Monster Beach Premieres only on Cartoon Network

It's today! Get ready for some fun with Cartoon Network’s surf-siblings Jan and Dean and a bunch of thrill-seeking monsters on the island of Iki-Iki with the premiere of Cartoon Network's new comedy - Monster Beach.

Summer just got a lot more exciting with an out-of-this-world tropical getaway you’ll soon discover in Monster Beach premiering on Saturday, April 25, 6:30pm on Cartoon Network (Astro Ch 615 HD / 635). New episodes air every weekend at the same time. Find out if surf-siblings, Jan and Dean will experience the best – or worst – summer of their lives!

Ahead of the premiere, get ready for this exciting holiday with a full-episode sneak peek on Cartoon Network APAC YouTube - https://bit.ly/SneakPeekOnYouTube or Facebook - https://bit.ly/SneakPeekOnFacebook (@CartoonNetworkAsia). S1E02: “Lagoon Goons” - When Amphibia mistakes two visiting lazy Aussie sealions for an endangered New Zealand species, the kids invent a translating app to uncover the truth of who they really are.

Written and produced in Australia, it’s animated by Inspidea, a Malaysian-based studio behind other Cartoon Network originals such as Mighty Magiswords.

Cartoon Network’s Monster Beach follows the frightfully funny adventures of surf-siblings Jan and Dean. Enjoying an endless summer vacation, they have a monster good time on the island of Iki-Iki hanging out with their laidback uncle and a bunch of mischievous, thrill-seeking monsters.

KidZania Kuala Lumpur Kicks Off 8th Anniversary in “City of Infinite Possibilities”

To all the kids out there, it’s time for infinite fun and madness! Celebrating its 8th anniversary this year, award-winning indoor family centre, KidZania Kuala Lumpur is committed to making the city a place of infinite possibilities, one that will inspire and challenge children to dream big.

Happy 8th Birthday to KidZania Kuala Lumpur.

The enthusiastic ‘zupervisors’ of KidZania Kuala Lumpur made sure the children and their families had oodles of fun with an exciting selection of infinite-themed activities, edutaining workshops, entertaining performances and parade, where the children got to discover their potential and dreams to the fullest.

Four main activities and three workshops were featured around various establishments within the city, exclusively for visitors on 29th Feb 2020. The main activities include a Tealive Infinity Cups Challenge and Nips Straw Challenge by Kodomo Lion to improve the children’s movement and accuracy. Both activities are a form of sensory play to develop and improve their gross and fine motor skills.

EarthTone Music Academy's Open Day

I love music. I always wanted to learn piano but my parents didn't have the financial position to support me back then. Hence, I train myself to sing since young. I love to sing and go karaoke with my friends once in a while. In fact, I believe that singing and music play an important role in our life. You see, Music presents in many aspects of our lives: in theater, television, movies, celebrations, and any other event. Music is a natural part of our everyday experiences from the past to now.

Being a parents of two girls, I send my daughters to music school since they turned 3. I know that this will benefit my children in long run. Recently, I have discovered EarthTone Music Academy that partake in the Suzuki method during their open day on Sunday, 29 December 2019.

Once we reached EarthTone Music Academy, we were welcome by the friendly staffs there. Then, we had a guided tour around the 3 storey EarthTone Music Academy that is equipped with many facilities. Besides, we had also attended the Music education talk and enjoyed watching the fantastic music performances by their teachers and students throughout the day. My kids also had fun at the free body painting session.

EarthTone Music Academy found on the belief that a good musical education not only instills strong musical and technical fundamentals, but also fosters a true appreciation for the arts in general. They believe in the power of music that cultivates self-esteem, self-discipline, and creative thinking skills.

An Exciting Day Out with My Kids at kidzooona @ AEON Mall Rawang

Hi parents, do you know that children need to play and discover the world for themselves without too much restriction? Play helps the kids to shape their evolution, especially their brain and organ. Hence, I love to bring my daughters to play whenever we have free time. However, it is very important to do our own research before hand so that we can let them play in a safe environment.

Lately, I have discovered kidzooona, an all-you-can-play discovery learning centre located in many of AEON Malls nationwide. Run by AEON Fantasy Malaysia - a Japan-based company specializing in edutainment industry. With a value of ‘Family, Fun, and Safety’, AEON Fantasy Malaysia focus on children’s healthy growth through a fun play. They have almost hundred outlets around Malaysia that bring a name of Mollyfantasy, kidzooona, PALO, FANTAZIA & FANPEKKA.

What made me decided to bring my kids there was AEON Fantasy Malaysia provides and secured a clean and safe playground to the little ones. So, parents could be assure of the hygiene and educational value when visit the centre.

