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Category: Activities for the little one

Home Made Gluten Free Okara Crackers

Home Made Gluten Free Okara Crackers

Ever since I bought my soy milk maker, I have been churning out home made soy milk (and other plant milks like almond milk too!) and… lots of soy bean pulp…..  Well, I hate the idea of wasting stuff and those were premium organic soy bean pulp!!

If you google, you will be able to find various uses for the pulp and here’s one that I have tried out. Okara Crackers! I replaced the wheat flour in the recipe so that the crackers can be made gluten for my 宝贝.

Recipe for Gluten Free Okara Crackers

265g soya bean pulp (one round of soy milk will yield this amount – thereabout)

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

10tbsp one to one GF flour

herbs or cheese flakes or cinnamon sugar (optional) to create different flavours

Add all ingredients into a mixing bowl. Mix them until they achieve a pizza dough texture. Using a rolling pin, roll them as thin as you can. I prefer them thin so that they are crispy.  If they end up to thick, they become chewy in the middle. Cut them out into desired shapes. Fastest, most efficient shape – use a knife to cut them into squares or rectangles. If you want to make it into a fun-filled family event (be prepared to do a fair bit of cleaning up), use cute cookie cutters!

Oven setting : preheat 180°C. 15-20 minutes.

The kids love it! They can knead the dough like play dough, cut them up into their favourite shapes and EAT THEM!!! Yums!


Industriously cutting up his dough.


Messy but edible.


Little gingerbread boys and girls and a few animals to keep them company!

Earning Pocket Money

Earning Pocket Money

It all started one day when 宝贝 lamented that she’s taking forever to save up for something she wanted. Holding her head between her hands, she was poring over her daily accounts book to see where she could squeeze out more money.

“Well, if you can’t do away with the necessities and save more money, then you will have to make more money. Do you want to make money?”

“YESSSS!”

“Ok. I need someone to distribute flyers. Do you want to do it?”

“You mean stand on the square and give out paper to the passerbys?”

“Yep. I will pay $2 per hour. So, do you want to do it?”

She nodded eagerly. She probably didn’t realise that it’s harder than it seemed. Having done road shows, exhibitions, flag donations, school building donations and even kart kiosks, I know how difficult it was, even for an adult.

“But I want you to do it with me! And Di Di too!”

“Ok fine! I will distribute flyers right beside you!” Walk the talk right?! No sweat. I have thick skin anyway. Di Di aka 小小宝贝 also agreed. Not knowing what he was in for.

So I grabbed some flyers for the tuition centre (Check out Master Class for English tuition for P5-JC2. No point wasting a chance to advertise! Don’t worry, I’m not the one teaching. We have fully qualified MOE teachers hailing from top schools holding the fort.). And we decided to give out flyers outside Parkway Centre, after her dance class.

The BIG Day arrived. Armed with a small stack of flyers, we stood around the basement, among other flyer distributors.

“You only gave me 5 flyers!” She flapped her sheets at me.

“I will give you more when you have used them up. Let’s just do it for 15 minutes first. How much would you  have earned by then?”

Frowning in deep thought, “50 cents? Does Didi get that too?”

“Of course!” Meanwhile, Didi was loitering near the ice cream shop display, ignoring us.

“Hokay! Let’s start!”

I did a few demonstrations and received many rejections, as usual. When I finally succeeded in giving out my first flyer, I smiled triumphantly at 宝贝. She was standing behind me, holding her flyers, looking at me doubtfully.

“There will always be rejections. It’s just part of it. It’s ok. Just persist!” Giving her the YOU-CAN-DO-IT sign.

She spent the next 5 minutes drawing circles on the ground with her shoe.

“Eh, hurry up leh!”

“I’m thinking of how to do it!”

“Ok, let me demonstrate again!”

Then the slew of excuses came. “It’s drizzling! I don’t want to stand in the rain!” “That’s my friend! I don’t want to give this to her!” “They don’t want to take it!”

She finally worked up her courage and walked boldly towards a parent, but one foot away, she suddenly turned around and strode back.

