I'm a full-time mummy

I have been cutting down on doing product reviews towards the last quarter of year 2016 to prepare for our coming 4th kiddo who was born in early November 2016 and I am now slowly resuming doing product reviews but prioritizing those that can fit into our family dynamics (especially books on parenting or educational stuff, family products, something along those genre)

Nowadays, as busy as I am with 4 kiddos, home cooking, helping with hubby's administration site of the business and managing my FB fan page and blog, I started to slow myself down to just reviewing products that either myself and/or my family can use and benefit from.

About the company/brand:

"Fundels card games: “Play&Learn” and “Flashcards”

With Fundels Play&Learn card games, you can quickly learn new things through play. These games teach you how to combine colours and shapes, how to write letters and how to play with numbers. What’s more, the fun plastic case means that you really can play these games anywhere! With Fundels FlashCards you can quickly and easily practise counting, language and conceptual thinking too. The upbeat design and fun colours make learning super fun!"

Since I've got 4 kiddos age ranging from 6 months old to 8 years old, we were sent several items from the new Fundels educational range for our review so that we can cover as much of them with our 4 kiddos hahaha... FYI, there are 2 range of Fundel products:

• Premium Play&Learn box (Drawing with Numbers, Writing Letters, Colours & Shapes and Playing with Numbers)
  

• Standard Flashcards (Multiplications, Learn to Draw and Learn English)
  

Play&Learn (Colours & Shapes)

This is one of my favourite games! Yes, yes, an adult saying this, I know... but hey, I am reviewing the products with my kiddos, so yes, I have the right to say that this is one of my favourite games! Now what do I like about them? With this game, you’ll develop your spatial awareness. How you play the game is you select one of the examples and try to replicate them out again. The tricky part is to ensure the cards' (some are transparent while some are translucent) positions, layouts, colours and shapes are as close as you can match them to be.

I find this game very easy for my kiddos age 3.5-years-old to 8-years-old to understand and follow. Just take one sample card and show them how it is done and then let my kiddos go crazy and creative on their own. The cards' quality is good and durable as well, nifty size which is good for them to hold onto and stack or adjust on top of other cards as they try to replicate the sample card. Lots of educational moments here as I get to teach our kiddos positioning (front, behind, left, right, over, under) as well as colour mixture and shapes combination in certain cases.

Play&Learn (Writing Letters)

This has got to be my next favourite game. My 3.5-year-old girl is particularly enjoying this game so much! She has started to learn alphabets in her preschool and to be able to practice tracing the letters on the colourful and cute little cards are much more enjoyable for her. I don't think she even realises that she is learning at the same time of her 'doodling' and tracing the letters! Win-win!

Play&Learn (Playing with Numbers)

I changed the rules of this game to suit myself and my 8-year-old hahaha. What we did was dividing a stack of numbered cards (I shuffled them first to randomise them) between us and using the dice, we took turns to roll the dice. If we get the + sign, we will choose 3 of our cards (we are playing 3 place values: ones, tens and hundreds) and whoever get the highest values, wins! If we get the - sign, whoever gets the lowest values wins. 

FlashCards (Learn English)

This is a very convenient and easy game to play with my kiddos. I have a few ways to play with these flashcards.

One way is I flashed the cards (image portion) to each of my kiddos in about 3 seconds' time and if they can guess the name of the objects correctly, they get a mini candy treat. Another way I played with these cards was I shuffled the cards, then looked at the image portion and each kiddo take turns to guess the objects on the cards I'm holding. I will slowly give them hints to the cards, such as it is a food item, you can eat it raw or you need to cook it first, or it is a household items etc. Whoever guessed the objects correctly gets a treat!

FlashCards (Multiplications)

These flashcards currently can only be used for my 8-year-old since he is learning multiplications.

If only I have this cards earlier, it would've saved me so much time and energy as I recently DIY-ed some mini flashcards for the exact purposes to teach my kiddo multiplications. Below picture is my humble little DIY flashcards which surprisingly is quite similar style to Fundels' version. I like Fundels' flashcards as the quality is better (of course!) and the numbers are big and bold enough to be seen from a distance. We have an enjoyable time with the flashcards!

FlashCards (Learn to Draw)

These flashcards we got for our review has got to be one of my favourites, which is the "Learn to Draw" flashcards. Each card has 4 simple steps to follow to draw them. The steps to follow in drawing are highlighted in red colour for easier understanding and final design of the object is shown at the bottom of the cards. The cards' drawings go from easy to medium to hard level from what I see, which is just suitable for my 3 kiddos!

I personally think there are many ways to use these flashcards and it has lots of learning opportunities! I started off by getting my kiddos ready with their own scrapbooks and colour pencils. Then I flashed them an example and they get to drawing as close as they can to the sample cards.

