Posts Tagged: fantasy


23
Oct 09

No Halloween this year?

Last year, I had to hunt for a Halloween costume when the preschool in China announced that they would be celebrating this dress-up event :-)

My boy was only 3 then, sweats a lot and didn’t fancy anything over his head. Also, there were limited characters he was familiar with since he’s a HUGE Thomas the Tank Engine fan. He also only knew about:
- Bob the Builder and
- Fireman Sam

Gosh, I wish we could have bought these *CUTE* costumes (with the accessories!!!):

As I only had ONE costume outlet to shop at, I only found the little Musketeer the most suitable. To join in the fun, I dressed up as a Musketeer myself. It was pretty easy since I only needed a buccaneeer blouse, stretch pants (like jodhpurs) tucked into boots. I also got myself a feathered hat to match LOL

This year, he’s into more characters as he’s reading more Winnie-the-Pooh books (he used to identify with “Roo” and loves “Tigger” but now he says he looks like “Christopher Robin”).

After watching Batman & Robin and Batman Returns (rather violent and I’ve hidden away the DVD), he’s declared himself as “Batman”. In jest, I said that I was “Catwoman” and he found that really funny! I guess poor Dad is Robin LOL

He just *LOVES* the segment when Batman puts on his costume – you know, the mask, the gloves, the utility belt and of course, the arrival and opening of the Batmobile!

For now, I approve of Batman (and not Superman due to the fantasy of flying off roofs) and think he’d look really cute strutting about in a Batman costume :-)

Check out the Batman, CARS, Musketeer and Winnie-the-Pooh costumes below:

Unfortunately, his preschool here will NOT be celebrating Halloween, which means his Batman fantasy is very much confined to the TV.

Sigh! I hope that they’ll have drama, dress-up sessions and theatrical events though because he LOVES imaginative play and dressing-up…

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! Have fun dressing up :-)


22
Jul 09

REVIEW: Two Little Trains by Margaret Wise Brown

twolittletrains-margaret-wise-brownAfter the success of reading Margaret Wise Brown’s “Goodnight Moon” I was happy to find “Two Little Trains” written by the same author for my No. 1 Thomas the Tank Engine fan.

My toddler was delighted to see that the first few pages had the illustration of a present, which contained a wooden toy train. He immediately said that the wanted a purple present for Christmas – and of course, a train!

“Two Little Trains” is a creative book which features two trains on their individual and parallel journeys “to the West”.

One is a real, modern, express train going up hills, across bridges and through tunnels. Another is a child’s wooden toy train, which mimics the real train’s actual journey throughout the house using various props like:

- the shower for rain in the bathroom,

- the banisters of a flight of stairs for a hill,

- a book propped up horizontally for a tunnel,

- the toy train going through a bowl of grapes, which looked like purple trees…

The trains end their journey at the boy’s bedside when he goes to sleep :-) Personally, I found the ending rather abrupt and had some difficulty adjusting my reading tone to end appropriately with the sudden ending.

I think my toddler was also hanging on for further action LOL

Reading the book again and again with my toddler, I’m amazed at how creative “Two Little Trains” is and how the best children’s books are built out of such simple plot structures! Pure genius…

Rating: ★★★★☆

Yawnnnn…my toddler’s asleep and I think I’m done for the day too. Good night, everyone :-)

Publisher: HarperCollins (September 23, 2003)
ISBN-10: 0064435687
ISBN-13: 978-0064435680

Buy “Two Little Trains” or other books by Margaret Wise Brown:


8
Jul 09

REVIEW: The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss

the-cat-in-the-hat-by-dr-seuss“The Cat in the Hat” and “The Cat in the Hat Comes Back” were two of the books I’d lined up in our home library. Recently, my toddler asked me to read “The Cat in the Hat”.

“The Cat in the Hat” starts off with a boy and his sister, Sally stuck at home alone on a rainy day with nothing to do. As they sit staring out of the window, a Cat with a hat walks in and promises the kids “lots of good fun that is funny” and “good games we could play”.

The kids’ pet fish senses trouble and tries to advise the children to chase the Cat away but the cunning Cat stays on and starts his tricks:

  • balancing on a ball;
  • balancing an umbrella, the pet fish, a book, a cup and saucer, a cake and MORE and MORE things!

Of course, they soon come tumbling down creating a big mess…But the Cat introduces Thing 1 and Thing 2 who “help” to clean up…

Review: My boy *loved* watching the Cat balance the various items and got excited at the HUGE mess and of course, the two Things who cause even more havoc around the house.

As he learned the words of various things found around the house, he also learned about keeping his playthings back where they belong and tidying things up.

The best is that Dr. Seuss has managed to turn this simple children’s adventure into such an educational and fun story to read!

THE CAT IN THE HAT COMES BACK

the-cat-in-the-hat-comes-back-by-dr-seussThe boy and his sister, Sally are asked by their Mother to help shovel snow off the driveway when the Cat shows up and tells them to continue with what they are doing – HE’s going into the house to “find something to do” O_O

The Cat ends up eating a cake in the bath tub with the water running! The boy chases the Cat out of the tub, only to find a PINK ring all around it. What’s worse, the Cat takes the Mother’s dress to clean the ring…

The rest of the story deals with how the Cat and and his troop of 26 “Little Cats” (named letters A – Z) tried to get rid of the PINK stain which spreads itself all over the house and the compound.

Review: Another exciting adventure with the Cat minus the Fish. Here, the book goes through letters of the alphabet and being responsible on their own.

My boy seemed to identify with the boy in the book because he was horrified too when the Cat used the Mother’s dress to clean the spot and also when the pink spot jumped from one place to another and grew so humongous that even the snow in the yard was PINK!

I think he felt as relieved as the kids were when the Cat restored the snow to its original, clean white :-)

Rating: ★★★★☆

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