Since I was free on last Sunday, I decided to bring my girls to kidzooona @ AEON Mall Rawang. It was our first time to kidzooona, my girls and I were really excited. Guess what, we were attracted by the fun activities immediately after entered kidzooona.

How Role Play Helps Raising Resilient Kids

I have heard people say that kids are generally far more resilient than parents realize, is that true? Well, I am not sure about this but I know role play helps to raise resilient kids for sure.

As a parent of two young girls, I let my kids to role play whenever possible. I have found that by supporting them to play a role of something that it out of their comfort zone, it helps to develop their resiliency to response quickly after a difficult event or problem in their life.

I brought my girls to Kidzania KL for a day out on last school holiday. As parents can't accompany the kids inside the facilities, the kids would have to deal with any situation they face by themselves. There, they learnt to talk and voice out their thought. As well as see how things may happen and face them by themselves. It has definitely improved their confident and problem solving skill from my observation.

I remembered they were role-playing as nurse inside the hospital with other kids. Each kids were given a baby toy doll to let them take care of. My younger one was given a boy's doll instead of the girl one. She was so shy and didn't want to carry on her role play. Then, she talked to the other boy who was role-playing inside the facility and finally she got to exchange her doll with him and finished the role play. I am impressed.

It takes time, effort, commitment, and focus in building better resilience. It will not just happen to you overnight because it’s a process that will take months to learn and master. And hence I do take the chance to bring my kids to role-play in order to enhance their patience and training.

MILO® UHT Bento Box Workshop 2019

Did you know the energy for our school-age children is 1,500kcal calories per day? Which is equivalent as running a half-marathon! In order for our children to have enough energy to go further and stay focus, breakfast plays a very important role. There was a saying in Chinese proverb “一日之计在于晨” tells us that morning is the most importantly time to plan the day ahead and hence breakfast is the most important meal of the day for us to stay focus and think ahead.

As my elder girl is turning 10 in a couple of months, it becomes more important for her to stay focus and have enough energy throughout a long day in school. She will needs balance nutrition to be healthy and study happily. I am glad that we have joined the MILO Bento Box Workshop held at 1 Utama Old Wing Concourse on last Saturday morning. We have met a lot of other parents and kids on that blissful morning and enjoyed our light breakfast which included a pack of MILO UHT drink to kick start the day.

In fact, I always buy MILO UHT to let my girls bring to school. It contains ACTIV-GO which is a unique combination of PROTOMALT, essential vitamins and minerals for efficient energy release from food. MILO also contains calcium and Vitamin D to maintain stronger bones and teeth. The MyBreakfast Study also found that children who consumed malted drinks had higher micronutrient intakes and were more likely to meet the Recommended Nutrient Intake (RNI) for calcium, phosphorous and B Vitamins.

The workshop began with a welcome and introduction by Angeline Lim, Consumer Marketing Manager of MILO, Nestle Malaysia. “We are on a mission to help parents ensure that their children receive proper nutrition that not only benefits their mental and physical developments but also meets their daily energy needs. Making a conscious effort to pack balanced, nutritious meals into a recess box for your children before they leave home helps them acquire better consumption choices out of home and reinforces healthy eating habits,” Angeline said.

How Pretending and Dramatic Play Drives Child Development

When I was a child, I love to cut out human pictures and nice dresses from magazine to play. Growing from a small middle class family, I did not had a doll to play with. But I had tons of fun playing with my own DIY paper dolls and dresses. It has been one of the greatest childhood memories for me.

Now, as a mother of two growing up kids, I want to give them more than what my parents had given to me. Not only from the daily nutrition, but also spend time to accompany them to play and learn.

I believe that pretending and dramatic play drives child development. Not only the kids will have fun in it, it will also improve their imagination. Through pretend plays, children become more comfortable and prepared for life events in a safe way. Children often use pretend play to work out more personal challenging life events too, whether it is coping with an illness in the family or a house fire.

I believe that pretend play is much more than simple play activities; it requires advanced thinking strategies, communications, and social skills. Through pretend play, children learn to do things like communicate with strangers, consider others’ perspectives, transfer knowledge from one situation to another, delay gratification, balance their own ideas with others, develop a plan and act on it, explore symbolism, express and listen to thoughts and ideas, assign tasks and roles, and synthesize different information and ideas.

We are glad that KidZania has opened in Kuala Lumpur seven years ago. As an interactive edutainment theme park for kids to role-playing activities, KidZania is designed to imitate real-life World.

