Google’s Digiskarteng Pinay webinar to discuss how Filipinas can create livelihood opportunities with YouTube

In celebration of International Women’s Month, Google will be holding an online event as part of its Digiskarteng Pinay program to discuss how YouTube and its content can be used by women to upskill and create livelihood opportunities. This will be streamed live on March 19, 2021, 3:00 PM via Google’s YouTube and Facebook pages which the public can freely access and share. 

“Digiskarteng Pinay is a program that believes that when you uplift women, you uplift the entire household. This is meant to provide a destination for women to learn various skills, at their own time and at their own pace, and enable them to improve and diversify their skill sets,” said Gara Santos-Ontiveros, Industry Head at Google Philippines. “We hope that through Digiskarteng Pinay, more Filipinas will be able to seize the growing opportunities with YouTube that they can use to improve the quality of their lives and those around them.” 

The free webinar will feature YouTube creators who will discuss opportunities in YouTube for women, along with “ma-digiskarteng Pinays” who will share stories on how YouTube helped them broaden their skill sets that aided them in recovering from the pandemic.

Multi-award-winning actress Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo, who runs the Judy Ann’s Kitchen YouTube channel, will also be joining the virtual event to talk about how YouTube unfolds opportunities for women by doing what they love or learning skills that they can use in their daily lives.

“I started my channel intending to share well-loved recipes and skills I learned when I went to culinary school and I soon realized that my YouTube channel has moved from simply sharing content to teaching people new skills and giving back to the community. YouTube has the ability to open so many doors for women and I think that’s the beauty of this platform,” Judy Ann said. 

“YouTube has become a place to learn and it has been our great pride that through the Digiskarteng Pinay initiative, we are able to reach women and empower them with skills that will not only help themselves but their families, and ultimately their communities,” said Bernadette Nacario, Google Philippines’ Country Director.

Digiskarteng Pinay includes a dedicated YouTube channel featuring various informative videos on family nutrition, financial literacy, beauty, fashion, coding skills, and technical skills in partnership with organizations including the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW). The program aims to help women create livelihood opportunities and generate additional sources of income through easy-to-learn video content.

Catch the Digiskarteng Pinay webinar on March 19, 2021, 3:00 PM via Google’s YouTube and Facebook pages.

Achieving all-around development during your child’s preschool years

Kids ages 3 to 6 are taking off from toddlerhood to a new stage of exploration and learning, which is pre-school. This is commonly a critical phase in their lives when they start going to school, making new friends, and discovering the most fundamental lessons in life. However, because of the pandemic, children have been compelled to find a safe learning environment in their homes, with their parents actively participating to make sure of their child’s physical and academic growth.

Naturally, parents would exert their best efforts to give their child the best quality of life. For them, this starts with ensuring their child’s all-around development. One way parents can do this is by understanding the transformation of their child in this stage of growth, so they can support them effectively.

Vitaminized Lactum 3+, a brand trusted by mothers for over 30 years now, champions All-Around Development in children with nutrition that helps support their Immunity, Brain, and Bones. To help parents understand their kids better, Lactum 3+ shares tips on how they can support their little ones’ growth milestones between ages 3 and 6.

Three to four years

Kids in this stage and age begin to have finer motor skills that manifest in them hopping, skipping, and jumping, as well as making sudden stops. Their balance is also starting to develop by being able to alternate steps when climbing the stairs. Cognitively, this is when they start stating their name and age, and analyze situations by doing pretend play. *

Parents can nurture this by encouraging learning through role-playing. With the help of families and playmates, kids can make sense of the world and the things they observe by immersing themselves in creative scenarios.

Four to five years

A parent can experience certain challenges as children now struggle to find their independence. Four-year-old kids start objecting to being treated like a baby, and would have a higher interest in making their own friends. They take pride in their personal achievements and are now more aware of social approval and disapproval. At this stage, a CDI study reveals that a child would already know an average of 900 words. Physically, their bones are now much stronger, allowing them to start brushing their teeth, combing their hair, and washing their hands on their own. *

As their physical growth becomes a main consideration, kids can be supported by parents through proper nutrition, to stimulate a healthy progression for them.

