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MCE Science Workshop for Students – Answering Techniques and Learning Strategies

Science is a subject that is intriguing to children and yet when it comes to it being placed on a set of papers with 40+ questions, it inevitably erode the initial interest of the student. So, how can we help our children to see the importance of answering techniques for Science paper such that their interest will not be killed eventually? I am happy to learn the ropes in a PSLE Science workshop organised by Marshall Cavendish Education (MCE) from a very qualified trainer, Mr Chee Chin Young. So does my Missy who attended the student workshop by the same trainer.

This is the second workshop that I have attended in the MCE PSLE Series of Workshop for parents. The first one is on PSLE English and if you would remember, I am impressed with the trainer. Now that I have attended the Science workshop, I am further convinced that MCE has a strict qualification of its trainers and only the best trainers are employed. Not only do the trainers engage well with students and parents, catering to different needs, they are totally selfless in imparting their knowledge, tips and tricks. I am full of admiration for such selfless sharing. I am sure those who attended are very encouraged by the optimism exuded by the trainers.

If you are thinking that the Science workshop is about learning further on the Science syllabus, then you are very wrong. The workshop is about tactics, tips, tricks on how to tackle the paper and prepare for PSLE Science. What we learnt are on ANSWERING TECHNIQUES, LEARNING STRATEGIES and EXAMINATION TECHNIQUES! Everything all parents and students want to know about tackling the Science Paper!

learning strategies — Missy’s Concept Map for Learning Strategies and Exam tactics taught by Mr Chee Chin Young

Now, let me summarise what my girl has learnt from Mr Chee on a 2-day workshop for students on the topic of Science which school teachers may or may not have (the time to) shared.

1. Science Journaling (Note-taking)

In Science, Note-taking should not be taken lightly. In fact, there is a way for effective note-taking!

a) Point-form Notes – a quick capture of information during class explanation, when reviewing worksheets and while doing corrections.

b) Concept Map – a capture of point-form notes reorganised on a visual form of flow charts, classification tables, radial diagrams or simply key words in clouds linked by arrows.

c) Science Journaling – where all important information are recorded and comes with a content page for easy referencing.

Keeping a Science Journal helps the students to brainstorm, list and infer between Science facts and terminology. Mr Chee emphasises greatly on the usefulness of having a Science Journal and spent a great deal of time teaching how to start one. Once you get the idea of a Science Journal, it shall help you all the way till beyond Secondary school in mastering the art of writing notes and keeping a handy self-written guide with you. A Science Journal needs to be no more than a size of an exercise book for ease of flipping and handy for bringing around. It serves as a quick reference to check up a concept or topic and good for quick revision before the examination.

Here is a page taken out from Missy’s Science Journal after Mr Chee’s workshop. She is so motivated by the idea of keeping a Science Journal that she went home the very day to find a nice notebook for this purpose!

2. Charting to PSLE Science Success

This is the strategising part to tackle the PSLE Science paper.

Now till Prelims

From the time of the workshop in June holidays till the Prelims, was about 6 weeks. This would be the time to revise concepts, understand the strategy of answering questions, practising against the clock to get the most number of marks. One shared tip is on practising the MCQ portion by aiming to get 20 right questions within 20 minutes; And on the written portion, to aim 20 marks attained in 20 minutes. Well, it certainly sounds achievable for bite sized practices to train for perfection in Section A which consists of 28 Questions equating to 56 marks.

Prelims till PSLE

From Prelims till PSLE, we would have about 2 months time. This will be fine-tuning of the Science concepts and ensuring whatever mistakes made in the past NOT BE REPEATED AGAIN. That means, studying and re-doing error questions till they are perfected with no mistakes. The Science Journal now comes handy in revision again. Bring out the P3 to P6 Science worksheets and revise on the corrections again.

ONE GRADE IMPROVEMENT

Mr Chee recommends to aim for ONE GRADE IMPROVEMENT from SA1 to Prelims and ONE GRADE IMPROVEMENT from Prelims to PSLE.

3. Marks Vs Points

What is the difference between Marks and Points?

Understanding the relationship between marks and points is essential to give the correct length of answer without writing too much.

Points – a point of information that expresses an idea, i.e. a fact or concept; a sub-point is part of a main point. It is good practice to write one sentence for one point.

Marks – the allocation of the one mark or half mark against a point or sub-point for right concept or use of appropriate keywords in answering correctly.

Mr Chee taught the K.I.S.S answering technique:

K.I.S.S. – Keep It Short and Simple!

4. Generating Keywords with Science-working

What is a Science-working? Does Science require working like Math?

Well, I find this is kind of similar to what we were taught in English workshop, if there is such thing as an English-working too. Remember I shared about doing inferences while reading Comprehension passages or Comprehension Cloze? In Science, we should also write and jot down keywords or ideas that come to mind when we read through a Question. Such scribbling helps the mind to work faster in making sense of the question, so that the logical answer can be formed by processing the keywords.

5. Type of Questions

Comparison Questions – marks are allocated for describing the two things in comparison. If you are asked for the difference, remember to mention specifically why the other thing is different. This will ensure you get the full marks for that question.