“What happened?!”

“I’m too shy! And why is Di di not doing it! He’s just looking at the ice creams!”

Ok fine! I called 小小宝贝over. “Eh! Are you here to distribute flyers or look at ice creams? Do you want to buy things?” He nodded eagerly. “Do you have money?” He shook his head. “So how?”

The little one said, “I must give out flyers to the uncles and aunties.”

“Ok Good! Tell you what, for every flyer you give out I give you 10 cents! Ok???”

“Yay!” Sigh… Expensive wages..

He looked at me wondering what to do next. Sigh. He was oogling at ice creams when I was doing my demonstrations. So, I gave out a few flyers to show him what to do. I pointed him to the parents sitting around the cafes and Macdonalds.

Without a word, he trotted up to a parent who was messaging on his phone, stood beside him and stared at him with his big round eyes, carrying his cute Eeyore bag and handed out a flyer to him. And… the scumbag waved him away!! Couldn’t he see that a little 4 year old was mustering up his courage to do that?!

Surprisingly, he wasn’t daunted. He walked up to another parent and handed the flyer to him. (Somehow he preferred to give out to Daddies). The daddy smiled and took it from him and patted his head.

He turned to me and gave me the brightest smile ever and hopped in glee. Then he went on to give out another one. The daddy walked past him (he was too small) and didn’t see him, then suddenly realised that the little kid was trying to give him something. He turned back and took the flyer from 小小宝贝.

Meanwhile, 宝贝 also tried to give out her flyers after watching her brother do it. Only to be waved away as though she was a pesky fly. (These parents will get their just desserts!!! Will it kill just to take a piece of paper from a child?!)

Then the hub’s call came. OK. Time to leave.

And so, 小小宝贝 made 20 cents.

Everyone agreed to do it again the next week. 宝贝decided that she would give out at least 1 flyer the next time. 小小宝贝 was looking forward to it as he had first tasted the joy of making money!

Some friends widened their eyes and exclaimed, “Waa! Zun Bo!?” Well, it’s a way to teach them the value of money, that it’s not easy to make money and to only spend the hard-earned money on things that they need. It’s also a way to build up courage and approach people. I find that our children are too soft and too dependent on us, parents, to do everything for them. We need to let them do things on their own, do the tough things, albeit in a safe environment. And definitely, facing up to rejections. It’s not easy to take rejections, but I always believe that, with every rejection, we will just emerge stronger and build thicker skins!

Taking the first step is always the hardest. But once, the step is taken, the rest will follow. For 宝贝, if her 4 year old brother can do it, there shouldn’t be a reason why she can’t do it as well.

So if you happen to be around Parkway Parade on Saturday morning, do come over and say hi to us and give some words of encouragement to the 宝贝s!

If you want your children receive free flyer distribution lesson, you are welcome too! But you pay them their wages ok!!

 

 

 

Rainbow Fish Play

Rainbow Fish Play

I’ve always enjoyed children’s plays. You will be surprised to find that their standard is pretty high, with engaging storylines, colourful and innovative sets, wonderful acting and singing, well written original songs and local puns! Best of all, the tickets cost a fraction of what I’ve to pay for an adult’s play or performance. It doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg (2 arms and 2 legs, in fact) to bring the whole family there. The only drawback is, I’ve to book tickets way in advance. I hate watching plays from a lousy seat. Just a pet peeve of mine. ?

I’m very blessed to have children who enjoy them as much as I do, with minimal fidgeting. 

Right, back to my topic. Rainbow fish. Well, it’s based on a well-loved children’s book with beautiful illustrations on pride and selfishness. iTheatre managed to expand it into an enjoyable 40 mins musical. 


The sets are thoughtful and innovative. 


Colourful under the UV lights. And very fine puppetry work we have here. The actors did a wonderful job in bringing the puppet sea creatures to life with their expressive voices. There’s the proud and selfish rainbow fish, witty Big Violet, excitable Little Green, friendly Small Blue, sociable Tiny Stripes, motherly Starfish, villainous (but cowardly) French accented Hammerhead shark (who’s mad about sushi and sashimi) and wise old Octopus. 