I choose the harder drawings for our 8-year-old to practice on, such as the helicopter, robot and dinosaurs drawing. He enjoyed the challenges and even came up with his own drawings to complement the flashcards designs hahah...

Instead of getting my kiddos to draw out the objects, another way I use these flashcards is to select some and get them to build it using Lego bricks hahaha. Look at how creative they get in trying to build their Lego creations as close as possible to the drawings on the flashcards.

A cute and fun way to get our kiddos to learn about mathematics, language and conceptual thinking in an easy way.

A must get products for your kiddos, really! 

Fundels are currently for sale at Parkson at Pavilion KL and Hamleys at One Utama. More stores will follow!

For more info on Fundels, check out: http://www.fundels.com, https://www.facebook.com/fundels/ and https://www.facebook.com/CartamundiAsiaPacific/

Do note that I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the products in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost every day) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

Do you know that every Malaysians now, regardless how old or how young need to have their own passport? I remembered I had my first passport when I was around pre-teen age and it was tagged onto my late mum's passport. Meaning, if you opened up her passport, you will see her picture and mine in the passport. But gone are those days... now, like I mentioned earlier, everybody needs to have their own passport.

Just in case you are not familiar with the procedures, I'll just copy paste some quick notes and tips for your reference here:

Applying For A Malaysian Passport For Your Baby

• What to bring along: Your child's Original Birth Certificate (and 1 photocopy), Mother/ Father’s Original IC (and 1 photocopy), RM100 (Validity 5 years)

• Tips: There are certain Immigration centres that has special lanes (for pregnant women, old folks, special needs or handicapped individuals as well as women with infants) I personally opt for the Immigration Department of Malaysia @ Sri Hartamas.

Process to apply for your child's new passport:

•  Get ready all the documents, go straight to the Immigration Department and look for the 1 special counter to get your queue number.
  

• The immigration officer will ask you for your documents and he/she will help you slot and arrange your documents and forms accordingly before passing you a queue number ticket.
  

• If possible, get ready your child's height measurement (there are some height chart around the department where you can use to check your child's height)
  

• Once your number is called, you will pass your documents to the officer in-charge (he/she will also ask for your queue number ticket)
  

• Then get ready your child for passport photo taking right at the counter you are in. If your child is not able to sit up, you will need to prop them up so that their picture can be taken. Make sure facial features are easily seen.
  

• Once done, wait for a while for your number to be called again for you to pay for the passport. You will get back your original IC and child's original birth cert after payment is made.
  

• From that point onwards, you will wait approximately 1 hour to get your child's passport. The officer at Kaunter Serahan might ask for your original IC and child's birth cert for reference again.
  

Now, wait wait wait... I'm NOT done yet! Yes, congrats for your child's new passport!

But wait a minute, do you know that you need to update their passport photo around 2 years?? (or earlier or later depending on their facial features changes)? Do you know or not!!!!????!!!

We found out about this when we brought our 4th kiddo to make his new passport and was told about this passport photo replacement for 2 years down the road. Yikes! We totally were not prepared at all for this, so back at home I checked back our older 3 kiddos' passports and sure enough, our girls face changed already! No more the cute chubby cheeks! And soooooo, we had to go to the Immigration Department again few days later (busy busy busy!!!)

Replacement of Malaysian Passport Photo For Your Baby

• What to bring along: Your child's Original Birth Certificate (and 1 photocopy), Mother/ Father’s Original IC (and 1 photocopy), your child's passport.
  

• Tips: There are certain Immigration centres that has special lanes (for pregnant women, old folks, special needs or handicapped individuals as well as women with infants) I personally opt for the Immigration Department of Malaysia @ Sri Hartamas.

Process to replace your child's passport photo:

• Once you have arrived at the Immigration Department, go look for the Passport Photo kiosk. Your child needs to take his/her passport photo at this kiosk. We paid RM17 each for 4 copies of our girls' passport photos. (meaning for each girl we paid RM17)
  

• Get ready all the documents, go straight to the Immigration Department and look for the 1 special counter to get your queue number.
  

• The immigration officer will ask you for your documents and 2 copies of passport photos and he/she will help you slot and arrange your documents and forms accordingly before passing you a queue number ticket and a form to fill up.
  

• If possible, get ready your child's height measurement (there are some height chart around the department where you can use to check your child's height)
  

• Once your number is called, you will pass your documents to the officer in-charge (he/she will also ask for your queue number ticket)
  

• The immigration officer will help fill up some fields in the form and your child will need to have their right thumb print on the form. Father/mother (the person filling up the form) will also need to have their right thumb print stamped next to their signature.
  

• Wait for a while as the officer pass your documents and form for approval and then you will get back your original IC and child's original birth cert after that. There is NO payment required for this at all.
  

• From that point onwards, you will wait approximately half hour to get your child's passport. The officer at Kaunter Serahan might ask for your original IC and child's birth cert for reference again.

