Addition and Subtraction

It was before the school holidays that Wayne had to sit for a test in school. Usually I would set some questions and test him.

Here's the questions I set for him

He was doing it, telling me it's easy but along the way, he wrote many numbers with mirror images. When it came to the last part: addition and subtraction, he was too lazy to think and told me he didn't want to do.


So, I thought for a moment and said, " Wayne, let's play a game." He was SO excited and kept asking: "What game, mummy?" Instantly, I knew my move was a right one.

I cut the questions into strips (see following picture), folded the strips and put them all in a hand made bag. I told Wayne to compete with Nyn and my maid. It was like a lucky draw where Wayne had to draw one strip, look at the question and solve the equation. His eyes were sparkling when he managed to solve the equation. Then, when it was Nyn and my maid's turn, Nyn would draw, read and my maid "tried very hard" to solve and pretended that she cannot. She then asked Wayne to help and my "helpful" boy willingly helped his "kakak".

The strips of equations

Strips folded and put in a bag

Mission accomplished. After the test, I was very sure that he had no problems with his addition and subtraction. A little worried that he would expect a "game" during the test, I told him that we can only have games at home but during test, he had to sit still throughout. He nodded.


The result of the test? GOOD! He came back with 100%.

Fun With Personalized Early Reading Kit

“Fun” is how I would describe our week.

No outings.

No movies.

No playing in the playground.

No shopping.

No buffet either.

We were home, reading and learning with some personalized learning products!

It was amazing looking at my children enjoying themselves with the activities I have set up for them using the learning products and I would love to share them with you.

This early reading kit consists of a set of labels, a set of flash cards, two books and a writing pad. The children were so excited when they saw Nyn’s (my daughter’s) photo and name appear in the books and cards.

We first had fun in a so called “treasure hunt”. The children were given a label each and they had to look for the object stated in the label and stick the labels to the objects. Then they were made to spell and pronounce the words.

Sticking labels to objects

Next, we brought Nyn for a tour with Karl (my eldest son) as the tour guide and Wayne (my middle child) as the assistant. Karl would ask Wayne to read each word in the label and have Nyn to repeat after him. Karl learned how to teach while the two little ones learned how to read and associate words with objects.

Showing Nyn the labels and letting her associate words with objects

Now, Nyn would go “M.O.M, MOM” and "D.A.D, DAD" each time she sees our computers. She never knew how to read or spell these two words prior to this. How cool is that?

Can't be sticking these labels on our foreheads, right? So, we we stick these two labels on things which belong to us - our computers!

Next, we played the “matching game” where we match the flash cards to the labels. Nyn was assigned to do this and she was beaming with pride every time she made a perfect match!

The flash cards

The children were excited about the books as well. They kept handing me the book and asked that I read to them.

The Books

Book - Level One uses simple sentences which are repetitive. The highlighted words are the same words that appear on the labels and the flash cards. Book – Level Two uses more complicated and personalized sentences with the same highlighted words as Book – Level One. These books had become our bedtime story books replacing all other books at the moment.

I can't tell you how happy I was when I found this learning kit. Prior to this, I was thinking about making my own book, using my children's names and photos and that would mean a lot of effort and time on my part. So, when I found this, I was smiling and grinning!

Comparison of sentences in Book - Level One (Left) and Book - Level Two (Right)

The writing pad is a good mean to introduce writing to the children. Children would be able to see that writing can convey messages besides speech. Although I have not used this, I am pretty sure that my children would love this writing pad.

Writing Pad

What I love about this learning kit is the repetition which enhances children’s learning ability as well as the personal touch where the children can associate objects in their house which they see everyday to the words printed. For me, I had fun selecting the words and taking photos that match the words and most of all, seeing my children enjoy learning!

Education doesn’t only mean classroom teaching and text book learning. Sometimes, informal and fun learning can have very good effects too. Fun learning makes children happy and happy children learn best. See Me Read Learning Kit is a fantastic tool to bring out the fun element in learning. For just USD79.99, you can have the complete set of personalized kit like mine.

Learning Chinese

Teaching Chinese is never an easy task for parents who speak English at home with their children. With the help of these tools, I manage to turn the phrase: “I don’t like Chinese.” To “Mummy, I want to learn Chinese today.”

