Drawing development in children

Children love to draw. As teachers and parents, we encourage our children to express their feelings through aesthetic engagement like drawing. While children are enjoying themselves, adults may feel a bit lost. We may ask ourselves, "Should I draw with them and show them how they should draw a star properly?" "My daughter is 3 years old already, should she be able to draw a portrait?" "At 6

"Why? Why? Why?" Children ask.

In my eyes, my dad knows everything. As a child, I always ask him "Why?" about anything that crossed my mind; and I don't remember a time when he didn't treat my questions seriously.  He's the first teacher who showed me how to treat little kids with respect.  I think I read a research somewhere saying that on average children ask at least 70 questions per day. (Although I doubt it...the number

LEGO and creativity

LEGO is one of the most ingenious toy invented, isn't it? Children get very excited when they receive new toys; but they get tired of it after playing with it for a while. Strangely, have you noticed, children don't really grow out of LEGO bricks. They'd bring them out occasionally and start building new things as they age. Even with adults, when we are sitting in front of a pile of LEGO bricks,

Cycle-of-life for Toddlers

Have you ever tried talking to your toddler about life? And you may say, "What? They're too young for that!" You think so? The more I interact with kids, the more I think they know something about life that I don't, or at least I've forgotten about. I'd like to share a cute little short film with you and your tots - yes, a film about life that I'm sure both of you would love.For more films for

IAC2010 FILM recommendation #2 - Two Asian Films

Children, do you have dreams? What are they? What would you do to follow your dream?
These two movies from this year's IAC Children's Film Carnival are about determination. 
Tahaan has sold his best friend, the donkey, to repay his debt.  He is destined to get the donkey back - no matter how difficult the journey may be.
The second movie takes place in the beautiful landscape of Shangri-la;

How teachers see creativity?

To continue my sharing on school and creativity, I'd like to share with you one of the most inspiring speech I've ever heard in years.  Sir Ken Robinson, in the 2006 TED conference, gave the speech titled Does School Kill Creativity?  
He justified my belief and teaching philosophy - 
Creativity in school is as important as literacy. 
I won't do a summary of the speech as I encourage every

From the Newspaper - Creativity and your children's education

I'd like to share with you two articles from the Herald Sun.  The first one is an exerpt from a to-be-published book How to prepare for kindergarten: a common sense guide to guiding your child and yourself ready for day one.  The author, Laura Whitfield Watts, is a kindergarten teacher.  She enjoys working with the 5 to 6 years old for their creativity.  The article also talks briefly about

IAC2010 FILM recommendation - Azur and Asmar (France)

Azur and Asmar is a magical film directed by Michel Ocelot. It is about the reunion of two boys, Azur and Asmar who have spent their childhood togehter, and their dangerous and unforgettable adventure to find and free the Djinn Fairy. (Please click to see its FULL SYNOPSIS by GKIDS TV)  The decorative art in the film is beautiful; full of colours from North Africa and the Middle East.
This film

IAC2010 show recommendation - Zic Zazou (from France)

The annual Hong Kong International Art Carnival will be held between 9 Jul to 15 Aug this year.  Have you picked a show yet?  I'd like to make a recommendation to my students to see a French music group, called Zic Zazou.  It is a creative group who makes extraordinary music out of ordinary objects, like a ping-pong bat, a brick or a garden hose! I'm sure children would love the creative way they

Can we measure creativity? How?

Although the topic of creativity is not recieving as much attention as it deserves in the academic field, it is nonetheless a very important issue in education and child development. While factual knowledge is just a click on the computer away, the notion of "teaching from textbooks" is becoming less appropriate in the era of 2.0. (or soon, 3.0) We are not merely "knowledge receivers," but active

Aesop, the great storyteller

There once lived in ancient Greece a slaves who was very good at telling story.  Not only were his stories entertaining, they always have morals behind them - each fable has a lesson to teach children.  This man's name is Aesop, his fables have educated many generations of children for....OVER 2000 years!!!
Aesop's Fables are short and fun to read; they serve as quick bedtime stories.  The

A beautiful Jewish Lullaby - By the Wayside stands a tree

The Jews have gone through a lot of tough times in history; it is not hard to find traces of bitterness in Jewish music. Listen to this lullaby and refer to the translation below, you would be able to empathize some of the deep emotions that mothers and children carry.

