Ashrie's Tent

MyGirls never fail to amaze me with activities they have come up for play. The other day, I came home with an unusual yellow glow from the bedroom. I thought they have changed the light bulb only to find out that tent dwellers took over the master bedroom.

Ashrie said it was her castle. And what a great castle it is, with bouncy floors and all. Good thing the castle was down before bedtime.

I wonder what’s up next…

Hay Day

Howdy!

It has eaten up most of our free time at home in the past few weeks and now that the fascination has subsided, and we have almost finished it, I think it’s time to present to you our little farm.

We love Hay Day because of its animation and ease of control. The swipe planting technique is fast and easy rather than planting a crop one lot at a time. I can speak from my previous experiences with older farm games like Farm Town, Farmville, Smurf’s Village just to name a few wherein you have to tap each lot to be able to plant or harvest a crop. That is same when getting products from farm animals.

Hay Day has the cutest, most adorable farm animals in the web. Keeping it up with the Christmas season, the cows, pigs, goats, sheep and chickens are donned with cozy winter clothes until the next game update.

The online game is also brilliantly interactive. Tap the river and you’ll see fishes jumping out of it, tap a flower bed and butterflies will flutter after a few seconds, tap a bird house and birds will fly towards it. Tap a few more times and more birds will rest on it, until there is no room for more and that other birds will begin to move away from it. There are also shadows of birds hovering above the farm and for this special time, fog moves across and snow falls in random fashion.

That’s it for now, the farmer needs to harvest his crops!

Our Little Painter

I think our little painter is starting to move from abstracts to realism. Here’s her water color painting complete with a house, a tree, and some blue clouds. My favorite are the over-sized, orange-colored roses right there in the center.

Children Learn What They Live

This is a poem written by Dorothy Law Nolte, Ph.D. in 1972. Forty years after it has been published, I would like to share it with you. The first seven lines speak of how a negative environment creates a bad attitude and the remaining phrases tell of the benefits of a good and nurturing home to children.

If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to feel shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn to feel envy.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with encouragement, they learn confidence.
If children live with tolerance, they learn patience.
If children live with praise, they learn appreciation.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to love.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with recognition, they learn it is good to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn generosity.
If children live with honesty, they learn truthfulness.
If children live with fairness, they learn justice.
If children live with kindness and consideration, they learn respect.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves and in those about them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn the world is a nice place in which to live.

SingKids and The Petite Park

Let’s talk about playgrounds and indoor play systems for kids in Singapore. So, where do you bring your kids?

There are a lot of public playgrounds here in SG. For every cluster of HDB apartment you would see at least one. Most condos have one. Schools, shopping malls, hospitals or even churches have playgrounds. They are of high-quality materials, with rubber platforms, and comply with international safety standards. The problem with public playgrounds is the sanitation and over-all maintenance of the place. You got to correct me if I’m wrong because in my entire seven years of stay here, I haven’t seen any public playground washed, scrubbed or sanitized. But I’ve noticed some playgrounds were replaced or updated when they are so old, broken down and unsafe for use, or when nature (rain and the sun’s wash and dry routine) cannot bring it to life any longer.

Thanks to indoor playgrounds, they are maintained by the management, hence cleaner than their public counterpart. And for a treat and for a price, there are prepaid play systems. Like that of Ashrie’s favorites, SingKids at Changi Airport T3 and The Petite Park in Changi CityPoint Mall. The former has a wide play area and various mechanical equipment. The latter have a smaller play space, cost a bit cheaper with longer hours of play and boast a wide selection of wooden toys for pretend play. Both are in Changi because MyGirls meet me right after work.

Here’s a photo of Ashrie at The Petite Park.

Move two posts back to see Ashrie’s photo at SingKids.

And if all else fails, there are water play parks, swimming pool complexes, the beach, Smaland, and IKEA’s toy’s section!