I love starting my weekends right, which for me, means getting a good breakfast and having a little fun at the same time.
Guess it’s not surprising that I was up bright and early for the Rise & Shine Carnival a couple of weeks ago! Despite the fact that we’d just returned Malaysia the day before, I woke up ready to enjoy some family time on The Lawn @ Marina Bay.
I wasn’t the only one with this idea — The Lawn was packed with families by the time we arrived, with many apparently turning up bright and early at 8am to stake their spot. Not that it was unexpected. There was plenty happening at the carnival that morning, with sports trials, a bouncy castle, a mini foam party and lots of other games and everyone was certainly there to have fun.
Meips was immediately drawn to the Doc McStuffins Toy Check Up booth, which was honestly the cutest thing! She hopped in line to give her favourite Hello Kitty a once over and was rewarded with a goody bag for her efforts.
While the kids were drawn to the games booths, I wandered over to the Johnson’s Baby booth to find out a bit more about a new product they were launching at the carnival — Active Fresh. Packaged in Johnson’s Baby’s ubiquitous baby powder and bath wash, Active Fresh promises to fight body odour, keep skin dry and, most interestingly, activate a fresh fragrance when it comes into contact with sweat.
I was skeptical but the promoter obligingly did a live demo for me to test it out. No, I didn’t have to get all sweaty for it! I took a good whiff of the powder (which smelt lovely, by the way) and then a drop of water was added to the powder to simulate sweat. To my surprise, the scent did indeed get stronger.
I went home with a couple of samples which I duly put to the test. I do have two sweaty little kids and if you read this blog, you’ll know that we spend a lot of time exploring the great outdoors. I am a firm believer that active play is as important to a child’s development. More so in fact than getting them to sit down and do a ton of assessment books! Current research has backed this up, showing that play time forms the basis on which children hone the skills necessary for their social, emotional, physical and cognitive development. Amongst other things, a daily dose of physical activity can help build strong bones and muscles, improve hand-eye coordination, balance and movement, support brain development, reduce the chance of myopia, build self-esteem and build a healthy weight. (Source: Health Promotion Board)
Personally I just love bringing the children out because there’s so much to explore outdoors, and it is a great way to spend some time with them. Just this June holiday, we’ve learnt about dragonflies at Bukit Batok nature park, explored Chek Jawa at Pulau Ubin, and visited Gardens by the Bay and the Botanic Gardens just to play and scoot several times. There are actually plenty of open spaces where you can explore and if you need some ideas, here are some of our favourites.
In the week following the Rise & Shine Carnival, we made a date with some cousins to check out Amped, the trampoline park in Katong, and just before we left, I popped a bottle of the powder in my bag. The kids had loads of fun (you can read about it here), and after jumping for a full 2 hours, they were hot and definitely sweaty! I took them aside to change and whipped out the powder to help them freshen up. It turned out to be a great decision because once the powder went on, they immediately felt much more comfortable and less sticky. As a bonus, they smelt great too. It’s been something of a revelation! I’ve since tried applying some powder on them before heading out in to the sun and have found that it helps to absorb sweat and the scent really has staying power. All the way till bath time, I could still smell the Active Fresh scent on their skin.
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