Punggol Babies Fun – PUNGGOL BABIES

KURIOS : Cabinet of Curiosities by Cirque du Soleil – Reviewed Together with My 4 Year Old

Since my first experience with Cirque du Soleil a couple of years back, I have been to every performance they hold in Singapore. The first time I brought my toddler was when he was 2. Now that he is slightly older, he starts to share what he thinks about the performance and I must say, 4 years old is a great age to start bringing your child if he/she likes such performances.

Last week when I told him that we will be going to watch Kurios, he has been asking me every day how many more days to the event. He could not contain his excitement when the day finally came. He napped for 2 hours in the noon so he could stay up for the show without being tired and cranky. In fact, he got up even without me asking him to.

When we arrived, we took some mandatory photos at the entrance and he immediately ran in to check out all the merchandise.

We could not stop laughing when the artists teased the audience while waiting for the show to begin.

11:09 – The Stage before the show started.

We entered the cabinet of curiosities at 11:11 and the little one was impressed by the colourful costumes and make up the performers had on. It took him a while to realise that music and singing was done by a live band. When he did, he was in awe. I asked him if he could sing like the singer, he said “Her voice is so beautiful. If I sing, later they laugh at me you know.” But a couple of times during the show, he mimicked her by clasping his hands together in front of his chest and pretended to mouth her singing.

In order to enjoy the show thoroughly, we barely took photos unless he said “Take a photo of this, I want to show daddy.” since daddy did not join us.

There are 13 acts in total for Kurios and my two favourites were the Acro Net and Upside Down World. Acro Net is when the artists performed acrobatic moves while bouncing to such great heights on a huge net which Isaac said was to catch fish because it looked like a gigantic fishing net. Upside Down World is an upside-down and a right-side up performance featuring two acrobats balancing on a series of chairs.

Isaac’s favourite act is Rola Bola. In his words “the pilot who flew the plane until the propeller stopped working”. That is a balancing performance on tubes while being suspended in the air. I recall holding my breath through out the aviator’s performance. Did not manage to capture a picture since my eyes were glued to the stage. When I asked Isaac why was he not afraid if the pilot will lose his balance, he said to me “Why are you afraid? He practiced very hard and is very good at this. He is not afraid of heights like my daddy and daddy pig (from peppa pig)”. ROFL. Is he really a 4 year old or a 40 year old?

He also enjoyed the Invisible Circus and had a good laugh when the invisible lion ran away.

I also heard him gasped when he saw the human pyramids as he whispered to me “wah so soft the bones”.

When the show ended, he asked if we can watch again tomorrow.

I went home with a very happy aviator last night.

While I thought he would have gotten over the excitement after last night, I was so wrong. This morning he asked if we can watch the show with daddy again tonight. When I explained to him that it is expensive to watch it again he said “I have money in the bank remember? I can buy tickets for you, daddy and myself”. Well, I guess the Kurios experience was that fantastic to him that it is worth his every penny.

The show has not even ended and we are already looking forward to the next Cirque du Soleil in 2020!

Our First Mideer Product – Magnetic Traffic

We chanced upon the Magnetic Traffic set at the baby fair which was being sold at The Playroom and Isaac was very excited when we decide to get it for him. With the number of toys that he has, we have stopped purchasing toys for quite some time now but made an exception for this. He has a WHOLE room full of toys, I kid you not. Our friends think our place is an indoor playground.

What we like about this product is that it comes in a hard covered box which includes a pull out compartment and a magnetic board to stick your magnets. It is really convenient for us to bring it out along on play dates.

The pieces of 2.5mm thick magnets come in such vibrant colours and I just love how happy they look! All we have to do is to put the pieces together to match the vehicles that are on the play cards.

To encourage creativity, we let him put random pieces together without following the play cards. He sure had a good time with these magnets. We asked him what he thought of the magnetic set, he gave us an answer without hesitation – “Perfect!”. I hope his interest in this lasts.

Spider-Man, Our Friendly Neighbourhood Superhero is at NEX

We had a great time at NEX today because Isaac managed to get up close and personal with Spider-Man. Of cos, he also had alot of fun at the game zones although there were only 2 stations. I seriously underestimated how much time he would spend at the game zones because he kept repeating the activities. Here’s what we did.

