Who Moved My Cheese? For Kids

31^st May 2011

Spencer Johnson is known for his 1998 motivational book, titled “Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life”. It has stayed on the New York Times Bestseller list.

He also wrote a children version titled “Who Moved My Cheese? for Kids”. A great book to introduce to your kids the concept of change is constant and we all have to adapt to change to be successful in life and work.

We got one recently.

Get your kids to read!

http://www.amazon.com/WHO-MOVED-MY-CHEESE-Kids/dp/0399240160

The 7 Habits Of Happy Kids

31^st May 2011

A book in the 7 habits series by the Covey family, written by Sean Covey, son of Stephen R. Covey, whom wrote the very popular book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”.

This is a great book for kids.

http://www.seancovey.com/books_7kids.html

NG Kids And NG Little Kids

25th May 2011

Clearing up my emails, manage to find subscription information for National Geographic Kids and National Geographic Little Kids.

From what I gathered, NG Kids is suitable for children 6 to 14 years old while NG Little Kids is suitable for children 3 to 6 years old.

You may order by post. See here.

NG order form front

NG order form back

Homestar Portable

25th May 2011

Homestar Portable is a great educational application available on the PSP platform. It is actually not a game but a planetarium application which supports the use of star chart to view and study the night sky on a particular day and time. Although the default location is set to Tokyo, Japan, one can set the location to others in the list including KL, Malaysia.

Personally, I find Homestar Portable being really a great application, as it also comes with short educational videos on various stargazing topics including learning the night sky of the four seasons (spring, summer, autumn, and winter sky), solar eclipse, meteor shower, summer triangle, solar system and etc. One can view these short videos again and again and eventually become familiar with the night sky. These videos are my favorites and also my kids’ favorites. I am beginning to learn about the night sky and various constellations by season using a technique named star hopping guided and shown in the videos.

Nonetheless, the application is in Japanese but there is also a translated version in Mandarin. Hence, you will only be able to enjoy this application if you can understand Mandarin using the translated version. I do hope the creator will eventually release the English version as this application is one of the best of the best.

http://kotaku.com/#!190756/homestar-psp-yeah-its-full-of-stars

http://homestar.sega.jp/

Doraemon

21st May 2011

Kids love comics and cartoons. Personally I don’t stop my kids from accessing these but I do practice check and balance. This includes helping and guiding them to look for the suitable ones.

One of these is the famous character Doraemon from Japan. Personally, this is one of my favorite during my childhood years and I do promote Doraemon to my kids by making it easy for them to read and watch the associated comics and cartoons.

There are lots of good values within the story line of Doraemon. These include promoting the importance of team work and kindness, friendship, as well as the need to differentiate the good from the bad and right from wrong. These values are especially emphasized in the annual movie released only once a year. See the following website for a chronological list from 1980 to 2011. We have been watching the movies right up to year 2010, and the kids really enjoy each movie as the story is unique and special. The ones we have are all Mandarin version. I notice in most local video shops one can only find mainly the Malay or Cantonese version. Even the choice for English version is limited.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Doraemon_media

In recent years, the movies also come with very nice movie theme song. Refer to my following two posts in Mandarin for some introduction.

音乐铁人 刘明峰 就这样吧

音乐铁人 刘明峰 勇敢的翅膀

Another uniqueness about this series of comic is the various gadgets available from within the robotic cat’s pocket. Many of these gadgets are actually related to and mimic the latest scientific inventions or technology still in research and development in this modern days. To name a few:

随意门 : Teleporting

时光机 : Time machine

竹青蜓 : Anti gravity flying gadget

As my kids love space, science and technology as well, they are able to relate these gadgets to those shown in TV documentary series as well as science and technology related books.

For the comic book series, we got ourselves the Mandarin version. Although there are English and Malay version as well in the market, I personally find that the Mandarin version is more fun to read and also the series are more complete.

The kids are eagerly waiting for the 2011 movie “Doraemon: Nobita and the new steel troops”.

音乐铁人 刘明峰 勇敢的翅膀

21st May 2011

The following is a supporting page to the “Doraemon” post. Please see the “Doraemon” post.

这是音乐铁人刘明峰所演唱的2008年”哆啦A梦：大雄与绿巨人传”电影主题曲, “勇敢的翅膀”。 歌曲动听，歌词非常有意义。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxHKcJJXkYU

冥冥中早已經註定了結果 原來笑與淚的交會是擁有
抬起頭望著天空 讓陽光圍繞你我

如果風能帶走我們的寂寞 找朵雲來捏造我們的美夢
舉起手別再停留 一起勇敢往前走

不管多少困難 前方路多黑暗 乘著風在天空中翱翔

張開你勇敢的翅膀 不准回頭望
手牽手我會帶著你 飛越廣闊海洋
飛翔 飛翔 飛向屬於我們的夢想 實現願望

祈禱世界能一起快樂的微笑 無憂無慮的分享擁抱的力量
牽著手一起出航 前往未來的希望
相信有種光亮 永恆的光芒 閃耀著不滅的堅強

張開你勇敢的翅膀 不准回頭望
手牽手我會陪著你 全世界看夕陽
飛翔 飛翔 飛向整個世界的夢想 實現願望

一步步勇敢面對 生命中的不可能 你的陪伴讓我勇敢的飛向有夢的方向

張開你勇敢的翅膀 不准回頭望
手牽手我會帶著你 一起穿越時光
飛翔 飛翔 飛向屬於我們的未來 署光

張開你勇敢的翅膀 不准回頭望
手牽手我們一起闖 團結就是力量
飛翔 飛翔 飛向屬於我們的夢想 實現所有願望

音乐铁人 刘明峰 就这样吧

Originally posted on 26th Dec 2010

Updated 21st May 2011

The following is a supporting page to the “Doraemon” post. Please see the “Doraemon” post.

近来无意中有机会听了音乐铁人刘明峰的歌，觉得很多首都很动听，所以决定在这里推介给大家。

我是如何认识刘明峰的呢？其实是在一个很偶然的机会下认识的。那天刚好陪孩子们观赏了今年2010年版的小叮当电影＂大雄的人鱼大海战＂，片尾就播放了台湾版的中文主題曲＂就这样吧＂，由刘明峰演唱。这首歌不但歌曲动听，歌词也很有意思！

中文版主题曲＂就这样吧＂是由树德科技大学表演艺术系的庄景云老师带领旗下学生一起同心协力制作，收录在中文版电影的片尾。

这是音乐铁人刘明峰所演唱的2010年”哆啦A梦：大雄的人鱼大海战”电影主题曲“就这样吧”。

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTxNviHX4FU

回憶走過的每一天  刻劃著時間最美的時候

有你的笑容陪伴著  我一個人也不寂寞

世界的兩端作同一個夢  持續著我們約定的承諾

期待重逢能牽著手  穿越那美麗的時空

別害怕  我會陪伴著你  找尋那世界每個幸福的入口

面對困難準備好出發  手牽手飛吧

(那)就這樣吧  就這樣吧  一起向未來出發(就這樣吧)

找尋期待的想像  (就)勇敢追夢吧  努力吧

就這樣吧  就這樣吧  我們會很不一樣

飛向那世界的盡頭  找我們的信仰
(找幸福的地方)

回憶擁抱的每一天  刻劃著彼此最美的時刻

有你的手心溫暖著  我永遠也不會寂寞

世界的兩端永恆的美夢  閃耀著我們不滅的承諾

只要肩並肩一起走  穿越那浩瀚的星空

別害怕  我會陪伴著你  找尋這世界幸福的入口

面對困難準備好出發  手牽手飛吧

不管前方多難以想像  遍體鱗傷也要勇敢前往

只要握緊彼此的手  多少困難都會渡過

儘管時間剩下一秒鐘  也一定盡全力不會放手

等待雨過天晴之後  擁抱的感動

My Place In Space

20th May 2011

Another space and universe related introductory book suitable for children 6 to 12 years old, “My Place In Space” briefly introduces our place in space from planet Earth to Solar System, Milky Way Galaxy, Virgo Supercluster right up to the Universe.

A reader from Amazon commented, “My Place In Space is a fun way to introduce children to the wonders of astronomy and awaken their curiosity… With vibrant illustrations and accurate text even adults will enjoy it and be left wanting to know more.”.

http://www.amazon.com/My-Place-Space-Robin-Hirst/dp/1741754046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305618800&sr=8-1

George’s Secret Key To The Universe

14th May 2011

We all heard of Stephen Hawking, the famous English theoretical physicist and cosmologist. If you have not, refer Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking

Co-authored with Stephen Hawking, Luch Hawking, his daughter, published two children fiction books related to space and universe. They are George’s Secret Key to the Universe and George’s Cosmic Treasure Hunt. The books were written in the fiction style around George, a kid, whom went for space travel. The uniqueness of these books are there are lots of space and universe related facts and knowledge along the story line. The two books are suitable for kids between 7 to 12 years old. My daughter read them and her feedback was good and she hopes the 3rd book is on the way.

More details:

http://www.amazon.com/Georges-Secret-Universe-Stephen-Hawking/dp/1416985840/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305330596&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Georges-Cosmic-Treasure-Hunt-Hawking/dp/1442421754/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305330596&sr=1-3

National Planetarium

14th May 2011

Whether your kids fancy astronomy and space or not, a good place to spend half day tour is the National Planetarium, situated at the hill of Kuala Lumpur Lake Garden, neighbouring National Museum and KL Bird Park.

The planetarium opens daily from 9.30 am to 4.30 pm except on Monday, Hari Raya Puasa and Hari Raya Haji.

Beside the various replicated models of celestial objects, space gadgets and highlights under exhibition, visitors can also catch up a few astronomy and space-themed documentary shows on a daily basis.

