Using Fidget Spinner to Teach Children Art, Science and Mathematics

To be honest, I did not like the idea of getting fidget spinners for my children. They requested for the fidget spinners when many of their friends had those. However, I did not see the purpose of fidget spinners at all - what was the great deal of balancing the fidget spinners on the fingers? Does it really help the children to relieve stress or to stay focused? 

Eventually, we brought the fidget spinners for our children. It was because we thought that they had put in effort in studying for the semestral assessment, so we wanted to reward them for their effort. While the children were happily spinning the spinners, I saw the opportunity to teach them art, science and mathematics!

Using Fidget Spinner to Teach Children Mathematics

The children learnt about the meaning of diameter and radius of a circle. They measured the diameter of the outer circle, and marked out the diameter on a white cardboard. I helped to cut the circles using a circle cutter. 

The children then used blu tack to mount the circular cardboard on to the fidget spinner.

Using Fidget Spinner to Teach Children Art

By placing a felt tip marker at the same spot of the cardboard, a beautiful pattern can be created.

The children also did an experiment by drawing a straight line from the centre to the edge of the circle, and they were thrilled to see a spiral pattern!

Using Fidget Spinner to Teach Children Art

We made spinner colour wheel a few years ago using marker pen. The effect was beautiful, however, the marker would stop spinning shortly. The children have learnt the colours of a rainbow, and they were excited the effect of blending the colours!

Do you have any ideas on how fidget spinners can be used to educate the children?


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DIY Terrarium for Family Bonding - Masons Home Decor

[Sponsored Review + Discount Code]

The first time we had some form of gardening experience was a few years ago, when we grew beans on cotton wool. The bean plant declared that it couldn't survive any more after a few days. Recently, we tried to grow bean plants again, but unfortunately, history repeated itself. So you can tell that we do not have green fingers. However, our children didn't lose their interest in growing plants. It was timely that the nice folks from Masons Home Decor sent us a big box of DIY Terrarium Kit! 

Everything that we needed to make a terrarium were included in the DIY Terrarium Kit: 

• Shovels
• Spray bottle
• Instruction sheet
• Glass jars
• Premium terrarium mix
• Decorative pebbles
• Activated charcoal
• Ornaments
• Fittonia plants
• Succulent plants

I like the idea of  having all the supplies in a single kit, so that I don't need to hunt for the materials all over the places.

Take a look at our final products, are they beautiful? Well, I think we may be too ambitious to put so many plants into a single jar!

The instruction sheet indicates 3 simple steps, which look quite straight forward. However, for us the non-green-fingers (remember I mentioned that we couldn't even grow bean plant in cotton wool), we almost wanted to put the plant with the container into the glass jar! Ok, I know it sounds silly, please don't laugh....  

So here is our detailed step-by-step method:

Step 1: Cover the bottom of the jar with a layer of small rocks, which serve as the water drainage layer.

Step 2: Add a thin layer of activated charcoal which reduces odour and toxics. Then fill the glass jar halfway with the premium terrarium mix.

Step 3: Remove the plant from their containers. Dig a hole in the premium terrarium mix that is big enough to place the root of the plant. (No photo for this step, as my hands were busy with the plant!)

Step 4: Decorate the top layer with pebbles and ornaments.

Step 5: Use a brush or tissue paper to clean the glass jar.

Our family had great fun making terrarium together, it was nice that we were given 4 glass jars so we could make one terrarium each. In addition, terrarium making is an educational activity for children to learn about the science of a plant, as well as the art of beautifying the household!

[Discount Code - 15% off Storewide]

The nice folks from Masons Home Decor offers PeiPei.HaoHao's readers 15% off discount storewide! Key in the discount code peipeihaohaoXDM15 at checkout!

Masons Home Decor

Website: https://www.mason.com.sg

Disclaimer: We received a DIY Terrarium Kit for review purpose. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions and photos are mine.

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The Animal Resort (Seletar West Farmway)

My colleagues and I were talking about where to go with our children during weekends or holidays. It seemed that I was the last person in the group who had not brought my children to The Animal Resort! 

Located at Seletar West Farmway 5, The Animal Resort is a hidden gem that our urban children can experience the rural side of Singapore. And guess what, the admission is FREE!

The wooden house with rabbits and guinea pigs caught the children's attention when we entered The Animal Resort. They ran towards the little house and were very excited to see their favourite animals!

"May we feed them?" The children remembered the great experience they had in Taiwan Flying Cow Ranch and Hong Kong Go Green Organic Farm, they were eager to feed the animals again.

No worries about getting the animals' feed, there is a stall selling the feed at S$1 per pack or S$2 for every 3 packs (except horse feed)! The stall sells mosquito repellent and patches too. 

We bought 3 types of feed, one for fish, one for 2-legged animals, and one for rabbits + guinea pigs. And then, the children spent 1 hour feeding the animals.

As the children were busy feeding the animals, I rested on the swing under a big tree... and received some golden blessings from the birds.

Finally, the children finished feeding the animals, we continued to explore other part of The Animal Resort, and the children were thrilled to see a playground!