We took jump shots with Spider-Man.

Isaac had a go at the Nerf Blasters… At least 8 times.

Went through the web obstacle course countless times…

We took a ride on the high school bus.

Took so many photos with Spidey who was all over the place(yes, you can see that Isaac is still occupied by the Nerf Blasters).

Most importantly, we got our photos taken for a good cause. From 14 to 16 June 2019, NEX is partnering Make-A-Wish Foundation Singapore to help children who suffer from life-threatening medical conditions. We made a small donation and had our photo taken and added to a 3.6m tall photo montage to form the Spider-Man: Far From Home movie poster. Best part is,NEX will be matching a dollar-to-dollar donation capped at $5,000. All proceeds will go to Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Our photo will be part of this wall. I can’t wait to see the final product of this.

Little did I expect to be going home with a Spider-Man because someone couldn’t resist getting a mask… Check out the kiddo’s face.

All the fun we had was enough for him to concuss in the car on the way home.

ArtScience Museum – Where Art and Technology Meets

Decided to bring the little one out before the school holidays and I am glad we visited the ArtScience Museum today. We purchased tickets to 3 exhibits – Wonderland, Future World : Where Art meets Science and Floating Utopias, where people stay about 30-40mins on average per exhibit yet we ended up staying at least 3 over hours because the kiddo refused to leave. I will only share a few photos from each exhibit so as not to spoil your fun if you are visiting.

Wonderland – 13 April to 22 September 2019

We were given a map each before entering and each map contains different characters on them. Isaac got the Queen while I got the Mad Hatter. Just look out for the icons of the characters as we explore Wonderland to learn more about the stories of the character that is on your map. An important tip is to not misplace the map as it is required for most of the activities that can be done. Below are some of our favourite activities at Wonderland.

Exploring what is behind every door in Wonderland

Watching the video clips of Alice in the Wonderland

Uploading his creations onto the big screen

We finally left Wonderland for Future World after telling him that there was going to be more fun ahead.

Future World : Where Art Meets Science – Permanent Exhibition

Our second time here but he still found as much joy as when he was 2 years younger. Here, he got to build his own virtual town as well as slide into a colourful town.

Rolling these big lanterns that can change colours around

My favourite display in Future World is the Celestial space just before exiting the exhibition because the light display is dazzling. I believe many will feel the same. Unfortunately, trying to get a clear shot is quite difficult unless you are patient enough.

Floating Utopias – 25 May to 29 September 2019

This playful exhibit that displays the social history of inflatable objects is the newest addition at ArtScience Museum. Shortest time spent was here since it was not as interactive for younger visitors so we only took some photos before exiting. That being said, my favourite photos taken today were all captured here.

Momoyo Torimitsu – The pink giant rabbits

SurvivaBall. If you look closely, you will notice there is a “person” in the ball. Can you see the face?

We had a really great time at ArtScience Museum and Isaac was insistent on visiting another exhibit before going home. We would love to be back soon to explore the other 2 exhibitions which are free admission – REWILD Our Planet and Into the Wild.

Our First Funtastic Visit to Kidzania

Earlier this week, Isaac received his belated 4th birthday present from his aunt – a visit to Kidzania! I have always wanted to bring him to Kidzania but I am aware that most activities are suitable for kids aged 3 onwards so we waited till he is of age. Our first visit to Kidzania was a really good one because we went on a weekday and there was no crowd. As it was our first time here, apart from knowing that Kidzania is a huge indoor theme park which teaches children the value of money through role-playing, we really did not know what to expect. Upon purchasing our tickets, we were given boarding passes, a bank card and 20 kidzos (Kidzania currency).

No crowd means less waiting time and we will be able to complete more stations that day. Just how lucky did we get? Very, very lucky! We completed 10 stations that day. 😀

The first thing we did was activate the bank card so all the money Isaac made from “working” can be deposited into his bank account.

If you started working without setting up your bank account or did not provide the company with your bank card before the start of the activity, do not worry, you can still be paid in cash (kidzos of course). All you have to do is go to the bank to deposit the money thereafter.

As adults are not allowed to enter most of the activity zones with the little ones, I tried my best to snap as many clear photos of Isaac as possible. I personally think it is good as it encourages him to be more independent to complete the activities without my help.