Five to six years

The motor skills of a five-year-old can now include whirling around and hanging on bars, as well as playing with larger toys and equipment. They also develop their dominant hand preference. Parents may often respond to the many “why” questions of their child at this stage. By using appropriate words and manner of speaking, their child can easily differentiate between right and wrong. At five, children exhibit increased attention span and concentration, leaving them to easily absorb occurrences from their surroundings. *

In this period of a child’s growth, the most important mode of learning is through play. Parents can engage with their children in various forms of fun activities to help them develop their oral communication skills, creativity, and physical health. Another way they can supplement their children’s growth is by giving them Vitaminized Lactum 3+ to help support their all-around development.

With Vitaminized Lactum 3+, parents can have peace of mind even amid these uncertain times as this milk is formulated with Vitamin C plus Prebiotic Inulin, Vitamins A and E, Zinc, and Selenium. These are essential vitamins to help support strong immunity. Kids can also learn better even with various methods of teaching — whether face-to-face, online, or through play — with the support of brain development nutrients like DHA, Iron, and Iodine working together in Vitaminized Lactum 3+. In addition, kids can maintain healthy bodies as Calcium and Vitamin D, the building blocks for strong bones, are key ingredients in Vitaminized Lactum 3+. With proper nutrition and stimulation, these key nutrients can help their children be the best they can be and support their all-around development, right at an early age.

Vitaminized Lactum 3+ is available in all leading drugstores and supermarkets nationwide, and online at Shopee. Enjoy savings of up to P1629 + P400 voucher during Shopee’s 3.3 Sale! Click this link now: http://bit.ly/2ZuceGl 

Source: *Child Development Institute (CDI)

Sharing the Gift of Education in the Now Normal

My Dream in a Shoebox continues to make dreaming for every Filipino child possible 

Education in the now normal continues to be a struggle for many Filipino children, especially those in the marginalized sector. The crisis and disruption brought by the pandemic do not only add to the existing education disparities, but also hamper the learning process and opportunities of the youth. Thus, ensuring learning continuity is imperative now more than ever.

As the education sector pivots and innovates from the impact of the pandemic, new approaches and different learning modalities have been developed to better support it. For My Dream in a Shoebox (MDIAS), education is the one thing that must not be taken away from a child, most especially in times of need. For 2020, it shifts its gears to help answer the changing needs of students today.

As annual education campaign spearheaded by TeamAsia, MDIAS aims to equip less fortunate Filipino children with educational assistance and help them make their #BiggerDreams come true. Innovating its dream kits and scholarships for its 12th year, MDIAS transformed its Do-It-Yourself shoeboxes and adapted the calls of the Department of Education to cater to the needs of distance learning. Aside from school supplies, MDIAS has added calls for donations of solar-powered and rechargeable transistor radios, old or new tablets, old usable computers with mobile internet dongle, working printers with ink tank and refillable ink, and photocopy machine with affordable toners to help make learning sustainable for students and teachers in the now normal.

For partners of MDIAS like the Yellow Boat of Hope (YBH) Foundation, the pandemic has surely changed educational efforts. Seeing as the resources that beneficiaries urgently need are educational support to 

help them implement the Distance Modular learning approach, YBH quickly pivoted from their yellow school boats bringing kids to school to delivering educational modules to the doorsteps of the learners to ensure that no child will be left behind. Through MDIAS, their scholarship program for 100 vulnerable elementary school kids will continue. 

According to Father Didoy Molina, one of MDIAS’ beneficiaries from Christ the King Parish, school supplies given out to their parish scholars greatly improve their capacity to study, increase their confidence and performance, and enhance their self-esteem. He explained that the tools do not only help the children do well in their studies, but are also instruments of love and care shared with them by their parents and by the generous donors, telling them that they are cared for, and that their dreams are supported.

