Peek-A-Boo! is a fun and safe indoor playground where kids can enjoy active play in an air-conditioned environment!
Parents can come along and have a fun-filled family outing or chill out at our café!
Alternatively, just bring your laptop and surf wirelessly for free! We also provide “drop and shop” services - parents may drop off their kids and our friendly staff will watch over them (for children older than 4 years old).
If you are looking for a unique venue for your kid’s birthday parties, look no further! We will organize the party for you, with no stress and no mess! With our Classic, Theme or A Big Surprise packages, we will be able to put a big smile on your children’s faces without the parents going into a frazzle!
1. Hi Priya, what inspired you to start enrichment classes at the comfort of a child’s home?
It was something I learnt out of my own experience actually. I used to hunt day and nite for enrichment classes for my gals when they were little. I must have enquired with at least 50 centres if they allowed parents to sit in for their playgroup program. They said no. And those that did, had their fees too steep. So I decided to take my gals on myself by teaching them with flashcards at home. Not forgetting, rhymes and other activities which were involved too.
And I felt completely at ease doing this cos I know my gals’ preschool education part is being covered although they are not going to any conventional centres. And as they grew older, I slowly had to let them move on to nurseries and kindergartens! But then I missed teaching them. I did have my fair share of experience teaching kids in preschool enrichment centres but I started to think if any parent out there will be going through what I went through to get an adult accompanied playgroup for their child. Testing waters, I just placed an ad on the internet casually one day and whoa!! The response was amazing!
2. What are the profile of your teachers?
All my teachers are either early childhood trained or experienced for many years in preschool teaching. The plus point is that they are mothers too, which gives them the responsibility to care for the child they are teaching, as their own.
3. How big is your team?
Right now, there are 8 of us! We are looking at expanding depending on how many classes we get! The global crunch does have a wee bit of effect on us so lets see how it goes!
4. What are the classes that you are currently coaching?
Although I started off with just toddler programs only in the initial stage, I then started to ponder about the slightly older group too. Cos this will give me a chance to be in touch with the child’s whole set of preschool years and apart from that, still drill the “learn the play way” method into the child’s activities. Once a child goes to primary school, education may start getting a bit tedious and monotonous.
The preschool education years are the best years to prove to the child that learning is nothing but fun, and I would like to strive as much as I can to do that. Currently, we conduct Toddler Developments, Speechworks & Drama, Creative reading, Phonics & reading and our newly launched creative art programs.
5. Can you elaborate each in a little detail?
Toddler Development is just like a playgroup which allows parents to sit in. We focus on the development of the child’s academic side as well as his gross/fine motorskills. Since its being conducted at home, the separation anxiety in the child is under control and this is a great eye opener for him or her before they attend playschools Phonics Reading/Creative Reading are reading programs complementing one another in their own ways.
This program is a great helper for students to get exposed to various genres of words step by step before they go primary schools. Speechworks and Drama is a confident building program. It’s a class very much sought after by many parents for their kids. In this class, we focus on articulation, creativity, imagination and everything fun but with an objective.
Creative art classes are for the creative hands who love to get their hands into colours. We do not restrict them to just paints,brushes and paper. Instead we go more deeper and get them to explore on how other items such as utensils, leaves and etc can be used for art! For more details on my programs, parents can log on to my website www.nurturingyoungminds.webs.com. All details about my programs are very elaborate there! They can even book a trial class online.
6. Describe a typical class?
Each class is different just as how special each child is. I have equal fun in all the classes I conduct and I make sure the kids learn something at the end of the day.
7. As most local parents are more incline to sending children to enrichment centers, how open are they to this concept?
I have thought about that too. But some parents blankly proved me wrong. We have a lot of busy parents here in Singapore who want to send their children to enrichment classes but can’t afford the time. At most, they will enroll their kids for weekend classes but when that happens, time to be spent as a family during weekends is minimized. So that’s when, my team comes in handy!
8. What are the advantages of learning from home?
The child is more at ease because of the atmostphere and there is no need to travel up and down to attend various classes. The child does not get tired easily. There are more possibilities now for parents to keep an eye on the kids development and if they are not around, the helpers will.
9. Does learning from home deprive the child a chance to mould their social skills? Not exactly. For the toddler programs, I will only be around to educate the child till the parents feel that he or she is ready to mingle with fellow buddies and its time for her to go to school. I am just helping the child loosen up on his or her separation anxiety and prepare him or her mentally and physically for the “real’ school. This is much better than a child going to a class and starts wailing, distracting the other kids and parents.
Bringing the child in forcefully can work miracles in most cases, if done correctly but in some cases, the child starts loathing classrooms, books and school. As for the older group, they are going to conventional nurseries and kindergartens with enough peers to socialize with.
Enrichment is conducted just to further enhance their mental agility and after rough and tiring day at school, a child might not want to attend any enrichment which may wear him or her out even further. We do not want enrichment to become a nightmare for the kids!
