Traditional Chinese Bean Art Workshop

I arrived with no preparation. In fact, I almost forgot that we had the workshop and was heading for lunch at OC until we reached the exit to CTE! Blimey! Thank God  we didn't waste $12! We quickly used our mental navigation system and drove our way to the Esplanade for the workshop. Neat. In time for a quick lunch at "Kopi-O" and then I whisked En Bi off to the workshop while PapaKim hung around the Esplanade with Seo Yeon.

Sidewhisper: Kopi-O food wasn't really fantastic, if you know what I mean. My tea was too sweet, the chicken in the chicken curry noodle was a bit tough (cooked separately and not in the curry). But, given that it most likely is serving the cheapest valued meal at the Esplanade, I guess it's a good quick-fix solution for those who want a fuss-free local fare (before the Esplanade's Makansutra Gluttons Bay opens).


We made our way to the Rehearsal Studio (up from the Theatre Studio and up another 4 flights of stairs) for the Parent-Child Workshop: Chinese New Year Bean Art 亲子学习坊: 农历新年豆豆艺术班 (an Esplanade Presents programme) held during this Chinese Festival of Arts from February 4 - 13, 2011.

I didn't tell En Bi that Estelle and Kimi would be joining us in this workshop too. In fact, she didn't get any briefing from me until we left PapaKim to make our way to the Studio. Just didn't want her to get too excited about seeing her friends and lose her focus. Estelle was already there waiting with her Papa. Paid our dues and waited for Kimi and his Mama to arrive. That handsome boy turned up in his cool sunglasses and swept me off my feet! I don't know about those 2 girls, but I was very happy to see him. Hee!

The workshop started about 10 minutes after 2.30 p.m. as we were waiting for others to turn up. The children chose their seats and started to settle in. They were all very curious about what those beans on the table were for.

When the facilitator begun the workshop and showed us some examples of Traditional Chinese Bean Art, it seemed difficult to me.

The facilitator continued to explain to the group of about 6 children (accompanied by 1 parent each) that Traditional Chinese Bean Art is different from Western-style Bean Art mainly in the way the beans are used to form a picture. Bean Art (Western-styled) creates pictures in the same style as mosaics whereas in Traditional Chinese Bean Art, the beans are individually qualified to, for example, be a watermelon as opposed to just being "part" of a watermelon. I think pictorial illustration is always the best. Don't need me to explain excessively. I searched the internet and found the 2 images below that I think pretty clearly shows the difference.

After a brief outline from the facilitator, we started working on our beans. I was supposed to do one too. Eeks. The facilitators were constantly watching our progress and were very ready to give us further explanation and guidance on how we could do our art pieces.

The steps were simple:
1) Use recycled cardboard boxes for the base frame.
2) Recycle magazines by creating the background of your artwork with it.
3) Plan the bean's "layout".
4) Apply glue and stick those beans on!

What I learnt from this workshop:
- Where the Rehearsal Studio at the Esplanade was;
- 6 types of beans are enough to make an Bean Art artpiece;
- Bean Art is a very simple and engaging activity for children;
- Handling beans trains motor skills;
- Develops our eye for detail when we have to pick a bean of the best relevant size and shape.

A great deal at $5/person!

Art Boot Camp - Flowers! Flowers! Flowers!

Ta Da! Presenting En Bi's inaugural painting! I decided to enrol En Bi for a holiday art program at Art Boot Camp just simply because Cat passed me the brochure when we were at Turf  City. It  was simple for me, I was looking for a holiday program and wanted En Bi to try Art, and that was my answer!

En Bi was excited when she knew that she was going to paint. However, she got a little hesitant when we were at Art Boot Camp and she was holding on to my hand and telling me not to go. But as soon as her hands got hold of a paintbrush, voila! Mommy seemed to have become non-existent.

At the end of the 3-day "Flowers! Flowers! Flowers!" workshop, she was proud to present me with:
- 2 beautifully hand-decorated flowerpots;
- Handmade "Butterfly" and "Ant" made of foam;
- Photoframe painted and decoated with a Butterfly;
- A painting of Flowers and Trees!

I love those works of art that my daughter made. You might say it could also be replicated at home, but I guess, I excuse myself from doing it because I'm neither too creative nor artistic, plus, I really like her to be placed in a classroom environment even during the holidays to keep the momentum going.

