How to Teach Kids to Act (Step 1)

On the lighter side of life with toddler, this video makes me teary eyed. My little boy in not so little anymore. Time to teach him to act so we can send him to Philippines.

Presenting... our Turknoy #2:





What do you think?




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Turknoys Just Love to Dance!

If there is one thing in this world that the kids are so happy about doing, it's dancing! Our little Kylie loves to dance with her Auntie Minay and her little brother just love to join in their dances.

Here is a typical scene at home: Enjoy!






Keep dancing!
 

Doha Event: Cirque De Soleil

We wanted to go watch the Cirque de Soleil and we did! The show was amazing if not spectacular. Sometime last year, we watched the Circus at the Souq Waqif and we were similarly impressed with the stunts.

We didn't book the tickets until the last minute so we were not able to  buy the tickets at Virgin. Luckily, one of our mum friends' nanny got sick (sorry!) so we were able to purchase two tickets from her. One mum's misfortune, another mum's fortune.

It was just two of us, me and Kylie and we had a fabulous time! A quality mum and daughter time ; except at the very end where crankiness got in the way. The show ended after 2 hours and 40 minutes including intermission and since we had the 8PM show, we ended up until 10:40pm.

The most wonderful thing that we noticed is the structure and organization of the show; people were calm, no pushing, no waiting which is really not so common in Doha. The show started at 8PM on the dot!  And we got good seats so it was really a fun show. The show was so audacious so compared to the normal circus, it was easy for us to take their courage and their capability and flexibility for granted.

Our little girl love the wonderful colors on stage and she said she will writing something about this grand show. Let's see what she writes.

Hope everyone in Doha who watched the show had a great time!



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For Kids Friday: Finger Painting

Still attempting to get better at art (the kids, that is!), they practiced some finger painting on colored paper. They were not as messy as before but really had a great time using their hands to draw something. 

Our little girl said how much she loved drawing so now thinking of exposing her more to arts. Proactive parenting ON!

He said he's drawing a rocket! hahaha

silly face for a quick painting!

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For Kids Friday: Mosaic

Another fun day with mosaic activities. Busy hands, busy kids, less effort from parents. Plus, recycled materials could be used. For now, we used paper and have yet to explore other materials. Well, it is a start. 

mosaic 

this is actually a fish!

we didn't do this - just though it would be a great idea to do this mosaic!

simple mosaic activity 

other mosaic activity with transport theme

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For Kids Friday: Elephant From Egg Carton

ELEPHANTS!

Our little boy loves elephants a lot.. or in his language, EW! These little art works were done with the Dad. They are simply so adorable during art sessions together.  It might not look like elephant but to their imagination, they are.

elephant from egg cartons!

another shot at elephant from egg cartons!

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Doha Event: CIRQUE DU SOLEIL

TICKETS ARE NOW ON SALE AT VIRGIN AND WE ARE EXCITED! 

This year, we started getting "cultured" and watched Romeo and Juliet for Kidz. This summer we plan to watch Cirque du Soleil with the family. We have read quite great reviews and recommendations we know we won't regret the show. Oh la la! Something to look forward to this sizzling summer 2012 in the desert. Gotta love Doha Events!

Here are some of the details from the news.

The world-famous entertainment group, Cirque du Soleil will stage their longest running show, ‘Saltimbanco’, in Qatar this summer. It will be their first show in the country, and their only performance in the Gulf region for this tour. 

The performances will be held at Aspire Zone from July 4-7 with six shows scheduled to take place over four days. Ticket prices range from QR130 up to QR1,100 and are on sale now from Virgin Megastores and online from  ww.cirquedusoleil.qa. 

Saltimbanco is a fun and colourful show, explained Cirque du Soleil publicist Maxime Charbonneau, adding that the show embodies the values of today’s global community, promoting a message of peace, unity and happiness. 

The show, described as “a vivid portrayal of the diversity that defines a metropolis” is the group’s longest running touring piece, performing to over 11.5mn fans since opening in 1992. It features a dreamlike world, with different characters performing a variety of breathtaking stunts throughout a show filled with colour, music and joy, explained Charbonneau.