This is how your child's passport looks like after completing the photo replacement process. Your child's passport remains the same (as long as still not expired of course), passport number remains unchanged, just that one of the pages in the passport will have a printed page with a copy of your child's latest passport photo glued, stamped and sealed marked on it to show that there is a recent photograph of the passport bearer which is effective from so and so date.

I hope the above info can help you understand the process better and be more well prepared. Honestly, it is hard for me to find any info on this passport photo replacement for children. Which is why I decided to blog this down so that I can remember what to do next time with our 4th kiddo hahahah...

For other info, you may check out http://www.kln.gov.my/web/ita_rome/passport_renewal

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost every day) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.

I have been cutting down on doing product reviews towards the last quarter of year 2016 to prepare for our coming 4th kiddo who was born in early November 2016 and I am now slowly resuming doing product reviews but prioritizing those that can fit into our family dynamics (especially books on parenting or educational stuff, family products, something along those genre)

However, as busy as I am with 4 kiddos, home cooking, taking care of hubby's administration site of the business and swamped up with managing my FB page and blog, I just can't say no to reviewing products that either myself and/or my family can use, what more reviewing a well-known stationery products' brand like Faber-Castell, I would be mad to say no, right?!

About the company/products:

"Faber-Castell is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of high-quality products for writing, drawing and creative design. Founded as a pencil factory in 1761 in Stein, near Nuremberg, today the firm is one of the oldest industrial companies in the world and remains a family-owned business even after more than eight generations of family ownership. Faber-Castell is represented in over 120 countries, with production sites in nine countries and sales companies in 23 countries. Its product range includes more than 2,000 items divided into the areas of “Playing & Learning”, “Art & Graphic”, “Premium”, “General Writing” and “Marking”.

Faber-Castell is delighted to present its latest innovation in colouring tools with the new Watercolour Soft Pastels. The Watercolour Soft Pastels is able to provide different finishing to the users – they are able to use it as it is which gives a silky smooth and pigmented crayon to an oil pastel finishing or add an additional step by lightly brushing it with water to achieve a watercolour effect. There is no sharpening required on the Watercolour Soft Pastels, making it a very convenient colouring tool for school-going children."

We received a box of Faber-Castell Watercolour Soft Pastels with 11 colours which also comes with a paintbrush as well. I breathed a sigh of relief as our older 3 kiddos take turn and not fight over one another to use the Watercolour Soft Pastels. 

To open the Faber-Castell Watercolour Soft Pastels packaging box, you just need to flip open the 2 small tabs on the sides like how you do for briefcases. The watercolour soft pastels are securely placed in a structured case that allows easy packing and carrying about without the fear of the pastels falling out.

The Watercolour Soft Pastels' length is just nice and its size is also just right for children's fingers to grasp on to. You just need to gently turn the top cap clockwise to extend the pastels and continue using it. There's no need to sharpen anything!

I made some photocopies of a printable colouring sheet for them to colour in and get themselves busy. I just told them to go crazy in colouring the paper given and they went on their own creative ways to colour their paper. One studiously coloured within the lines, one tried to blend and mix the colours while one tried to use different methods in colouring.

Results of their first colouring using Faber-Castell Watercolour Soft Pastels:

First one was by our 8-year-old boy, who studiously coloured within the lines and tried to match as close as possible to the objects' colours.

Second one was by our 5.5-year-old girl, who tried to blend and mix the colours and every now and then announces the new colours she created. "Blue and yellow makes GREEN!", "Blue and red makes PURPLE!!!" Whoaa... learning opportunities everywhere!

Last one was by our 3.5-year-old girl, who tried to use different methods in colouring. After her initial colouring, she excitedly took a brush and dipped it into a container of water that I prepared and happily blend in the colours on her paper. 

There are several techniques that you can try with Faber-Castell Watercolour Soft Pastels such as:

• Blending & Watercolour Techniques - where you can easily smudged the colours using fingertips, cotton buds or tissue paper and a touch of water to create a watercolour effect.

• Scratching Technique - where you apply bright vibrant colours as the base and then overlaps it with a darker shade. You can use the tip of a ruler to scratch the dark surface to reveal the colours beneath.

• Water Colour Technique with Mirror Image Effect - where you leave some space where the image is meant to be transferred to and apply the colours on the actual artwork.

  

The Faber-Castell Watercolour Soft Pastels is a wonderful product for children and I'm happy that our kiddos have the opportunity to try out this product.  

Faber-Castell Watercolour Soft Pastels are available at all major bookstores and stationery shops in Malaysia.

Do note that I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the products in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

** Note: I have disabled the commenting feature on my blog engine thanks to all the spammers who happily spam my blog every day. If you wish to ask me any questions, you can find me at my Facebook page (I'm there almost every day) or just drop me an email if you wish to maintain some anonymity.