Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Chicken burger

#339
I woke up yesterday morning preparing the ingredients for making the chicken burger for his lunch box.  Whilst waiting for the piggy to wake up, an idea hit me!  Why don't let him make his own burger?  Firstly, it has been quite some times my boy did not involve any food preparation or baking in the kitchen with me.  Secondly, that would be fun (for a change from the boring and monotonous workbook that I have been asking him to do every morning)!  Yeah, it was a daily routine I have requested since the onset of the year in preparation for his formal schooling beginning next year 2015.  All it took was to spend half an hour on the workbook be it Chinese, English or Maths.  At times, he would obediently follow my instructions. Other times, he would negotiate or throw tantrums that I would almost my cool.   At first, he was quite reluctant and did not buy my idea.  However, within seconds, he was engrossed into making his burger that he actually enjoyed the process.  With the increased of interest I saw building up inside him, I continued with our learning expanding to whatever it come to my mind.  In the end, these were what we had achieved in the morning :-

  • Assemble/layer the burger as he wish
  • Write down the ingredients on the whiteboard
  • Expand the context to simple business concept; selling burgers, set promotional price and gimmicks
  • Through the promotion, learn about cost/original price, selling price, profits
Needless to say, he loved his chicken burger!  He even packed more salad to fill up his Ben10 theme bento box. 



Ingredients and sauce



 
Wrap with cling wrap and tape





 Ingredients


 
Yum!
 

Monday, September 15, 2014

DIY Pop up card for Teacher's Day - Flower Garden Theme




5th September was Teachers' Day and all schools including those in Child Care Center were given a day off.  Inspired by his cousin, Christine Jie Jie, who handmade beautiful and gorgeous 3D greeting cards like this birthday card we received from her! We decided to try making a pop up card for Teacher's Day.  We browsed a few videos in the internet to give my boy an idea of different designs and how to create it.  Since it was our first attempt, we agreed to settle for a flower garden theme which I think should be quite manageable for my 6 years old.  The challenging part for my son was to cut out the shapes of circles, flowers, leaves, grass...etc.  He was not keen and admitted that he was really poor in cutting skill.  Indeed, his teachers had also highlighted to me during the parent meeting session that we could improve his fine motor skills through playdough, paper cutting, handball..etc.  To motivate him and make it easy for my boy, I did the cover of the cards but he wrote the messages above.  And I also help in cutting out the flowers, some tiny circles and heart shapes and touching up some fine details.

After finished two pop up cards, he has already lost interest no matter how I encouraged him.  I lost my cool too. Well, he did not give up.  My boy eventually completed the third card for all his three teachers; Ms Josie (English teacher), Yang Laoshi and Huang Laoshi (Chinese teachers). We spent three afternoons for each card. I was so proud of my boy for his perseverance.

Check out the links for pop up card tutorials:-
http://krokotak.com/2010/03/proletna-3d-kartitchka-za-mama/
http://babyccinokids.com/blog/2011/09/21/diy-pop-up-flower-garden-cards/

 
 
For Yang Laoshi, Chinese Teacher

For Ms Josie, English Teacher


For Huang Laoshi, Chinese Teacher