The Career Path Begins

The first career journey for Isaac was at the travel agency as an Assistant Travel Explorer at WTS Travel. He was a little confused at first when he was told to say the Kidzania pledge when he entered and he wondered why I did not accompany him into the office. However, he got over it very quickly as he was given instructions as to what he needs to do in order to earn his kidzos. For this activity, I was allowed to accompany him to walk around Kidzania to look for the city’s monuments and landmarks while he checks off what we have seen.

After the first exercise and having seen various landmarks like the kidzania department store, he understood that he needs to work for his own money in order to purchase what he saw in the shop.

** If you think that your child needs to warm up with you by his/her side in the beginning, you get a copy of the Kidzania map which is available at the ticket counter. In the map, you will see the list of all activities. It will also state which activities allow parents to participate with their child.

Police Officer with SPF – It was not difficult to guess what isaac would choose for his second assignment. He has always looked up to the police and it was no surprise that he would choose to be one here. He got to assist at a fire break out scene with the SCDF fire fighters by asking the crowd to stay away from a building while the fire fighters put out the fire.

Fire Fighter at SCDF – This was his favourite job according to him. In his words “Because I can save people’s lives when they are stuck in the fire”. He was really excited at this station because he got to travel on the fire engine to the scene of the crisis.

Chef at KFC – As it approached high tea time, we suggested that he tried making his own burger which costs 10 kidzos while his aunt and I took a rest and had something light to eat. Here’s presenting our little chef.

He was very pleased with his creation and insisted to bring half of it home for his dad.

Surgeon at Mount Elizabeth Hospital – After his burger, he went to work at Mount Elizabeth hospital. He also walked away with a hospital staff ID which can be used for all hospital activities like the paramedic, baby expert and radiologist.

Photojournalist at Canon’s imaging academy – Holding a camera is nothing new to him as he has his own Canon PowerShot at home. However, this is his first experience holding such a big camera. We went round Kidzania taking photos of the monuments around. He was also awarded a certificate for completing the photography course at Canon Imaging Academy.

He couldn’t stop checking the photos he took[/caption]

Pilot – The Aviation Academy is easy to miss as it is located on the second level and the entrance is really small. We walked 2 rounds and finally located it. He chose to be a pilot and parents are not allowed to enter the plane. If he had chosen to be a cabin crew, parents can actually participate by becoming the cabin passenger!

Paramedic – Another activity that he got on the ride. Here he is, sitting in an ambulance getting ready to attend to an emergency.

Isaac had wanted to work at the petrol station but he was too young. Age requirement was 6 so we moved on to the next activity.

Candy Maker at Sticky – Not exactly his favourite career as he is not a fan of candies. Still, he learnt how the candies were made and got to display little jars of candies on the shelves of the retail shop at Sticky. Walked away with a packet of candies too. Oh yes, some kidzos were also spent for this activity. He was given a discount of 1 kidzo though, for reusing his hair net and mask from previous activities.

Customer at 7-11 the convenience store – He was given the option to be either a store keeper or a customer. Kidzos will be paid to those who choose to work. As Isaac decided to be the customer, he did not get any kidzos. As a customer, he was given a list of items to look for and to put into his shopping cart. He had a lot of fun playing customer and learnt to ask for help from the store keeper by himself when he could not find what he was looking for.

The cute store keeper behind him got to wear 7-11’s vest

There you have it, all 10 tasks he did that day.

We brought him to Kidzania’s Department Store after a long day of work only to realise that he still could not afford to buy what he wanted – a measuring tape. I gave him the option to either buy something smaller now and take a slightly longer time to save up and purchase his measuring tape or to keep his kidzos and get to buy his measuring tape sooner. He chose the latter. 😉

I certainly hope his experience at Kidzania has taught him the value of money as well as having to work hard to get what he wants. Right now, he will start accumulating his good boy credits to earn himself another visit to Kidzania soon.

Fun with Water Beads

On days that we are stuck indoors, I would think of ideas for the little one to still have fun even without going out. In fact, I try even harder now in order to minimise screen time. We told Isaac we will bring him out for a swim today but who would have expected the sun to go into hiding and it started to rain. After some time, the rain continued despite Isaac’s loud singing of Rain Rain Go Away. So here’s what I did to keep his spirits up – we had fun with water beads!

