Barbie doll and imaginative play

[ Sponsored Doll + Giveaway ]

Our girl with her Barbie doll.

Boon Xin grew up playing her brothers’ guns and swords. At one time, her reluctance to wear a dress got us worried.

When we were told that Barbie was celebrating 55 years of imaginative play, we got curious. In our home, SengkangBabies encourage unstructured play (that is, no instructions, no objectives, no deliverable, just plain simple PLAY).

Barbie has release a new doll, the Barbie® Iron-On Style™.
It comes with an iron for little girls to paste cute stickers onto Barbie’s clothes.

When Boon Xin saw Mattel’s video clip, she insist Daddy gets her an ironing Barbie doll.

Barbie’s latest doll is amazing, it makes ironing a breeze! Even Daddy is impressed.
Boon Xin just need to use the iron to press the stickers onto Barbie’s top, skirt or denim vest.

Another amazing discovery was this iron will not generate heat, and not does require battery! (Parents should remind little ones that real-life iron is dangerous.)

Boon Xin has to decide which pieces to assemble for Barbie. Fortunately, Mummy is at hand to help Boon Xin glam Barbie up express her girly creations.

Barbie’s skirt and top does looks nicer with the cute cats or dogs stickers.

32 pieces of accessories, for the little fashionista. The Barbie package comes with three tops, two skirts, one vest, one pair of shoes and a fab necklace.

That is an impressive wardrobe to keep Boon Xin occupied :p

Finally, a doll to call her own, no siblings will fight for her girly toy.

Barbie® Iron-On Style™ is retailing at $49.90 and available at Takashimaya and all TOYS ‘R’ US outlets. It is recommended for ages 5 up.

Thanks to Mattel, we have two sets of Barbie® Iron-On Style™ to giveaway 🙂

Contest Details :
1. Contest is on our Fanpage
2. Fans must first LIKE SengkangBabies Fanpage
3. Leave your name and email on our Fanpage (or you can message email address to us)

4. Share this page (refer step 3) on your Facebook Wall and tag @SengkangBabies
(so that we know you are participating)
5. Two winners will be randomly picked on 10Apr 11pm.

Longkang fish at Bishan Park

At Bishan Park, you see Happy Folks everywhere. But those hunting for longkang fish (literally drain fish) should be happier :p

Families are out in force. Cyclist, joggers, scooters and picnics. Everyone is happy, humans and dogs. There is a dedicated area for our four-legged friends, and skating.

And we wonder why our little mermaid is beaming from cheek to cheek.

Take a look around, Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park is very scenic, with bridges, greens and reflections off the meandering water bodies.
Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park

The Sunday weather was perfect, beautiful landscaping and a lively park!
We Sengkang-Babies are jealous!

The wading water and reeds is not only attractive to the fishes, but humans too (both young and old)

At Bishan Park 2, the herons and egrets are not drawn to scale, but we saw a heron which was taller than Boon Xin, perched and ready to pounce on unsuspecting fishes. It goes to show that the fish population in Bishan is thriving.

(Image credit Nparks)

Mcdonald(2) is a good meeting point for friends, and our fishing spot was at Point 1(refer map above), infront of Block 241.

Herding the fishes into a corner, kids initially tip toe in the stream, taking all precautions to stay dry.

But after a few slips, and splash, they let go of all inhibitions. When your pants and t-shirts are wet, when you have no more reservations, kids threw themselves into the streams !

A few families even join us in the stream, you can hear our laughter and excitement flowing down Bishan park!

Video : We love this time lapse video from Brice Li, showing Bishan Park’s transformation, from concrete canal to naturalised stream.

Daddy still remembered the concrete canal last time. It was where he spend his childhood days catching guppies (real guppies!), Daddy told us he could catch guppies with just a swipe of his foot (sure or not!)
Concreate drain. long kang fish

Anyway, kids were happy with their catch. Some longkang fish, some snails (remember Saizeriya’s escargots?), and we even spot some snail eggs.

The water is not exactly crystal clean, we saw rubbish and debris in certain section of the stream. We learn that a big storm can flood Bishan Park and unload more rubbish from upstream (something like this video)

Do not go barefoot, as there are debris and the stones can be slippery.

If you have seen the storm-video above, you understand why we will need to dash above the red marker, should the siren be activated.

Kids are very cooperative today and we rewarded them with some fries and ice cream.

Next, we head to the sandy playground(map point 3) for more fun, kids do not wish to leave Bishan Park yet.


We hear laughter at every corner. Climbing, swinging, sandcastle, so many activities.

Video (Link) : We love Bishan Park, Dry or Wet!

If you are “fishing ” at point 1, the toilet and taps would be about 50m above point 1( refer map), do not go Mcdonald and change.

If you prefer cleaner water, do pop by Lower Seletar reservoir.

This park was re-opened in 2012, and this is our first visit after 2 years 🙂
But you can be sure that we will be back to explore Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park 1 (Pond Gardens).

Meanwhile, checkout Cheekiemonkies’ review of the playgrounds at Park 1. We would like to thanks Tan Family for contributing their Fun photos.

~~~ ~~~ ~~~
More Fun facts about Bishan Ang Mo Kio Park (Daddy still prefer to call it Bishan Park) :

Nparks has maps of Pond Gardens (Park 1) and River Plains (Park 2).
– PUB has a cool 360 degrees interactive map
– Video – amazing top view of Bishan Park from the top (Phantom)

If you are driving, Block 241’s carpark (s570241) is nearest to Mcdonald Carpark.
From nParks website, these are the buses :
– services 132, 133, 136, 165, 166, 169 and 262 from Ang Mo Kio Bus Interchange
– service 410 from Bishan MRT Station

– You must pop by our Fanpage for more Fun photos.
– Interested to Find grasshoppers too? Pop by our catch.