Posts by Dominique:

February 23, 2016

Valentines Weekend Fun

Dominique Parenting and Kids, Wordful Wednesday Family Fun, Valentines, wordful wednesday

Tiger girl and me

Valentines Day was a day set aside by society to celebrate romantic love. This day has a different meaning for me as I believe it doesn’t have to be love between a man and women, but one that encompasses the whole family. The meaning of Valentines has been commercialized and as a result romantic love has been emphasized on instead of the love for the family which should be the true focus.

Tiger Girl trying out putting

This year I decided on doing something different and celebrate with the kids instead. What better way to spend the weekend then letting the kids try create memories from new experiences.

I brought them to Lilliputt to try out the 18-hole indoor putting range at East Coast Park. It was the first time that tried putting and they really enjoyed themselves.

The kids receiving instructions before they started their game

They were each given a colored ball and shown how to hold the putters properly.

Monkey boy teeing off

It was really interesting to see each hole decorated to look like various places of interest in Singapore. At most stations the kids have to guide the ball up a ramp so that it could go through the different pathways to reach the hole.

Doggie boy taking his shot

It was extremely interesting as one no idea where the ball would go after if had enter the structure via the ramp. The ball could exit from which hole in the structure.

Tiger girl waiting for the ball to be delivered via train

Doggie boy found this particular station extremely amusing. He deliberately lingered at this station so that he could see the train transporting the ball from point A to point B several times.

The kids took about 1.5hr to complete the 18 holes.

Have your kids tried an indoor putting range before?

February 17, 2016

Making Paper Postcards at Guan Xin Paper Factory

Dominique Parenting and Kids, Wordful Wednesday Paper Crafts

Putting the colors on the postcards

Since young I have been very interested to learn how make paper . I had always been intrigued to know the process which creates the material that we use heavily on a daily basis.

During the December trip to Taiwan we had the opportunity to create our own unique postcards from scratch.

capturing the pulp using the metal casements.

The kids had to first put the metal casement through the big containers of pulp. These casements would trap the pulp and compact them together.

Monkey boy looking at the amount of pulp collected on the metal casements

Soaking the metal trays again to “trap” more pulp

The kids had to repeat this process a few times to ensure that there is sufficient pulp collected on the case.

Putting some decoration on the piece of paper

Once the piece of paper was formed it was time to remove it from the frame and place it on the work area. The kids were given pressed leaves and colored ink to decorate their papers.

The kids at work

Our art work.

After the pieces of papers were decorated they were laid on a shelve before being stack all up to go into the press.

Placing the papers in a press to squeeze out all the excess water

Monkey boy turning the press

It required quite a bit of physical strength to turn the wheel to compress the pieces of paper that were clamp between the pieces of wood. It needed a bit of coordination work to ensure that the press didn’t move around too much while Monkey boy was turning the wheel. In the end we left it to the instructor to ensure that all the excess water was squeezed out of the papers.

Drying the pieces of paper on a hot press

After putting the papers through press it was time to dry it fully. I can’t remember off hand the temperature that this hot press was at but it was certainly quite hot as I could see steam escaping from under the paper when it was placed on it.