10. Have you met with circumstances that the house you visited is not beneficial for class? If so, how do you handle the situation?
I have come across a couple of houses in where there are too many people around watching the lesson going on which makes the kids really shy to participate and even I feel kind of funny with all the stares around me. So I nicely tell the parent that too much of attention might make the child nervous and its better if other members of the family can take a backseat while the classes are going on.
And a stuffy room is a definite no-no for me to conduct classes. If there are no spare study rooms or playrooms, I would prefer conducting my programs in the living room. If they have a pet dog and the dog tends to get pretty active sometimes, he should be taken care of by someone. There was once I went to this house with a big Golden Retreiver and while I was teaching, that cute guy decided to play rough with me and I could not stop him. I love dogs but if they tend to hinder with the class time, it may be a bit difficult. Some obedient dogs are ok. I even have some dogs as my students as in, they sit quietly with their master and their child throughout the lesson! Haha!
11. Share with us some obstacles you have met in this freelancing career.
Well since I am running this freelance team, I can’t endorse any agreement with my teachers as in not to boycott from classes at short notices. So during situations where I have teachers who are unable to conduct a class on that day due to personal reasons or illnesses, I have got to juggle with the remaining few of us to see what can be done to replace that class. Some classes may be for students of special needs. So for that, I have to rain check on my own classes and re schedule them to a different day and time.
Sometimes it does annoy the parents a bit although most of the time, they understand the occupational ups and downs. I recently had to let a tots program student go cos I could not accommodate to the time they were requesting due to my teachers who were ill. Although this situation is pretty much in control now, things just swing unpredictable at times and I really hope parents will understand!
12. As a professional in the early childhood, please share some tips with our readers on helping their children learn from home.
Well, I prefer to answer this question in a mother’s point of view. I used to sing the alphabets songs to my gals when they were little, when we are at the shower, before bedtime or in between whenever time permits. I also taught them numbers via the buttons in the lift and also the numbers on the buses. Learn from home doesn’t mean that you must have a specific time table to stick to in where you can teach your child.
Just a simple alphabet macaroni soul can help a child learn his or her alphabets and picking up peas which he or she has accidentally toppled over can teach them how to count. Just remember to make your child realize that learning is fun, and you are safe!
We need a variety of tools when enforcing a concept to a child so as to make learning more interesting. No matter how we hate it, we cannot deny that computer has increasingly become one of the prominent educational tools for the children. Rather than engaging in their own games, why not choose some phonics games for your children whereby they learn while they play?
I have come across an English phonics game, ClickN’ READ and tried that out. It is an interactive game with a little animated space dog as the teacher in the lessons, which is quite appealing to the young children.
Feature:
There are 100 lessons which cover basically from alphabet learning to reading short stories. The lessons are divided into four parts. They are namely:
The Letter Sound Chamber which introduces new letters and their sounds or combinations of sounds. Students learn visual recognition and proper pronunciation.
The Listening Cube whereby the newly introduced letter sounds are incorporated into words and the different sounds that it makes when incorporated in the front, middle or end of a word.
The Reading Room teaches the kids to spell out the words and also using the words to form out meaningful sentences.
The last part of a lesson is the Speed Chamber whereby the children are given an exercise to do before the end of a learning session before moving to another lesson
At the end of every session, there will be a score sheet to show the progress of the kids so that we would be able to know their weakness on certain sound and emphasis more on that when we teach.
Each lesson takes about 20 minutes and it is just nice for the children and they could take a break from the computer after that.
Installation
ClickN’ READ does not require installing software; the program can be accessed through the ClickN’ Kid website. You should at least have Windows 98 or Mac OS 8.6 installed on your computer. Students can use ClickN’ READ from any computer that has access to the Internet by simply keying in your own username and password.
You can sign up for ClickN’ READ using a credit card. Upon receiving the confirmation email, the program can be used right away. To sign up for ClickN’ READ, order on the ClickN’ Kid website with a credit card.
The good part of the program is ClickN’ READ also offers a 60-day money back guarantee.
This children phonics program is suitable for nursery and kindergarten children onwards. It is a program whereby parents can sit down and have fun with the children and also encourage independent learning for the kids as they grow.
To know more about the children phonics program, you may want to visit them at http://www.clicknkids.com
Be entitled to 5% discount off ClickN Read and ClickN Spell by entering coupon code “Phonics10″ upon your purchase.
1. Soak the dried fish maw in boiling water. Cover the lid. Leave it until its completely soft. Cut into pieces.
2. Poach the eggs in boiling water until hard-boiled. Shell the eggs and set aside. Cut the pork trotters into pieces. Rinse and scald them.
3. Peel the ginger. Crush with the flat of a knife. Heat some oil and stir fry the ginger briefly.
4. Put all ingredients into a clay pot. Simmer over low heat until the pork trotters are tender.
5. Serve Hot.
Kinderland Educare Services Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Crestar Education Group, is a leading provider of quality infant and child care, bilingual preschool education and premier studentcare to children two months to 12 years of age.