I purchased a water beads kit from Tickle Your Senses and got additional dehydrated water beads so Isaac can watch them grow.

It is amazing how something so simple can be of so much fun for the little one. The moment I showed him what was in the box, his face lit up and pointed immediately at the colourful water beads instead of the dinosaurs (he is a huge fan of dinos to the point that he tells me we are a dino family). I can totally understand because personally, I am just so in love with how pretty the colours are!

We had fun growing our own water beads. I told Isaac we will have to soak those tiny beads overnight so it will expand after soaking up the water to become pretty water beads. He agreed to play with the small container of water beads first until the lot we were soaking were ready for play. And… he asked me quite an amusing question – “will become a butterfly?”. Probably because of the colours, or the fact that he knows he has to wait for the caterpillar to become a butterfly. Ha!

I put in only a small amount of the beads because the husband told me that they should be able to grow up to quite big. Based on the instructions, it will be ready to play if we soaked it up to 6hrs. So I took his word for it, and imagined it to become fishball sized kinda big if I soaked it overnight (no judging please). Of cos they did not grow to that size. Anyway, we still had quite a decent number of water beads despite that little amount that I had soaked. Look, a jar full of rainbow. Gummy rainbow in Isaac’s words.

I cannot get over how pretty they are! <3

When we started to play with them, the first thing Isaac asked was if he could touch them. He claimed how slippery and gummy-like they felt to him. Then he went on to have tons of fun transferring his water beads from one container to the other with his handy scoopers.

“oh so squishy and slimy and slippery the gummy”

To make things more interesting, we increased the number of water beads and played in the bathtub today. I let him put in his dinosaur figurines to stimulate imaginative play and perhaps, language skills. Besides the pterodactyl and t-rex, he learnt about the brachiosaurus today.

I enjoy watching him at play especially when he starts making up his own stories and questions. Whenever he asks me something, I’d throw the question back to him and it is interesting to see what he comes up with. For example, he asked me why does the brachiosaurus have such a long neck. To be honest, I did not know the answer. So I just said “I am not sure, what do you think?” Then he replied “maybe to eat the the leaves from the tall tall trees.”. There you go, that might just be the right answer.

Net Fishing for Kids

Last night after dinner, we had this impromptu idea to bring Isaac fishing at Fish@Bugis+. Who would have thought that there’d be a place to catch prawns and small fishes on the roof-garden of a shopping mall?

For $15, we are given and small tank and a fishing net to fish for an hour. Children are allowed to go remove their shoes to go into the pond and catch the fishes.

Rules of fishing

Children have to be below 12 years old and able to fish without assistance
Children can only use the net to catch the fishes
Parents are not allowed to help with the fishing
Parents cannot help the children to catch the fish
No sharing of nets

As expected, in Isaac’s excitement to catch the fish, he squat and got his shorts and t-shirt wet. Fortunately, we have the habit of bringing spare clothes when ever we go out.

I had thought that it would be quite easy to catch the fishes but I was so wrong. Hence, I was so happy and proud when the little one caught his very first fish. At the end of the day, we went home with 8 fishes and a happy boy who got to keep them as pets.

Holly Jolly Christmas with Canon

I love personalised stuff. Stickers, greeting cards, bag tags, magnets, cake toppers…You name it. Receiving something personalised to me, is like receiving a photo album filled with lovely photos of my family who mean a great deal to me, instead of a blank photo album which would make me feel like I am just one of the many people whom someone is buying a random gift for. This year we even personalised something we have never done before – a Christmas tree!

Last weekend, we had an enjoyable time at a Christmas get together with the wonderful people from Canon. We had great food and a whole load of fun decorating our own tree.

See how much fun we had? Im not totally sure if Isaac was happy because he got to decorate the tree or because he finally managed to get his hands onto a pair of scissors (under supervision of cause).

Apart from Isaac’s photograph as the tree topper, did you notice the cute little Santa sitting on the tree? Both the photo(s) and the Santa cut-out were printed by the Canon Pixma printers.

If you are like me, someone who is afraid to lose your photos despite multiple back ups, the safest bet would be to get them printed. The PIXMA is super easy to use and the quality of the images are good. What I really like about the printer is the convenience being able to print directly from my mobile phone through wi-fi. Oh yes, the Canon’s new Pixma TS9170 even allows you to add filters to your photos!

