Motor Skill

Both my kids are now over three years old. They no longer need toys for training motor skill. Those toys are meant for toddler less than 18 - 24 months. However, my kids still love them. I think they benefited from those toys.

You can easily find toys training toddler's motor skill from any brand, such as Fisher Price or any other famous toy manufacturers. However, I still think "Yu-bi-sa-ki-chi-i-ku" from Japan is the best. For example, how many ways can a toddler picks up or handles a small item? Check this out! The design is really impressive. Each of the "small button" has to be handled differently. The toddler needs to either press, knelt, lift up, pull, push etc... This is really a good piece of innovation that shows Japanese intelligence.



The following is my son's favorite. Apparently, handling a "coin" requires a lot of motor skill. The interesting part about this toy is that there are many ways to hide or keep the "coin" in the box.






This is another one we used to own. The toddler can twist, turn and rotate... This one may be a little bit dangerous. Toddlers may use this to bang on glass top table.



I cannot remember the name of the manufacturer. If you know Japanese, the word for you to search is "指先知育" pronounced as "yu-bi-sa-ki-chi-iku" (literally translation : intellectual training on finger tips). Here is the link to Amazon.co.jp I think you can click at the picture... and then click "English" to see the product, but I am not sure whether you can purchase from Amazon.co.jp if you do not understand Japanese at all. I bought the above during trip to Japan or received them as gifts from my Japanese friends. By the way, if you have plan to visit Tokyo, I found this at "Sakura Denki" toy department near Shinjuku.

I was looking for cheaper one sold in hyper-market or wet market, but hardly I found anything interesting.

Mathematics -- Singapore Approach using Modeling Method

"Mary has one pen. Her mother gives her two more. How many pens does Mary have?"

When I looked at the question above, I always wondered why the teacher never asked like this? 1 + 2 = ? Now... consider these primary one questions.

1) There are 10 chickens and cows in a farm. John counted 32 legs in total. How many chicken are there in the farm?

2) Mary gives 120 apples to Tom and Tim such that Tom has 10 apples more than Tim. How many apples does Tom get?

3) Complete the number sequence : 1, 1, 3,4,5,7,?,?,9,13. What are the two missing numbers?

These questions were our secondary school questions (during our time 20-30yrs ago), weren't they? I was taught to use algebra, to form mathematical equations to solve these problems. At that time, it did not matter to me whether I understood or not, as long as I got the equation right, I could produce an answer to score marks.

Mathematics in Singapore today is very different. The question is no longer routine and needs a lot of analysis. I think you will agree by looking at those questions I posted above. More importantly, I like the modeling approach adopted in Singapore Mathematics teaching. The purpose of this posting is to introduce the modeling approach. If you want to know more about Singapore's method using modeling approach, the following book is relevant. The price is SGD28.80. This is a little bit expensive to me as I am interested in only a few portions of the book. I found this book from a nearby library.



The modeling method starts with simple questions, however, pictures are drawn to model the question so that children can visualize the problem. Look at my note below...

You can see that the pictures are later replaced with the two "bars" to represent the numbers. Please do not under estimate the effect of drawing those "bars"... Please take a look at the following question that I selected and observe how those bars are used to visualize the problem.... (oh)... as well as the answers.

Can you see that the bars are drawn to deduce that 3 units equal to 24? If you are not convinced? Ok, how about this question (a lower secondary school question). The book has shown how the modeling method can be applied to solve this question.

My son is interested in Mathematics. He tried to read the book and persuaded me to teach him. After learning the tricks, he even brought the questions to discuss with one of his good friends in school. Why? I think he loves "seeing" the answer.

This is the type of mathematic education I want for my kids. The contents is interesting and useful. Most importantly, it is none routine and focus on understanding. This is a piece of good work by Singapore's educator. Wonderful work, isn't it? I really salute them and thank them for the efforts to improve teaching of mathematics.

Lantern festival

We will celebrate lantern festival next month. I have kept the lantern that I bought last year. Please take a look at the following pictures taken last year. My kids really enjoyed the lantern. We invited my son's friend to come out together, but I know something is missing....






