A good friend texted me this morning to ask for recommendations of children stories on the Mid-Autumn Festival. We celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival (or more affectionately known as 中秋节 or Lantern Festival here) on the 15th day of eighth month in the Lunar Calendar. It's the day where the moon is supposedly the roundest and shines the brightest. Apart from enjoy moon cakes and carrying lanterns, it is also traditionally the day when family reunites. Compiled lovingly by Life's Tiny Miracles … [Read more...]
Prepping Kids for NYC – 20 Great Reads!
We are 2 sleeps away to our vacation to the Big Apple. This will be the furthest trip we've made as a family. We've limited our travels to the region for the past few years just to save up for this so you can imagine our anticipation. The prep work began months back, right after our air tickets were booked. We loaned books from the National Library to introduce Dana to this amazing city. For titles which are not available from NLB, I purchased them from Amazon (enjoying the … [Read more...]
24 Favourite Audio Books for Kids
We adore audio books and have amassed a sizable collection over the last few years from our favourite online book stores (namely Book Depository and Amazon). Listening to audio books is a great way for young children to internalize the fluency and expression that comes from reading longer stories. It is an excellent way to develop their auditory skill which is neglected in this multi-sensory world we live in. Whenever we played an audio story, it is helpful to have the kids follow along with a … [Read more...]
Asian Spice Kids: Star Anise Superstar!
I use quite a lot of Asian spices in my cooking and Dana enjoyed the holiday camp on Spices at Kids Gallery early this year so when we first discovered this children's book devoted entirely to Asian Spices, I thought it was an ingenious initiative - what a great way to introduce a part of our Asian heritage to the younger ones. Star Anise Superstar is the first title in the bilingual Asian Spice Kids series written by Linn … [Read more...]
5 No-Tears Ways To Help Kids Love Chinese
Dana speaks Mandarin fluently and we've often been asked by friends and readers how we enthuse her in learning Chinese. It's no secret really, we do it these 5 ways:1. Through TravelsOne of the key uses of language is for communication. Travelling helps children see the language come alive and when you are in a foreign country, they see first hand how useful the language is. For this reason alone, we've brought Dana to Taiwan twice for language immersion. She saw how we interacted … [Read more...]
Making Memories Through Music: Piano Duets for Kids
A wonderful way to motivate children to persevere in their music lessons is to enthuse them to play melodies they enjoy. In our home, Daddy makes an effort to play simple duets with Dana every week. Hearing them make music together has become one of my favourite family bonding time.Here are 12 good piano music duet resources for parents: 1. Two at the Piano: 50 Duets for Young Pianists by … [Read more...]
Giving kids a sense of the Resurrection…
Easter falls on 20th April this year. Unlike Christmas, where the world celebrates Jesus' birth lavishly - decking our homes and malls with Christmas trees and tinsels, playing Christmas music for a month, feasting on log cakes and giving outlandish gifts to everyone. But Easter? Easter has always been a nebulous festival associated with Easter bunnies, Easter egg hunts and Easter Egg crafts. We may find a handful of books in the bookstores and a few songs … [Read more...]
Kids Fest 2014 is coming!
Julia Donaldson is one of Dana's favourite authors. In 2011, we shared a book review on her award-winning title, 'What the Ladybird Heard' and we are so pleased that it will be one of the productions brought to Singapore in the upcoming Kids Fest 2014!What's Kids Fest 2014?WKidsFest is an exciting festival for the whole family where compelling characters are brought to life and scenes from well-loved books are enacted vividly on stage. It is a wonderful platform for family bonding and at the … [Read more...]
10 Christmas Holiday Reads for Kids
Christmas seems to be everyone's favourite time of the year, regardless of their faiths. The commercialization gift-giving, feasting during Christmas has somewhat undermined its true religious significance. We lose sight of the the reason for the season. It is perhaps appropriate that as believers, we set the example in teaching our kids that Christmas isn't about Christmas trees and jingle bells...it isn't about Santa Claus and presents...it's not about log cakes and turkeys and neither … [Read more...]
The Groovy Giraffe Online Bookstore!
For a family of book lovers, it's not surprising that 40% of our carton boxesin our recent move are filled with books and nothing but books. Daddy reads a ton of non-fiction titles, photography books and Christian literature (by Max Lucado, Gary Chapman, Philip Yancey). I indulge in fiction novels by my fav authors (Karen Kingsbury, Mitch Albom) and hoard pretty recipe books (by Donna Hay, Jamie Oliver). We also have a sizeable collection of parenting resources … [Read more...]