Apart from the good printing quality in our photos above, I bet you will never guess just how interesting they are. The new Canon application, Message in Print allows us to input secret messages like animations or text into the photo prints. So how do we “decode” these secret messages? All you have to do, is download the Canon Message in Print application on your mobile phone and hold your iPhone over the photo. How cool is that?!

Apart from the printers, we were also introduced to some newly released cameras. One of them was the EOS M100.

For a camera that has interchangeable lens, the EOS M100 has got to be one of the most compact cameras I have ever seen. It is pretty easy to use as compared to the EOS M6 which I have tested some time back. It has a single adjustment dial which makes it easy to use if you are new to photography. For amateurs like myself, the less controls or adjustments we have to make, the better it is.

Last but not least, you have got to see my favourite product… the Rayo S1!

Can you make out what it is? If your guess is that it is a power bank, you are right. If you think it is a speaker, you are also correct. Best part of it all is… it is also a mini projector! It is pocket-sized and has 3 functions I would most likely use, what is there not to love about this one? Canon never fails to impress us with their new products & they keep getting better. We can’t wait to see what they have in store for us the next time. Until then, have a great Christmas everybody!

Fun times with our PlayFULL box

Being the only child, Isaac is spoilt with choices when it comes to toys. Walking into his toy room is like walking into a minefield of toys. Apart from the kitchen, we will find some of his toys lying around. Right now as I sit in my living room writing this post, I can actually see the following items:

Captain America’s Shield
Halloween pumpkin container
Fisher Price shape sorter toy
Nerf Bow
Duplo Lightning McQueen

Just the other day, we tried organising his room and this was how it turned out after we put the smaller items into the buckets / baskets.

A wall of toys

It seriously crossed my mind to declutter by giving away toys that he hardly plays anymore but I think the more important thing to do is to stop buying impulsively. But how else can we try new toys without having to deal with the clutter at home if isaac doesn’t like it as much as we thought he would? It was only recently that I came to know about playFULL.

So what is playFULL all about? With the belief of learning through fun, playFULL works as a subscription service for high quality educational toys. They carry a collection of educational toys that build a wide range of developmental skills. What I really like about playFULL :

It is extremely convenient since all I have to do is go on to their website, pick the toys I would like Isaac to try and it will be delivered (say yay to free delivery both ways!) to my doorstep in a few days. When am done with the toys, simply let playFULL know when to pick it up. It is as simple as that!

Apart from the hassle free service, I would like to share about the toys that we received in our playFULL box because we truly had an enjoyable time with these toys.

This was Isaac’s face when he realised he had his very own happy mail for the first time! It is evident that he could not wait to see what awaited him in there.

While taking each item out, Isaac would say “happy birthday!” or “I’m happy!” which I could obviously tell even if he didn’t mention it. So what’s in the box?

The surprise toy found in the file is for keeps. Oh wait, I cannot believe I forgot to mention another reason why I like playFULL – each toy actually goes through a 4-step cleaning and sanitisation process because they know just how important our child’s health is to us. See how they are delivered in air tight packaging?

The toys I selected came with an information sheet each which provides parents with playtime learning ideas that may help to develop important developmental skills.

It’s all about the toys toys toys!

Toy 1/3 – Magformers hi-tech walking robot set

This was the first toy that Isaac eyed the moment we took it out from the box. With such colourful parts, it is kinda hard to resist them. I told Isaac that we had to “dress” the robot up in different styles and the robot would start moving once we turn it on. I usually let him do whatever he wants at the first attempt because I like to see how he figures out what to do. When he is done with exploring the new toy, he invited me to play with him.

We started off by having me tell him what colour I wanted to be on the robot’s head but he gets to decide what shapes to use. Then, I told him what colour and shape I would like to have on the different parts of the robot.

Securing the pieces on the body of the robot is relatively simple because the pieces are all magnetised. It was a fun activity with Isaac because besides his basic knowledge of shapes like squares, triangles, rectangles, he learnt some new shapes like semi-circle and the trapezium. It also encouraged him to listen to instructions in order to piece the “clothings” together. When we finally turned on the walking robot, the boy was all smiles!