“I am looking forward to seeing more smiles and grateful faces as they receive beautiful boxes filled with school supplies, wrapped with care by generous donors. These memorable experiences really stay with me for life and inspire me to hope for our young people,” Father Didoy shared.

For Bea Lim, Managing Director of TeamAsia and MDIAS Chief Dreambuilder, corporate social responsibility is not just about giving back to the community when things get tough. It is a continuous commitment to inclusive growth, progress and development that will ultimately lead to a stronger, sustainable and thriving society.

“This now normal we are in today highlights the importance of bayanihan and malasakit to work together to fight this pandemic and push for economic recovery with compassion, empathy, and faith that we can all get through this together,” Lim emphasized.

Through the years, My Dream in a Shoebox has equipped over 400,000 children across the Philippines  with the necessary tools they need to chase their #BiggerDreams. With the communities facing even greater challenges today due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MDIAS wants to make its impact not only bigger, but more efficient and safe. MDIAS is open to more individuals and corporate partners to join them in giving more underprivileged children the gift of education and to help in making their dreams come true.

For more information on making #BiggerDreams come true, log on to http://www.teamasia.com/shoeboxcampaign, call +639178813724, or email shoebox@teamasia.com.

Here’s why water service interruptions happen even if dams overflow

When a series of typhoons, capped off by Typhoon Ulysses, ravaged the country and unleashed heavy rainfall enough to overflow dams in Luzon, plenty of Filipinos were perplexed that water supply was suddenly interrupted. Doesn’t an immense amount of water in a dam indicate a surplus of water supply? The answer is no.

While there is literally an overflowing amount of raw water, this water is far from potable and therefore cannot be supplied to consumers instantaneously. Here’s why:

Turbidity

To easily visualize what a dam might look like if its walls were see-through – just like an aquarium – imagine a tall glass of hazy water with dirt at the bottom. The water is hazy because of minerals, soil, clay, etc., that flow into the dam with the water coming from mountain tops. The dirt at the bottom of the glass we are visualizing are called sediments—all the aforementioned minerals, dirt, and contaminants which eventually settled down.

When heavy rain strikes the dam water continuously, it’s as if you were mixing the glass of water and dirt with a spoon, eventually turning the water into one that may look like a chocolate drink with almost no clarity. This is called highly turbid water. 

Simply put, turbidity refers to how clear or “muddy” water is. And while technology to treat turbid water exists, when turbidity is high and unlikely to settle anytime soon because of continuously pouring rain, it becomes very difficult to clean and supply to consumers at a normal rate.

From Dam to Home

Okay so the water is dirty and difficult to treat at a regular pace, thus the constriction and regulation of supply to ensure consistent quality. But how come some water service providers do not halt water supply even when turbidity is high? 

Well this is because some water service providers have a huge impounding reservoir for raw water. When the raw water coming from dams is stored inside a reservoir first before it is allowed to enter a treatment facility, excess sediments naturally settle to the bottom by gravity. The result: Raw water becomes less turbid, allowing for easier and less costly treatment. 

Water service providers that are not afforded the luxury of a similar impounding reservoir for raw water end up directly receiving muddy water from the dams during the rainy season. This highly turbid raw water is more difficult to treat. The result: Lower water production leading to service interruptions.

So why don’t they just build a reservoir for storing raw water? The short answer is that there is simply no space for one. Hundreds of hectares of unoccupied land near the treatment facilities would be needed. With our country as densely populated and highly urbanized as it is, one would be lucky to have land for a tiny house.

Hence, the only option for water service providers that don’t have a storage facility for raw water is to invest in more expensive treatment technologies.

Addressing water shortages

The good news is that investments for better water treatment are being made, as water service providers are aware of the impact of climate change and environmental degradation on our country’s raw water sources. Such investments are needed for long-term water security. 