Explanation Questions – testing on the ability to explain scientific phenomenon extensively. The simplest way is to state two things:

– Scientific Theory

– Question Application

Scientific Theory is the statement on a fact or concept that can be universally applied in any similar situations, they can be lifted directly from the textbooks, and usually carry one mark.

Question Application is the statement that apply the scientific theory into the question scenario. By this application, it will show the understanding of the concept well enough to be used in the application.

Theory-Application Approach

Mr Chee shared with the students that when a scientist tries to understand a situation, he/she will first think of the relevant scientific theory before trying to apply the principle to the observation. If you are able to train yourself into thinking this way to form answer statements, most, if not all, required points in the examiner’s answer sheet will be covered.

6. Understanding Graphs Questions

In Graphs questions, it is important to note the following information on the graph:

a) Horizontal Axis – usually an independent / controlled variable

b) Vertical Axis – usually a dependent variable, i.e. effect or outcome

c) Starting point on the Vertical Axis

d) Slope of the Graph – whether it is going up or coming down or unchanged.

e) Peaks and Valleys – note the highest and lowest point of the graph.

7. Highlighting Keywords in Questions and Correct Answers

This is a study tactic where the student HIGHLIGHT KEYWORDS found in Questions and Correct Answers. This trains the student to have an eye for keywords and understand how to answer to such questions.

8. Legibility Training

Mr Chee even covered Legibility Training in this workshop! It may seem trivial but in fact, is extremely important to not lose marks due to illegibility! He suggests to print out letters from A to Z, 0-9 in Comic Sans light grey font size 20+ for students to trace over. This helps those who have problem writing legibly to train their handwriting.

I could not cover all those that have been taught to my girl as I could only refer to her notes and what I have learnt in the Parents’ workshop. However, these are pretty good tips to share with you. I shall be sharing more in my next post on the MCE PSLE Science Workshop for Parents as I have sat through 2 full day teachings by Mr Chee. More on Learning Strategies and Examination Techniques!

Great Resources!

Follow me on my PSLE Series post here on our home-learning without Tuition!

Follow me and fellow Blogger mums on our takeaways on Marshall Cavendish Education Workshops which all of us are full of praises for! –

PSLE English Workshop for Parents by Kids R Simple
PSLE English Workshop for Students by Kids R Simple
English – How to Write Confidently & Creatively by Mummy Ed
English – How to Excel and Speak Well in English Oral by Mummy Ed
Math – Heuristics Explained for Intermediate and Advanced Learners by DinoMama
Math – P3 and P4 Math Coaching Workshop by Xavvylicious
Math – Problems Solving with Essential Know-hows and Tools by ilovedefamily
Math – Stretching Your Child’s Mathematical Abilities by Mummy Ed
Chinese – Effective Strategies for Chinese Composition by Mummy Ed

Disclaimer: Thanks to Marshall Cavendish Education for inviting me and my Missy to attend these insightful workshops on PSLE Science. We benefited tremendously from Mr Chee’s teaching and I must say we are more confident now in answering Science questions than before! The above notes are shared by Mr Chee’s handouts in the class and I hope I have presented here as best as I could to share with readers.

Active Slim Program – Losing Weight by Nutritional Counseling at Halley Medical Aesthetics

Lately, many have observed that I have slimmed down. Usually the first sign is my face with my prominent high cheekbones that looked even more prominent. I start to enjoy looking at myself in the mirror especially the diminishing muffin tops. I can fit into pants comfortably and even my arms no longer look massive. And I even felt lighter on the whole! It really feels awesome to get back a slimmer silhouette and all clothes start to look better on me too!

I have Halley Medical Aesthetics to thank for the CoolSculpting treatment and the customised slimming programme, Active Slim. The 2 programmes complement each other perfectly. If you would recall my previous posts, CoolSculpting is for body contouring and fat reduction and not for reducing weight. But Active Slim will help to achieve the weight loss with nutritional counseling and meal replacement.

ACTIVE SLIM PROGRAMME

There is a total of 4 consultation sessions with Halley Medical Aesthetics nutritionist, Jean Tong, each lasting an hour. Each time we start with measuring my weight, waist line and blood pressure. The measurements on BMI, bone density, muscle weight will be recorded as well. Every session will be reviewed against previous measurements to check on my weight loss progress.

How much calories should one reduce to lose weight?

The General Rule of Thumb for weight loss is to cut down 500kCal per day to lose 0.45kg weight (body fat) per week. That totals up to about cutting 2kg weight per month.

My progress, however, is not a fast one because I chose to NOT take pills to aid my weight loss. Hence, I am depending on once-a-day meal replacement together with lots of mental persistence to stop snacking and not eat unnecessarily. I shed about 1kg per month.

UNDERSTANDING THE ENERGY BALANCE THEORY

On my first session, Jean asked about my 3 meals composition in a day and assessed my physical activity level. She went through the simple Energy Balance Theory:

To Lose Weight: Calories in (food) < Calories out (exercise)
To Gain Weight: Calories in (food) > Calories out (exercise)
To Maintain Weight: Calories in (food) = Calories out (exercise)

So, for weight loss to materialise, it looks simple but hard to achieve.

I needed to increase my activity levels to 150 min of more intense exercise from my current 60min a week jog/walk and 60min Pilates to help in my weight loss journey.