This set of Chinese books has the same concept as “Peter and Jane” where words are being repeated to enhance the vocabulary. The books come with flash cards and an optional CD (good for parents who do not know Chinese).

These books are categorized into several series:

First 100 words – 8 books

Second 100 words – 8 books

Third 100 words – 4 books

Forth 100 words – 4 books

Fifth 100 words – 2 books

Sixth 100 words – 2 books

Seventh 100 words – 2 books

Eighth 100 words – 2 books

What I normally do is to go through the books once with my son and teach him the new words using “han yu pin yin” (pronunciation of the word using English alphabets). Then, I would have him read to me again covering the “han yu pin yin”. What I notice in many children is the ability to memorize words. They can read to you the whole page without even looking at the book! When that happened, we know that they can’t recognize words.

So, the flash cards come in handy to help or test the children to recognize words. There are several fun ways to use the flash cards. All we need is a little creativity to turn learning into games.

Check out fun ways to use flash cards in my upcoming posts.

Wordless Wednesday - Teach Chinese With These

Look out for my next post on how I use these.

Learn Phonics And Blends With Magic Ring

If you are cracking your head, thinking of how to make your children learn and remember their “suku kata” (Malay phonics and blends), why not take a look at what I did with my children and see whether it gives you an idea or two.

For those who are wondering what MAGIC RING is, it’s actually a name of a game I have thought of for my children to learn their “suku kata” (Malay phonics and blends) in a fun way.

It’s actually very simple. First of all, you will need a piece of paper to write down whatever blends that you want your children to learn. (See picture)

Then, you need a Magic Ring. Use a binding tape or masking tape or whatever ring like thing that you can find. (See picture)

Let’s start the game:

“Magic ring, magic ring, show me BU”

The magic ring will move towards BU and land on top of it. (See picture 2)

Demonstrate one or two times and let your child be the Magic Ring.

Have fun!

PS: This method can be used to teach numbers or blends in English too.

Learning Adjectives

The Malay Language that the children learn in school today is not as easy as what we learnt many years ago. Although it is more similar to English compared to Chinese as in the Malay words are formed using alphabets rather than strokes, it is not as simple when it comes to grammar, especially verbs.

My friend has been telling me to watch out and so, I try to put in some extra effort to teach my son this “feared and disliked by many” language.

One day, my friend and I decided to teach our children (both of the same age) adjectives. I printed some pictures and words (adjectives) and placed all of them on the table. We started the MATCHING GAME.

“Which adjectives can best describe this picture?” I started and allowed the children to pick up words (adjectives) that describe the picture. At times, I had to give them some clues. One by one the adjectives were matched and eventually the game was over.

Then, we started another session – THE STORY CREATING GAME.

We told the children that we would create a silly story out of these pictures and the rule was to use the adjectives learnt and each one would make one to two sentences and stop while the next person would continue the story from there.

Boy, we had a good laugh! The children CAN create silly stories.

We then proceeded to – THE STATUE DANCE.

I made the children walk in a big circle and when I say stop, I would shout out an adjective. Each one of them would then make a sentence with that adjective. After making a sentence, they have to walk again and the game continues. What the children like about this game is the suspense of when to stop and what adjective is given.

With this, we ended the session hoping that the children would remember their adjectives by recalling the activities they have enjoyed.

Learn About Baby Animals Through Songs

Do you know that a baby fish is called a fry? How many baby animals does your child know? How about a fun way to introduce the names of baby animals to your children? I used this during one of our playgroup sessions.


Do you know the song "The Wheels On The Bus" which goes:

The wheels on the bus go round and round
round and round
round and round
The wheels on the bus go round and round
all through the town


Nyn loves this song. So, I changed the lyrics to:

The calf on the farm goes moo moo moo
moo moo moo
moo moo moo
The calf on the farm goes moo moo moo
all day long


Then add other baby animals on the farm such as:

kid - baby goat
piglet - baby pig
chick - baby chicken
lamb - baby sheep
duckling - baby duck
puppy - baby dog
kitten - baby cat
foal - baby horse


You may also try baby animals in the jungle such as:

tiger cub - baby tiger
lion cub - baby lion
owlet - baby owl


If you do not know this song, don't worry, you can always use "Old MacDonald Has A Farm".


To make it more fun, use finger puppets, soft toy or pictures of baby animals and let them dance to the music.


Have fun, everybody!