Maia Recommends: Engineering For Kids - Philippines

Did Science ever interest you as a kid?

It really did for me. Well, it was probably due to my dad's (who is a mechanical engineer) influence and he really did talk day in and day out about science at home. He trained us to approach problems the scientific way and that really helped me a lot in solving my daily dilemmas, not only as a kid but even now as an adult.

I wanted my kid to develop interest in Science too. But I guess I was never like my dad. And since both my husband and me have day jobs that wasn't directly connected to science, it wasn't a topic that is often discussed at home. I didn't push anymore, I figured since she's now in grade school, she will eventually figure out for herself if Science is something that she likes or not.

Thankfully though, I didn't have to wait long to get my answer. A couple of weeks ago, a generous soul from Mommy Bloggers Philippines, a blogger group I belong to posted an invitation for interested mommies who would like to try out a session at the recently launched Engineering For Kids after school program at the BGC. I immediately grabbed the chance to introduce Science in a fun way to my little miss and signed up.

Finally last Saturday, the little miss and me trotted off to Bonifacio Global City with our mom-daughter partner in crime - Erl and Kelsea - to try out the Aerospace Engineering session. We made it just in time (despite the delay that Maia and I caused) for class after travelling for an hour. Thanks to Erl for the free ride. If we were commuting, I would probably have to allot at least an hour and a half since I was coming from Cavite. Good thing we picked the 9am schedule so the traffic on the roads was still free flowing. 

When we got to the venue, the kids immediately got themselves seated while Erl and I were briefed about basic info of the program. We were handed a kit that contained the list of what the offerings were for the month and a flyer that discussed the history of the program. We learned that Engineering for Kids Ph is a franchise from the US. It was started by a mom-teacher who saw the rising need for an after school program that focuses on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education. 

There are two classes offered: Juniors (4-6 yo kids) and Apprentice (7-14 yo kids). Every month, they offer new sets of topics/projects for each of the programs offered. Weekend rate is P4500 while the weekday rate is P6600 (if I remember correctly). There are 4 sessions per month for the weekend class and 6 sessions for weekday class.

The class that Maia and Kelsea tried was under the Aerospace Engineering program and for the day, the project that they were designated to work on is Stomp Rocket. The class was a group of 6 kids - 4 boys and 2 girls (Maia and Kelsea). They started off the class with a brief introduction of the parts of the rocket. Teacher Em started it with a song which immediately got the kids' attention. After about 15 minutes, the kids started working on the rocket. Before we knew it, the allotted one hour was up and the kids had started taking turns stomping on the makeshift rocket launcher.

She went back to stomp a couple more times. Gone was that timid little girl.

But while the boys couldn't wait to get their foot on the stomp rockets, the little girls took their sweet time making their rockets pretty. Maia was so proud of her rocket she immediately ran to hug me when it went up so high it almost touched the ceiling. It was a fun class and the way the activity was structured, I doubt if the kids even realized they were dealing with Science at all. I just hope a few years from now when the kid starts to study physics she would remember this experience.

Class picture minus Kelsea (Do you know how to add her via Photoshop, Erl?)

Would I recommend it? If you live near BGC, I would. But if you live farther (down South like us or up North in QC), I don't know if the travel would be all worth it since the class runs for only an hour. Or best to just call and ask where the other branches are located.

Engineering for Kids is offering early bird discount till August 8 so if this is something that you are interested to try, contact them at:

Tel Nos: (02) 224.4170 / 0917.551.8705

Email: info@smilegroup.org

They are currently doing classes at the Function room, 5/F of Forbeswood Parklane, Rizal Drive, BGC, Taguig. More info at their website: www.engineeringforkids.net

Natural Toys From Vigan

I've always dreamed for Maia to own a plastic-free, all-natural set of toys. I was never generously endowed with a lot of toys during my childhood (no Barbies, Legos, and nor popular stuffed toys) but I had the abundance of natural toys. Balls made of coconut leaves, plates made of weaved Banana leaves. I think that's mainly where my love for nature is rooted from. I wanted my little girl to experience that. But of course, I know that will somehow remain a dream. With Maia, at least.

When we first came to visit St. Michael Playhouse for a trial, I fell in love at first sight with their collection of natural toys. I wanted to get Maia the set of dining toys and mini-furnitures that they have but I never got around to asking the nurturers there where the toys were sourced. Later on, I would come across several natural toy resellers in Multiply but would balk at the steep prices of the toys. I know my husband would never approve. 

So I settled for wood scraps and a bag of Ecobloks and shells and stones and mahogany shells that we would collect during our vacation to Antique. Seeing how the kid enjoy playing with those already gave me some sort of contentment. I stopped ogling and drooling over wooden toys in Etsy and Multiply. I stopped daydreaming on when we'd ever be able to afford a fully furnished wooden kitchen set for the little miss. I thought the scraps we had were already enough to fuel her imagination. (And they really were I'd like to think so) 

Not till I came across these cute mini-furniture toys in Vigan while walking around yesterday. Like a kid who just saw a candy store, my eyes just brightened at the sight of the tiny furniture lined up. My husband knew he only has one option, to say yes. Haha. I wanted to buy all of the items there. They had mini-rocking chairs (complete with the detailed rattan weaving on the backrest), living room set, and several types of dining sets for kids.