In fact, we should all aim to achieve the below exercise levels:

Lifestyle activity: Anytime, Anywhere (shopping, walking to mrt)
Aerobic activity: 3-5 times a week for optimal health and weight loss (running)
Strength activity: 2-3 times a week (Pilates, Yoga, endurance training)

EATING AND CHOOSING WISER FOOD OPTIONS

Jean wanted to know what I usually eat in a day. I find it rather embarrassing to recite what I have eaten to a nutritionist. I can feel myself going pink whenever unhealthy foods were mentioned. You can try recalling what you ate for breakfast, tea break, lunch, mid-afternoon snack and dinner or worse, supper!

If you have been choosing healthy eating options, keep it up! But if you are eating unhealthy snacks and loading on sugars and empty calories, then it is time for you to choose wisely what foods that work healthily for you instead of piling on your weight without any nutritional value.

Jean was quick to identify healthier options to correct my usual eating habits. She suggested that I should:

– Switch to Low Fat Milk and Low Fat Natural Yogurt

– Drop dried fruits as they have high sugar content and opt for fresh fruits instead

– Change the way food is cooked by minimising fried foods and using boiled or steamed methods

– Change white rice to brown rice / Change white bread to wholemeal bread

– Increase fruits and vegetable intake

– Cut down sugary foods and drinks

For a quick way of choosing healthier options, I can start buying those products that have the Healthier Choice Label by Health Promotion Board.

PORTION SIZING AND CARBOHYDRATE

Jean introduced the magic numbers 3,6,9 to gauge the calories intake of a sized meal and how to plan a meal:

3 – 300 Calories (small, healthy meal)
6 – 600 Calories (small, unhealthy meal or large, healthy meal)
9 – 900 Calories (large unhealthy meal)

I can now plan my meal according to the Total Carbohydrates (CHO) that I consume for a day by referring to a CHO Exchange food list. I needed about a total of 10 CHO Exchange in a day. I should also try to eat small and frequent meals instead of just 3 big meals.

I learnt about eating the food groups in proportion and using portion sizing with the guide of a hand! It is so handy (pun intended) that it helps when I am gauging how much of the food pyramid that I will be consuming in a meal!

Do you know that green vegetable is zero calories? That means my twice a week Salad for lunch has much lesser calories than a bowl of dry wanton mee! I just need to add Quinoa to my salad for some Carbohydrates. We have always heard that low Carbs is the way to slim down, however, if we do not take enough Carbs, we may end up losing muscle weight and we will slim down looking haggard! So, it is still important to take sufficient Carbs for good health.

OPTIFAST – MEAL REPLACEMENT DRINK

Besides consciously eating and choosing healthier foods to eat and increasing exercise levels, Jean also recommended Optifast, a meal replacement drink by Nestlé, to me as part of the weight loss programme. It is the only meal replacement drink approved by Health Promotion Board and only meal replacement brand used in major hospitals. I am supposed to take this meal replacement once a day only. I can choose to replace any of my meals in a typical day.

So, for 2 months, I have been taking Optifast for most breakfasts 4-5 times a week. It works well for me to take Optifast only for weekday mornings and occasionally on Saturday mornings if I am running short of time. It is also a convenient healthier option to take Optifast on the go, knowing that it only has 160 Calories with all the vitamins and nutrients needed in one meal pre-packed in a satchet. It does not have fibre in it, hence, a fruit or small salad serving will complement Optifast perfectly.

Having a good and healthy breakfast is important. In fact, we may not get all the nutrition we need if we eat Chee Cheong Fan or Roti Prata with high sugar-laden Teh Tarik for breakfast. I have tried Optifast for lunch and I got hungry by mid-afternoon and all my mind could think of is to eat anything that I can find on my work desk, which are chocolates and biscuits. Thus, if you get yourself too hungry, chances are that you will snack on unhealthy foods. So, I have been keeping a fruit snack with me.

Because I take Optifast, I avoided the chance to eat unhealthy foods for breakfast. This helps in my weight loss regime greatly.

DIETING WITH OCCASIONAL INDULGENCE IS OK!

One thing that I am relieved about is that Jean acknowledges, at times, we still have our cravings and it is still alright to indulge in ice-cream and chocolates occasionally! And usually on weekends, my eating habits are different due to social factors. Weekends are for family to enjoy outside food or feasting for celebration. I am glad that Jean totally agrees with that too! I do not need to torture myself to strict dieting all the time! This helps to make the weight loss journey bearable and sustainable, which could really last a few months.

If you have not had a nutritional counseling by a nutritionist, I strongly urge you to arrange for one. To have an expert to guide me on nutrition and how to plan my meals will benefit me for a lifetime. Now, I can help plan healthy foods for my family and only choose to buy healthier products whenever I go for grocery shopping.

Stay tune for my post on the final verdict on Active Slim programme soon!

Join me on my CoolSculpting Journey with the below posts!