This is not the best planetarium in the world, however it is quite a good one. My kids like this place and we have been there a couple of times.

It is the place where the journey to the Universe begins. More details:

http://www.angkasa.gov.my/planetarium/

http://www.angkasa.gov.my/welcome/planetarium/Menu/default.php

Celestia

11th May 2011

Today I will introduce another awesome space and astronomy related application, Celestia. The following is an extract from Wikipedia.

Celestia is a 3D astronomy program created by Chris Laurel. The program is based on the Hipparcos Catalogue (HIP) and allows users to travel through an extensive universe, modeled after reality, at any speed, in any direction and at any time in history. Celestia displays and interacts with objects ranging in scale from small spacecraft to entire galaxies in three dimensions using OpenGL, from perspectives which would not be possible from a classic planetarium or other ground based display. NASA and ESA have used Celestia in their educational and outreach programs, as well as for interfacing to trajectory analysis software. Celestia is available for Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows. Released under the GNU General Public License, Celestia is free software.

So, don’t wait, get one for the kids to explore from  http://www.shatters.net/celestia/

My kids enjoy learning the Universe using this application. It gives them the feeling of they are on a virtual space travel through the Universe!

So Your Kids Want To Become A Doctor?

11th May 2011

My daughter said to me before when she grows up one of her choice of career is becoming a doctor. Although I continue to encourage her to study hard and best of all to obtain a scholarship or sponsor in the future, the fact is we all know study medical is expensive especially overseas unless one make it to the local U, which is very tough.

This page is dedicated to share information pertaining to medical study resources and will be updated from time to time.

1. Gathered this on 10th May 2011 – Russian Resources Sdn Bhd (RRSB).

Mind Maps For Kids

8th May 2011

We all heard of mind mapping and Tony Buzan. If you haven’t refer here:

http://www.thinkbuzan.com/intl/company/about/tony-buzan

I wish I learned mind mapping during my schooling years and I would for sure scored history and geography and many other subjects. If you want to introduce mind mapping to your kids early, there is this book “Mind Maps For Kids: An Introduction” by Tony Buzan. It is a great book to read. My kids benefited from reading this title. Give it a try. Suitable for 7 to 12 years old.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mind-Maps-Kids-Tony-Buzan/dp/0007151330

IMAX Hubble 3D

Published 7th May 2011

Updated 17th May 2011

Together with the two kids, we watched a 45 minutes IMAX: Hubble 3D documentary on 23^rd Apr 2011. The documentary is about an IMAX 3D camera chronicles the effort of seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle Atlantis to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, the documentary showcases spectacular images of the beauty of the Universe, including the Andromeda Galaxy, The Eagle Nebula, stars nursery within the Orion Nebula, and our Earth itself observed from outer space. Released in 2010, the film rated 8.1/10. I would encourage parents to introduce this documentary to their kids. More details:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1433813/

http://www.imax.com/hubble/

Watch the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvlbAItBdK4

Electronic Dictionary

5th May 2011

We bought an electronic dictionary for the kids. My daughter who loves reading make use of this gadget very often and we are glad to see this investment was a right decision.

If your kids love reading, I would strongly recommend to get one for them. They will pick up new vocabulary very fast as the gadget is very convenience to use compared to the conventional thick and heavy dictionary, not to mention the very small fine print of the contents.

If you plan to get one, I would recommend Besta as this is the most popular product in the local market, with good and reliable support network and after sales service. Moreover, the dictionaries are complete and up to date. Forget other brands!

You can obtain the Besta range of electronic dictionaries from most Popular book store. Nevertheless, my suggestion is you obtain when there is a promotion or discount, which most school will organize road show twice a year, after the mid year and final year exam prior to school holiday. Ask the kids, teachers or school.

More details:

http://www.besta.com/

http://besta.my/

Petrosains

2nd May 2011

We brought the kids to Petrosains a couple of times during the previous holidays. It is located on level 4 of Suria KLCC, just opposite the Kinokuniya book store (see my other post with regards to this book store). Why not consider a visit to this place during the coming school holidays? Kids will enjoy the fascinating science related models and gadgets on display and they can have lots of hands-on.

More details:

http://www.petrosains.com.my/

By the way, don’t forget to check out the promotions and discounts first e.g. if you have the Jusco J Card etc.

http://www.petrosains.com.my/promotions.html

Stellarium

2nd May 2011

There is an awesome application which functions as a star chart and constellation map of the sky. It is Stellarium and the exciting part is it is a free open source planetarium for your computer, which means it is free to download, install and use. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with your naked eyes, binocular or telescope. Its GUI (Graphical User Interface) is very attractive and precise.

My kids have been using this application and it has helped them learn a lot of the night sky. You may get your copy here.

http://www.stellarium.org/

By the way, if you have an iPhone, Stellarium is also available on this platform and it does not lose its PC counterpart’s richness in the GUI. The iPhone version:

If you have any feedback or queries, don’t hesitate to write me a comment, I will try my best to help.