Kinderland has more than 50 centres region-wide, providing first-rate education and care to children, as well as efficient support to parents. Since 1978, more than 10,000 children have benefited from the Kinderland bilingual early education programme.
I love blogging and taking pictures of food. After I fall in love with baking, I decided to have a page where I can store my bake pictures there. Amore, also mean Love, was named by my hubby - Baking with love.
2. What is your personal favorite choice of cake?
a. To Eat?
b. To Bake?
a. Blueberry yogurt cake
b. Cupcakes!
I once had a student, named John, who was labeled a gangster by his mother. He dyed his hair, tattooed his arm, and liked to get into fights. He did not like to study. He rather spent his time hanging out with his peers than spending time in school attending classes. He even got into trouble with the law once was released with a stern warning as he was still young.
Despite repeated pleads and scoldings from his mother, he did not change. He continued his old ways, turning a deaf ear to his mother’s nagging. After some time his mother gave up hope on him. She condemned him as a gangster, and criticized him for being useless and a pain in the family. She thought that by constantly criticizing and scolding, her son will change for the better. But it turned out to be the other way round! The more she labeled John as a gangster, the more he became like a gangster. The mother was at her wits’ end.
I started to talk to her mother to help her out. I asked her how her son is doing, and she came up with a whole list of faults about him. There is not even a single good remark! No wonder her son behaves in this way. After she has finished her criticism, I told her that her son is special.
And she replied, “What?! Special?! How can he be special? All he knows everyday is to sleep, eat, play and get into fights. He is a gangster!”
I said, “When I say that your child is special, I did not mean that your child must be very successful or someone great. To be special means that he has his own unique abilities, potentials, and purposes in life. He only needs to be himself to be special.”
Still confused, she said, “I don’t see any potential in him. He is hopeless. He can’t be special.”
I replied, “It is his individual traits that make him unique, and it is these traits that make him uniquely your child. No one can replace him in this world. That is what I mean by being special.”
She became quiet, starting to see some light in her son.
I continued, “In order for him to change, you need to accept him for he is. If you continue to label him as a gangster, you dangerously create a belief inside him that he is really a gangster. And the more you criticized him, the deeper he will sink. If you called your son a naughty boy, guess what will happen to him?”
“He becomes naughtier,” she replied.
“Exactly! Therefore, you have to avoid labeling and criticizing. For him to change for the better, you need to start off by accepting who he is. There is a positive intention behind every child’s behavior. But because your child is still young, he is still naïve and does not know whether his behavior is correct. This is where you can come in as a parent to guide him,” I said.
“Positive intention? I don’t see any positive intention in his current behavior,” she claimed.
“There certainly will be a positive intention. Let me talk to him personally and I will get back to you again,” I replied.
I found John and have a private conversation with him. I asked him why he is behaving in this way and what drove him to behave in this way. After some time, I found out that he has an intense desire to feel important. He likes to stand out among his peers, and that is why he dyed his hair. He likes to feel significant, and that is why he gets into gang fights.
With my new discovery, I feedback to his mother and said, “You should praise his positive intention for having a strong desire to feel important. Tell him why having such a desire is good for his future. Then you have to correct his methods by saying that getting into gang fights will not get him attention in a positive way. Lastly, you can help him find new ways to get the attention he wants so badly.”
After my explanation, we came up with a plan. His mother started to give him important roles in the house like teaching his younger sister to do homework and taking care of some of the house chores. And every time he did it well, she will treat the whole family to a great meal and said that this is the reward for John’s achievement.
I approached his school teacher and got his teacher to make him a counselor in school. He is in charge of discipline among his peers and he has the authority to report any misbehaving students to the discipline master. His teacher will also give him enough attention in class by asking him question and praising him if he answered correctly.
Time passed and John found himself getting a lot of attention he craved for. At home, every time the family has a sumptuous meal, he felt happy as he knows that this is the result of his hard work. In school, his peers became very scared of him due to his authority and he enjoyed being praised in front of the whole class.
As a result, he started studying very hard and his results improved tremendously. Now, he is a scholar and he feels really proud of himself.
Article by Study Grandmaster. To nurture your child into a genius, visit www.studygrandmaster.com.
WINKtoLEARN Est. is focused on developing innovative educational resources in learning main languages like English and Chinese. With a combination of talents and inputs from experienced teachers in Singapore, certified children educators and parents, WINK to LEARN fuses well-proven educational techniques with language learning.
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Peek-A-Boo! is a fun and safe indoor playground where kids can enjoy active play in an air-conditioned environment!
by GPLS Confinement Nanny
1. How did you get started with Amore-Bakery?
With my new discovery, I feedback to his mother and said, “You should praise his 
WINKtoLEARN Est. is focused on developing innovative educational resources in learning main languages like English and Chinese. With a combination of talents and inputs from experienced teachers in Singapore, certified children educators and parents, WINK to LEARN fuses well-proven educational techniques with language learning.
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