Aim High for Smartness with Dutch Lady Formulated Milk Powder

Hi parents, have you noticed the new Dutch Lady Formulated Milk Powder on the market lately? We simply love the new Dutch Lady Formulated Milk Powder that comes with more DHA. Dutch Lady, the No. 1 Formulated Milk Powder for children brand in Malaysia now offers its highest level of DHA(docosahexaenoic acid) formulation to support children's development in a new pack.

We were honoured to be invited to their media launch event last week. Speaking to the media at the launch, Mr. Tarang Gupta, Managing director of Dutch Lady Malaysia said the company has continuously improved its products over the years and is responsible for shaping Malaysia's formulated milk powder for children category.

Mr. Tarang Gupta, Managing director of Dutch Lady Malaysia

“Since our inception in Malaysia more than 55 years ago, the company has been committed to nourishing the nation with trusted diary nutrition. In line with this, we have been responsible for introducing key developments in the category for children to Malaysian mothers in 1988. We were also one of the first to introduce '0% sucrose or less sucrose' formulation in our products in 2012 to help address the rising concerns of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Malaysia,” highlighted Mr. Gupta.

He continued: “Today, we are pleased to achieve another milestone in the product category of formulated milk powder for children – providing the highest(2) level of DHA in every serving of Dutch Lady 123. We realize that the toddler years are the most important period for cognitive, emotional and social development; and many parents understand DHA as a key nutrient to support the higher nutrient values for protein, vitamin D3, Vitamin C and more which are essential for a growing child.”

Ashlee Ng, Marketing Director of Dutch Lady Malaysia further explained the significance of having high DHA in children's milk:”60% of our brain is made up of fats and one of the most important fats is DHA that helps a child's brain to develop. DHA is like building blocks for the brain and its importance is even more evident for young children, because their brains are growing rapidly,” said Ng.

Mattel Presents First-ever Double Storey Barbie Career Dreamhouse in Southeast Asia

With over 155 careers and counting, there is not a plastic ceiling Barbie has not broken. From Mermaid to Movie Director, Game Coder to Scientist, Fashionista to Musician, these countless choices have always offered girls the opportunity to play out whatever they can imagine. There’s no such thing as too wild a dream, too big a hope or too fantastic a wish. This Summer, Mattel continues Barbie’s journey to inspire girls to pursue their imagination and dreams with the first-ever double storey Barbie Career Dreamhouse in Malaysia, and Southeast Asia.

Happening from now to 29th July 2018 at Sunway Pyramid, LG2, Blue Concourse from 10am to 10pm, the Barbie Career Dreamhouse brings imaginative play with Barbie to a real-life experience inviting girls to experience and play out everything she can become. The Dreamhouse features several fun and interactive play rooms with different career related activities brought to reality via partnerships.

(from third L-R) Ms. Loo Hoey Theen, Marketing Director of Sunway Pyramid, celebrity mom and cook Danielle Peita Graham and daughter Sophia, Mr. Ivan Franco, Country Manager of Mattel SEA, Chee Kee Poey, Director of Sales A+E Networks, Anthony Chan, Marketing Director of Crayola Malaysia, Zoey Chew Mui Foong, Assistant Vice President of Astro Malaysia, Ms. Pang Kit Cheng, Senior Manager of Aeon. 

The fun and interactive playrooms include:
“You can be a Top Chef” play room, brought to you by Lifetime
“You can be an Artist” play room brought to you by Crayola
“You can be a Movie Director” play room brought to you by Astro on Demand (VOD)
“You can be a Musician” playroom brought to you by Yamaha
“You can be Anything” play room brought to you by Kiddomo

Our Journey @ HP Malaysia x Disney Homework Rescue

As both of my little girls are growing up, they have more and more homework to do everyday. We want to be the supportive parents to support our kids' learning and make sure they have what they need to accomplish a task.

It is very often that our children come to us with a last-minute homework that needs to be inspired, brought to life, and ready to go in all of 20 minutes. The experience usually involves a scramble for paper, a tango with glue and sticky tape, a trail of paint or marker ink across the family dining table that we end up taking half a day to scrub off, and sometimes, a rescued piece of homework.

Thanks to the innovation technology, HP and the Disney Digital Network are here to change that by bringing us the magic of easily dishing out breath-taking, inspirational last-minute homework. Through affordable yet high quality printing using HP’s Printer, HP aim is to help parents and children to accomplish daily task such as school work and arts and crafts in the most engaging yet fun way!

Inspired by Disney’s best stories like Finding Nemo, Frozen, Tangled and The Lion King, HP’s DeskJet Ink Advantage printer reinvents the possibilities of making last-minute homework rescue fun. Whether it’s geography, drama, art or math, HP gives us the freedom to express, create and print homework like never before.

