Kids Craft: Gold Fish & Lantern for Chinese New Year (CNY)

Growing up, I always made crafts out of leftover angpow packets with my mum prior to Chinese New Year. Our favorites (and really easy to do ones) are goldfish 金鱼 and Chinese lantern 灯笼. And this year, I made them with my kids too, some to decorate our house with and some for the kids to bring to school to decorate their classrooms with to create a festive air.

Let's welcome the Year of the Goat ;)

How to Make Gold Fish 金 鱼 using Angpow Packets

What you need: Red angpow packets, Scissors, Stapler

Optional: Googly eyes, Glue, Ribbon

Instructions:
1. First, cut off the flap end from the red packet.  Fold the red packet into half, then cut along folded line. You will have two squares to make 2 fish.

2. Take one square and fold into half to form a triangle. Using a scissors, cut along the folded line to the centre. You will also need to cut the sealed sides. Also, on the opposite end, cut out a small diamond shape for the mouth.

3. Cross the two sides to make your tail. The centre of the fish should be puffed up on both sides to get a nice 3-D shape. Staple the tail to hold it's shape. If you like, you can stick on a googly eye just above the mouth.

4. Cut a length of ribbon or strip from angpow paper and make a loop and staple to top of the fish. You can now hang this fish anywhere in your home.

How to make a Chinese red lantern 灯笼 from angpow packets

What you need: Red angpow packet, Scissors, Stapler, Red thread.


Instructions:
1. First, cut off the flap end of the red packet. Fold it in half lengthwise, then using your scissors, cut thin strips from centre until about 1cm from the top. Repeat for the whole length.

2. Open the red packet and then bring both ends together, bending slightly and then staple to hold shape. Cut a strip of red angpow paper, and then stapler to the top for the handle. Also, cut a length of red thread and tie ends, now you can hang this anywhere you like in your home.

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Easy Christmas Crafts for Kids: How to Make a Snowman with Toilet Roll

We love Christmas month. Every day, my kids would look forward to opening their advent calendar and we have also been visiting the malls to check out and take photos with the Christmas decor. Over the weekend, we got into craft-making mode and made these cute snowmen using toilet roll.

Thanks to my son who likes collecting toilet rolls, we never have shortage of craft supply - toilet rolls come in really handy for crafts. These are really easy to make so you can definitely get your kids involved. Proud to display this in our home for our visitors and friends to see. :)

How to Make Cute Snowmen from Toilet Rolls

Things you'll need: Toilet roll (x1), Red art paper, Orange art paper, White A4 paper, Pom poms (x2), Craft eye (x2), Ribbon, double-sided tape, black marker pen, scissors, glue stick/craft glue.

Time required: 10-15 minutes

Instructions:

1. First, cut out a piece of white paper enough to wrap around the toilet roll. Wrap and secure with double-sided tape or glue. 

2. For the face: Stick on the eyes at the top of the toilet roll. Cut out a triangle-shape from the orange art paper, then stick on under the eyes for the snowman's nose. Draw a mouth using the marker pen.

3. For the ear muffs: Cut out a 10cmx1cm strip from the red art paper. Apply glue to the ends and stick  to the side of the face (at eye level). Stick on the two pom poms with double-sided tape.

3. For the scarf: Cut out a ribbon measuring 28cm. Wrap around the toilet roll and tie a knot at the front. The scarf should be below the mouth, in the centre of the roll. You can also cut out a strip from an old cloth or woolly socks.

4. Using the marker pen, draw buttons below the ribbon.

Note: You can get craft supplies from either Mr DIY, Daiso, stationary shop or any craft shop.

Step-by-step pictorial guide on how to make a snowman

Cute Snowmen with Ear Muffs and Scarves

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Kids Gardening/Crafts Project: Cress Egg Heads

School's out!

As a parent, I understand that parents will be busy finding interesting activities to fill up their children's days. A really fun and cool activity to do with your kids is making these adorable, cute cress egg heads.

Fun gardening and craft activity to do with your kids

Children will get to learn about gardening (how seeds germinate and sprout), responsibility (they must remember to water their cress every day) as well as being creative (decorating their egg heads' body). My kids were definitely very excited doing this project and watching their seeds grow. Every day after they arrive home from school, the first they do is check on their sprouts and water them. I also joined in the fun and planted my cress in a shallow plastic tray (round ice cream cover would work well).

What you will need:
♥ Egg carton
♥ Empty eggshells half
♥ Cotton wool
♥ Spray bottle
♥ Cress seeds or other small seeds such as chia, mizuna, arugula, flax.
♥ Several toilet paper roll
♥ Marker or magic colour pens

You can get mizuna, arugula or cress seeds from gardening shops (like Ace Hardware) or gardening websites and chia and flax seeds can be found in organic food shops.