Meantime, water consumers can do something to ease the effect of water supply interruptions resulting from highly turbid raw water. A precaution we can take is to always have a supply of water stored for emergency use. And make sure to store just enough water for when the service will be disrupted. This is because the scheduled service interruption might lengthen if all consumers draw too much water simultaneously in a panic.

A good tip would also be to follow your water service provider on social media as they usually announce specific schedules through these channels.

 All that being said, with all these investments and ongoing upgrades, the time will definitely come when we won’t have to worry about opening an empty faucet anymore.

Pru Life UK launches Cha-Ching Kid$ at Home to Promote Financial Literacy Among Filipino Families

Pru Life UK has launched “Cha-Ching Kid$ at Home” online resources to help and encourage Filipino parents to teach key money management concepts to their children at home. This initiative was developed by Prudence Foundation, the community investment arm of Prudential in Asia and Africa.

According to the latest financial literacy report published by The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 94 percent of students said they get information about money matters from their parents[1]. However, parents may not know how best to teach this subject to their children.

Designed for children aged between seven and 12, the “Cha-Ching Kid$ At Home” materials guide parents on teaching key money management concepts – Earn, Save, Spend, and Donate – in an interactive and engaging way. Based on the Cha-Ching curriculum, each guide directs parents to a relevant Cha-Ching music video, key topics for discussion, and activities to help their children put learning into practice. The parent guides are downloadable for free on the Cha-Ching website and can be viewed online or printed out.

In addition to the parents’ guide, Prudence Foundation is also rolling out Cha-Ching daily challenges, which include activities or discussion pointers, posted on the website every weekday of June. Each challenge takes approximately 15 minutes to complete, aiming to encourage parents to incorporate discussions around money with their children as part of their daily life.

The guides are in English and will soon be translated into Filipino versions.

“We noticed that the global COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the ways children learn and interact with their parents, and we understand the important role that parents play in promoting continued learning of their children. Through providing fun and engaging ‘Cha-Ching Kid$ at Home’ materials, Prudence Foundation aims to promote discussions around responsible money management skills among families in the region. This initiative is particularly relevant and important as many schools across the Philippines remain closed due to the pandemic,” said Prudence Foundation Executive Director Marc Fancy.

Meanwhile, the Cha-Ching website also contains a resource center where teachers can easily access the digitized version of the Cha-Ching curriculum teaching materials for self-study or review. Educators can simply log onto the Teacher section of the Cha-Ching website to download the Cha-Ching curriculum’s master list of teaching aids, session implementation video guides, music videos, and comic books on their personal electronic devices. Cha-Ching teachers can also freely equip themselves with materials of the in-class and take-home activities that they can repurpose for their students.

This initiative will help expand the reach of Cha-Ching across the Philippines and promote money-smart knowledge among students.

Cha-Ching is a financial literacy program designed for children aged seven to 12. It aims to instill the knowledge, tools and practices needed to help a child become financially responsible.

Cha-Ching is created as a series of music videos and comic books developed by Prudence Foundation in partnership with Cartoon Network, and Dr. Alice Wilder, a renowned education specialist. The program comprises a structured school curriculum incorporating activity-based learning and has been rolled out in Asia with Junior Achievement, one of the world’s largest youth-serving non-government organizations. The Cha-Ching Curriculum is currently being implemented in schools across Asia and Africa.

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[1] Source: http://www.oecd.org/media/oecdorg/satellitesites/pisa/PISA-2018-financial-literacy.pdf

Keep nurturing your kids’ sense of wonder and creativity at home with Singapore’s online ‘attractions’

Singapore has always been known as a child-friendly destination, with a whole gamut of attractions that inspire creativity and a sense of wonder among the little ones. And while the world is on quarantine, Singapore remains accessible for discovery and learning online, to the delight of parents and kids everywhere.