1) Achieving Slimmer Thighs With CoolSculpting at Halley Medical Aesthetics

2) My CoolSculpting Journey – What to Expect on Day of Treatment at Halley Medical Aesthetics

More information:

If you are interested in the Active Slim programme, please click here.
Price of Active Slim Programme – $800
Price of a box of Optifast of 7 satchets – $18.50

277 Orchard Road #03-15
Orchard Gateway Singapore 238858
T: 6737 8233
halley.com.sg
facebook.com/halleymedicalaesthetics
instagram.com/halleymedicalaesthetics
blog.halleymedicalaesthetics.com

Learning English at Eye Level Centre

Hey! Didn’t I advocate no tuition for my kids? Didn’t I say I place absolute trust in MOE teachers to teach our kids well enough to excel in PSLE? Well, indeed I did and we are still going the NO-TUITION way towards PSLE, just in case you wonder. But while we are doing the revision on our own, it is a good opportunity to review an Enrichment centre’s program to learn good tips and tricks so that we can use them at home, just like what I shared about the MCE workshops’ precious takeaways!

Hey! Didn’t I advocate no tuition for my kids? Didn’t I say I place absolute trust in MOE teachers to teach our kids well enough to excel in PSLE? Well, indeed I did and we are still going the NO-TUITION way towards PSLE, just in case you wonder. But while we are doing the revision on our own, it is a good opportunity to review an Enrichment Centre’s program to learn good tips and tricks so that we can use them at home, just like what I shared about the MCE workshops’ precious takeaways!

Heard of Eye Level? Let me introduce to you that Eye Level originates from Korea 41 years ago!! What a long history and still going strong must show something for sure! There are 18 centres in Singapore islandwide. It specialises mainly on Math and English. Eye Level caters to all students of different learning abilities and pace. That’s one thing I like about the flexibility of progressing according to the students’ needs. Eye Level also encourages self-directed learning and one will see that the students here are encouraged to be independent and everything is kind of systematic and has its own place.

Eye Level’s curriculum takes students from the basic motor skills needed for reading and writing, through the building blocks of Grammar, to the more complex concepts that allow the mastery of verbal and written communication.

What Makes Eye Level English Different?

– Fundamental Language Skills : consists of basic language arts and reading with vocabulary.
– Individualized Program : allows students to begin at the point where they are able to work independently with confidence.
– Interesting and Fun : helps to foster students’ interest in reading, writing effectively, and approaches it in a fun, creative way.

Eye Level English guides students in the mastery of English language proficiency through in thematic approaches, repetitive practices, and strategies that combine listening, speaking, reading and writing.

Here are the topics the English program covers:

Environment

Eye Level Centre at Square 2 is located at Level 4. It has 2 rooms, one to conduct Math lesson and the other for English. There is a waiting area outside with benches for parents to lounge around waiting for their kids. Not only that, it has a low shelf with toys and books to entertain little ones too. I think that’s very considerate.

Diagnostic Assessment

Prior to the first lesson, Missy 12 and Master 10 had to take a diagnostic assessment test on a booklet. This is to gauge their level of competency to determine which level they should start with.

Each Eye Level lesson has a duration of maximum 45 minutes. I am totally pleased with this duration as I have learnt from my #30minrevision that kids’ attention span is really just that short. Eye Level recognises that and thus 45 minutes is sufficient to grasp the kids’ full attention and efficiency in learning.

Self-directed Learning

On our first lesson, we signed in attendance via the Tablet at the reception. We were greeted by the friendly Teacher JDrea whom my kids took an immediate liking already when we first met for diagnostic test. She spoke clearly and softly and has a warm smile. I liked her instantly too! I always believe if the kids like the teacher, they will tend to excel in the subject. Considering this is the first time the kids attended an academic enrichment class, I was glad that they had a good experience and thus, would continue for the next 7 sponsored classes. My worries about their reluctance to go for their first academic enrichment class were unfounded!

The kids were brought into 1 of the 2 rooms in the Eye Level Centre at Square 2.

All students have to take off their shoes upon entry and the next thing they do is to find their marked workbooks from previous lesson from the shelf with their names. Then they will each go to their respective study desks which are divided by partitions for privacy. They listen to audio and do assigned exercises.

There is an English curriculum to follow through. Every lesson targets to complete 2 exercises per workbook which is to be brought home as homework. And each workbook has 4 topics and that makes it 1 workbook to be completed within 2 lessons.

Teacher’s guidance

During the 45 minutes of lesson, each of the kids is assigned another booklet to be used in class. They are to complete the selected exercises and go to Teacher JDrea to go through their mistakes. This is a 1-1 session of 5-10 minutes whereby the student will have full attention of the teacher to guide him/her through the topic to ensure the student understands the mistakes made. This is akin to what I have done during our weeknights’ 1-1 #30minrevision where I assign Missy 12 to complete some exercises and go through her mistakes right after that. But the difference is that we have now a proper English teacher to help her in her English as opposed to me, an amateur, self-taught English tutor!

Feedback to Parents

You know what? I love to talk to educators, instructors, trainers and facilitators! I get to learn lots of knowledge and even get refreshed and corrected on what I had learnt before! Each time I talk to Teacher Jdrea, I learnt something new in English. I never knew I have got some simple Grammar rules wrong! Sometimes, I feel a tinge of regret that I had not read enough books and spent more time on language. But, it is never too late to learn now, alongside my Missy 12!

When the lesson ended, Teacher JDrea would give me a summary of what the kids had learnt for the day. She bothered to explain in details on each topic of English Grammar that they had covered. I find that very useful to me as I got feedback on which areas each of the kids was weak in and needed more practices. With that, I am able to focus more on their weak areas during our own home revision.

