Rise & Shine Live Great Carnival 2014 + GIVEAWAY!

Rise & Shine Live Great Carnival is back! 

In celebration of the International Year of the Family (IYF), Rise & Shine is proud to present the largest breakfast carnival in Singapore. 

:: What is it about?

Rise & Shine Live Great Carnival is breakfast carnival which celebrates family moments through bonding time and fun activities that are targeted at children of all ages. This year, the organiser is also attempting to break the Singapore Book of Records, for the largest number of families making sandwiches together. Guest-of-honor Minister, Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ms Grace Fu will also officiate and join 2,000 families at the carnival.

:: Where is it?

Held at The Lawn@Marina Bay, this one day event will brighten everyone’s holiday morning with exciting line-up of kids and family performances and activities.

:: What can we expect / do there?

LOADS! Fun-filled activities that children can look forward to include mini sports trial (soccer, floorball, tennis), bike circuit race, bouncy castle, obstacle course, road safety park, etc. Here's the activities highlight:

• Kids bike circuit by The Little Bike Shop
• Rugby, Soccer, Basketball sports try out by Ready Steady Go Kids
• Bouncy Castle
• Obstacle Course by JELIC Brain Power Train
• Road Safety Park by Volkswagen
• Disney Activity Booth by Disney
• Foam Party by Port of Lost Wonder
• Meet & Greet with mascots
• Cupcake decorating by The Icing Room
• Balloon sculpting
• Egg Hunting around The Lawn by Sanofi
• Face painting

We are definitely looking forward to participating in some of the activities! Now that we have got you excited, here's the event details! :)

:: When is it?

Date: 14 June 2014

Time: 8.00am to 12.30pm

Tickets are on early bird rate now at SGD13 per adult that includes a SGD20 worth of Nutella Breakfast Kit. In addition, first 1,000 sign ups will receive a Rise & Shine limited edition goodie bag worth SGD50. Tickets purchase can be made at www.carnival.riseandshine-expo.com. Early bird registration closes on 13^th June, 12pm.

On site registration is welcomed, ticket prices at SGD16.

Best of all: admission for this event is free for all children below 12 years.

I have 3 pairs of tickets to giveaway! Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Disclaimer: No monetary compensation was received for this post but the family is invited for the event to try out the various activities. Please do not give me the *evil eye* when you see me hogging the Disney booth as I try to relive my 2nd childhood. :)

If you have enjoyed this post, please follow me on my Facebook Page where I share my parenting thoughts, food photos (be prepared for tons of them!), early shout outs for giveaways and interact with you, my readers! You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram! 

Rise and Shine Expo: Workshop Giveaway!

It has been more than half a year since I took up a breakfast challenge ~ preparing healthy breakfast for Dumpling. This challenge was prompted by being an ambassador for Rise and Shine which is focused on raising a happy and healthy child. 

More than that, Rise and Shine will be running a 3-day expo at Suntec Convention Centre, Hall 401 from 27 - 29 September. 

The event promises to be fun filled with activities such as "Meet your favourite Nickelodeon characters", gym / art classes for your children and... insightful tips with Parenting Talks! This is where it gets exciting! 

I am sure the name Dr. William Sears rings a bell? Dr. William Penton Sears is an American pediatrician and the author or co-author of more than 40 parenting books. 

I am excited to share that I have 5 pairs of passes worth a total of $200 to one of his talks to give away! And not only that, it is to a track that I am very keen to attend and learn from too! 

:: Details

Topic: The Successful Child: What parents can do to help kids turn out well!  

Synopsis: This workshop will touch on everything you need to know about discipline to raise a happy, well-adjusted and well-behaved child. Disciplining children means equipping them with the tools to succeed in life. Dr. Sears will explain what you can do to shape your child’s behavior so that good conduct comes naturally. With a focus not just on managing behavior problems but also on preventing them, this workshop will offer clear, practical advice on a broad range of disciplinary issues, including: mother’s role vs. father’s role, developing the connection with your baby that will make discipline easier in years to come, saying no, taming temper tantrums, self-esteem as the foundation of good behavior and etc.