By the Wayside stands a tree
By the wayside stands a tree, bent against the storm. All the birds have deserted it, leaving it

Beautiful Barefoot Books

Their books are full of colour and culture; their books bring children into a whole new world of imagination. There books are BEAUTIFUL! Not only do I like Barefoot Books for the the above reasons, I also love the initial intention and core values behind this community of children literature. As quoted from the official website, this is how it all started, "Barefoot Books began with two mothers

Children, are your hearts aching?

Not so long ago, YuShu County was a colourful place in China.

Then earthquake happened.  The colours are buried under the rubbles and snow.

Children are sad.

Mothers cry.

My dear children
Are your hearts aching?  Are you praying?  Are you helping?

So that, these children can go back to school soon...

So that these children's world can be filled with colours again?

To my oversea readers, 

Cloud Dreamers

WHAT DO YOU SEE? 

I see a spaceship.  I see a the head of a dashing dinosaur opening his mouth.  I see a chubby bird.  I see a drowning sheep.  What do you see?
Cloud-watching is such a relaxing pastime, isn't it?  I can spend a whole afternoon watching clouds changing shapes as they calmly float by (usually I'd grudually fall asleep).  If you have children with you, such afternoon wouldn't be

Degas and Dancers

Though I don't know much about Edgar Degas (1834-1917), I've always loved his series of paintings on (ballet) dancers. Apparently, he lived during the time when ballet was one of the most popular form of stage art in Paris; there's no wonder that he has developed such an obsession on this topic.Here's a few from the series which I find very intriguing; they represent the road to become successful

Ear & Eye Candy

Human senses are amazing. I bet most of us would perceive these pictures of desert plants differently just by quickly glancing at them. What we see, hear, smell, taste and touch have the potential to cause immediate changes to our heartbeat rate, our breathing rhythm and our emotional state.Pregnant women tend to be more sensitive to these changes within as they always pay attention to the

Homeschooling - Is it adequate?

I had an interesting discussion on homeschooling in Hong Kong with a parent. She is frustrated by Hong Kong's education policies and the policy changes in her daughters' school. So she wants to withdraw her children from school, at least for a while, so that she can homeschool them. Unfortunately, homeschooling is illegal in Hong Kong.Since it is not an alternative to formal education, Hong Kong

音樂教育的價值

我常常對家長說﹐我們一定要對音樂教育有要求。
曾經有一位我不認識的家長認真地對我的文章回應說﹕“老師﹐不是嘛﹖孩子在中英數等學科已經很有壓力﹐音樂堂嘛﹐就讓他們輕鬆以下吧!我們小時候上的音樂堂﹐都只是跟同學唱唱歌﹐那些都是快樂的回憶。”
上了十多年的音樂堂後﹐學生的得著只是一些快樂的回憶 - 那不正正就是香港音樂教育的失敗嗎﹖如果音樂老師能做到的只有這些﹐我們應該覺得慚愧。
身為音樂老師﹐我對自己的教學有兩個小小的堅持。第一﹐我不介意當合唱指揮﹐但我不會選拔精英﹑更不會參加比賽。第二﹐我不用教科書。
唱歌是全世界每一個人都應該參與的活動﹔無論學生唱得好不好﹐他們都應該有機會和大家一起唱。再者﹐音樂老師的重要職責就是令所有學生都能發揮自己聲音的獨特性 - 身為唱歌老師多年﹐我從未遇過一個不能唱歌的學生。我們是認識音樂的人﹐在世上云云歌曲中﹐難到會找不到一首適合個別孩子的歌曲﹖小孩子都愛唱歌

TATE GALLERY UK sponsored by BT Group

Tate Gallery is a modern art gallery in the UK. Its four galleries are the home of British art from 1500 to present day. The galleries also hold frequent exhibition of modern British art; its website has been used as a plateform for internet arts exhibits.Tate Kids is part of the outstanding Tate Online project sponsored by the BT Group (British Telecommunication company). This online learning