Homework

As Eye Level encourages self-directed learning and independence, naturally there will be homework to do. To be frank, the kids were not so keen to do the homework assigned. Who loves homework anyway? They found that there were many Comprehensions to do in the workbook. As much as I could feel for them, I appreciate the many Comprehension practices because it helps to train the kids to understand Comprehension passages and learn how to answer them. By reading more passages, it helps to boost their understanding and exposure to sentence structure and Grammar rules. Only by doing more of such Comprehension practices will one improve the Comprehension segment of the exam paper.

Reward

I have heard of many enrichment centres dishing out expensive rewards. I am not so sure if that won’t make the kids materialistic and consequently send the wrong message to these young ones. But Eye Level did it just perfectly. Each of the students is given a reward sticker board. They need to collect about 20+ stickers before they can fill up one board and get to choose a reward gift on the gift shelf. I look through the rewards and they were mainly practical stuff like stationery and small toys. The value of these rewards is not too pricey but enough to motivate the kids to work towards collecting them. I am definitely not for expensive rewards and find such high value rewards tend to desensitise the kids’ idea of what a reward should be. Even for me, I give my kids a small gift of their choice that is within the budget of $20-$30 for the hard work they put in for the whole academic year. I don’t believe in expensive rewards as a motivator.

Assessment

Before a student proceeds to the next level and a new skill set, an Eye Level instructor will give the student a level test to evaluate if they have achieved mastery of the current material. This constant monitoring of the kids’ competency with close teacher’s guidance during the 1-1 sessions, allowing learning at the kids’ own pace, plus the Feedback from Teacher to Parents and vice-versa are really the strong building blocks to effective learning. Many Enrichment Centres hold big classes which makes learning at own pace impossible. Further, 1-1 sessions are limited or none. With such comparisons, I come to appreciate Eye Level way of helping the students to learn effectively.

Well, stay tune for my next post on more information on Eye Level English Curriculum as well as our verdict of Eye Level Centre!

More information on Eye Level Centre:

Fees: $140 for 1x per week lesson; $180 for 2x per week lesson
Website: Eye Level Singapore
Facebook: click here
To enquire: call 6397 6117
To find a centre near you: click here

Disclaimer: We were invited for 8 English lessons for the purpose of this review. It is a good first time for the kids on academic enrichment class and we have many takeaways in terms of gaining knowledge and intangibles which I shall share in my next post. All in all, I am glad that they have a good experience with Eye Level!

{Giveaway!!} Safe and Kids-friendly Cleaning with Pipper Standard

One of the important life skills that I make sure I teach my kids is to have them do some basic house chores since young. But sometimes, I get hesitant to rope in the kids to help because I worry about the harsh chemicals in detergents. I get a stinging sensation if my hands are in long contact with laundry detergent whenever I hand-wash delicate clothes. I try to buy dish washing liquids that stated “hand care” on them. After some time, my hands still get dry. I know I need to protect little hands from all these harmful chemicals and am really happy to find cleaning products that are totally safe and kids-friendly from Pipper Standard!

Did you know that exposure to petrochemicals can lead to the development of allergies, skin rashes, asthma, eczema, and even affect reproduction and fetal development in pregnant women? Common cleaning products may contain hazardous petrochemicals and their byproducts such as 1,4 – dioxane, formaldehyde, and quaternary ammonium compounds, which can cause serious allergies and other lifelong health problems.

Further, most laundry detergents add harmful chemicals like sulfates and chemically derived surfactants, such as SLS, LAS or SLES, which may cause skin irritation in the form of peeling, dry or itchy skin, rash, or scaling, particularly for those who are prone to allergy.

So, what makes Pipper Standard Products so safe that kids can also use them?

PIPPER STANDARD LAUNDRY DETERGENT – HOW IS IT SAFE FOR KIDS AND ADULTS?

Pipper Standard Laundry Detergent as well as all Pipper Standard products are natural, hypoallergenic-certified, non-irritation certified and safe for the entire family including babies and those with sensitive skin. Using their patented pineapple fermentation process, Pipper Standard Laundry Detergent effectively and safely cleans clothing with natural enzymes and biosurfactants. It produces less foam all the while being free from chemicals and any known allergens. Most detergents in the market add harmful chemicals to create a foaming effect due to the common misconception that more foam means better cleaning. Also, with less foam, it is easier to rinse out!

Impressed with the safe cleaning, the first thing I did was to try out Pipper Standard Laundry Detergent together with the kids. We hand washed the children’s soft toys and their favourite bolsters. We only needed to pour a small amount of the laundry detergent and soaked the items for about 10 minutes. What ensued was a pail of dirty water and just 2 rinses later, the soft toys and bolsters were white and clean!

Master 10 pours the Laundry Detergent directly onto his bolsters, fill up some water and begins to rub them clean.