For one, Singapore Tourism Board has released a drawing tutorial of its iconic character Merli. Kids get to create and at the same time learn more about the country’s representative symbol, the Merlion. People have then been sharing their artworks born out of the tutorial, including Vlogger and Radio Host, Andi Manzano-Reyes and her equally admired girls, Olivia and Amelia, drawing their take on the cute Merli. 

And this is just one of the many other online activities that Singapore has made available for the entire family to enjoy and take advantage of these days. 

Different attractions—museums, works of nature, and more—are opening their doors, virtually at least, for every family’s choosing. 

Art, Science, and more!

Keep the momentum going after the Merli drawing tutorial. Expose the young minds to more hands-on arts and crafts, and a museum experience at the same time. 

Help your child discover ways to experiment, play and create with every day, recyclable materials easily found at home such as cardboard toilet rolls, and rubber bands. Playeum, a center in Singapore that champions children through play holds a live, guided craft session every week, an ideal choice for  regular play dates for the little ones. One can also give the usual storytime a boost and twist, with some puppet play at home with DIY instructions from the group C!puppets.

Get them to know more about the Indian heritage and culture of Singapore through online jigsaw puzzles and charades, even, provided by the Indian Heritage Center. Or let them marvel in the space where art meets science with ArtScience museum’s limited time online offerings—from virtual tours to workshops, and performances.

Into video games? It may not necessarily be a bad thing. Learning also takes place when kids play, and Sentosa has taken the island adventure in the popular Nintendo Switch game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, so kids can get a glimpse of the exciting experience possible there.

Get around Singapore

If the virtual island experience piques their interest, then let them further explore! Singapore’s famed awe-inspiring green space in the heart of the city, Gardens by the Bay, has launched #StayHomeWithGB, to allow people to still learn about the art of horticulture, along with other edutainment content that are perfect for parents looking for new things to introduce to their kids.

Meanwhile, Google Street View has also made it possible to carry-on sightseeing in the Lion City through the virtual tours of the Singapore Botanic Gardens, Mount Faber Park, and MacRitchie Reservoir. 

All these fun activities that Singapore makes available online are but a reflection of the many attractions the island nation has to offer. And even while we are in quarantine, there are still opportunities for kids to pursue creative and imaginative activities. In fact, it might be the best opportunity and time to bond and share precious moments together.

Keep checking Visit Singapore PH for more online activities to enjoy!

Celebrate the joy of reading on World Book Day with Rivet app

Reading is one of the activities that parents can enjoy together with their children at home. Not only is it a productive way to bond, but it is also vital to a child’s growth and development. According to a research conducted by the University of Melbourne, making time for storytelling with children at ages 4 to 5 has a positive effect on their cognitive skills, comprehension, vocabulary, and future academic success.  

Recognizing the role of reading in a child’s life, UNESCO has declared the celebration of World Book Day to promote the importance of developing young readers and encouraging a lifelong interest in literature. While every day is an opportunity to explore through reading, the celebration is the perfect chance to get together with the little ones and browse through various reading materials online with Rivet. 

Rivet is a free reading app that instills the habit of reading and stimulates the minds and creativity at an early age. It is designed for use by children in kindergarten up to second grade, with a number of useful features that provide kids with the best reading experience. 

Comprehensive digital library with wide selection of books

Rivet has a rapidly growing library of over 3,500 free books with categories that suit every kind of young reader. Its content catalogue is reviewed by experts and is arranged according to different levels of difficulty so parents can easily find appropriate and engaging books for their kids. From animals in the wild, planets from outer space, to interesting stories about history, Rivet’s collection of books and genres will certainly help kids  discover a passion for reading. 

Hands-on reading assistance

The reading app is built using cutting edge speech technology which allows for unique support and help to kids while they are reading. Some of the assistive features include:

Tap for Help which they can use to the right pronunciation of a word. 

Say the Word which shows them what parts of the word were said correctly and which parts they need to work on.