This workshop will make you confident in your ability to correct undesirable behavior, to promote good behavior, and to instill the values that will help your child.

This workshop is suitable for parents with kids from 2 years and above

Date: 29 September, Sunday
Time: 4 - 5.30pm
Venue: Room 300

a Rafflecopter giveaway

IMPORTANT: PLEASE LEAVE YOUR NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS SO THAT WE CAN CONTACT IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE WINNERS! GOOD LUCK! 

Should you be keen to purchase tickets for the workshop, here are the existing promotions to share:

Group Booking: Purchase 3 or more tickets and enjoy 50% off!

Passion Card Holders: Buy 1 ticket and your partner gets in free! 

Foodie Friday - Han Yu Pin Yin Sandwich?

Alright. I have to admit that I am having F.U.N creating all these open face sandwich for Dumpling's morning bento. To me the slices are not unlike a blank canvas where I can create where my inspiration takes me each morning.

There are days that I use jam to include some colours but I do love using seaweed, cheese and ham to create "scenes"! To make it fun for both Dumpling and I, I have recently gone into adding Han Yu Pin Yin to her open face sandwich! I have purposely left out the "accent" mark/stroke on the "vowels" as this is a game Dumpling and I are doing to increase her sensitivity to the different intonation and she has to tell me what tonation it is for each word. :) How's that for edible learning? :p

Foodie Fridays! 一片面包闯天下！

I happily proclaim that as part of my 10min breakfast challenge, I have successfully made the transition to wholemeal bread with Dumpling!

How did we do it? 3 ways!

1) Milo Kor-song (hot chocolate drink)
We started off with giving her some time to get used to the texture by treating it first as 'soft' food - dipping it in diluted Milo Kor-song! (Without added sugar)

2) Mix of white and brown
When I first added added it to her bento box, we used a mix of white and brown in the first week: that is when I made mini sandwiches, white bread goes on top while the brown bread will be the bottom slice

3) Butter / margarine
The last trick was that I added a bit of butter / margarine so that the texture is smoother and the bread, less dry :) (If your kiddos like veggies in their sandwiches, you can add that too as that gives the bread moisture)

And of course, having fun designs like these help (her mystery bento boxes are apparently a topic amongst her friends in her daily Chinese class)

真是不错吧！这就是我的密方： 一片面包闯天下！

Rise and Shine Carnival!

Being a partner blogger and an ambassador for Rise and Shine, I am very pleased to share a family carnival happening this Sun!

I have always wanted for Dumpling to try her hand at other sports to improve her hand-eye coordination and motor skills! If you are the same - there's soccer and mini-golf for your kiddos to try out! Or perhaps you want your little ones to have a go at something a tad different - how do you feel about letting your kids try their hands at fencing or wushu? There's also Art and Craft to let your child explore his/her creative side.

While you are there, get a family photo taken at the family photo booth. Or you can even get your face painted together with your child!

Beanie N Us has 3 pairs of tickets (kids below 12 go in for free) to give away where you can participate in all of these! Here's how you can participate!

1) Please show your support by clicking 'like' on my FB page and on Rise and Shine FB page

2) Leave a comment below on which activity you like to try at the carnival!

3) Leave your name and email address so that I can contact you for your personal details (The good folks at Rise and Shine need it to admit entry)
(Contest closes in 48 hours on Wed, 12nn GMT +8)

Good luck!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CONTEST CLOSED ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CONGRATS TO:
1) Carol
2) Yanti &
3) Geraldine

Foodie Fridays - 10mins breakfast: Pancakes & Eggs!

