Marching Out

March has been such a whirlwind for us, there was a week long spring break plus work was incredibly hectic.

We took advantage of the sunny weather to arrange play dates outdoors as early as possible in the morning. Bubs and his chum had so much fun monkeying around at the Youth Park playground before dipping into the refreshingly cool wading pool.

This was at a friend's new place and for some reason, Bubs is absolutely terrific of water slides. He refuses to go down, no matter how much we try to cajole him.

We've had several new additions to our little family. Folks, I present to you ...

Swimmy, Sharky and Sucky - don't look at me, Bubs decided on the names for our guppies. A friend was so successful in breeding them that she gave us some baby guppies. I was in charge of decorating the aquarium, Bubs feeds them when he remembers and Hubs is in charge of sanitisation.

Hubs has been (literally) rolling out meatballs. He makes them fresh from mince and they taste amazing with pasta sauce. Bubs and I keep begging him to make extra to freeze for quick dinners.

I've probably shared this before: Bub's school has a bun making session weekly where the kids get to roll out the dough and add extras, like sunflower seeds and raisins. They draw on the brown paper bag and I love snapping photos of Bub's artwork. 

Speaking of school, they've started teaching Bubs some Chinese this year. Hubs and I find his writing to be so cute!

He's also showing an interest in sketching. My Mum thought that these were mice ;)

Plus, he has a "special" gal pal now at school :) They like to send each other love notes and it's so sweet!

Chalkapella

Aunt D gave Bubs the coolest gift: a Chalkapella t-shirt. This is such an amazing concept: a washable blackboard fabric surface printed on a white cotton tee. The secret lies within the box of chalks bundled with each tee; these are smudge proof and dustless so Bubs could chalk to his heart's content.

Plus, Chalkapella pledges to allocate 10% from its revenue to children in need, so you're only wearing a truly unique one of a kind tee but also putting a smile on the needy too.

Each box comes with 3 primary colours: red, blue, yellow plus 2 sticks of white. The colours were vibrant against the black background though you kind of have to press on them harder for it to pop more. Rest assured that the chalks are very sturdy so they don't break that easily, unless the old school, powdery ones that snap into half. Don't worry if you end up with a wobbly line as you can fix mistakes by gently rubbing with a damp cloth.

 

Bubs got straight to work sketching his picture.

 

Even my Mum couldn't resist and added some finishing touches. "Use more colours, fill up the space!" she urged.

Bubs with his finished (and wearable) work of art.

After seeing the fun both of them had, I wanted a go at it too ;)

What better way to test how smudge-proof the tee was than a 2 hour practise session? True to its promise, the pictures stayed on and we were impressed. Bubs is also extra pleased with the Star Wars fabric cover that my Mum made for him.

Wax Resist Art

I gave G quite a scare when I ping-ed him around midnight last week to ask if he had any white candles to spare me.

"Are you planning some kind of ritual?" he asked suspiciously.

Just a fun one :) Wax resist art ... or rather, batik in its simplest form.

You'll need:
White candles
White paper
Watercolours

Bubs found it frustrating to draw his picture with the white candle as it was close to invisible and he couldn't see where to place his objects. I suggested that he first draw it out using pencil on another piece of paper then try using the white candle to copy it out again.

His version of a white polar bear in a snowstorm ;) I promised him that he'd see his picture once he started painting it.

Bubs somewhat patiently painting his sketch in lines.

I showed Bubs how he could mix colours in so it wouldn't just be a single colour.

Voila :) His finished work of art.

Hin Bus Sunday Market

It's been a while since we went to the Hin Bus Depot and when we heard that there's a weekly Sunday pop up market, we went over for a peek. It operates from 11am - 5pm but to be on the safe side, you might want to try going at 12 noon for all the stalls to be fully open.

Hubs moseyed over to a rad looking truck that offers rescue in the form of caffeine. Coffee Rescue, is a coffee truck that goes around Penang offering awesome coffee with carefully chosen beans and a seriously passionate plus friendly owner. He took the time to explain the difference between the beans he uses and the different nuances in taste. Hubs was more than impressed with his flat white (RM8) and is already talking about hunting down the truck for his next caffeine fix.

The grounds were filled with thought provoking art, such as this one. Alabaster-white statues of chubby children were prancing around while one lone figure sat perched in front of an electronic device, its wire-mesh head considerably larger than its peers and a black "ewwww, squishy" - as Bubs described it - brain visible.

He was also interested in this brightly painted mural of 2 boxers.

We were a bit too early for all the stalls to be open which was a pity as the nasi kerabu looked delish in photos. The market area was breezy even with the burning rays of the sun beating down. Hubs had quite a merry time sitting down at the edge of the raised platform, nursing his cup of coffee while Bubs and I explored the few stalls that were open.

The brains behind silkscreen designer and printer, Dirty Donuts, was more than gracious enough to explain how silkscreen printing worked. He let us observe how he was cleaning his blocks - silly me thought that they were glass paintings - and Bubs was more than fascinated with the cool, hand drawn Star Wars figures.

Postcards of Penang art on sale at the quaintest display ever.

We love the chilled out vibe at the Hin Bus Depot so much that we're already planning a return trip pretty soon!

Paper Plate Dragon

I've been putting crafts and fun science on the back burner for a bit while focusing more on school preparation for him. He's been learning to write a few Chinese characters at his kindy and we've been doing a couple of Malay worksheets a day. I realised that it has been quite some time since we did some kind of art project together and this fun post kindled the need to try this out with Bubs.

You'll need:
A paper plate
Scissors
Stapler
Colour markers/water colours

Bubs gets excited whenever he sees the materials in front of him.

Fold the plate into half. Draw a dragon torso and wing onto 1 side of the plate.

It took us a few attempts to realise that my drawing skills produced a short and stumpy bat instead of a more majestic dragon! I then cheated and used Bub's Lego dragon wings to trace the outline.

Draw a head and tail for the dragon then staple them on together.

Bubs had such a fun time colouring his dragon.

I've to admit that I was surprised he put a lot of effort into colouring all parts of the dragon very nicely, even the underneath of the wings.

"Look, Mummy, my flying dragon!"