As a big fans of Disney, our family can’t wait to give the HP Deskjet Ink Advantage printer a try. Comes in three different stunning colors, we have chosen the blue ones as it looks so therapeutic just like the sea. The design is sleek and simple, making it a great decoration at our home too.

A Fun Day at Kiddomo Universe - The Future Playland @ The Starling Mall, PJ

Calling all parents and children, there’s a fun playland for you to explore together this School holiday. We recently paid a visit to Kiddomo Universe and had a really fun day there. Kiddomo Universe is the future playland that offers innovative educational playland where your child can excite all their senses and exercise their creative imagination in a brand new way.

Located at the third floor of The Starling Mall, you would not miss the bright wooden theme playland entrance. The tickets price is quite reasonable especially for Kiddomo VIP members. Once you purchased the tickets, you will be given an electronic wristbands as tickets. You need to wear it to scan your wristbands at the games.

Then, we proceeded to the shoe racks corner to keep our shoes or bags there. Just like any play land, visitors have to put their socks on for hygiene purpose.

The day we visited was a Sunday, and there were a Birthday party on going hence it was quite crowded. First thing first before proceed to the games, we have to create our own identity by photo-shoot our profile picture and selects the dream role we wanted. This identity would be used for all the games during the visit.

Now, once we got our identity created, we proceeded to other fun and interactive games. Every kids are excited to go into the giant ball pit to look for dino eggs. The ball pit is quite deep and the kids have to find and bring the dino eggs to a special egg scanner, press the giant buttons that light up in order to find out what dinosaur have you found.

The All-New CIMB F.I.R.S.T – Customised Solutions Made Just for You

When it comes to your financial future, procrastinating can make things harder down the line. We shall always plan our finances to achieve our financial goals at any time of our life stage. Understand that creating a financial plan could be hard for people that don’t have any idea about financial planning, so it is best if we have the right tool to assist us.

I have discovered a simple, fun and relatable banking system that gives us personalised approach to banking recently. Introducing the all-new CIMB F.I.R.S.T that covers all key aspects of basic banking and financial services that every individual would need. F.I.R.S.T. stands for Finance, Insure, Returns, Save and Transact.

Contrary to popular belief, financial planning is for all age groups. While the young have to plan for their entire lives, the middle-aged have to ensure they don't fall short of money after retirement. CIMB F.I.R.S.T is relevant to every walk of life, if you’re a student, a single professional, married, married with children, expatriate, entrepreneur or retired, there is always a personalised banking solution for you at CIMB F.I.R.S.T.

As a full time mother of two girls, I am constantly looking for financial solutions that suits my family and kids. I have tried out the CIMB F.I.R.S.T. and I was enlightened by the services that it offers.

Kids’ Extravaganza @ Temptations, Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel

We love Sunday because it is a fun day for both parents and kids. Now, our Sunday just got better with Kids’ Extravaganza at Temptations, Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel. We had the most enjoyable Sunday that was filled with fun and laughter at Kids’ Extravaganza few weeks ago.

Not only the kids (under 12 year-old) get to eat for free, they could also join the variety of fun entertaining activities to keep them busy. From drawing competition, face painting, movie screening to cupcake and cookie decorations, the kids have enjoyed themselves a lot. That way, parents also get to sit back, relax and enjoy the scrumptious long lunch at Temptations, Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel.

Happening every Sunday from 12.30PM to 4PM, the Kids’ Extravaganza offers a wide variety of buffet and kids’ buffet comprising of favourites such as Mini burgers, chicken boxing, pizza, pasta, mini chocolate fountain, superhero soup and more. They is also a treat at the candy corner where colourful jars of candies, jelly beans, marshmallows, gummy bears and freshly made popcorns are placed.

The long lunch is priced at RM 138 nett per person, and limited to 2 children per family.

We also took the chance to capture special moments at a photo booth set up in front of the eatery, and Pokemon character Pikachu meet and greet session.

New Books from Scholastic Asia

As a parent in Malaysia, I am very familiar with Scholastic Asia as we always get their book-purchasing list from kindergarten every now and then. We always purchase some of the books from Scholastic for both my elder and younger daughter. We love to read with them as well as give children’s books as gifts when there is special occasion. We believe that books do better than gadgets in nourishing the minds and imaginations of our children.

This time, we have gifts them some new books which we strongly recommend to all parents below.

Cantata Learning series that combines engaging stories, delightful illustrations, and fun songs for a complete multi-sensory learning experience that engages every type of learner.

Cantata Learning books is suitable for kids from preschool to third grade and beyond, you’ll find content that supports the curriculum, actively engages students, and helps them retain and recall information.

