Birthday treat at Singapore Zoo

It is free admission to all birthday boys and girls at the Singapore Zoo regardless of ages! We've tested it yesterday on my husband's birthday and it was a great fun for us! On top of the free admission, he got a free scoop of ice-cream and enjoyed 10% discount on all the retail and F&B stores, it was really a good treat from the Singapore Zoo!
As everyone knows, there are lots of fun in the Zoo, a little planning might make your day an even more enjoyable one!
Things to note:
1) Bring your stroller or pram, your little one might be too tired to walk the park with you. Although stroller, scooter and wagon can be rented there, the prices are not cheap. Even if you have bought the tram ticket, certain places still require walking, thus a stroller (umbrella stroller is highly recommended) is a must.
2) Bring your snacks. Cheers minimart is just located at the entrance of the zoo and there're quite a few vending machines and shops in the Zoo, however do note the price of the snacks are more than double the price you get from stores outside. I would suggest you to bring your own snacks for your little ones, but you can have your lunch in the Zoo, although the foods (including KFC) are also more expensive than the market price, is ok to pay a little more to avoid the trouble of preparing the food, isn't it?
3) Go in the morning. Many shows are started in the morning, it'll be good if you can catch the shows in the morning, and slowly explore the parks after lunch. If you go in the afternoon, the afternoon sun could kill off your interest and it'll be a little stress to make sure you're on time for all the shows.
4) Study the map and programs. Take some time to study the map and programs, plan your trip before you start walking around. A proper planning can avoid wasting too much of your energy walking around finding the right place.
5) Is ok to miss one or two shows. Many of us are aiming to catch all the great shows in Zoo, but it is really ok if you've missed one. Do not plan your itinerary too packed, choose the ones that you are most interested in.
6) Arrive at least 5 min before the show start, or else you'll not be able to get a seat.
5) Buy your ticket online. If you're not getting any special deals, you may consider buying the tickets through Singapore Zoo website, as the queue at the ticketing booth can really be long.

Information corner:
Opening Hours
8.30am to 6.00pm daily
(Last ticket sale at 5.30pm)

Adult S$20.00
Child (3 to 12 years old) S$13.00*
All prices include 7% GST
Prices quoted are subject to change

* Admission for child below 3 years old is free.

For other information, see their website here.

Picture time:
Let's study the map first.....
Chloe get to see the real hippo! She was pretty scared of it.....

Chloe touched the fish curiously






The Asian elephants show
Sealion show at Splash Safari

Penguin!

There're many other animals that we enjoyed while riding the tram, we walk the path and see a few animals selectively. We'll definitely go to the Zoo again, probably will be on someone's birthday :)

Resource: Pictures of objects start with letters A to Z

This post will be continuously updated till letter Z. The pictures are to be used for the teaching of A - Z phonics. You may download it and use it for your home teaching.

Letter A:


Letter B:


Letter C:


Letter D:


Letter E:


Letter F:


Letter G:


Letter H:


Letter I:


Letter J:


Letter K:


Letter L:


Letter M:


Letter N:


Letter O:


Letter P:


Letter Q:


Letter R:


Letter S:


Letter T:


Letter U:

Letter V:

Letter W:

Letter X:
As there are just a few objects begin with X, you may use "box" and "fox" to teach the sound of X.

Letter Y:

Letter Z:

Guidelines on using the pictures:
1) Cut the pictures out and put them into an envelope
2) Kid takes the pictures from the envelope one by one and name it before pasting on a piece of paper.
3) Spell and read the words before labeling the picture

Refer to my Fun Classes for example.

Fun Class - H for Horse!

The material for the craft today:

Chloe asked me what is the stick for, I told her I'll beat her by using that if she's not behaving herself, she then said "mummy don't beat Chloe"...haha!

I had changed the sequence of the lesson, as the craft need time to dry after painting, I let her start the craft after the greeting song.
I told her we are learning H for "horse". Instead of listening to the phonics and etc, I let her colour the craft and put it aside for drying.

After she painted the craft, I let her listen to the phonics sound of letter "H". I then took out the A4 paper with letter "H" printed on it and let her trace the letter.

I let her pick up the pictures from a bag and paste them on the A4 paper. She would pick up the pictures one by one and tell me the name before pasting it on the paper.

(this paper will be used in the next lesson where she'll label the picture)

I then prompt her to spell out the word "horse".

She would spell the word and read the word, you may see the following video:


As the craft was coloured by brush paint, it took a longer time to dry, I let her colour the phonics sheet to kill off the waiting time.


After the craft is dried, just paste the 2 'heads' of the horse up with the paper stick in the middle. You may let your kid play with it while singing the closing song Banbury Cross.


Chloe enjoyed herself in the class, after saying "thank you" and giving me a kiss, she galloped away with her "horse" to the living hall to show off her new toy to her brother.

