they wanted a free meal as well.

This was the conversation in the car. (Spoken in true Malaysian English)

Me                          : Steamboat or Sushi?

White Bro               : Sushi. Very long didn't eat dy.

Me                          : Ok. Since xxxx (my sis) is paying

Sis                           : I got no money

Black bro                : I left my wallet at home (his standard answer)

White bro                : I have my Chatime card. You want?

Me                          : KNS betul la you all!! #$%$##$

KNS: Ka na sai (hokkein) --->  Like shit

betul (Malay) --->  really

I still had to pay   =.="

Note to self: Be very busy every Friday night if this is going to be regular thing.

I love my siblings but they are too expensive. 

After dinner, we went to Fun & Cheer. My lil sis wanted to buy some deco.

Then I casually hinted that Tiger really wanted the mini lang sai and how my white bro never bought him anything before....hehehe...evil grin

Got it..wahahaha

Here is my white bro demonstrating. It is a little snug for his gigantic head.

Sharing with the baby aka bully.

Prettichubbi kept making Tiger cry by snatching his Chicka Chicka book.

Poor Tiger, his only response was lip pursing and finally when it was too much, he burst into tears.

My gentle little boy didn't even try to take it back...

All he did was hug mommy and cried 

Prettichubbi is so smart.

She can identify 'nose' already, hers and the "lang sai's"

Looking for the canned drink we hid in the head.

After Prettichubbi left, Tiger demanded invited his uncles to join him in school.

Yeah, what a nerd!

He kept handing them his crayons and making them colour  ^.^

The boys at work
These will be the uncles who will introduce the world of gaming and porn to my kid..

*Headache setting in already*

Tiger kept his uncles busy until the whole paper was covered.

White uncle was saying "I hate art" the whole time...hehe...

No choice, he has only one nephew, so far...

Showing off his tot trays to his uncles.

This shy little boy of mine actually loves his uncles.

He kept asking them to follow him from room to room.

He was so excited that he was speaking in a different way.

Tiger even wanted to go home with them!

Nothing's more important than family and if there is one thing that I can teach Tiger, it will be

Family comes first.

We will be practising our lion dance with the new mini lang sai over the weekend.

Thanks guys!

I also promised Tiger swimming, painting, crafting, etc

There're cookies to buy, more cleaning to do...

Sunday is Kidzsport day and Hubby's annual dinner.

This is going to be a crazy weekend ^.^

@@@ 9 days to Chinese New Year @@@

Little Dragon: 14 weeks

I am fourteen weeks along today and my Little Dragon is supposedly the size of a lemon. He or she is now kung-fu fighting with his/her flexible arms. Hey, my ancestors are from China, so don't mess with us.

Physically, I can palpate the top of my uterus and my boobs are growing proportionately. The last time I had Tiger, the 'girls' were out of control or maybe it is because I am already used to having them a little larger since having Tiger? Currently, I am still 48 kilos (Thank heavens). My weight will probably creep up steadily now that I am not nauseated or vomity.

Emotionally, I am a little temperamental. For example, I hate it when drivers cut into my lane and I swear a lot when I am driving. The other day, while driving in Klang, I refused a man in a rusty Datsun to cut into my lane. I was in his blind spot and he nearly drove into my car. So, I honked and refused to slow down for him. As a result, I had gotten the international sign of "f**k off" ie, his middle finger. What an ass!
Yeah, some Klang people are pretty idiotic. I would know, I'm from Klang. What kind of name is Klang anyway?

In conclusion, I am a dangerous driver now, so stay out the f*** out of my lane. (Told you I have a problem with swearing). Maybe just out of performing my civic duty, I should hang a sign in my car that says:

Stay Away! Pregnant Woman Driving!

I thank you, God for making the second trimester easier. Besides a daily dose of migraine, I am pretty much symptom free which means I will be out in full force until I become seriously whale-like. So, watch out...there is a mad, fat, swearing, dangerous pregnant woman driving in the roads near you...


World peace



XOXO

Art & craft: Fingerpaint Handprint Dragon

Dear Tiger is 19 months today!

He is slowly changing from a sullen baby to a laughing kiddo.

I am also calling him by his Chinese name nowadays.

This week, he is able to identify himself by his English & Chinese names

@@@

Enough gloating...^.^.....

In my CNY cards post, I mentioned that he didn't allow me to trace his hands.

BUT I really wanted to make a dragon that was really his.

So, we changed plans and it was even more fun!

We used his finger paint and made prints while saying "Chop, Chop"

My little Mr Neat was reluctant to sit on the mat at first ????

So, he insisted on sitting on my lap, not that I minded  ^.^

After making several prints, I got up so that I could snap some pics.

He did fine!

Getting 'dirty'

We used a sponge applicator so that the colour is nice and even.

Getting the hang of it...

Tiger's handiwork

and the mess...

No worries, he is a bigger neat freak than I am.

Seriously, this kid has a problem with cleanliness.

He says "Uh-oh" at every little spot he sees.

Cleaning up by himself.

This is no child labour, I assure you.

Tiger cleaned for 10 minutes until he got the floor squeaky clean.

He was a little upset that the mat was still red after rubbing intensively.

He is for rent if anyone needs a maid. Price negotiable.

Caution: Eats a lot

After Tiger had gone to bed.

I stayed up to turn his art into a dragon.

Since he can't handle scissors yet, I did the cutting and drew the dragon head.

When he saw it the next morning, he said: "Eh, chop, chop!"

ROAR!!!!

Then he gave me a big smile and did a jiggly dance.

For more ideas I have collected, check out my Pinterest page for CNY

@@@ 11 days to Chinese New Year @@@