During my childhood time, children from the whole area would come out together. The street might be dark, those back lane that we never dare to explore, would become the destination. Our gang of 20-30 children, each carrying a candle light lantern would march around those area, forming a possession. Some big boys will even bang on "Milo" tin to make loud sound, calling out for more participants.

I think children nowadays will not have that kind of experience, but they will have a new experience. I see that even the Malays and the Indians children are carrying lanterns nowadays in Singapore. The lanterns has become more advance and more attractive. Some lantern can even sing, although those are not my cup of tea. Candle light lantern with "glass paper" is quite rear nowadays. Another difference is that children will carry lantern with their parents around, not with their friends. Perhaps I should view this as a good sign because nowadays parents have more time to care more for their children. 30-40 years back ago, I think our parents hardly had time to do that.

Another observation about lantern is the advance of technology. Take a look at this fancy lantern that I bought for my kids. It's less than SGD4. It comes with bi-color LED,and some circuitry to make the LED blinks. Unlike older designs that come with irritating music, this one produce no sound. I like this better. I think the paper will break easily. I have kept this for a year but I think it's unlikely to last until next year. It's hard for me to imagine that LEDs and electronic circuits can become disposable item. Thanks to China to make this cheap for us.

The design is really cool... someone should alter the design and sell this during Halloween in US and Europe...



There's a magnet to attach the two parts together.


In the middle of the lantern is a LED, plus a circuit and a battery...


Also, fold-able means easier to keep for next year's use... Look for something like this for your children... Hmmm.... perhaps for 2010, the lantern festival should be celebrated in the Night Safari... I wonder whether they allow that or not.. Let's see.

Mathematic --- Maths Olympiad

I had shared this Maths Olympiad book by Terry Chew to many friends. Most of them like this. Almost all of them bought the book after checking the book out. The author has a facebook page on the new book that I am going to get soon. For complete list of the Math book by the author, please refer to the publisher's link here.

I had bought the following 2 books from the author.


I am sure later I will buy more for the upper primary levels when my son reaches that stage. There are samples in the publisher's link . However, let me share 3 pages from the Junior 1 book (Primary 1-2) for reporting purpose to illustrate better about the quality of those questions provided in the book.

Sample 1:

Most children at age 7-8 can tell the time, but they need to think to calculate hours and minutes. Yes, they can do it!

Sample 2 :

Another problem question.. I was surprised that my son can do this.. without using algebra or the "standard" method that I learned in secondary school. He "drew" 110 circles and divide them to get the answer!


Sample 3 :

A systematic approach for 7-8 years old to count..the kids need to "visualize" those hidden cube!

I believe the above questions shows the "true color" of the book. Those questions may be more challenging questions, I admit, but manageable.

My intention is not to prepare my son for any competition. Rather, I use this book to encourage him to think, to analyze and to solve the questions. During my school time, I practiced mathematics like robot.. My teachers always said, "practice makes perfect".. yeah, I practiced up to hundred over equations per day (many students at that time did that). But I would say, I memorized the trick, rather than to think and understand the skill. I suffered in university. Well, some people still feel proud of those "traditional Chinese school" method. For me, I prefer something different. I don't want my son to lose interest solving hundreds of questions per day. This book is the solution to my problem!

In fact, my son loves solving those questions. Some times he may get frustrated when he does not know the answer. But with a little bit of coaching and encouragement, he is on his way... If you think that you are not good in math, don't worry, answer is given at the back of the book!

Electronic Dictionary

My son's latest darling: Besta Electronic Dictionary!





Checkout the website from Besta. I think the model that you need depends on which country are you from. For my 7 year old studying in Singapore, I think CD 668 S is a good buy. It's very powerful tool! I came across this in Popular bookstore. For those of you oversea, it's available through Amazon.
But not CD 668 S (that's customize to Singapore's need).



Ok.. now, why I am impressed by this gadget?

1) Perfect tools to learn Chinese. Can write the Kanji on the screen
2) It shows usage example with complete sentence
3) Pronunciation by native speaker.. comes with a function for user to record user's pronunciation to compare with native speakers
4) Cross references to Chinese dictionary or English dictionary
5) Other contents like Grammar
6) Localized contents, explained "local" English words
7) Big screen!