Toy 2/3 – See Inside Counting Tubes

This toy totally encouraged Isaac to count! We emptied the tubes and balls into separate boxes first just so the balls don’t go missing. It was also easier to see the colours of the balls this way.

As Isaac is not able to identify the numbers yet (except the numbers 1 & 3, which are his favourites) I decided to tell him to sort out the tubes in order according to their heights.

Then I let him fill up the tubes with the little balls and told him to count as he put them in. He’d count – “1,2,3” but when I ask him how many balls he put in there, he’d tell me a random number with pride *facepalm*. At the end of the activity, I realised that he had organised the balls of the same colours in each tube except for the last tube (tube5) that accommodated the remaining balls.

This activity kept him occupied for almost an hour as he kept emptying the tubes and filling them up again counting along each time.

Toy 3/3 – Squigz

These little pieces of rubber with suction allows Isaac to explore his creativity and imagination. He put the pieces together on the table top and told me what he was making – gun, door, ice cream were some of his creations even though I really could not tell what they were if he didn’t say so.

Funny that it did not cross my mind to let him play this elsewhere apart from his table. This curious little one decided to plant one of these pieces on the refrigerator. He was pretty impressed when it could also be played there. He exclaimed excitedly – “Look mummy! I can stick it here!”

After putting all the pieces, he told me he had built a house. Errm, a snake’s house to be precise. Ok baby, it is whatever you say it is. 😀

We will be returning these toys soon and my only concern would be Isaac asking me for them cos he’d ask me for the robot and counting tubes from time to time. I guess this goes to show how much he really enjoyed these toys.

Thank you playFULL for bringing us such wonderful toys!

If you would like to get your hands on these or more selections of award winning toys from playFULL, quote ‘isaacapproves’ for a 10% discount. Promo code is valid till 31st Dec 2017. Check out their toys and subscription details here. Happy browsing!

Disclaimer: This is a personal blog. The opinions expressed here are solely my own

Our Favourite Interactive Books for Toddlers

Our little one is a fan of reading. He loves his books and will tell us from time to time to read him a book before he goes to bed. Recently, he was gifted with 2 very pretty books from his god grandma and I decided to share some our favourite interactive books here.

Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell. This is a lift-a-flap book that every kid has to have. It is about a child who wrote a letter to the zoo asking for a pet. The zoo then sends him different kinds of animals until they finally gave him a perfect animal to keep as a pet. Isaac learnt to remember the names of these animals in the book because we read it so many times and he is never bored of it. Until today, he anticipates what is behind the flaps even though he already knows what to expect. Definitely a good read for beginners.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. This is another one of our favourites by Eric Carle (the other one has got to be ‘Brown Bear, What Do You See?’) because of the colourful illustrations. It is about a caterpillar who eats its way through a variety of food throughout the week and eventually turned into a beautiful butterfly. As we read the book with Isaac, we’d count the number of food and also talk about the days in the week. The die-cut holes are suppose to let children put their fingers through them as they count along. We got the edition which comes together with the plush, allowing Isaac to hold the caterpillar and go ‘Nom Nom Nom’ throughout the whole reading time.
What’s Up? by Olivia Cosneau & Bernard Duisit. Got this as a gift from Isaac’s aunt and he loves this book because it is the first book he got that has interactive tabs which moves as he pulls the tabs. What I think are the prettiest animals in this book are the dancing flamingos and the peacock.
Monkey on the Moon by Jonathan Litton, Nicola Anderson. An out of this world book about animals in outer space. Isaac will go ‘Wow’ at every flip of the page because of the very pretty pop-ups. You will find a pig in a rocket, mouse in an astronaut suit, a crocodile surfing on Saturn’s rings and animals dancing in a space ball. The way the papers are engineered in this book – Amazing!
Tiger Takes Off by Jonathan Litton, Nicola Anderson. Yep, same authors as the previous book because both books were give to Isaac as a gift by his god-grandma(my godmother). In this pop-up book, you will see many animals performing in the circus. Penguins in a canon, tiger flying his plane through the loop, a fire juggling octopus and a magician rabbit pulling out carrots from a hat.

This kinda sums up some of my toddler and my favourite interactive books. I must say that children these days are really fortunate. I remember when I was a kid, I only had ‘Spot the dog’ (by Eric Hill) series. Books these days are certainly much prettier and more interesting.