My favourite character is the witty Big Violet which is both abrasive and eloquent. Heck! He even speaks Shakespearean! 

“Any fish by any other name will smell as fishy!”- Big Violet. 

So if you haven’t watched it, get the tickets now at Sistic! Check out their website


Our wefie ritual, while waiting for it to start!!

Trying to selfie with the stage but failing miserably. I need to buy a new selfie stick. The last one went kaput!!

Amped Trampoline Park – Bouncing Fun!

Amped Trampoline Park – Bouncing Fun!

I’ve been a “single mom” for the last 2 weekends. I was running out of ideas to bring the kids out to places where they can be tired out in the shortest possible time. (ko so that I can have an afternoon of peace). I was toying with the idea of going rock climbing but 小小宝贝 couldn’t take part in it as he’s too young. I vaguely remembered from Shimian’s blog that there’s a trampoline place in the east.

Easy peasey. Did a google on it and yes!!! They allow young children into the trampoline area as long as they are able to walk, under the supervision of a parent.

So Amped Trampoline Park it is! I tried to book slots online but wow! It was full on sat! This place is really popular! So I settled for Sun morning.

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And there’s free parking right beneath it!! Also a kopitiam on 1st floor. But it’s hard to starve in that area. It’s surrounded by good food.

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As instructed in the website we brought along socks. Socks are sold at $3 for forgetful people. I was tempted to buy a pair for myself. They are non slip socks. It’s hard to find non slip socks for preschoolers and adults.

The 2 宝贝s couldn’t wait to get started. It’s a chore to get 2 excited kids to pose beautifully. Sigh!

As soon as we went through the net, 宝贝 abandoned us and bounced around happily on her own…

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The next time I spotted her, she was drowning happily in the foam pit. I was so tempted to bounce around myself. But parental duties first. I had to shadow Mr 小小宝贝 around.

Initially he was upset that he couldn’t walk properly as everyone bounced around him and he lost his balance. He figured out that the easiest way to move around was to run along the adjoining blue strips. There he went!

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Then he got a little bolder and started venturing onto the black trampoline surfaces.

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Finally he couldn’t resist it and started jumping on it.

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There he was! Landing with finesse after a baby jump.

And surprise surprise! Guess who we met there! My brother!!

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His first time there too!!

I was conked out after 40 mins of running after 小小宝贝. Meanwhile I only saw flashes of 宝贝 hopping around. She sure has good stamina.

Conclusion : instant success! 宝贝 is already asking when I’m bringing here there again. And she wants to go with Jiu Jiu who can teach her tricks as he used to be a gymnast.

Proof of result :

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✌️Peace reigns! That’s why I’ve time to blog now!

We are 100% going again! Anyone wants to come along??!!

Amped Trampoline Park
369 Tanjong Katong Road, Singapore 437126
(Level 2, above the kopitiam
*Entrance is up the staircase at the back near the carpark
*Free parking at location
Tel: 8669 4894
Email: info@ampedsingapore.com
Website: www.ampedsingapore.com

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宝贝 a-messaging

宝贝 a-messaging

I wrote about 宝贝 learning words so that she could message all her friends (her friends’ parents, to be precise) and her favourite adults.

Well she has progressed to being able to carry a very simple conversation.

whatsapp messageNot the world’s top conversationalist, but adequate.  It’s actually pretty repetitive.  She can spell the high frequency words and she can guess the words from the question so if she can’t really spell the word, she copies the word from the question.  Or if she can’t remember the entire spelling of the whole word, she will hunt down the story book which has the word, just like one of our open book exams.  It’s really fun for her as she gets a response from the other party. She gets the kick out of it. So she’s Miss Eager Beaver for new words.  It’s better that she bugs me to teach her words, than for me to hound her to learn new words.

So far, her jiu jiu has been the most responsive person on whatsapp.  So he’s one of her favourite whatsapping friend right now!