 

My 1st Book Depository Purchase

Just had to blog about this. For the longest time I have been buying books from amazon.com. Heard about Book Depository and finally got down to buying some books from them. Finally received the delivery today. "Royal Mail", Woo hoo!
These are the titles I bought:
- "The Grouchy Ladybug" by Eric Carle
  (one of the books used during Seo Yeon's Zoophonics Holiday Program);
- "I Wonder Why - Caterpillars Eat So Much" (inspired by Sharon's new encyclopaedia);
- "The Magic School Bus - Inside the Human Body".

Now, to read them to my beautiful 2 littles Missies. Yay!

At Zoophonics Too

En Bi also went for Zoophonics Holiday Workshop for a week. Hers was a drop-off in the late morning. Teacher D was sick for 2 days and so Seo Yeon's teacher, Teacher LJ, took the class on Wednesday & Thursday. En Bi enjoyed Teacher D's fun-loving teaching as she was always telling me what Teacher D taught her today.

On her first day after the workshop, she recited the colours of the rainbow to me. In fact, previously, she could already recite the colours of the rainbow, just missing out "indigo". This time, she could recite fully the all 7 colours of the rainbow. My mother was impressed! Haha. En Bi went on to tell me excitedly about the shadows that the her friends and her cast during the workshop. Sounded fun!

The second day, she presented me with 2  words, "chlorophyll" and "photosynthesis". Woohoo! Now, not only were the words impressive to me (coming from a 3YO), the articulation was also good! The only thing was, she was not able to explain what these words were clearly. All I heard was "long.....you know.... the grass...". Absolutely hilarious!

On the last day, she brought back a "skunk" folder containing the week's worth of craft and worksheets. I definitely think she enjoyed the workshop as she kept talking about going back to Zoophonics!



Verdict: Definitely going back!

Panda Bear & Binoculars

Day 2 at Zoophonics Holiday Workshop went on fabulous too! "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?" was the book of the day. Seo Yeon had great fun doing the craft work which consisted of making a pair of binoculars and decorating a picture of a Panda bear.

There was a cute Panda bear on the loose on the work tables just before snack time. The kids 'fed' the Panda bear with bamboo leaves while it 'walked' around with the assistance of batteries. Haha! The kids really enjoyed this part!

Teacher LJ then dished out some Panda biscuits (those with cream filling inside) just to reiterate the 'Panda' theme for the day. Cool idea!

Pancakes, Pancakes!

Day 1 of Zoophonics Holiday Program (titled "My World of Eric Carle") for  Seo Yeon and we started on "Pancakes, Pancakes!" by Eric Carle. Following is synopsis of this book, written in 1970.

Jack wants some pancakes, but first he must gather eggs from the chickens, wheat from the farmer, flour from the miller, milk from the cow, etc. His mother shows him how to cook and flip them, and hungry Jack knows what to do with them next.

Together with 4 other friends in the class, Seo Yeon carried out activities for the 1.5 hour session related to "Pancakes, Pancakes!". Teacher LJ read the children the story and taught them some words like "pancake", "toss", "fork", "spoon", just to name a few, from the storybook. She had each child repeat the word after her.

We did the actions for "toss", "cutting" wheat with a sickle, gathering "twigs" for the fire, sifting the "flour", and mixing the flour and water together. Finally, Teacher LJ went to cook the batter and came back with real pancakes for the toddlers to eat!

A good start to the 5-day workshop even though Seo Yeon wandered around the room a fair bit when there was not much "hands-on" activities. Looking forward to tomorrow already!

Gingerbread Workshop & PD

Another challenging day. The papa flew off last night, leaving me with the kids for the next 10 days. Yesterday was pretty much challenging because I had to send En Bi for the Gingerbreadman Workshop by Act 3 by 10:30am then rush down all the way from Cairnhill to Tampines to bring Seo Yeon to see the PD before the clinic closes at 12:00pm.

Everyone was doubtful that I'd be back in time by 12:25pm to join in the workshop debrief and fetch En Bi. Thank God that I found a lot in the crowded parking area of that particular Tampines marketplace within 15mins of circling. Luckily I managed to grab a quick bite before seeing the PD and heading back to Cairnhill to fetch En Bi.

Seo Yeon was declared as being down with cough and cold. Phew! I was so worried the day before when Ah Ma and Mom said that she was feverish because there were no symptoms, which dangerously meant that it could most likely be her VUR... It's really quite ridiculous but I was quite relieved that I heard her cough even though she was so feverish in the middle of the night. Because it meant that it's most likely that she has a simple case of cough/cold!

Anyway, En Bi was very happy with the workshop (April said that she observed En Bi was very independant and acting out all the details) and said that she wanted to go again. Great! This means that I've not booked the March workshop for her in vain. *evil laughter*

And we all went tumbling home to spend a peaceful Sunday at home.