I was really thankful that there were shades everywhere.

Suddenly, a crowd gathered in front of the cage of peacocks and peahens. Wow! We were lucky to see the peacock showing off its beautiful tail! 

It turned its back towards the crowd, trying to show off but not too show off. 

We visited the horse and parrots too.

Other than the opportunity to feed the animals, another thing I like about The Animal Resort is the presence of informative signs which educate us more about the animals.

Don't forget to wash your hands after feeding the animals! It is so thoughtful to them to have a sink for children!

Our children enjoyed this place very much! As we were leaving the place, they asked, "Can we come back again after lunch?"

Information about The Animal Resort

Address:81 Seletar West Farmway 5 Singapore 798061
Website: http://theanimalresort.com
Opening hours: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily (except Chinese New Year Eve and Chinese New Year)
How to get there:
Driving - enter Seletar West Farmway 5 from Sengkang West Road, free parking available
Public transport - take bus 50, 86, 103, alight at Sengkang West Road, and walk 1+ km (Taking a taxi would be easier for families with young children)

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Hong Kong with Children - Hong Kong Science Museum

The children have been exposed to science activities since they were 4-5 years old (read about our home-learning science activities). Now they have developed more interest in science, and they enjoy watching videos on science experiment, and conduct simple science activities with materials that we have at home. So when we were planning our itinerary to Hong Kong in December 2016, we decided to visit Hong Kong Science Museum!

We actually spent a few hours at Hong Kong Science Museum, because there were so many hands-on activities! Let us share with you some of the exhibition areas that the children love!

Children Gallery (Ground floor)

Currently, Children Gallery is located in a small area at the Ground floor. A new one will be opened at 3rd floor in year 2017. Our children were amazed that the ball dancing in mid-air! They were also fascinated by the "Cloud Ring" exhibit, which they pressed down a panel to produce rings of cloud.

Lift Sciences (Ground floor)

We were greeted by Lufengosaurus magnus!

What is your reaction time? We challenged one another, and unfortunately, I lost to my children!

Light & World of Mirrors (Ground floor)
It was fun to take photos in front of different types of mirrors! The children also built their very own periscope after they learnt about reflection of light.

E&M Gallery (1st floor)
The children learnt about the concepts of electricity and magnetism through reading the instructions and perform simple experiment, and then by observation. It was an engaging way for children to learn, rather than just reading the facts from a poster.

Mathematics (1st floor)
We challenged ourselves with many brain teasers! Some of them were so challenging that I had to take a peek at the solution to solve the problem!

Food Science (2nd floor)
Let's choose a balanced diet! There was a cycling machine to show us how long we had to cycle after eating a certain type of food!

Transportation (2nd floor)
How to get to Hong Kong Science Museum by car? Our children drove a racing car, but could not accelerate often because of the heavy traffic jam! The video of the simulator looked like it was produced long long time ago, however, our children still love this exhibit most!

Energy Machine (from Ground floor to 2nd floor)
Have you heard of Rube Goldberg machine? It is basically a chain reaction of machines to perform a task. We made a simple Rube Goldberb machine at home some time ago! But this one at Hong Kong Science Museum is gigantic - it is 22-metre tall! We were totally amazed by the complexity of this energy machine. We also had to go from 2nd floor all the way down to the Ground floor by escalator to follow the movement of the balls!

T-rex Revealed - the Augmented + Virtual Reality Experience (2 December 2016 - 1 March 2017)
During our visit in December 2016, there was a special exhibition on T-rex. This was an entirely virtual experience using augmented reality technology. Tablets were provided for the visual impact and earphones for the audio.

The children had a great work-out in Jurassic period - they were chasing after the dinosaurs, not the other way round!

Our Thoughts about Hong Kong Science Museum
For many visitors to Hong Kong, they may not have considered visiting Hong Kong Science Museum. However, we feel that it is a gem for us, because our focus on family travel is experiential learning. It is truly a great learning experience for the children and adults!


Hong Kong Science Museum
Address: 2 Science Museum Road, Tsimshatsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Website: http://hk.science.museum/en_US/web/scm/index.html
How to get there:
By MTR

• Tsim Sha Tsui Station (B2 Exit), walk about 18 minutes along Cameron Road towards the direction of Tsim Sha Tsui East, or
• Hung Hom MTR Station, walk about 15 minutes along the footbridge towards the direction of Tsim Sha Tsui East.

Our Hong Kong Travelogue

• 8 Tips for Planning Hong Kong Trip with Children and Seniors
• 5 Tips for Hong Kong Travel with Children
• Hong Kong with Children – 5D4N Itinerary (June 2015)
• Hong Kong with Children – 6D5N Itinerary (December 2016)
• Hong Kong Disneyland Survival Tips with Children
• Christmas at Hong Kong Disneyland
• Hong Kong Ocean Park Survival Tips with Children
• Hong Kong with Children – What to Eat
• Hong Kong with Children – Sham Shui Po and Sai Kung
• Hong Kong with Children – Hong Kong Science Museum
• Hong Kong with Children – Hong Kong Park, The Peak, Tai Yuen Street (Toy Street), Calbee Plus
• Hong Kong with Children – Go Green Organic Farm

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KidsSTOP: Ocean's Buddies

[Media Invite]

It has been a while since the children visited KidsSTOP (read our previous experience here), but the moment the children entered KidsSTOP, they seemed to have known the place inside out!