As anti-gadget-for-children I am, it does make a very good learning tool when well utilised.

I’m visualising myself teaching her how to start a simple blog next year.  That should be quite fun. 🙂

(Disclaimer: the adult conversationalist has lousy grammar!)

Lopsided Giraffe

Lopsided Giraffe

After I bought one of these PlayMais sponge handicraft thingy for one of her friends’ birthday present, she’s been bugging us for one practically everyday.

My parents caved in and bought her one for Christmas. We finally “open sesame” the box last weekend to start work on it.

It’s a very good craft for preschoolers, except for the exorbitant price.

Here’s what it looks like. They have it in various themes. Hers is a safari one, complete with boards and props for the final assembly. (If we ever get there… )

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It’s filled with colourful foams. You cut them up into shapes according to the instruction booklet. And stick them together with water. Easy peasy!!

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Here’s 宝贝 trying to assemble her giraffe.

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The giraffe’s head and neck. The instruction booklet is in the background.

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The final product – a lopsided mutant giraffe. Fully produced by 宝贝, with minimal help from us. Not the handsomest giraffe but at least it’s standing on its 4 wobbly legs.

It took her the entire morning for this. No mean feat.

Spelling time!

Spelling time!

Wow! It’s been some time since I’ve posted. And it’s been quite a while since I last sat down to do some revision with 宝贝. I’m the English oic and it’s all been very adhoc. As a result, her Chinese has improved by leaps and bounds, thanks to my Mom’s religious drilling everyday. But her English standard has fallen behind.

Although she’s not allowed to play with the phone but every night she’s allowed to send 2 whatsapp messages to anyone, on the condition that she spells the message herself. She’s been doing this since she turned 3. So she’s been building up her vocabulary. From single words to short sentences consisting of 3-4 words.

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She loves to message her Jiu Jiu (uncle). He’s by far the most responsive “messager”. Messaging her father is like watching the message disappear into a black hole. But she still messages him quite often, hoping for his once in a while reply.

Today we started on very adhoc spelling. (I’m not sure if I can keep up. ?)

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Beading for a Friend

Beading for a Friend

Her beading interest started last year. I assembled a beading kit for her Christmas present. But we only do it for special occasions because she takes an awfully long time to complete one.

She’s come a long way from the day she started her first beading project. She’s learnt patterns in school this year and she’s been putting it to practice in her beading. I will still measure out the thread for her.

She plans her own patterns and colours without any prompting from me. She lays them nicely in a row before patiently threading them together.

Her birthday present for her friend. She spent the whole Sunday morning fashioning this. Matching bracelet and necklace. Good enough to sell… Haha… Evil mom thinking of ways to make her daughter pay for her own expenses. Maybe she can make enough to fund her own tertiery education??? Taking orders! :p

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Sunday Morning Snapshot – Puzzle Time

Sunday Morning Snapshot – Puzzle Time

We found an old box of puzzle. 54 pieces. 宝贝’s been pretty pro at assembling the 20 pcs jigsaw puzzles. I’ve been meaning to buy more complicated ones when I’ve the time. So, as you may have guessed, time is never enough. This box was from Auntie Evelyn.

宝贝 assembled it all by herself. That means I’ve to go and find an even more “chim” one for her…

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From sitting upright, posing with the floor puzzle to….

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She claimed she’s all tired out from the intensive puzzle assembling. ? sigh…. Strawberry generation. ?

Sunday Morning Snapshot – Calligraphy

Sunday Morning Snapshot – Calligraphy

We woke up to a cool Sunday morning. Dashed was our morning swimming plan. Alternatively, 宝贝 practised her calligraphy. Looked more like drawing to me though.

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A very serious calligrapher she was.

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My mom has been practising with her on this word for a long time. Can you make out what it is? Her surname – 梁. A lot of room for improvement.

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She’s better with her ABCs.

Next year she’s supposed to be able to write her full Chinese name. She’ll need lots of practice. Thanks to her sadistic parents.