This was priced at P300/set. It came with a table and 4 chairs. I was able to
haggle for P250 but I think they can go down to P200 if you're buying more.

I got the little miss this round table dining set and she immediately showered me with kisses when she opened the package this morning. 

The other night I also got her this mini-kitchen cooking set made of clay. She already owned something similar to this but the ones we found in Vigan were even smaller than the ones she currently owned and I just thought I ougta buy it too. Who knows, maybe she will be more careful this time and we can pass it on to her kids (maybe) in the future. 

Bought the little set at the bottom for P100/set. Initially priced at P130.

And...here I go, daydreaming again. 

Future Plans

Kids often get asked: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Maia isn't spared of that question. I cannot count how many times I've heard people ask her that. I cannot blame them, it really is cute (and amusing and even fascinating) listening to kids narrate about their grand plans for the future.

My little miss seemed pretty sure about how she'd want to end up to be in the future. She would firmly declare she wants to be a doctor, almost always. Add to her recent fascination on Doc McStuffins and she will really convince you she has her life's directions mapped out really well towards that medical degree dream.

So everyone in our family is really happy that she's got the conviction she will definitely become little miss MD someday. But as we know how kids are...you know that in between those years, they are bound to change their minds and decide to become either:

The Illustrator of the Year

(this one i'm really very proud of how far she's gone even without taking up lessons yet. If you look closely at the photo below you'll see that she's holding a very detailed drawing. Showed it to my co-workers and they were awed)

or maybe;

The Colorist of the Year

(she still isn't into colors as you would expect most kids to be but she's starting to like coloring her illustrations lately)

or she could very well be;

The Chef of the Year

(ever since she finished that 3 day cooking class at St. Michael Playhouse, she's become more interested with not just eating but food preparation and cooking most especially. And whatever she can get her hands on during make-believe play, she'd usually turn into a kitchen tool, a food item or a household fixture)

Yes, we would want her to pursue being a doctor. But we would also want her to always bear in her heart and mind that no matter where her passion takes her we will always be there to support her and cheer on her.

A Spaceship Ride To School

I seriously thought I was the only one excited for school opening in our household. When I was younger, June was my most awaited month of the year. I was more excited for June than for July (which is my birthday month). I looked forward to the smell of newly wrapped books and notebooks, to arranging newly bought school supplies in my bag (i have this secret love affair with school supplies and making tambay at National Bookstore is my idea of killing time), to neatly hanging my newly ironed school uniform (yes my siblings and I each took the responsibility of preparing our own school uniforms) and most of all I was just excited to touch base with friends again. I can only hope Maia takes after that zest I had for school when I was younger. (digress, digress, digress)

So anyway, as I've mentioned, I thought I was the only one excited for school but this morning Maia just proved to me how wrong I was. While I was preparing our breakfast, she took out her scratch papers and drew something for me and her dad to bring to work.While we were admiring the details on her drawings, she started telling us what's the story behind one of her drawings. She pointed to one of the stick figures and told me it's her daddy. Then she went to encase daddy's head. I thought she was trying to draw daddy's hat but I was amazed when she said it's daddy's spaceship suit because we are going to ride a spaceship to bring her to school. Then her next statement made me laugh: "Kasi ayaw ko sumakay sa van, Mommy kaya sa spaceship na lang"

You see, the poor little girl has motion sickness (she gets nauseous riding closed air-conditioned vehicles) so if she could get away with it she would always prefer open-windowed jeepneys over everything else. I guess that's the price we pay for being jeepney-loving, commuting parents ourselves. (On a side note, our pediatrician tells us that motion sickness is actually genetic. She attributes it being born with sensitive nerves in the ears - I'm guessing probably the same nerves causing vertigos? - and I already know who is the culprit -- ME! I've been a byahilo up until I was in my teens. She prescribed a homeopathic remedy called Cocculus Inducus for Maia but I have yet to find it since the 3 Healthy Options stores that I went to didn't have stocks on hand. In the meantime, the school service's solution to this is to open the windows when Maia rides the school service to school. Sigh, that's the only thing that's making me anxious in this new adventure)

Still, here's to exciting adventures ahead!

On Rocket Spaceships and Picnic Galore

As I've mentioned before we are not fond of buying toys for our little miss. But whatever toys Maia has, have all been put to good use. And I mean really used. Despite how ruggedly beaten up they may look now and some probably already missing a piece or two, Maia refused (and still refuses) to let them go. No matter how mad (albeit, faking) her dad would get at her, she would stubbornly hold on to her old torotots (trumpets), old party hats, old blocks, pieces from an old shape sorter, broken mechanical toy.

Yes, she probably took after me. Loving trash and holding on to them as if they were destined for greatness in this materialistic and commercialized world.

A couple of weeks ago, Tibs realized what these pieces of trash are to his daughter. And as the mother in me have always thought, she never indeed saw these old toys as trash. In her imaginative world, they became a spaceship and picnic accessories one delightful evening.