There is also Definitions and Translations which pulls up meanings for every word along with translations available in 25 languages. Meanwhile, the Follow Along feature reads full-pages out loud so kids can listen as they read books. It also gives them Real-Time Feedback on their reading skills so they can develop confidence to practice on their own. 

Points and badges for encouragement 

Rivet is also introducing rewards and other features to keep kids excited and motivated to read. Besides allowing them to customize their Rivet accounts with avatars and themes to match their interests, points, badges, and games are also waiting for them each time they complete a book. 

Kids can also rate and review books which helps them reflect on the material they have read. 

When they finish reading, children are also encouraged to continue on by showing the most relevant books for them afterwards.

There is a whole world of books and fun reading experiences waiting for the kids at Rivet. The reading app is available for download on Android smartphones and tablets, Chromebooks, iPhones, iPads, and Kindle Fire. Learn more about Rivet at https://rivet.area120.com/. 

OMF LIT’S AMAZON SALES GOES TO MANDALUYONG FRONTLINES

While we are spending more time at home, having a book on hand is one of the ways to care and cope. A good book is a source of inspiration, instruction, and insight, especially now that people are in need of encouragement and guidance. 

OMF Literature brings inspiring books to those who need it and at the same time, let the readers help out some of the frontliners. Through a purchase of an OMF Lit title on Amazon, we are able to help provide for the needs of the frontliners in the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH), through the Physicians’ Association, Inc. 

It’s been one of the more underreported news in the past few weeks: The frontliners at the National Center for Mental Health (NCMH) are in need of items like PPEs, vitamins, disinfectants, and other vital supplies to help them protect and take care of their thousands of patients. Currently there are several cases of both patients and health workers that are already COVID-19 positive and so all the more they need help in containing the spread of the virus. 

All eBook sales for selected OMF Lit titles on Amazon for this month will be donated to the NCMH. The titles included are: 

It’s Ok To Be Not OK by Federico Villanueva

Language of Grace by Arnel Tan

Lovestruck Sakit No More by Ronald C. Molmisa

Passion and Power by Various Writers

Enough Is Enough by MelMarie Caparros

A Night Bird Sings of Blindness and Fear by Janina Rivera

Letters to A Single Woman by Karen Huang

Gentle Disciplines by Jonathan Nambu

Grace at Work by Grace D. Chong

Allowance Na Hindi Bitin by Ardy Roberto and Philip Roa

Regret No More by Nelson T. DY

Heartbreaks and Breakthroughs by Bettinna Carlos

Doing more for the Frontliners

Other books from OMF LIT can be availed online, through SHOP.OMFLIT.COM. Moreover, OMF LIT is donating 30% of its April 15 to May 15, 2020 sales to the health workers of Mandaluyong City Medical Center, the only government hospital within the community where OMF Literature office is located. 

Throughout this period, OMF Lit will extend FREE SHIPPING for a minimum order of P500. But as with all other products and services during this ECQ, kindly extend patience and understanding, as orders may be delayed.

We are grateful for your every purchase which allows us to make a small but significance difference in the lives of our brave frontlines. Thank you for making our books part of your post-ECQ life. 

Keep the little ones occupied at home with Print & Play ideas from HP Inc.

Thinking of what else you can do at home with your little ones? 

It’s time to try flexing some creative muscle with your little ones while doing something new!

Keep them entertained with new curated Print & Play activities from HP. Suitable for ages 2 to 12, kids can try out hours of craft making, mazes, dot-to-dot drawing and many other puzzles. 

Whether you are looking for content to support your child’s home-based learning or trying to juggle work and play, you can find printable arts & crafts to create fun and engaging experiences to bond with your kids. With HP Print & Play, parents can choose from a range of activities that are best suited to their children’s needs to achieve the best possible learning outcomes. 