Having survived the first two weeks of breakfast prep challenge, I am pleased to say that I am slowly getting the hang of preparing breakfast in the morning. My body seems to have been accustomed to getting up at the said time. :p

The focus is still very much on creating easy, quick and yummy breakfast snack boxes and I usually alternate between Asian / Western and between savoury and sweet items.

Here's 2 quick ideas to share!

1) Scrambled eggs with ham sandwiches

The mini sandwiches are moulded into flower shapes with flower moulds and stamped thereafter with the stamps below. I bought them from this Facebook shop. 

2) Star shaped pancakes!

The star mould for the pancakes are from Daiso :)

What have you been packing for your children this week? I hope that you have as much fun as I did! 

Rise & Shine - A breakfast challenge for Moi!

I am pleased to share that Beanie N Us is proud to be part of a breakfast campaign and one of the Ambassadors and Partner Bloggers of Rise & Shine.  Rise & Shine is a community initiative started by a group of mothers and four Nanyang Technological University students. The mission of this initiative is to provide parents and educators alike an opportunity to learn, share and identify holistic approaches in raising healthier and happier children.

What was interesting for me was to see these data which the NTU students put together when they conducted a primary research with 363 parents of primary school students in Singapore. Here's what they found! 

As a mum, the scary part of the statistics for me is that 1 in 3 children skips breakfast and that 46% said that there is not enough time to eat. Whoa!!!!! *Alarm bells sounding off here* It is scary to me because I can only imagine how hungry the child would be waiting all the way till recess for a chance before he/she can finally have a bite!  

 

The NTU students have come up with some interesting outreach activities as part of this Breakfast Campaign. For those who wish to find out more and educate your child on the importance of breakfast and healthy breakfast options and choices (important for children to know as they will be buying their own meals during recess!), the team puts up educational information and does story telling sessions at various shopping malls and libraries using an interesting story - Daniel and his Mystery Friends, which introduces Breakfast Friends.

For parents who are looking for ideas, the team also provides cooking demos too!
Here's where you can view the schedules.

 
Additionally, you can find a link to healthy recipes here should you be looking for inspiration like me!

Now, as a working mother, for me breakfast is something which I do struggle with. Daily. I am usually the first to wake up, herd and chauffeur everyone out of the house to work, etc. I will be the first to also admit that I do not take breakfast (yes *gasp!*) simply because I do not have the luxury of time to sit by the dining table, read the papers calmly and snack on my sandwich. (That, I feel, seems to happen only on TV or in families with no kids! :p)

I am, however, very anal about Dumpling having some 'power bites' packed for her daily in her snack box where she eats them at her Chinese class at 10+am. So far, my choices of breakfast for her have been ok, nothing exciting, just ok. So, it is no wonder that lately, Dumpling started "rejecting" the snack boxes because she is well, just not interested in eating. Sigh...

It is a personal challenge for me now to google for interesting (and enticing) breakfast ideas which I will pack for Dumpling daily. Not only should it be yummy, it should also be healthy. My helper and I have been attempting to make things more interesting for her with cute bento stick picks for her sandwiches, etc. I do realise that this is not enough and it is a personal goal to put in more effort on packing healthy and yummy breakfast boxes for her. 

The Rise & Shine Breakfast team helped me kickstart this breakfast challenge by sending me a breakfast kit last week. :)

 
I will be sharing my breakfast journey with Dumpling, the recipes and also will be pinning them on my pinterest board. Do join me on this little journey of mine! 

About Rise & Shine Breakfast Campaign: 

The Rise & Shine is a nationwide campaign that is strongly supported by major government agencies including Health Promotion Board, People's Association, Ministry of Community, Youth and Sports and the National Youth Council and many others. It is the first campaign of its kind in Singapore to drive greater attention to raising healthier and happier children.

 

The team at NTU (from left: Hui Ying, Wayne, Wilson & Xi En)

 
For more information, you can visit Rise & Shine's Facebook page.  

Photo and Infographics source: Rise & Shine NTU Team