Additional Information:

About Cirque du Soleil:
From a group of 20 street performers at its beginnings in 1984, Cirque du Soleil evolved into a major Québec-based organization providing high-quality artistic entertainment. The company has 5,000 employees, including more than 1,300 artists from more than 50 different countries.

Cirque du Soleil has brought wonder and delight to more than 100 million spectators in more than 300 cities in over forty countries on six continents. Cirque du Soleil International Headquarters are in Montreal, Canada. For more information about Cirque du Soleil, visit www.cirquedusoleil.com.

Partners:
Cirque du Soleil gratefully acknowledges the St. Regis as their official hotel partner.

SHOW INFORMATION:

VENUE:
Aspire Dome

Show Schedule (July 4 - 7, 2012):
Wednesday, July 4 at 8:00pm
Thursday, July 5 at 8:00pm
Friday, July 6 at 4:00pm and 8:00om
Saturday, July 7 at 4:00pm and 8:00om

TICKETS (Prices in QAR):

GOLD 350
SILVER 250
REGULAR I 175
REGULAR II 130
VVIP 1100
VIP I 750
VIP II 650
PLATINUM 575

Let us know if you watched the show already and how you liked it. Woohoo! 

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Art Fun at The Pearl (3D Painting)

Our luck would have it, we saw some 3D Painting going on at the Pearl during one of our strolls in the area. The kids had a blast watching the 3D Painter at work. It's just amazing what kids would like when we brave ourselves to get out of the house.


Now if only we could paint some 3D Painting at home.

3d Painting!

Our little boy can't stop watching the 3D Painter! 

Just one of those great moments in Doha where things are great and priceless! Awesome!






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For Kids Friday: Butterfly from Egg Carton

Our princess is checking out the trash and saw the egg cartons we plan to recycle. After ten minutes of golden silence from the pre-schooler, she presented her beautiful butterfly made from the egg carton. Awesome!

She was very proud of her recycled fancy butterfly!

Butterfly from egg carton!

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Art Fun With Al Rawnaq Supplies!

Art sessions in Doha could be very expensive if we don't know where to get the cheap art supplies.  Good thing we were really close to Al Rawnaq in Old Airport Area. It's easy to take the kids to Al Rawnaq when they are bored and wanting to watch TV  (NO TV AT HOME MUCH!)

It's really not art lessons but rather messy play. We are masters of creating mess through art, if there is such a mastery. Art aside, it is another opportunity for great family bonding!

posing by the crayons and paints section

thinking of buying lots of papers!

AL RAWNAQ CLOSE AT AIRPORT ROAD!

HERE GOES THE MESSY PLAY AT HOME

PAINTING WITH MUSIC! OH HA!

HER MASTERPIECE! 

MR. ALLIGATOR 

MR. ALLIGATOR WITH A TIE! CLASSIC!

Our favorite branches of AL RAWNAQ are the Airport Road Branch (for art supplies) and the one opposite Ah Ahli Hospital (lots of party goodies.)

Ahh the simple joys in Doha!

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Exploring Doha: Cai Guo-Qiang: SARAAB

We tried to change our first impression on the  Mathaf - Arab Museum of Modern Art by getting to know the art behind it. 


And boy, did we changed our mind full turn! It's a MUST SEE EXHIBITION! Once we spent time understanding the art and its medium, we were fascinated. 

SARAAB displays newly commissioned artworks by Chinese-born contemporary artist Cai Guo-Qiang. The word SARAAB, literally means "mirage" evokes fantastical travelers' vision.

When we watched the series of videos of his works, we can't help but admire his art medium and his message. The artist explores ideas about historic, present day and imaginary travels between Doha and his hometown of Quanztou, China. 

Just imagine art using gun powder, explosion, gold and ceramics to name a few. 

Many of the art works were created here in Doha with assistance of local volunteers. Now wondering where were we? 

The exhibit will be on until 26th May 2012 with a fee of QR 25 but free for all students. It's pretty reasonable to enjoy all the artworks plus a movie and lots of videos. 