Nowadays, my son only know han yu pin yin and he does not know Kanji. The cross references enables him to look out for meaning and ping yin in one touch. The pronunciation function is really perfect for him. I find (1) above useful but for my son who knows ping yin, that's not so handy.

I have seen my son looking up the words he could not understand when reading stories book. Now the learning is all by himself. I am glad with this investment. I selected the biggest one because of the screen size. We adjusted the font size to the biggest to make the words easier to read. I always concern about kids eye sight.

The bad point? The English user interface is not nice at all. The Chinese user interface is perfect but both my son and I are not familiar with those Chinese term. The menu can be changed to Japanese, Korean, Spanish by pushing the same button. This is a little bit irritating because one careless touch, the menu will turn into a language that we cannot read. Either I don't know how to use it, or may be the Taiwanese maker just do not know how to make it simple and user friendly enough. Other than this, it's a perfect tool. But I would say if you do not intend to learn Mandarin, don't buy from Besta.


Look at the font.. quite big isn't it?


My son really enjoy the new toy.

There are cheaper model starting form SGD45 ranging to the most expensive model selling at SGD550. I heard that the price in Malaysia is RM1700 for equivalent model. Unless you get discount, it seems to me it's cheaper here in Singapore but do not forget, those sold in Malaysia will have the local contents like Malay language.

Children Educational DVD and Books (2)... Dora, Diego, Little Einstein

My daughter's favorite DVD is Dora The Explorer.




and Dora's cousin, Diego who always rescue animals.


Dora The Explorer is about Dora and usually Boots (the monkey) going to find someone for somebody. Dora's cousin, Diego works for an animal rescue center. The shows requires the children to count, to identify shapes and cultivate loves for animals. Quite a good one.

I admit, these goodies punch a hole in my pocket. But compared to those usual coloring books, stories books or DVD, I find my investment paid off. The reason is very simple, these goodies are done by marketing professional targeting the needs of the young one. Ask any kids, any one not interested in those characters? But this will definitely helps to cultivate their interest in reading books. Many parents bought encyclopedia, expensive stories books sold in sets usually in a range of SGD1K-2K or RM2K-4K.. If you are considering that, please allow me to be frank: Don't waste your money! I felt lucky that I did not buy those!

Oh.. there is one recommendation for those whose kids are 1-2 years old. Check out the brainy babies DVD below. I think the show is very innovative. Both my kids love these shows.




Please do not think that the shipment is very expensive. If the book is directly sold from Amazon, the shipment can be at a fix rate. I bought many books with a fix rate of USD6 shipment cost many years ago.

If you believe in early child education starting form toddler's stage, Baby Einstein is a must have item. It has all the ingredients to attract attention of toddlers and the contents to stimulate their left brain, right brain ....

I have not seen the brainy baby program in the cable TV. But most of these are available from cable TV network. My provider lease to me a setup box in which I can record all these show. So, practically, I have access to most of these shows now with minimum charge.

Children Educational DVD and Books (1)... Thomas, Little Einstein, Words Word & Bob the builder

While playing mini-luk with my kids, I realized that my children knows how to match hammer to a nail.. they know a saw can be used to cut the tree. I know they have not seen those items. They told me they learned those from DVD! Undeniably, those DVD are really educative!

My son's favorite DVD are Little Einstein and Thomas. And most of his goodies has Thomas on it. Personally I like Little Einstein, so he has some books with Little Einstein. Buying books, toys with the character that children like will motivate them to learn, to read and they will spend more time with those toys. So, choose what they like.

Here are some examples in case you really do not know what is out there for you.
(Note: My intent is not really to promote for Amazon, but I figure out that using their associate program like this, the product will get updated)



Thomas is about trains working together to carry out some task given by their boss. this cultivate team works. Somehow boys like train. That's why Thomas is very popular.



My vote is for Little Einstein. I know nothing about music but I saw the DVD display songs and even pictures of Mozart etc.. The story is about a group of friends going on mission to find something. As the character "visit" around the word, kids familiar with this show will have good knowledge about music and geography.

