Elgarmummy.com

Author: Sarah

  • Wild Kratts

    Wild Kratts

    Flat-Krattsm2
    After the obsession with Ben 10, El has moved on to Wild Kratts. Similar to Octonauts, Wild Kratts is about animals. Written by the Kratt brothers, they will sometimes start the show with real life action, introducing wild animals that would be the star of their shows.

    Sometimes they have messages about conservation, and sometimes they just introduce the habits of the animals. I had watched an episode about Gila monster with El. It is not a crazy monster, as it is not translated from Malay. It is actually a venomous lizard, with light markings.

    In the show, a child is frightened of the Gila Monster that has appeared below his house. The Wild Kratts went to his rescue in order to educate him. They transformed themselves into mini Wild Kratts, to observe the lizard closer. To make this more exciting, they added in a villain. El rattled off a few villians which I cannot remember.

    Interestingly enough, in a zoo app game that we played the day after the show, there was a question about gila monsters and their locations. I had read up on the animal and I could answer him, that they are found mainly in Americas.

    Again, I have no idea where he found all these cartoons. However, this cartoon is way more educational than Ben 10, which is quite violent in my opinion. Are there any other shows that are educational and interesting?

  • Mum and Dad Restraunt Menu

    Mum and Dad Restraunt Menu

    I came home today to find El busy colouring something. He told me that he was preparing a menu for my husband and me. He said it was for Mum and Dad Restraunt(sic). After that, he came to me and showed me his menu.
    SCN_0002

    I was greatly surprised when I saw the wide array of food, which he had drawn everything himself and coloured them.

    There were all sorts of fruits, such as watermelon, banana and apple. There were other of his favourite food, such as pizza, sushi and his favourite vegetables, such as pumpkin, cauliflower, broccoli and celery. There were meat, such as chicken drumstick, duck, goose and fish. On top of that, there were drinks, such as milo, orange juice and coffee.

    menuApparently he asked my husband how to draw a drumstick, and he thought it was for the drums. After clarification, he drew a nice one for him.

    I placed my orders, and I mentioned I wanted milo. Immediately he rushed to the kitchen and wanted to make a real cup of milo for me. I was still having my real dinner, so the other family members stopped him. I had to convince him that I merely wanted pretend drinks and food.

    Next, he told me to go away from a corner, where he prepared food. He kept bringing ‘food’ to me, but refused to let me eat. Thank goodness I had a good memory, so I remembered which receptacle was for which food, which he tested me on. For example, he made me drink milo three times, and he had a special ritual. I had to knock twice on that shaker toy, and then drink it in a certain manner.

    Gar saw all the food, and kept trying to snatch them away. He saved the day by snatching that milo toy away and throwing it somewhere else.

     

  • El’s Colouring and Drawings

    El’s Colouring and Drawings

    “I want to be an artist and a scientist,” said El a week ago when I asked him what he wanted to be in the future.

    He absolutely loves his dinosaurs, animals and countries of the world. When I probed further, he told me that he wanted to study other places, such as Egypt.

    “What about Egypt do you want to study?” I asked, “Mummies?”

    “Yes, mummies,” came the reply.

    “What about pyramids?”

    “Yes, and pyramids.”

    He actually wants to be an archaeologist, but that is another story.

    I had started him on art lessons since he turned four, because his colouring was really bad. He did not colour within the lines, which was actually expected of his age, and he would just colour a little. I had also witnessed how my students were really bad at drawing, and art is an examinable subject.

    Being a typical kiasu mother, I decided he should pick up basic art skills. After asking other mummies, I decided to let him join Global Arts. To accommodate both’s schedules, I had to switch Gar’s class.

    In the first few lessons, the teachers kept complaining about him.

    “El is not focused.”

    “El doesn’t colour everything.”

    “Why did El write on his paper? Don’t do that.”

    Starry Starry Night
    Starry Starry Night – His first colouring.

    Woah, I had never thought El was causing so much trouble. I had complaints from his school teachers before, about how he would be daydreaming or busy doing his own things. He loves to write, so he had taken his crayons and wrote words on his picture meant for colouring. However, despite the complaint, which the teacher said she would just skip that page and make him start afresh, they managed to find a way to cover up the words and colour the picture.

    I thought after a term, I would stop the lessons. After all, I was already making him go for his piano lessons which he was not really excited about. However, he started to pick up interest along the way, and then suddenly, he started kicking up a big fuss if we were slightly late for his lessons. He would be extremely upset if there were no lessons on that day.

    If we were early and could not enter the centre, he would get a bit anxious, and kept trying to go in. Usually he will end up running with Gar along the corridor. Gar with his boundless energy, would be running non-stop and we would be trying our best to catch him.

    Occasionally we would see his former classmate, but not very often. El sometimes ignores him and just wants to rush into the class.

    His colouring has improved greatly. He blends the colours and colours everything within the lines. I noticed that usually the teachers would be the ones taking the crayons and passing them to the children to colour at a certain area.

    Flying on a plane
    Flying on a plane

    I started to think that they only did colouring. Shouldn’t they learn how to draw? Blur mummy finally found out that they did when I checked his bag. Some of his pencil drawings are very cute! He is able to draw cartoons!

    Wall E
    Wall E which looks like a balding old man

    As time passes, I see El blending colours on his own when we do a bit of colouring at home. That is, if his brother does not snatch the colour pencils away.

    To my surprise, his English teacher complained that he did not colour within the lines, and did not put in much effort. When I told her that he was able to colour the entire pictures, she was speechless. That led me to reflect on my own teaching. Why is it that some people are just able to draw out more from a student compared to others? Food for thought, I guess.

    By the way, when I told his father that El wanted to be an artist and a scientist, the pragmatic Singaporean immediately said he should be a scientist and draw as a hobby.

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