There is a new exhibit Ocean's Buddies, which is a marine conservation project that aims to educate young children on the marine life and how they can do their part to protect the environment.

The highlight is a visually virtual ocean floor projected onto a giant wall.

During the Marine Conservation activity that takes place daily at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., the educator shared with the children about why we should not throw rubbish into the sea. The children then chose the colouring sheet of their choice, and used Pilot FriXon pens to colour. 

Magic happened when the children placed their colouring sheet under this machine!

Their sea creatures came alive! They were transformed into 3-dimensional form and joined the other sea creatures on the wall! Look at Pei Pei's creation indicated by the red arrow!

Oh, so what is so special about the Pilot FriXon pens that the children used? The ink will disappear when it is subjected to heat. So the colouring sheet can be recycled and re-used up to 5 times! This is a great idea to demonstrate how we can recycle and re-use materials!

The wall mural illustrates how a polluted sea traps and suffocates marine life. It aims to educate children that as harmless as littering may seem, the collective damage can cause serious harm to marine life.

The children had a great time at KidsSTOP, where they couldn't stop playing and learning!

KidsSTOP
Address: 21 Jurong Town Hall Singapore 609433
Website: http://www.kidsstop.edu.sg
Operating hours:
Weekdays - 1st session 12 - 3 p.m., 2nd session 4 - 7 p.m.
Weekends - 1st session 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., 2nd session 3 - 7 p.m.
Marine Conservation activity: daily 10 - 10.30 a.m., 4 - 4.30 p.m.
Admission charges: see here for details

Disclaimer: We were invited to KidsSTOP. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions and all photos are mine.

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Playeum Children's Centre for Creativity - Hideaways

[Media Invite]

Igniting children to explore, create and learn through play is the key mission of Children's Centre for Creativity. This exactly aligns with my parenting belief. Located at Gillman Barracks, Children's Centre for Creativity is set up by an award-winning non-profit organisation Playeum.

We visited their second hands-on exhibition "Hideaway - Creating with Nature", which features installations that provide an interdisciplinary and engaging experience, serving as an important reminder of the world's ecosystem.

So what are the installations that you and your children can expect at "Hideaway - Creating with Nature"?

Creative Cave
Suitable for infants and toddlers as it provides multi-sensory experience through touch, sight and hearing. It serves as a warm-up installation for the younger children before they explore other exciting installations.

Knock, Knock! Who lives there?
This is the Bug Hotel that is placed in the natural habitat of the insects!

Of course, for safety reason, the children cannot go out, but they can view the hotel through a window. To get up-close to the hotel's "residents", there is a live stream video for the children to see what they are doing. And there is a magnifying glass for the children to look at the permanent resident at the window - a giant spider!

To allow the children to feel the texture of the materials that make the Bug Hotel, there is Sensory Bug Hotel indoor.

On the Identification Table, the children can match the insect specimen to the pictures, they can also draw the insects and even write letter to them!

Other than the magnifying glasses, there is a camera that is connected to a projector, so that the children can view the "up-sized" version of the insects!

The Dark Space
As the name implies, it is really dark inside! But no worries, you can still see your children under UV light! Using the fabric, the children build a giant spider web!

Welcome to My World
The children can imagine themselves as the tiny insects, and build their own shelters.

The children get to build bee's nest and moth cocoon too!

Make-believe Hideaway
Clay time is conducted frequently for the children to create a make-believe hideaway through collective effort.

Sounds of Earth - Nature's Ensemble
Let imagination run wild by creating musical instruments with natural materials! What can you make with toilet paper rolls, egg trays, bamboo poles and green beans?

There is also an outdoor installation - The Tunnel of Sound - for the children to make noise sound!

We enjoyed our afternoon at Children's Centre for Creativity! The children unleashed their creativity and made many interesting structures! Usually they are quite scared of those insects, but they stepped out their comfort zone to take a closer look at the insects and learnt more about them!

Children's Centre for Creativity
Address: Blk 47 Malan Road, Gillman Barracks #01-23, Singapore 109444
Website: http://www.playeum.com
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Sunday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Admission: SGD20 per child / parent pair, additional adults SGD10 each. Tickets are purchased at the centre.
How to get there:
MRT - Labrador Park Station (Circle Line) 5 to 10 minutes walk
Bus - Along Alexandra Road, Opposite NOL Building (Bus Stop Number 15049) Bus no. 51, 57, 61, 83, 97, 97e, 100, 166, 175, 408, 963 or 963E
Parking - limited parking lots outside the centre, check carpark charges here

Disclaimer: We were invited to Playeum Children's Centre for Creativity. No monetary compensation was received. All opinions and photos are mine.

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