Do not forget about Words World.. This is funded by the US government if I am not mistaken. All the character in this shows is build using letters. And it shows the spelling of each of the character. Look carefully at the picture below. Can you see the dog's body has the letter "d-o-g"? And the stage is build from the words "S-t-a-g-e"?


Lastly, checkout Bob-The-Builder. I believe this is where my kids learn how to use a saw, a hammer etc even at very young age. Bob is a carpenter? who always fixed things for neighborhood. The story is also about team work and to help people.

Taekwando

My wife feels strongly that my son has to take up martial art. We know someone, whom we gave tuition to during our high school time, who represented Malaysia in Karate competition. I share the same thought...

But I prefer something more Japanese since we know Japan better. I also like the Japanese way of discipline better. However, when we moved to Singapore and when my son was about the right age to learn, Taekwando class was available downstairs at our HDB flat. It was so convenient for us. The fee was reasonable too.

As usual, my son made noise and he was a little bit reluctant to attend the class. We persuaded him so much and we had to wait beside the training hall for the whole 1.5 hours every week. That was not an easy task.

Somehow, my son managed to learn very well as he always concentrated during the lessons. He had consistently passing all the belts in the last two years. Starting from yellow belt, 4 months later, he got his white yellow belt. Subsequently, every 3 months he had been promoted to the next belt, yellow, yellow green, green, green blue and now, blue.

Occasionally, I can see that he enjoyed the lessons. But occasionally, he might cry and accused me for forcing him to learn something that he did not like. I was in a dilemma. On one hand, I did not want him to stop as he had been doing well, but on the other hand, I also did not want to force him to learn something that he dislike. Luckily all those dilemma is now over.

Definitely, I see the benefits in learning Taekwando. His kick is powerful now. He was even selected to participate in a demonstration show. He even participated in a tournament this year and won a consolation price! Attached is the video click that I captured 1 - 2 years ago when he was in yellow belt and green belt.

I can see that he enjoys Taekwando now, especially since he won the consolation price in the competition. That seems to motivate him. To me, the skill he learned is one of the toys he has!

Brother and Sister (2) - "Let me tell you a story!"

I always encourage my two children to play together. They may do so but I have totally no idea on what they are doing. However they seem to enjoy their own invented games.

In this occasion, what I captured is that the elder brother wrote his own story book, mainly he imagined the character he saw in television.


As usual, his favorite Thomas and Friends would appear...


I had no idea how or why it was supposed to relate to "hat"...


Somehow, he linked all up and told a story to his sister. I didn't understand as obviously I was doing something else...But his sister acted as if she understood.


He read to the sister, and the sister just followed reading like students following her teacher... The picture is so cute, isn't it?

I read that letting the child play like this would enhance his imaginary skill and language skill. Whether this is true or not, it does not really matter. What matters to me is that they enjoy themselves, and they do not quarrel...

Brother and Sister (1) - " Let's Party! "

Some people prefer to have one child, some two, and some more than two. Most of my friends have only 2 children while some prefer to have only one. Siblings tend to fight with each other. They may become jealous of their brothers or sisters and parents are the one who suffers.

My kids sometimes fight too but sometimes they play together. I always encourage them to play together. I don't know how to name this, but my son called it, "Let's Party". They cycle together, pretend something they have watched over the television etc.. I don't understand the story line or how their play works. But they seem to enjoy themselves.

They may pretend to cook, like the one below, steering empty pet bottle on the table.


Even on the next morning, the first thing they did when they woke up, they continued the "Party game".... Oh, I forget to mentioned, they are supposed to wear the "Burger King crown" when they play party games...





I always encourage them to play like this. No need expensive games, no need anything. Just need imagination. And imagination is good for a child, isn't it?

My daugther's favorite - Ma-ma-sak (2)

It's not anyone's birth day, but my daughter is celebrating birthday for us quite frequently.

Look at my daughter's face with her favorite birthday cake!


The cake comes with 3-4 candles, plus a lot of toppings. Such as cherry, chocolate, nuts etc. It can be sliced into 8 pieces. I saw a wooden version when I brought my rich friend from Japan to a toy shop. The shop lady showed us a wooden cake, with similar concept. It was SGD25. Wow, too expensive.