The kids love the faint pineapple mixed with Lemongrass smell. There is no synthetic fragrance but natural essential oil. I love that it has really little foam and still be able to clean effectively, if not, better cleaning power than chemical-made laundry detergents. We need not rinse multiple times and that saves water and time! Not only that, because it is free of chemicals, Pipper Standard Laundry Detergent is suitable for indoor drying with no sunlight and will not leave a damp and moldy smell! Damp smells usually occur when bacteria attach to the chemical molecules stuck in your clothes from chemical laundry detergents or fabric softener. Pipper Standard Laundry Detergent has zero chemicals and hence no damp smells will ever occur. That really helps greatly when one does laundry during rainy season.

PIPPER STANDARD FABRIC SOFTENER – THE AMAZING FABRIC SOFTENER THAT IS FREE OF QUATS, FORMALDEHYDE, PARABENS AND OPTICAL BRIGHTENERS

You will probably not find another fabric softener that is free of Quats, a petrochemical used in fabric softeners worldwide. Quats are responsible for making fabric softer; however, they coat clothing and do not rinse out until the next wash cycle, leaving your skin exposed to dangerous chemicals as you wear your clothing. Exposure to quats can act as a catalyst to developing allergies and/or asthma. And Pipper Standard Fabric Softener is totally free of Quats. So, how does it soften the laundry? Amazing as it sounds, instead of using Quats, they use a blend of their fermented pineapple fluid and soy lecithin which allows their product to naturally soften fabric and prevent static cling without using any harsh chemicals.

Further, Pipper Standard Fabric Softener is free of Quaternium-15, formaldehyde and formalin, which are all well known for being toxic. Exposure to these chemicals can lead to health and respiratory issues. It does not have Optical Brighteners which are synthetic chemicals added to make clothing appear whiter and brighter, and thus cleaner.

If you think that just by washing baby clothes with safe and natural products will protect your baby and children’s delicate skin and health, then you might want to think again. Parents’ clothes are equally important to use safe and natural products as we are in frequent contact with the kids when we carry and hug them.

We like that the Fabric Softerner has a gentle Floral scent in which its fragrance is essential oil-based. It does not have the overpowering artificial fragrance that comes with most fabric softeners that we used before.

PIPPER STANDARD BATHROOM CLEANER

Pipper Standard Bathroom Cleaner is tough on soap scum, stains and other buildup in showers, sinks, bathroom floors and toilets. Missy 12 is big enough to tackle the bathroom cleanliness. We use the Bathroom Cleaner to clean up some stubborn stains on the toilet bowl seat and sink. We left the foam for about 10-15 minutes and brushed away the stains.

We had a brown stain on the sink that could not go away with common detergents for the longest time. To our delight, the Bathroom Cleaner did its magic and the stain went away completely! We were impressed!

We went on to spray the Bathroom Cleaner foam onto the toilet bowl seat which had really very bad and stubborn stains. While it did not remove the stains totally, it certainly helped to lighten them and brighten the toilet bowl seat. I guess with such long-time old stains, it will require a few more tries before they can be removed completely. We were nevertheless satisfied with the result which was highly visible.

The Bathroom Cleaner has an Orange Blossomed pleasant scent from natural essential oil. It is cleverly designed with 2 spray streams: lift the nozzle lid for spray and close the nozzle lid for foam. As it is non-irritation certified and free of allergens and no hydrochloric acid, it does not irritate eyes, skin or nose and can be touched directly. Hence, I find it really safe for Missy 12 to clean up the bathroom, knowing that her hands are protected from harmful damage.

PIPPER STANDARD MULTIPURPOSE CLEANER

I love Multipurpose Cleaners! They can be sprayed onto any surface to clean up grime, dirt, dust and oil that the kids brought in from outdoors or indoor spills. Just one or two sprays on the targeted area and wipe out with a cloth. No rinse needed. It is that simple! Pipper Standard Multipurpose Cleaner comes in Grapefruit scent from natural essential oil. It uses natural enzymes and fermented pineapple fluid to enhance the cleaning ability. It is natural and safe to use on kids’ toys. Best of all, it is easy for kids to handle the spray bottle on one hand and with a cloth on the other to help mummy do quick clean-up of spills and dirt!

WHERE CAN YOU BUY PIPPER STANDARD PRODUCTS?

Are you totally sold on the benefits of Pipper Standard Cleaning Products? Check out where to get them here!
– Bove by Spring Maternity (Suntec City Tower 4)
– Pipper E-Shop
– Redmart
– Spring Maternity
Retail price:
Laundry Detergent – SGD15.90
Fabric Softener – SGD15.90
Bathroom Cleaner – SGD12.90
Multipurpose Cleaner – SGD12.90

Currently, Spring Maternity is having a 20% sale and Redmart is having a 25 – 30% sale off Pipper Standard Products. You may want to ride on the sale to start using Safe and Natural Pipper Standard Products!

Do check out Pipper Standard website for more details!

————————————- GIVEAWAY!! ————————————–

I believe you are as convinced as I am on how Pipper Standard Products are totally safe and natural and kids-friendly. I am happy to announce I have 2 bottles of my favourite Multipurpose Cleaner from Pipper Standard to give away to 2 lucky winners!

Contest details:
Prize – 2 bottles of Pipper Standard Multipurpose Cleaner to 2 winners
Giveaway ends – 29 June 2359
Announcement of winners – on facebook post

Steps to participate:
– Answer this question on the facebook post: Name 3 things about Pipper Standard Products that will benefit your family.
– Complete the steps in the Giveaway App below.