The lesson plan:
1) Greeting Song, click here
2) Tell the kid we are learning H for "Horse"
3) Brush paint the craft, put it aside to dry
4) Introduce phonics of H, sing phonics song of H
5) Let the kid paste the pictures of objects starting with H
6) Prompting, spell out "horse" and read the word
7) Colour the phonics sheet (optional)
8) Summary
9) Closing song

Development age: 2 years 7 mths

Your Baby Can Read DVD

Chloe has been watching this DVD since she was 5 months old, she reduced watching it after turning one year old. The reason of me introducing this series of DVD to her was to make her sit still while I was feeding her, as it catches her attention. Frankly, she did not sign the words like what Aleka did in the DVD, but still I believe she had picked up those basic words, but not showing she knows.
After she turned one year old, I let her expose to other DVDs which were more fun to her. And recently I started letting my 9 month son to watch this YBCR DVD and my girl got the chance to revisit it.
First of all, this is really a good DVD for babies. When I　first watched the DVD, I was thinking can the babies pick up those words as the words were flashing on the screen very quickly, but after letting both my kids watched it, the answer is yes. When Chloe watched it as a baby, she knew what's the next word or picture coming after seeing the word. Now my son, after watching the DVD for a few times, he will hold his arms up when he sees and hears "arms up". Another benefit of this DVD to me is, it can make my son sit down and have his porridge while watching it!
Now, Chloe is 2.5 years old, this DVD no longer captures her attention like what it did when she was a baby. However, when she watches the DVD with her brother, she tends to spell out the words and read the word, she is no longer in the memorizing stage but into the spelling stage.

Fun Class: G for Goat!

This was the second lesson of letter "G", the first lesson was on "grapes". I normally give her 2 lessons on a letter and one lesson per week.
After Greeting Song, I let her label the pictures on letter "G". I let her take the pictures from a bag and paste on the letter paper in the first lesson, and let her label the pictures in second lesson.

She would spell out the word and pronounce it before pasting the label.
I let her listen to phonics song on letter "G", as I had downloaded all the phonics songs into my IPhone, she had been listening to the songs and quite familiar with the songs.
I told her we are learning G for Goat that day, and prompted her for the word:

The arts craft for this lesson was a puppet story on the 3 billy goats, a pretty fun story for her. First, she coloured the puppets of billy goats and troll (a new word she learned).

For younger toddler, do not expect them to colour all the items nicely themselves, some help would be needed and I would help her to touch up the colouring.

Note: do buy those crayons which are soft and easy to colour, as young toddlers are still learning the hands grasping skill, they would not like those hard crayons or colour pencil. I bought my crayons from Daiso at $2 only.
Here is the finished product:

After the puppets were done, I used it to tell her the story of "3 Billy Goats and a Troll", the story given by Jann was a bit too long, I did not follow it but tell my own story. Generally it was about the 3 goats trying to cross the bridge where the stroll was living under. Put a little exaggerated expression while telling the story and you should get a very good result :)
As usual, we sang the closing song, and Chloe gave me a hug and said "thank you mummy!" to end the lesson.

The lesson plan:
1) Greeting Song, click here
2) Introduce phonics of G, sing phonics song of G
3) Let the kids label the pictures of objects starting with G done in previous lesson
4) Prompting
5) Tell the kid today we're learning G for Goat
6) Art craft on the goats and troll puppet
7) Summary
8) Closing song

Zoo-phonics, from Zoo Toddler to Zoo Kid

Chloe joined Zoo Toddler class of Zoo-phonics since April this year. See my verdict on Zoo-phonics here.
Zoo Toddler is an one hour enrichment class once a week, which she attended every Saturday. Last month, the admin of Zoo-phonics asked if we would like to upgrade Chloe to Zoo Kids programme, which is also an one hour enrichment class once a week but without parent assistance, which means she'll have to attend the class herself. As Chloe is not attending nursery school yet, we take this chance to train up her independence.
She seems to like the class and willing to go to school every Saturday morning, but she is still crying before entering the class even after the 3rd lesson. I'm not too worry about this as the teacher told me she has been adapting well in the class, and she has been showing me smiley face whenever I fetch her back home. One thing I like Zoo-phonics Serangoon Branch very much is that they're very professional and I can really entrust them with my girl.
Last week, she brought back a revision book from the school, I must said this class is more academic than her previous toddler class, where she was just singing songs and having fun in the class. Here are a few pages from the book:




The teacher did told me that Chloe was not participating in class, a lot of her works were assisted by the teacher, but I'm not worry about it, I think she's progressing well.

Update on 29 Nov 2011:
Chloe has adapted well in the Zoo Kid class. She likes the teacher and school very much that she'll wake up early every Saturday and the moment she wakes up she'll request to go to school.
Chloe will be promoted to Inny Inchworm Class next year January. This class is for those 4 years old kids but Chloe will only be 3 years old in March 2012. She'll be trained to write alphabets and numbers in the class. I shall update on her progress after she attended the lesson next year.

Update in 2012:
Chloe did not join Inny Inchworm Class as I've withdrawn her after she started nursery school at Carpe Diem.