Reviews

Products and services that have been reviewed

10 Tips on a Fun Photography Session for Kids( Review of Tomato Photo)

My Cute little Tiger Girl

My Cute little Tiger Girl

It isn’t easy taking family photographs being the photographer of the family. Many a times I have to forgo having myself in the picture in order to capture the expressions of the kids and R in the photo. Sometimes I really wish that we could have another person standing by so that we would be able to capture more family photos. It would be really great that we could have professionally taken photos of the family as it would certainly  be great mementos for the kids when they look back on their childhood later as adults.

Your could say that my wish came true when  we were offered a photo session with Tomato Photo. It has been a long time since we took photos as a family. I remember the last time we had a family photo session was 5 years ago back in Hong Kong.  I have been thinking of going for a family photo session since Tiger girl was born.  This was just nice!!

Our family

Our family

Here are some tips on the things that you can do during to make the photo taking session more comfortable for the kids.

 

1.Arrive early and load up the kids on food before the photo taking session starts.

We had arranged to have our photo taking session at Botanic Gardens in the evening so we went there around tea so that the kids could have a snack least they get grouchy due to hunger pangs.

 

2. Dress the kids in comfortable clothes

It would certainly look good in the photograph if the kids were wearing color coordinated clothes however if the material results in the kid feeling uncomfortable or they have to constantly tug at the collars or have their movement restricted it’s certainly a no-no!! I rather the child enjoy the session then to be constantly whining and grumbling about being uncomfortable.

3.Give lots of allowance for the child to prepare for the outing.

Having to rush to the photo session from swimming lesson or from a play date will result not only in grumpy kids but a flustered parent too. In the end everyone looks less then ideal as both the kids and parents are not in a good mood.

The grandparents and the grandkids

The grandparents and the grand kids

 

4.Let the grandparents and the grand kids take centre stage.
What better way to let both the young and old to bond with each other then to let them take more photographs together.

Another shot of the kids with their grandparents.

Another shot of the kids with their grandparents.

 

5.Encourage spontaneity within limits.

Mobility  declines with age so when choosing where and how to stand  you need to take note that the chosen pose is suitable for older folk and simple enough for the kids to take cue.

The boys jump shot

The boys jump shot

6.Let the kids have fun
Who says that all photos taken has to be poise and proper?  Kids are the happiest when they are allowed to do things which they love. As you can see the jumping is something which the boys really love doing.

Our family of Five

Our family of Five

 

7.Get a good family shot for the yearly Christmas Card/ Chinese New Year Card.

Nobody says that it is a must to take family photos only during festive seasons. We are doing ours up in advance this year. With this family shot we are all ready to send our our yearly Christmas greetings this 2013 to family and friends.

The 3 kids

The 3 kids

8.Capture fun moments of the kids

These are the moments which are priceless and certainly a highlight in their lives. They make good pictures to add into their wedding montage when they do decide to tie the knot in the future.

Tiger Girl and Me

Tiger Girl and Me

 

9.Take shots with each individual kid

It is very seldom that I do get my photo taken with each kid and having shots taken with each one of them will certainly give me some to put in their personal photo albums. It was great to have a professional photographer taking shots for me this time round.

The grandparents

The grandparents

10.Create a hard copy  photo book as a gift.

Nowadays all the photos that we take are in digital format. It is really seldom that we print out the photos that we take and compile it as a book. With this photo taking session we were given a 20 page 6″ by 6″ printed book and it was just prefect for the grandparents to take back to Hong Kong. Now they have something to look at and to share with the other relatives and I have the prefect present for them for Mother’s/Father’s Day 🙂

My thoughts on the photo taking session

Although Hart takes good but I feel that he could drastically improve on his customer service. It took multiple e-mails from me to confirm the timing for the the photo taking session to the delivery of the photos which all could have been avoided if the estimated duration of delivery and SOP was stated clearly upfront. .

Disclaimer: We were offered a photo taking session with a photo book by Tomato Photo. All opinions are 100% my own.

Miscellany Monday @ lowercase letters Top Ten Tuesday at Many Little BlessingsMummyMOO

Birdees Sex Ed App Review

Birdees the App

Birdees the App

Are you finding difficulty explaining about the “Birds and the Bees” to your kids? Do you cringe when you have to explain to them about their body parts and how babies are formed? Here is a easy way for you to address this sensitive topic with your kids with Birdees Sex App by  GoTo Educational Technology Inc.

The iBody Section

The iBody Section

There are two sections iBody and iTools. In the iBody section . In the iBody section the child gets to learn about the different parts of their body

Learning about his body parts

Learning about his body parts

The basics which include the sexual organs for both the male and female and the various body functions are introduced to the child in easy to understand graphics which even pre-schoolers can understand.

The digestive system

The digestive system

While taping on the various parts of the body the screen the name of each part is read out to you. This makes it easier for the child to identify each part properly.

Screenshot from iTunes

Screenshot from iTunes

In the other section iTools there is information about the different boundaries that one should have in regards to touching and behaviour ,stranger danger, types of families, how babies are made etc. There are many different scenarios depicted to the child and they are to assess whether the behaviour or action shown is correct or wrong. in the Boundaries and Stranger Danger areas.  I find this a great assessment tool in finding out the among of knowledge your child already knows about the subject.

There are tips for parents and also certificates given for completing each section. The assessment page lets the parent know how much of the different topic the kid has covered while using the app.

I certainly recommend this app to parents as an aid to talk about Sex education with their kids.

To find out more details about the app you can visit the developers website at Birdeesapp.com

You can purchase this app from iTunes

Disclaimer: I received a promocode of this app to download and try out the app. All opinions are 100% my own.