I came across this 3-4 weeks later, it was selling at SGD14.90, if I remember correctly. I like this one because it comes with "candles" while the wooden one does not. On top of that, it's cheaper.

How does the candle work?

Decorate the cake and "pull out" the "light".. The "light" is a small piece of plastic which can rest on one side.


Then blow it so that the "light" will disappear...


Then serve the cake! "Ahmm... Happy birthday"...

The toy is pretty simple, right? But from my observation, I think this toy teaches a lot of values. The cake can be sliced into 8 pieces. The act of slicing the cake and decorating the cake is a good practice of motor skills for young children. Also, later, I can teach her about "fraction" using the cake.


Above all reasons, my daughter loves this toys. She shared with a friend visiting us. Her friend loved this so much too and it's enjoyable seeing them play together.

My children's "workplace".... (1)

I think the most effective way to cultivate a child's interest in studying is to provide him with a study desk. Many of my friends whose parents are teachers have their own desk. I did not have my own study desk until I was 14.

My son was lucky, he had his own "work desk" when he was less than 2 years old. He used the desk to play with Doh and coloring. This wonderful desk cost me USD20, together with a set of "Play Doh". Now this desk is passed to his sister.



I bought this simple table and chair set for my son from Jusco when my son was about 3-4 years old. I paid RM160 for this but looking at the following pictures, I think you will be convinced that my investment paid off. He used this not only to do his works, but also to play with his sisters.






I place this small table beside my work desk so that we can do work together. However, as he is getting older, he likes to use my desk more and more often.

Now, my son likes to use the study area in his room. The furniture was installed by the previous owner of this apartment. But the area did not have enough lighting. I started with a table lamp. But I found my eyes become tired soon when I used it. Since my son is going to use this room, recently I installed a fluorescent lamp in his study area.

I am satisfied that the area is properly lit up now after SGD80 spent! From my experience, it's better to install a proper fluorescent lamp on the wall near the study area. I think table lamps are not good.





I consider the study area as an important investment for parents. I am sure most children will love it. By the way, the most expensive desk I have ever seen cost SGD3000++.

If you are considering a gift for your young one, why not a small study table?

My daugther's favorite - Ma-ma-sak (1)

My wife is against Barbie doll. She told me even before our daughter was born that she would go against the idea that my daughter owns a barbie doll. I fully agreed with her. I think that "Barbie doll encourages materialism and gave little value add".

Since the elder child is a boy, we hardly had any girlish type of games. Until I came across this "cooking play set"... I don't know what's the exact English term, but in Penang, most people called this game "Ma-ma-sak", which origins from a Malay word "masak" which means cooking.


I came across these few sets in the wet market. I bought 2 sets, each cost me less than SGD5. I am quite impressed with the quality of the "made in China" goods. It has so many varieties of fruits and vegetables. I can use this to teach my daughter about the names in both English and Chinese.


After having a cup of mixed juice (carrot + fruits), my daughter pretended that she was preparing dishes and she enjoys cutting up her fruits and vegetables.

Please take a look on these enlarged view of the fruits. The fruits come in 2 parts, stick together through a mechanism that is commonly found in shoes laces, where one latches one part on the other.


Using a plastic knife, the fruits can be "cut" into 2 parts to separate the latches.

After cutting, there's cooking time.


My daughter would serve me "tea" or "fruits". What I need to do is say, "ahmmm". And she will be happy smiling.

Learn Spelling without "Spelling Test" -- Hooked on Spelling

Most school children hate spelling. Let's put ourselves in a child's shoes. First of all, having a "Spelling" means they have to allocate time to learn the spelling. Secondly, if they do not do well, parents will get disappointed. What's worse? Their parents may punish them.

When my son was attending kindergarten in Malaysia 2 years ago, I had no choice. I cannot change the syllabus of the school. Everyone is taking test and learning spelling. Can he do without those? I had completely no idea on the alternative method to learn Spelling.

Some Singapore kindergartens do not have any "Spelling" sessions. Sometimes I was worried. I wondered whether he could cope with school as the level of English education in Singapore is very high. I bought some spelling games. The game was good, but too simple for my 6-year-old as it has only 3-4 letters word.