What you need to do:
1. First, you will need to draw a face on the eggshell halves with the markers (broken edge should face up).

2. Stuff the egg shells with cotton wool and spray with water until the cotton wool is very wet.

3. Arrange the egg shells in the egg carton and then sprinkle on the seeds onto the cotton wool. Spray once more with water and leave in a sunny spot. Since Malaysia climate is quite hot, it is recommended to spray twice a day - it is important to keep it moist or else the sprouts will dry out and die.

4. Wait for about 4-7 days, your sprouts should have grown quite high by now.

Day 2

Day 3

5. Decorate the toilet rolls with marker pen (buttons/ties/ribbons) then balance the cress egg heads on top of the tube. You can give your egg head a haircut  whenever you are ready to harvest some for your sandwiches or salads. ;)

Have fun!


Do also check out my posts under these labels for more ideas:
Cooking with Kids
Things to do with kids




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Hotel Review: Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar, Malaysia

One of the loveliest staycations we had this year was at Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar. Pullman is the upscale international hotel brand of Accor, the world's leading hotel operator.

Once parked, we head up to the spacious, modern lobby and got ourselves checked in. We're in room 2022, a grand deluxe room up on the 20th floor. 

How creative... Pull-man... get it?

The hotel is quite new and rooms are well-maintained. There are a total of 513 contemporary-style rooms and suites, starting from deluxe room up to the presidential suite. All rooms come with a bath tub, and those staying in Grand Deluxe and above will also find a coffee machine and Roger & Gallet premium toiletries.


A spacious 41 sq m, we liked the modern interior of the room. The king-sized bed was comfortable, and there is also a pillow menu for guests to choose from for their comfort. Our room also comes with a LCD TV, iPod docking station, work desk, seating area, and free wi-fi.

Location wise, it is located close to MidValley Megamall and the KLIA express rail link station is just 10 minutes away from the hotel.

Bathrooms are also spacious, with a separate shower and bath tub.

Bath tub in all rooms

Even if it rains... no problems! We can still have fun in our "indoor pool"

Roger & Gallet toiletries (in all room categories except Deluxe rooms)

Coffee/tea making facilities with Italian espresso maker

Safe, dumb bells and even a yoga mat. 

Work desk

Pillow menu and docking station

Welcome gift.... a box of macarons ;)

Guests staying in Grand Executive room categories and above can also enjoy access to the Executive Lounge on the 26th Floor. There is a cocktail hour between 6-8pm - we came upstairs for a look, and were amazed to find a pretty good array of canapes and bites. We skipped this as we were having dinner pretty soon at La Cucina. Breakfast is served either at LINK or Executive Lounge (for those eligible).

Kids enjoying their breakfast up at the Executive Lounge

Sending some love to you all!

Oh see what I spotted - sumos! No wonder I feel so much at home here...

And then we spotted a Lamborghini parked at the hotel entrance...

And of course, every staycation is not complete without a visit to the swimming pool. There are 2 pools here - adult and children's pool as well as a jacuzzi. There is also a fitness centre on the same level.

Fitness centre

Hotel lobby

At present, the hotel has 4 restaurants/cafes for guests to choose from - LINK, Petit Cafe, The Lounge and La Cucina. More restaurants will be opened by next year, as well as a spa.

We were pleasantly surprised with the high quality buffet at LINK, the hotel's all day dining restaurant. We had our lunch here on the day we checked in - good variety and delicious food. And it's also the busiest buffet we've ever encountered, but luckily we were slightly early so we missed most of the crowd.

Petit Cafe located in the lobby, serves quick bites and cakes.

The Lounge, to unwind with some cocktails or Pullman's signature tapas menu, Tapastry. They also serve afternoon tea here.

Cabanas for chillaxing

La Cucina, a really awesome restaurant serving delicious Mediterranean inspired cuisine. Had two enjoyable meals here - steak lunch and dinner.

You can find lots of great art around the hotel.

Thank you to Pullman KL Bangsar for the wonderful, memorable stay!

Verdict: The location means that it's easy enough for us to get to without running into too much of a jam, rooms are spacious and the food is great, making this a great place for a staycation in KL.

Room rates: Prices start from RM288++.

Location: Pullman Kuala Lumpur Bangsar, No 1 Jalan Pantai Jaya, Tower 3, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: 03-2298 1888

GPS Coordinates: 3.115850, 101.6632

Website: http://www.pullmanhotels.com/gb/hotel-7962-pullman-kuala-lumpur-bangsar-/index.shtml


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