The Turknoy kids  enjoyed the videos especially the horses and  creative explosions. 

Oh and by the way, the rocks exhibition are titled "HOMECOMING", every rock has a story.   Guanzhou once had a multitude of cemeteries for Arabs and these rocks symbolizes the tombstones of those Arabs, the exhibition is  at tribute to Muslims and their tombstones.  And they are finally back home. Touching, isn't it. 

One of our favorite among all the galleries in the exhibition is the flying camel and the falcons. Both kids enjoyed the fun part of predicting what comes next after the scene in the gallery. 

Kylie predicted that the falcons will go home to their nests and eat the camel. Kerim simply counted and drew the birds. Left hand side of the brain hard at work. LOL. 

we love the flying camel and falcons!

camel and falcons are basically the symbol of the desert!

our Kerim drawing the camel and counting the falcons! fun!

silly Kylie noting that the falcons are not helping the camels fly; instead the camel will be eaten! hahaha

these are made of wax - great work of art.

We also LOVE LOVE another gallery about the ninety nine horses - especially when we saw how the art work was done for the exhibition in Doha with the participation of a lot of volunteers. Such hard work for creativity. A must see also. This particular gallery is actually the kids favorite. 


For more information, visit the museum's website here: MATHAF. We really highly recommend to spend 2-3 hours in the museum. It's all worth it. It never hurts to enjoy the modern art. Open our minds and heart to new and awesome idea; think outside the box, for the sake of our kids, the future generation. 





Keep exploring!
 

Maktaba and Mathaf Reading Circles

Another great way to encourage kids how to read is to make them appreciate arts. We went to Mathaf - Arab Museum of Modern Art to join the Maktaba and Mathaf Reading Circle.


Maktaba will be the first Arabic/ English children's library in Doha, Qatar. To say that our Turknoy family is excited about the opening of the library is an understatement. Now, when will they open, we are wondering and waiting! 


For the mean time, we are attending the reading circle to be held in Mathaf Museum every week. 


It was actually the first time for  Kerim to attend a book reading session with another facilitator other than his mommy! We usually have our book reading in the park and at home but it's always me who's reading to the group. He was asking a lot of questions to the facilitator and kept disturbing her from reading the story. He was asking question - "What is that?!" and pointing to the animals and telling the children what those were. Awesome for a my 2.5 year old book lover!


Kylie, on the other hand, created an awesome book cover and participated a lot during the book reading. It was a great experience to be part of the reading circle.

preparing his book cover! 

now on to the text of the book cover!

our little girl presenting her awesome book cover about the birds!

Our little boy asking a lot - A LOT - of questions during book reading

How I wish we could participate in more of these sessions. These sessions aim to encourage families to think about links between stories and arts. Hence,  the art about kids' book cover. It's an awesome idea indeed. Art and book reading. 

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Exploring Doha: Mathaf - Arab Museum of Modern Art

We've been hearing about the Mathaf - Arab Museum of Modern Art for quite some time now from friends and colleagues, not to mention from huge, gigantic, enormous (sorry, practicing the adjective for big!) billboards all across Doha.  So finally, we went there and check our the museum which opened last December.

The kids had fun climbing on the artistic rocks by the entrance of the museum. Although, I don't think this is allowed. The Turk enjoyed the refreshing art collections also by the entrance of the museum.

And it's obvious that we I don't know a hoot about art, so here goes the photo blog. Who knows, maybe someday, the kids will want to explain the art behind these photo series. Somebody help them please as it is really pretty obvious that they can't extract any art sense from their parents.

by the entrance of Mathaf Museum

posing by the rock!

so who's cuter? me or the rock? ;) 

this man bumped into the wall and got cemented! cool!

and the turknoys investigate the scene!

love this!

and this!

love the design of the cafeteria also! artistic.. ;) 

discussing about art? 

rock? LOL - that's all i can say, really. 

having his own version of art interpretation!

Come visit the museum and have fun looking at some art and please do share your interpretation because we know that ours kinda suck - a lot.

And we're with you, this blog couldn't possibly get worse.




Keep exploring!