Why We Print & Play – The HP New Asian Learning Experience Study

With the need to spend more time at home, parents are on the lookout for exercises that can stimulate a child’s mind and invoke a greater love for learning.  

HP’s New Asian Learning Experience Study identifies millennial parents’ attitudes towards learning and how their personalities impact the way their children learn. Our study shows that while print and digital each have their own strengths, a combination of digital and print was most beneficial in helping children stay focused and engaged while they learn.

Parents in the Philippines said that printed materials were better used for activities related to art (61%), math (60%), and memorization (50%), whereas electronic materials better facilitated learning in music or auditory skills (60%).  

HP Print & Play was created from a need to help parents bridge the gap between education in school and learning at home by supplementing their child’s learning while making playtime at home more engaging. 

Parents can refer to the study findings to understand how to best use different formats to facilitate positive learning outcomes without taking the joy out of learning.

AGE GROUP	ACTIVITIES
2 to 4 years old	ANIMAL FUN – learn through play with cute animal buddies!  Find the Bunny’s WayLevel: EasyEstimated Time: 10 MinutesHelp! The little bunny is trapped! Tag team with your little one to save the poor rabbit and help him find his way through the maze – start from where the red arrow is pointing and exit through the green arrow. Pro tip: after drawing the correct path, colour the different pathways to make it into a funky piece of artwork!
	Connect to see the Cow Level: EasyEstimated Time: 15 MinutesLittle cow can’t find his spots! Can you help him? Get your child to finish the drawing while following the numbers with the dots. Complete the picture by getting them to colour it in.
	Build a BirdLevel: MediumEstimated Time: 15 MinutesWhat is that you spot with your little eye, flying in the sky? Try out some craft fun with your little one by getting them to make their own bird in three simple steps!  Pro tip: create more animals with the other paper craft activities to build your own animal farm.
4 to 8 years old	FRUIT FUN – learn through play with these fruity challenges!  Solve the Pear PuzzleLevel: EasyEstimated Time: 15 MinutesIt’s sweet and yellow with a nice crunch in every bite. Can you guess what I see? I see a pear!  Challenge your child to piece together the fruit with this puzzle.
	Put the Fruits CorrectlyLevel: MediumEstimated Time: 20 MinutesAre you a professional packer? Sort the fruits into the right boxes! Work with your child to help put the fruits in the right boxes through the maze.  Pro tip: End off with colouring the different pathways to create a new artwork!  Applicable for 8 to 12 years old as well.
	Connect to see the Crab Level: Difficult Estimated Time: 30 MinutesOh no! The poor crab is missing its pincers! Connect all the dots to draw all its missing parts.As an added activity, have your child colour the crab to create a special artwork that you can put on your fridge! Pro tip: Join your child in a “race” to see who completes the activity first. Give it a go for lesser time if you want to train up their speed.
8 to 12 years old	CULTURAL FUN – learn through play with different cultures!  Find the Elephant Level: Difficult Estimated Time: 30 MinutesIt’s massive animal with a long trunk! Some of them grow very large tusks made with ivory. Can you guess what animal I see? It’s an elephant! Find the elephant with this puzzle.
	Creating a Seventh Wonder of the World Level: Difficult Estimated Time: 40 MinutesHave you always wanted to explore the world and visit the seven wonders of the world? Take craft making to another level by having your little one build their very own miniature Taj Mahal!  Pro tip: aside from doing the craft, take the time to share some knowledge about India and the iconic site.
	Colour the Map Level: Difficult Estimated Time: 40 MinutesMr Koala bear is cute, furry and always sleeping.What else do you know about him? Do you know where he lives? Get your child to colour the map of Australia based on their own interpretation. Pro tip: use this time to teach about the different colouring techniques such as gradient colouring, or using watercolours aside from just coloured pencils.