Being successful in using the "Hooked on Phonics" material, I decided to try the "Hooked on Spelling". I bought it from Amazon directly. The material came with 2CDs plus a book. Due to misunderstanding as I did not read the instructions carefully, I did not use any of the books but only the CDs.







The lessons start with "sounding out words". Then, it is followed by activity to group the words according to the sounding of pronunciation. After this comes the so called "unscramble" game which is a game requiring the user to re-arrange letters into a word with correct spelling. The next level is slightly more difficult. It's spelling game but with multiple choices. The activity is to pick the right letter to form a word. Finally, the user has to spell the whole word all by himself.

The material is "Superb". If he does it wrongly, the software lets him spell again. No scolding, no pressure! Again, the software comes with a progress sheet in which the child will put a sticker to show his progress.

My son told us some rules and what he learned, which was quite new to both my wife and me, like long "I" and short "I". My son's capability in spelling improved significantly. His teacher told us that she told the class "If any of you have problems in spelling out any words, you can either ask me or Yi Kai". Last week, I asked him to spell "library", this is a new word to my 6-year-old. He said, "libary", very close! I praised him for his good attempt and encouraged him to learn more. Now, he is interested to spell things right.

On a side note, there are some bugs in the software, but my son can get around it. I am not sure how he did it because he learns the lessons from the CDs all by himself. I did not follow closely, but I can see the combination effect, by Hooked on Spelling, as well as Hooked on Phonics!

Worksheet activities --- "Jumbo Book"

"Are you kidding me? These are homework, not games or toys." I am sure most people will react this way. However, I really mean that worksheets can be a "game" to any child. Learning the concept of encouragement from "Hooked on Phonics" set, I created a set of progress sheet that he can put a sticker whenever he finishes a chapter. I always give him a lot of praises and encouragement, following what I learned from the books.

Most of the time, my son likes to do worksheets. He understands that he learns something. I can see that he enjoys learning. I have made it clear to my son that everyone has "work" to be done. If he wants to play with his other toys, he must do 20 minutes of "work". To me, the goal is achieved when he does the worksheet. I seldom correct or check his work because my intention is to cultivate a habit in him to do the worksheets, and I learned that correcting his mistakes in a wrong way may discourage him.



I did not pay much attention on which books he should work on. I selected "Jumbo Book" because that was the only Singapore Syllabus worksheet available to me when I was in Malayisa. Someone told me that this was a Singapore textbook. You should be able to find this in major Popular Bookstores (but not every Popular Bookstore has it). In Penang, you can find this in Popular Gurney Plaza and perhaps Queensbay Mall. Please call up to make inquiry before you make the trip.

To state the fact right, most Singapore kindergartens do not use text book and it's wrong to think that Jumbo Book is a text book for Singapore kindergartens. I bought the Grammar book later as it is specifically fine tuned to improve skills on grammar. By the way, over 2.5years, my son has completed 4 Jumbo Books - nursery, K1 and K2 levels (for the ages of 4, 5 and 6 respectively), plus the Grammar worksheet.



Let me show you a few snapshots of his work. The "Jumbo Book" contents include science, numbers, grammar, creative writing, vocabulary etc. I won't reproduce too much here but show you a few pages that I like best to let you have a feel of how it looks like.





I like my son's work on creative writing. I am amazed by his ability to write sentences together to form a paragraph.





I admit that sometimes my son is reluctant to do the worksheets. He hates creative writing because he usually does not know what to write. The trick to overcome this is that I let him do less worksheets, and I always keep the time short. The stickers and the praises/encouragements that I gave also played an important role.

My son was going to attend primary school then. Realizing that, he volunteered to go extra miles to complete all his English related worksheets. I did not think that he could complete those worksheet last year, but he did.

Thanks to all the materials he did and the kindergarten's teacher, I am confident that my son would be able to cope with English language when he is in primary one in 2010.

P/S :
1) I can send you the progress sheets (Nursery, K1 and K2 for Jumbo Book) that I created if you want. Just let me know.
2) I wrote part of this in 2009.