Fun at Berita Harian

Parenthood Oct 2010

Fun at Virtual Malaysia

Book Review - Fun for Kids in Malaysia

For someone who's single and obviously not intending to have children any time soon, I found "Fun For Kids in Malaysia: An essential guide to fun-tastic activities for children" by Lydia Teh rather amusing, as it really brought out the (hidden) kid in me.

Separated by states in Malaysia, the book offers attractions which bring interests to children, but as I read on, it would also be great for adults (those who are young at heart) to tag along.

15% discount at Borders

From camping, swimming, to performing extreme sports and such, the book caters to the needs and interests of the whole family - and you know what they say - the family that plays together, stays together.
"I grew up with six brothers. That's how I learned to dance- waiting for the bathroom" (Bob Hope) - a favourite quote of mine, which Lydia puts in the book as well.

How I wish I could have learned capoeira (Afro-Brazilian martial art that incorporates music, dance and acobatics) when I was a kid; I was really into it after watching the movie "Only The Strong" - and only managed to practise the moves on my brothers. Now, there are even packages that cater to the art, and cool parents know better than not to enrol their children in it.

All the quotes that Lydia included in Fun for Kids in Malaysia are tied up to the subject of the book - entertaining children so that they don't end up whining, "I'm bored, there's nothing to do".

However, one thing that is lacking from the "guide" book are pictures - there are only some cartoons showing the attractions and drawings of children. That, to me, took the "fun" out of the book, making it rather monotonous and detracts from conveying the fun-factor of the activities.

Parents who get hold of a copy of this book will have plenty of pointers to make their family holidays fun and enjoyable for the children. In fact, it may just earn them not only the label The Greatest Parents on Earth, but also the coolest!

Fun for Kids in Malaysia: An essential guide to fun-tastic activities for children by Lydia Teh retails at RM29.90. Get 15% off this month at Borders.

By : Nazreen Tajul Arif

Fun at komunitikini.com

Fun at Her World

Her World October 2010 issue

ParenThots Review of Fun for Kids in Malaysia

Must-have book on activities for kids
27 September 2010
The Star
Review by BRIGITTE ROZARIO


FUN FOR KIDS IN MALAYSIA
An essential guide to fun-tastic activities for children
By Lydia Teh
Publisher: Marshall Cavendish

Author Lydia Teh has really put in a lot of research for this book. It is the guide book for all families.

Often parents are left at a loss as to what to do during the school holidays and how to entertain their kids on the weekend.

The number of places we visit seem to be few and the number of activities we are familiar with are even fewer. You could probably count all of them on one hand. And, often, the kids end up going nowhere and doing nothing or we just keep taking them back to the shopping malls.

Take heart, you need not bring up a mall rat.

That's where this book comes in. It offers stuff to do in all states and that includes Sabah and Sarawak. There's even what to do in Labuan!

The list covers information like how to get there and getting around each state. Included in the list of activities are museums, libraries, nature attractions, adventure activities, sports, performing arts, arts & crafts, festivals and shopping.

You will be pleasantly surprised to find out the kinds of stuff you could do in your state. For example, I didn't know that you could roll down a hill in a giant plastic ball at Taman Tasik Titiwangsa or fly a plane at Subang Skypark.

The author has included info like what the activity/event is, where it can be found, what time the place is open, contact details and how to get there.

Apparently, there are a lot of activities in Malaysia that we may not even be aware of.

I liked that the author included things like where to adopt animals and societies/associations for children with special needs.

In addition to the state by state breakdown and the special needs information, there are also details on festivals that might be celebrated by all states – Chinese New Year, Christmas, Deepavali, Hari Raya Puasa, Chap Goh Meh, Hungry Ghost, Mooncake, Wesak and Thaipusam.

Then there are the school holiday programmes offered by Club Med, Cambridge English for Life, Children's Technology Workshop, Polgar Chess and Xtreem Adventure.

If your child is into uniformed activities, you might be interested in the contact details for Girl Guides, Cadet Corps, Polis Kadet, Red Crescent Society, Scouts and St John Ambulance.

To top all of that, the author has included right at the back of the book, hiking guidelines and safety at waterfalls tips.

In all, this is a great guide and every family should have one. You will be amazed at what you can do in Malaysia and you probably don't know about any of the libraries near you.

Highly recommended.

* Want to win a FREE copy of the book? Go to the contest page to find out how you can win one.

Fun at Bookfest

Conducted a talk on Getting Kids to Read and Play at the annual Bookfest in KLCC. The talk was on Sunday, 5 September 2010. Turnout could've been better. I think the timing wasn't good but that was the only spot available for me on that day. Six o'clock is the time people are getting ready to makan.