I Wanted be to a Magic Master with my Kids!

I remember as a child being awestruck when my brother made a coin disappear. I always asked my brother to show me more magic, we also watched David Copperfield’s magic show on the TV. We had so much fun time together with magic during our childhood. It was a time of fantasy, where everything seems possible with Magic.

So much so, that I wanted to learn how the magician did their magic trick and how my children could learn it too. I have enrolled my elder daughter to magic class during her pre-school time. She like to play with her copper magic wand to do the magic trick. Now, even my younger daughter has recently become fascinated with the world of magic.

I like that the kids fall into magic, well I believe most of the kids do love magic. It is a world where everything is possible with your creative juice flowing. For instant, we can hold water in an up-side-down glass, walk through paper and many more. It would keep my kids and me entertained and feel happy in the magical world.

Now, the school term holidays are coming soon. I am so excited when I found out the CITTA Magic Masters event where my kids and I could spend some quality fun time together this coming school holidays.

Sporting Fun with The Carrie Junior ‘Sukan Ria’ Collection

We have reached an age where technology is slowly overtaking human interaction and kids are drawn to it as well. Kids exposed to technology will tend to be more inclined towards leading a sedentary lifestyle as they stay glued to these gadgets. Kids naturally love to play and they should be encouraged to be active. Sports practices and games will provide the opportunity for exercise that can help kids to stay healthy and aid in their physical development. 

Fun with water is also something that kids look forward to and what better way to have a good time playing with water than during bath time with bath toys. Although toys are seen as fun and games, it is definitely more than that. Toys can provide at least some opportunity for children to learn in all developmental areas. It provides opportunities for children to strengthen their physical skills, advance their social and emotional skills and enhance language development.

Setting out to bring splashing happiness to the children, CARRIE JUNIOR designed 6 cute toy figurines called ‘Sukan Ria’ to help develop their imaginative minds. As CARRIE JUNIOR defines the fun of bath time, it also encourages children to learn to embrace the positive value of social interaction as they play with the toys in creative and imaginative ways.

A total of 6 toy figurines which consists of CARRIE JUNIOR the elephant that loves football, SPEEDY TOMMY the fastest tortoise on the running tracks, TUFFY TEDDY the toughest bear, DRIBBLY MINKY the skilful raccoon in hockey, SMASHY MACKY the agile monkey that returns every shot and a sports trophy will each be randomly packed in every 700ml CARRIE JUNIOR product.

Nickelodeon Live Action Series

New Year has started and my girls have been attending new school year since. While they are busy gearing up for the new semester, they could still catch brand new episodes of their favorite live action shows that will relate to their life in school, from the all-time favorite super-hero Henry Danger, to music-themed School of Rock, and to tech-influenced Game Shakers, only on Nickelodeon!

Thank you #NickelodeonAsia for the lovely goodie

Let’s have a look at the new Nickelodeon live action series show guide below;

HENRY DANGER

SUMMARY: Thirteen-year-old Henry Hart lands a part time job as Kid Danger in the town of Swellview, the sidekick-intraining to superhero Captain Man. He promises to keep his new identity a secret from his best friends, Charlotte and Jasper, his younger sister, Piper, and his parents. Henry must navigate a double life after making a promise not to reveal his job.

When Captain Man leaves the town of Swellview, Henry must step up to take his place as a kid superhero to keep the town safe. He’s got a lot of responsibilities to juggle, but for the super hero sidekick of the century, rising up to the challenge ‘feels gooooooood”.

Go for Greatness with Milk On-The-Go

Here is a great news for those who are always on the go, Fernleaf has launched their new ready-to-drink UHT milk that is suitable for the whole family. In line with the grand launch, Fernleaf is motivating Malaysians to GO FOR GREATNESS, supported by a can-do attitude and 100 % milk goodness from New Zealand in the start of year 2018.

GO FOR GREATNESS with Fernleaf

Venue: LG Oval, 1 Utama Shopping Center (New Wing)

Date: 10 Jan to 14 Jan 2018

We were honoured to join the media launch of GO FOR GREATNESS with Fernleaf yesterday. There, we saw a few climbing and other activities that is open for the Public. Fernleaf wish to motivate Malaysian young and old to join the activities that is sure to elevate spirits. Besides, public can also sampling of Fernleaf products at the event.

Fernleaf ready-to-drink UHT milk comes in small and big ways in their lives. “Whether it is getting to work on time, lifting your child or some grocery shopping bags, exercising and carrying a school bag, they are greatness in their own ways as we all need mental and physical push in the form of energy and positivity to go through our day!” said Karen Ong, Marketing Director of Fonterra Brands Malaysia during the launch.