Review & Giveaway: ZooMoo! A preschool channel on StarHub

We received our package from ZooMoo recently and you can tell the kids were delirious! Just looking at those smiles plastered across their faces made my day! Kids are really very easily contented! Every morning, I find it a struggle. I'm like a headless chicken rushing to get their breakfast ready, bathe them, cook their lunch, nap them and get one ready for school. This is on top of cleaning their poo and what not. I used to do a lot of homeschooling. That is until Small K came along. I still try, but try as I might, it does get a little tricky with both hankering for attention. The activities would also have to be different, hence to sync the session is absolutely challenging. Often, when I'm preparing lunch, Small K would also come over and explore his new surroundings. There was this once when he toppled a whole jar of sea salt and I had to sweep it all up! Talk about more work. So there were many occasions when i resort to the television. I used to be very hung up over the fact that children under 3 should not be watching television programmes or exposed to gadgets. For Big K, I managed to advocate it. Her screen time is tremendously limited except over at gramps. Now that we are living with gramps, it's a different story altogether. Small K would clamour the grandfather for his favourite National Geographic. Ok, that at least is more educational than the mother-in-law's favourite 黄金年华. Big K thankfully, due to my rigorous training, hasn't been addicted. In fact, she would watch for a while and tell the adults that that's quite enough. 

However, I do need some help and hence I'm always on the lookout for educational programmes or dvds which can stimulate those little minds. I do admit that there are some programs and apps out there which are pretty good. One such avenue which I recently discovered is the world of ZooMoo. This is aired on StarHub Channel 306. It's the world's first preschool channel that is all about animals. ZooMoo explores the animal world in ways that are entertaining, interactive and enriching, sparking in kids a love for animals. ZooMoo is a collaboration between some of the world's foremost wildlife filmmakers and world renowned early childhood educationalists from the University of Otago, New Zealand's premier university. Sounds very intelligent to me. Together, they have created a powerful package: a catalyst for learning that engages both children and their parents. 

Look at how happy they were!

 wow what big eyes you have!

 These are the premiums and goodies we found in the gift pack!

I love it that my children are so innovative. One parcel kept them busy the whole morning! And I hadn't even switched on the programme for them!

The trailers were stored in a thumb drive which doubles up as a bracelet as discovered by Big K.

Ahhhh..a moment of peace. As they watched, I could peacefully do my stuff or cook their lunch without getting it burnt! The ZooMoo program lineup comprises of short form and long form shows which combine spectacular wildlife footage with a range of puppetry, animations, and narrative techniques to create a unique viewing and learning experience for little viewers. 

Photo credits: http://asia.zoomoo.tv/photos

Which kid wouldn't love funny furry characters? The children were excited when they saw Flash, an intrepid wildlife photographer, who gets lost on every mission in a new series which had premiered on 16 September. Together with a cast of funny furry characters, the children are taken on a journey of discovery about the animal kingdom.

Photo credits: http://asia.zoomoo.tv/photos

And....That's not all! ZooMoo has an app!! You can download it for FREE! The app works as a stand alone experience, where children can feed and look after animals, pose them for photos, watch video clips and learn each animal's name and how common or rare they are. After the initial download, no Internet connection is required! Good right? And and and....there's a "parent's page" where parents can learn more about what animals their children are interacting with most. This would certainly bring about more sincere conversations rather than the "it's so fun right?". Parents can gather more information on each animal and bridge the gap between the child and them.

SO what are you waiting for? Tune in to Starhub Channel 306 or download the app today!

Giveaway Time!!

The kind people at ZooMoo are giving away a gift pack to One lucky winner. Here's how to participate: 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and Conditions:

This giveaway will end on Friday, 9th October 2015, at 2359h, and is open to Singapore residents only.

The winners will be contacted via the particulars provided when entering this giveaway, and will have 24 hours to respond, failing which a new winner will be selected.

All incomplete entries will be disqualified, and all entries will be verified before the winner is announced.

This giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

*Disclaimer: We received the ZooMoo gift pack for the purpose of this review. All opinions, are our own.

Educational Products

In between, when i have pockets of time (huh? when does that happen?), I've been conducting preorders. I honestly do not know where i found such time but I suppose motherhood makes us do the most amazing things! Primarily, the preorders are conducted with BB K in mind! Everything I sell, BB K would probably have a set too! Thus i thought, why not benefit other fellow mommies? 

Lately, I'm into educational stuff. Have been plagued with guilt for not fully tapping onto my knowledge and spending quality time with lil bunnikins. Yup, enough of being a fashionista and being obsessed with pretty little dresses afterall, BB K can still fit into her 3mth old clothes! FYI, she's nearing 16mths! Talk about economical! So instead, i've turned my attention to developing her brains. Particularly through the use of Montessori toys. 

For those of you who aren't familiar, Montessori education is an educational approach developed by Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori. Montessori education is practiced in an estimated 30,000 schools worldwide, serving children from birth to eighteen years old.

Montessori education is characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child’s natural psychological development, as well as technological advancements in society. Although a range of practices exists under the name "Montessori", the Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) and the American Montessori Society (AMS) cite these elements as essential. In Singapore, there are heaps of preschools which claim to be conducting Montessori, but one true blue school with the relevant certification by AMI is Montessori For Children. http://www.montessori.edu.sg/. I'm not too in favour of having bb k spend half a day at a school only to be engaged in her own Montessori activities (they typically would be allowed to do their own activities, according to their ability). Socialization in my opinion is insufficient in such environment. And given K's nature, HA! i bet she won't be able to sit for long. She'd rather be chatting away with the teacher or her friends! However, teaching her independence is also important and there are so many aspects in Montessori which applies to daily life. The many disciplines include Sensorial, Botany, Practical Life, Language, Mathematics and probably more. I'm no expert but i reckon these will benefit the lil one as well. So i've decided that some form of Montessori to be conducted at home, thus the preorder for Montessori Toys. You could check out the range here: http://jumpstarttutors.com/shop/. These are pre-orders thus if you are interested, orders will only arrive approximately 2-3wks upon payment, subjected to availability. Do contact me should you be keen at any point in time. Now if only I live in a bigger house and have bigger storage! I've amassed so many things for bunnikins that it's getting a little out of hand in terms of organising!

Another exciting thing which I'm conducting preorder is for Chinese Books. Many friends have complained that Mandarin is a language which they fear that their kid will have problem handling as most speak English at home or that they don't have proper grounds for training. I on the other hand am worried about the English language as I'm the only one speaking to Bunnikins in English (apart from her maternal grandparents who visit once a wk). Every subject that are examinable in future (except Chinese) will be in the English language thus I'd be freaked out if my baby is weak in this area. Totally embarrassing too given the nature of my job! Then again, over at my in laws, apart from playing ball and looking at nature, mostly she'd be exposed to the ipad and ancient television programs. Thankfully, the lil one doesn't seem too keen in the latter and would turn away after a glance. This said, I still like bunnikins to be doing stuff that are more beneficial. Thus it spurred me to do yet another preorder -- Check it out here: http://jumpstarttutors.com/product-category/chinese-books/. These are seriously quite interactive and kickass if you ask me! More fun than any of the English books i have for K at the moment!

So if anything catches your eyes, please contact me at contact(at)jumpstarttutors(dot)com. I'll be closing the first preorder this Sunday (10 March 2013) so HURRY, Show your support! Place your orders now! 

PS: Still wondering where in the world i find the energy to do all these. HTMLs and all these tech stuff drive me nuts and even though there's a guru at home, often I'm left to figure things out myself via forums. Sigh...the things i do for the extra cash for diaper/ formula!! =P 

Some of the cool stuff from this collection:

Many more at http://jumpstarttutors.com/product-category/chinese-books/!!