Win 1 bottle of Pipper Standard Multipurpose Cleaner!

———– #PipperWithKids Summer Cleaning Campaign ———–

Start off the summer with #PipperWithKids summer cleaning campaign! With Pipper Standard’s safe, hypoallergenic certified and non-irritation certified natural cleaning products, you can make household cleaning fun again with your kids, without any worries about chemical nasties! With Pipper, you can teach your kids about discipline and responsibilities of keeping a clean home all the while having fun. Enter for a chance to win a $200 gift voucher at the world’s largest baby superstore, BOVE by Spring Maternity! 2nd place winners will receive a gift basket of ALL Pipper Standard products!

The rules are simple:
1. Like Pipper Standard Singapore facebook page and share this post
2. Take a photo of your child during your fun cleaning activity with any Pipper products
3. Upload photo to the comments section of this post (Don’t forget to make your post public!) and
hashtag #PipperWithKids and #PipperSingapore
4. 1st and 2nd place winners will be randomly selected by the Pipper Standard team!

Get cleaning with Pipper Standard starting today through June29th! Winners will be announced on Pipper Standard Singapore Facebook page on June 30th.

*Winners will be randomly selected by the marketing team at Pipper Standard

** The announcement on June 30th will be the final decision

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored conversation with Pipper Standard. All opinions are 100% mine. I hope you will be a safe and natural cleaning product convert after reading this post! Try it for yourself to be as convinced as me!

Village Hotel Bugis Staycation in Kids’ Themed Room

As with all Village Hotel staycations, one thing we love is the good hospitality by their friendly staff. We have stayed in Village Hotel Changi (read here and here for our 2 times review on the Play and Stay package) and Village Hotel Katong (read here for the Kim Choo Peranakan Experience package) and both hotels have their unique charm. Both have great staff who served us well. Hence, we were full of expectations on our stay in Village Hotel Bugis which boasts their Kids’ Themed Room and I even had my mobile camera on video mode waiting to capture the kids’ excitement when they entered the room. Well, you will read our initial disappointment and how later on, the hotel staff saved the day and put the smiles back on to the kids’ face within an hour!

Village Hotel Bugis is located directly above the Golden Landmark shopping mall. Being situated at the crossroads of culture, it is a mere 5-minutes’ walk from Singapore’s Arab, Peranakan, and Indian heritage districts. Hence, if you stay in this hotel, you can Explore like a Local, especially if you are a foreigner, or even Singaporeans may find gems exploring along these streets!

DRIVING TO VILLAGE HOTEL BUGIS

If you are driving to the Village Hotel Bugis, you will see the Hotel’s entrance at the corner. I encourage you to park the your car on the 4th level carpark of the shopping mall for an extraordinary experience! Forgo the Basement carpark as your kids will be thrilled to take the car lift up to 4th level! I was thrilled too!

Hotel Amenities

The hotel lobby is on the 3rd level. If you are entering from the Hotel’s main entrance, take a long escalator up to the lobby. The check in was a breeze as usual for Village Hotels. The hotel’s lifts are kinda grand looking, except that they were super busy lifts with the hotel’s high occupancy rate. When we found our hotel room, my mobile video started recording, expecting the usual excitement from the kids. The room was, well clearly a Kids’ Themed Room with the lovely Marvels wall paper in baby blue. It has a king size bed, which looks luxurious, and a sofa bed at the side which we gathered that it must be one of the beds for the kids. We check out the bathroom. It has a bathtub which is a must-have for our staycation. Toiletries were placed neatly beside the sink and toothbrush and toothpaste were included (that’s important as we usually do not bring ours!) Everything was in place and looked good, except that it was missing any other signs of what should go into a Kids’ Themed Room except for the wall paper!

So what happened when our expectations do not go hand in hand with what we see? Mummy called the concierge to check if this was what was supposed to be a Kids’ Themed Room as she strongly believed there might be a mistake, and sent her kids to the swimming pool to start their staycation must-do activity, which is of course SWIMMING!

20170610_152546 — Interesting star-shaped swimming pool

KIDS’ THEMED ROOM

An hour later, the kids returned to the room with a totally transformed and lovely decorated opened sofa bed with 3 Pokemon cuddly toys, 2 cheerful cloud cushions and swans made of towels. We received some bath toys with kids’ shower set and toothbrush sets. It looked as if the superheroes did visit our room after all!

The very friendly staff, named Yeong, even taught my girl how to fold the towel to make a swan! His cheerful demeanour and his sincere apologies for not setting up the room prior to our arrival more than made up for our initial disappointment! We were even offered a family room upgrade which was newly decorated and more spacious than the Kids’ Room to compensate for the miscommunication. However, as the family room had no bathtub, we gladly stayed on in the cosy Kid’s Themed Room which by now, the kids had grown to love! Receiving great service can really turn mood around! So, we witnessed that!

Some of the things that we love in the room includes the hidden strip of light behind the bed frame that turns the room to a cosy ambience. The wall paper, simple as it looked, has subtle stars that glow in the dark!