Your Learning Buddy At Home
	HP Ink AdvantageSmall yet mighty, the HP Ink Advantage is designed to fit your child’s study desk. Aside from its wireless printing capabilities, this compact printer allows you and your child to easily handle most scan jobs, from plain paper to photos with HP Scroll Scan.
	HP Smart TankHoping to take learning to another level? Allow your creativity to flow with the HP Smart Tank which allows for high volume printing from your phone via the HP Smart App or your laptop – perfect for creating that journal of Print & Play activities with your child. What’s more, its spill-free refill system using Original HP high-yield ink bottles allows for convenient “replacement” of ink.

For more information on how to keep learning, keep working and keep going, visit your nearest HP Authorized Premier Reseller or log on to HP.com. You may also visit the official HP flagship store at Lazada and Shopee.

Singapore edtech startup Yumcha Studios launches free multilingual quiz for children to learn how to fight COVID-19

The quiz is currently available in eight different languages—and seeks translation partners to add even more

Yumcha Studios has also made four of its bilingual apps free to download for a limited time

2nd April 2020, Singapore – Yumcha Studios, Singapore-based edtech startup, has launched a free online quiz: ‘10 WAYS KIDS CAN FIGHT THE COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS!’ in partnership with ArcLab, a leading nano learning platform, and EduSpaze, Singapore’s first edtech accelerator.

Available here, the quiz uses characters from Yumcha Studios’ bilingual book-and-app series, Little Dim Sum Warriors. With contributions from teachers and educational organisations in different countries, the quiz is currently available in eight different languages, including Bengali, Chinese (both simplified and traditional), English, Indonesian, Korean, Malay, Spanish—and even Singlish! They are now making an open call for partners and translators to help translate the quiz into more languages to ensure more children have access to the quiz.

“The WHO declared a pandemic while we were in the middle of EduSpaze’s accelerator programme,” says Dr. Woo Yen Yen, CEO and co-founder of Yumcha Studios. “We were all feeling a little helpless, so we thought, let’s leverage edtech’s accessibility with what we do best at Yumcha Studios—make silly comics for learning—and help kids feel like there are some simple yet important actions that they too can take to flatten the curve.”

Using humour to promote learning

Humour is everywhere in the quiz—for instance, a question asking ‘when should one wear a mask’ has “so you can look like a ninja” as one of the options. Every screen features cartoons by veteran comic artist and Yumcha Studios’ co-founder, Colin Goh. “We really wanted to impress upon kids the importance of not just things like good hygiene practices and social distancing, but also values like rejecting bigotry,” says Goh, “and humour just makes things more engaging and memorable.”

To help kids who may be stuck at home, Yumcha Studios is also making all their Dim Sum Chums bilingual mobile apps completely FREE TO DOWNLOAD on iOS and Android devices worldwide during this period of time. The apps work in tandem with the Little Dim Sum Warriors series of bilingual storybooks and are aimed at building kids’ confidence in using English or Chinese as a second or foreign language expressively.

With each app, kids can:

●        Listen to the stories performed in English and Mandarin;

●        Record themselves and compare their performance with the default recording;

●        Learn key words through pictures and translations;

●        Practice what they’ve learned through fun interactive activities.

There are four apps for kids to enjoy:

●        Dim Sum Chums 1 – 爸爸, 我还不想睡! Papa, I’m Still Not Sleepy!

●        Dim Sum Chums 2 – 我的方法最好! My Way is the Best!

●        Dim Sum Chums 3 – 我很忙！I’m Very Busy!

●        Dim Sum Chums 4 – 我不希望出任何差错！I Don’t Want Any Mistakes!

They can be downloaded from: https://www.dimsumwarriors.com/apps/ or through the App Store or Google Play.

Meanwhile the ‘10 WAYS KIDS CAN FIGHT THE COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS!’ quiz is completely free and available to everyone here: https://www.dimsumwarriors.com/covid-19-quiz/ or https://bit.ly/2J7qpJl

Any parties interested in translating the quiz can contact Dr Yen Yen Woo at yenyen@dimsumwarriors.com