1childrenbooks.com Review of Fun for Kids in Malaysia

Description

This handbook is for parents who have to plan their children’s activities. It is divided into the states of Malaysia, with Kuala Lumpur and Selangor combined as one. In each state, the fun activities and places to visit are further categorised generally into the following, with some categories being omitted in smaller states:

* Fast facts – state’s tourism office.
* Getting there – how to go there by plane, car, bus and train.
* Getting around – information on buses and taxis in the main towns.
* Back to nature – forest reserves, parks, islands, beaches, waterfalls, animal farms.
* Adventure (name of state)! – caving, fishing, flying fox, paragliding, paint ball, rock climbing, white water rafting, etc
* Sports – archery, badminton, bowling, cycling, fencing, football, etc
* The performing arts – dance, drama, music
* Arts, craft and cooking – includes art galleries as well
* Where to go – places of interest that do not fall into the ‘Back to nature’ section, such as mosques, temples, museums, tourist spot like Chinatown, etc
* Festivals – major festivals unique to each state
* Shopping – shopping malls
* Reading – list of bookstores and public libraries

Detailed information are provided, which usually includes address, telephone number, email address, website address, opening and closing times, entrance fee, and price guide for activities. For major tourists’ attraction, road directions are given.

Our review

If you are always cracking your head as to how to keep your children occupied during the weekends or more crucially, during the school holidays, then this is a must-have.

Not only does it give you a rather comprehensive list of activities for kids, but should you decide to go on a holiday, it also includes the places of interest in each state.

The list for Kuala Lumpur/Selangor is the most complete. In here, you would be exposed to activities you might not have think of. Hence, you could use the key words here to find out more in the Internet.

They are all ‘under one roof’, unlike what you will see in the Internet. Searching for information in the Internet is not as easy as you would like it to be. Say, if you search for ‘archery’, you may get one or two archery centres on the first page of the result, another one on the 5th page and a few more buried in later pages that you would have no desire to venture to.

The author has injected several personal observations in the description of places. This gives you useful insights. For example, on page 29 she wrote, “...the roads in Penang can be quite narrow and the one-way streets can lead you round in circles.” Then, on page 257, “Your children will beg you to come to this mall for its proliferation PC games, CDs, DVDs, PlayStation and software programmes which are mostly pirated.”

However, it would be nice if it has an ‘Index’ section – say if you are interested in white water rafting, you would probably like to know where it is available. So, an ‘Index’ would help a lot, compared to having to browse through each state to look for it.

The ‘Where to go’ section could be placed together with ‘Back to nature’. After all, they are all ‘places to go’. Splitting them gives you a sense of ‘why-are-we-back-to-tourists-spots-again’. Apart from that, a few states like Negeri Sembilan and Pahang, lack information on weekend activities (sports, arts, crafts and cooking).

Although this is not an exhaustive list of fun f or kids, nevertheless it has something for everyone.

The author’s website is www.lydiateh.com. To order this title, please visit MPH Bookstore (online or otherwise).

Source : 1childrenbooks.com

Hooked on Bookz review of Fun for Kids

Here's a review of Fun for Kids by Hooked on Bookz.

In a nutshell

So. You have a bunch of hyperactive kids who become even more hyperactive during weekends and school holidays. What do you do? No no no. Turn off Astro. Whip out Fun for Kids in Malaysia and get the entire family outta the house, and explore Malaysia.

This guidebook lists a wide range of activities for your children to indulge in and new places for them to explore in this country. Travel from the northern region right to the southern region of Malaysia and have a great holiday.

What I liked

My first thought was, 'Are there that many places for kids to go to in Malaysia?' Go through the 'Contents' section and you'll find out that there are indeed many places to go to and fun activities to do around Malaysia. At the start of each section, there are 'fast facts' about the state. Then it tells you how to get there and how to get around the area (e.g. what buses to take, or if you could take taxis/rented cars/trains and so on).

Then there's a list of fun activities that they could do while they're there. Let them be Robin Hood for a day and sign them up for archery and horse-riding, or send them off to the golf course with Dad; or if they love art, encourage them to explore their creativity in arts and crafts classes, cooking, or maybe even pottery courses. If you want undistracted shopping, there are professional babysitters who offer 'drop and shop' services in some of the shopping centres.

The 'most happening' or rather the hype of activities featured in this book is KL/Selangor. So if you happened to be living in this area, you might want to check it out and make full use of it for the coming holidays :)

You'd also find beautiful illustrations and pretty amusing quotes throughout the pages. Some of my favourites were 'In primitive society, when native tribes beat the ground with clubs and yell, it was called witchcraft; today, in civilised society, it is called golf. ~Anonymous' and 'Avoid fruits and nuts. You are what you eat. ~Jim Davis (I had a good laugh at this one haha)

This is a helpful and informative guide book that comes complete with contact numbers, websites and email addresses. It'd come in handy for parents who are always at wits end when it comes to planning for the holidays :)

It'd be better if...

An index would probably make it more user and reader-friendly.

Thank you Marshall Cavendish for the book. Fun for Kids in Malaysia is now available in all major bookstores. For more information, kindly email meili@my.marshallcavendish.com.