You may be wondering how we slept as a family of 5. While this room is more suitable for 2 adults and 1-2 kids, we asked for a roll-away bed to have the 3 kids sleep more comfortably. You have to be a really accommodating person like our family to accept the narrow walkway after the roll-away bed is set up right in front of the TV! In order to save some money in some hotels that we stayed, we have done all sorts of sleeping arrangement to accommodate the growing kids! We had ever put blankets to sleep on the floor, arrange sofas beside the bed to create more space and safety while one kid sleeps, etc.

One thing I like in this staycation is that we all get to sleep in one room, so close to each other. I could talk to the kids without going to the next room. We could interact more within the same room. I will certainly miss such cosy nights after the kids grow up and we no longer can save some bucks by booking 1 hotel room.

This is how we slept as a family of 5 with an extra roll-away bed. 1 kid on Sofa bed, 1 kid on roll-away bed and 1 kid on the King bed with us.

Explore Like a Local

While this staycation does not include specific packages like the other 2 hotels that we have been to, it really doesn’t need any. It has so many places in the vicinity to check out!

You can uncover the culture of Singapore Malays when you pay a visit to Masjid Sultan – one of Singapore’s most impressive religious building. Its massive golden dome formed out of many glass bottles collected by devotees is a remarkable sight.

You can trace the history of the Singapore Malays and learn about their contributions towards nation-building at the Malay Heritage Centre. Located in the historic Kampong Glam precinct, your family can explore the artefacts, murals, and multimedia displays across nine galleries.

Both my elder kids have been to the above places with their school excursions, hence we skipped that and decided to take a leisurely stroll to our dinner place. On route, we finally walked to the building with the fascinating men holding a ball each – the Parkview Square, our Singapore’s very own ‘Gotham City’. To our excitement, we spotted many statues and beautiful sculptures on the ceiling, in a far corner, right in the middle and almost everywhere you turn your head to!

Best of all, it has recently opened a Parkview Museum featuring contemporary art and now showing an awesome exhibition on Sharks and Humanity. It was late when we passed it, but we will be back again to check it out before the exhibition ends on 9 Sept 2017!

EAT LIKE A LOCAL

We had dinner at one of the uncountable dining places around Bugis for Mala steamboat buffet. Village Hotels are usually situated right in the centre of delectable eating places. You will never never go hungry when you stay at Village Hotels. That’s one of the best attraction of staying with the hotel chain.

After dinner, we contemplated to watch a late night movie but it was hard to book a blockbuster on a Saturday night. Otherwise, it would be perfect to watch a movie and stroll back to the hotel just 5 minutes away. There are plenty of activities to do!

Breakfast Buffet at Mooi Chin Place

It was noticeable that the hotel has a high percentage of Indian tourists staying with them. It explains why the hotel has 2 breakfast places, with one on International + Indian cuisine on the 5th level in a restaurant called Landmark, and the other on International + Chinese cuisine on the 3rd level in Mooi Chin Place.

I shall let the food do the talking for a moment.

After breakfast, we explored the gym and found some interesting quotes to motivate the workout buffs!

For a family who loves staycation, we usually spend a great deal of time in the hotel room and its facilities. For a good part of the night, we watched X-Men: The Apocalypse on Fox movie channel while eating cup noodles and snacks for supper till midnight. The next morning, the kids spent an hour in the bathtub while the hub and I snugged in bed to watch TV. We decided that a staycation deserves more time to be spent in the hotel itself and we leave the exploration of the streets after we checked out.

BUT…

For the best hotel, I am sure there will be room for improvement for a better stay experience. It will be good to have the following in my honest opinion for a more interesting experience as part of the Kids’ Themed Room package:

Include Kids’ activity sets to engage the kids in the room for some quiet play and keep them busy.
The activity sets can include walk-about activities for the kids to explore the hotel premises or be a tourist together with the parents around the hotel’s vicinity.
Have more kids’ themed amenities in the room and around the hotel.
Include a kids’ stool in the bathroom to reach the sink.
Have kids’ play area in Dining area.

I realised that more and more hotels, including those that we have stayed before, are including kids’ friendly amenities and activities recently. With the start of the Kids’ Themed Room in Village Hotel Bugis, I am pretty positive that we will be seeing more kids’ friendly staycations down the road with Far East Hospitality!!

The Kids’ Themed Room includes:

• One night’s accommodation in Kids’ Themed Room
• Unlimited WiFi access
• Buffet breakfast for 2 adults, 1 child

Room Amenities:

• Individually Controlled Air Conditioning
• Hair Dryer
• In-Room safe box
• Iron and Ironing board
• Electric Kettle
• 40″ LCD TV with Cable TV Channels

Room rates and promotion:

Right now there is a mid-year Mega sale, with below rate for a weekend stay for Kids’ Themed Room:
Deluxe King Bed – SGD201.26 including tax

Click here to book for a staycation with Village Hotels!

For our previous Village Hotels staycation review, check out the below links:

Village Hotel Changi Staycation – Play and Stay

10 Things to Do While Staycationing at Village Hotel Changi

Village Hotel Katong Staycation + Kim Choo Peranakan Experience

Disclaimer: We were invited for a weekend staycation in Village Hotel Bugis for the purpose of this review. This is the 3rd hotel under Village Hotel Chain that we have reviewed and each experience is a unique and memorable one. Thanks to Far East Hospitality for the awesome service and great stay experience! 🙂