Lately I find it hard to get out of bed before 7.30am. And I tried not to. Sophie would be the first to get up and CK would join her at the living room. He always tell her to monitor the stock market for him and today, he took a picture of her reading the newspaper. It's a good sign. Perhaps it's time to encourage her to read The Straits Times.
That aside, we had a major gathering today. Some of my ex-schoolmates from Mayflower Primary School came over to our place with their children. The kids were so excited that they sat at the sofa to wait for the guests to arrive. It was a pot luck so everyone brought something to share.
As usual, food isn't my forte so I provided the place, drinks and cutleries instead. Of course, I threw in a Christmas craft session for the kids. I made the promise to conduct a craft session for their children some time ago but there wasn't any opportunity until now. The children preferred to play with Playdough during our last gathering. This time, I was prepared and very determined to conduct the session.
I planned to make the Christmas tree with them. I wanted to see how good was the response and figure out the best way to conduct the session because we have another session with some senior citizens on the 19 Dec. Then if there was time, I planned to do a hand print craft on the good bag with the children.
The children, of course, went straight into playing. The boys took the play room while the girls occupied Sophie's room. Somehow, I felt that the boys were a lot more cooperative and organised in their play.
After we got the feasting out of the way, I started the craft session proper. I didn't really know the children so I wasn't sure if my way of teaching was good for them. I was also concerned that Alfee and Sophie would pester me to give them attention and disrupt the session (they did).
Yet, the children were very well behaved and they listened attentively. The older ones were also very helpful towards the younger ones. When we started doing the craft, it was chaotic. I roped in the adults to supervise the children. Hopefully they had some fun doing it with the children.
The end product was rather cool I must admit, although Sophie put too many bells in her tree. I realised the children couldn't resist bells. Like moths drawn to the light, they loved shaking those bells.
The enthusiasm for the second craft was fuelled by the children's desire to receive their goody bags. I told them that they could only claim their goodies after they finished decorating their bags. That worked. They didn't even mind having their whole hand painted red.
Everyone managed to make the falling Santa beautifully. It turned out much better than I had expected. The children then filled their bags with toys, candies and favours. Everyone seemed very content with their hard earned goodies.
Then some children stayed on to do a ladybug craft with plastic spoon and markers while others continued playing in the room. Although this wasn't planned, the children were enjoying the process of a simple craft.
By 5 pm, the children were tired and the adults were ready to just relax and call it a day. We waited for Ann to arrive with Dexter before eating the ice-cream cake. Everyone loves ice-cream! Soon after, everyone was ready to go home. I'm sure the children would continue to play forever but it was dinner time soon and evening time is 'cranky' time.
Only Ann stayed on. We did the Christmas tree craft with Dexter before watching some TV before Papa came back. By then, the kids were super tired and Alfee even asked me to bring him to bed. Ann and Dexter ate dinner with Papa while I put them to bed finally. I'm glad everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves and I enjoy teaching the crafts to them as well. It's been a while since I last taught other children crafts.
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