I have some great news to share with you all! Have you heard of SED Hub* and the Reading Club International**? They organize some amazing things for children, so much so, that I trusted them to organize a workshop for my debut children’s book Where am I from? once it’s published. STEM subjects and literature CAN be fun and engaging for most children, and their unique approach can prove it. If you wish your kids to have great fun while simultaneously they develop important academic and life skills, then this post is for you. Please keep on reading and you won’t be disappointed!

Halloween fun

They have planned some super cool stuff with a twist. You should consider joining one of their sessions in Gudja this coming Saturday (26th), Sunday (27th), Thursday (31st)!

SED Hub

This Halloween, they are running a series of workshops where participants are encouraged to attend with their Halloween costumes. What could be scarier than a pot of hot, boiling slime, with eyeballs and frogs swimming in it?

Participants can attend multiple sessions, as all activities will be different throughout all of the sessions. Applications: http://bit.do/sedhub

Reading Club International

Participants can attend multiple sessions, as all activities will be different throughout all of the sessions.
Applications: http://bit.do/reading-club-international-application-form

*About SED Hub

Year after year, we hear how our students are failing the STEM subjects. SED Hub is here to offer a completely new twist to kids residing in Malta, allowing participants between the ages of 3 – 18 years of age to be engaged through workshops, experiments, and parties.

At SED Hub they run birthday parties, end of school parties, holy communion parties, and special events. Forget flying cars and talking robots. Professor Helix at SED Hub Laboratories has created the greatest invention ever… a Science Party! It’s a unique science party concept, involving science-themed party games for the first half, followed by a hilarious science show for the second half. Who said that science cannot be fun?

They also run summer school clubs which are very hands-on, and children get to make and take home something most days, including their own slime, fossils, model gliders, rainbow glasses and more. Their staff is passionate about bringing a love of science and learning to primary and secondary school-aged children. Their inclusive, hands-on approach is unique. This is not the case of an ordinary, boring science class. The children make and do their own experiments, wearing their lab coats and goggles, using real scientific equipment including a university grade Van Der Graff Generator. The students get to work and interact with scientists and moreover, they get to participate in A.I., Blockchain and Robotics activities. How cool is that?

They also run a number of workshops and experiments at various schools around Malta and Gozo, together with their after school activities, in Gudja. Their after school activities cover a multitude of experiments, projects, and workshops, where students have an hour a week, on Thursday at 4-5 pm and another hour on Saturday at 9-10 am to learn about new concepts, try their hands at various experiments and learn! SED Hub is here to bring back the fun in the learning of the STEM subjects.

Website: www.sedhub.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SEDHub/

**About Reading Club International

Reading Club International provides a space for children to spark creativity, language and life skills. Kids discover life skills on their own, through a handpicked story and a stimulating conversation.

Stories are at the heart of what they do, so let’s begin with one that they sent me.

”Once upon a time in a Reading Club International class, a bunch of kids read about a tired mum who wanted a break. Touched by the story, the kids went home and offered to help with chores. Parents were stunned! How did we teach their kids empathy in just one day?

We did not! Kids discovered this life skill on their own, through a handpicked story and a stimulating conversation. Since the discovery was self-driven, the learning was impactful, memorable. That, in a nutshell, is the power of stories at Reading Club International!“

Consider this. A rapidly evolving 21st century demands not just knowledge, but innovation and strong people skills. A host of challenges await children in the world beyond our home: fear, failure, pressure, ridicule. Are our kids equipped to meet them head-on?

At Reading Club International, kids learn through deep discovery of their favorite stories. Stories mirror life, featuring hurdles children may face growing up. Learning through experiences of story characters is a safe way to tackle real-world problems.

I cannot think of a better way to build life skills, can you?

Website: http://www.readingclub-international.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/readingclubinternational/

The post Halloween stories and activities for children in Malta first appeared on Maltamum.

It’s snowing outside here in Horten and it’s freezing cold. Being a Mediterranean girl at heart who has spent most of her life under the sun, the short, dark winter days of Scandinavia are hard to get used to and have taken a toll on me. We have decorated our Christmas tree, we have bought most of the gifts, we have baked traditional Norwegian biscuits and Greek delicacies. It’s that time of the year… I never liked making big plans for the new year to come, it never worked for me, but I always try to take the time and look back at the things that went well, which gives me strength to try and do more next year. Like a positive kick on the butt of sorts. Why only the good things one might ask. What’s done is done and I find it’s much more productive to try and remember the good stuff, build on them and keep on working on top of them instead of dwelling over the bad ones. It’s the remembrance and reinforcement of the positive memories that propel action and energise me.

A while back I joined a writers’ group on Facebook, my very favourite group of this sort, where writers share knowledge and ideas, uplift each other and work as a community. One of the admins, a writer I admire, started a new thread asking ‘WHAT WERE YOUR 2018 ACCOMPLISHMENTS? As the year winds down, let’s look back on it. What were your biggest accomplishments of 2018, as they relate to book publishing?’. And it got me thinking… This is what I need to reflect on to get back my positivism, strength and energy flowing through my body again and ‘get back to work’.

Writing and books play a major role in my life, and if you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know I am currently working on the publication of my first children’s picture book, ‘Where am I from?’ which will be published in the summer by Faraxa Publishing. I ran a successful Kickstarter campaign in July to validate the book concept, market the book and raise the necessary funds to produce it. It just occurred to me I never found the time to actually sit down and sum up in a blog post the outcome of that campaign and celebrate the subsequent journey and the small, step-by-step victories.

First things first, I would like to take a moment to thank everyone for a truly spectacular level of support you’ve shown me this year. To everyone who’s been reading my blog, bought something from my eshop, has ordered content and translations, supported financially and pre-ordered Where am I from ? via Kickstarter and now via Faraxa’s website, interviewed me or featured the book on their newspaper / magazine / website / blog, helped spread the word on social media, invited me to speak, shared your own time, skills and wisdom, mentored me and helped me avoid potential disasters, left an encouraging word or comment online… I thank you from the absolute bottom of my heart! I am forever grateful and aware that I never EVER manage things on my ‘own’. This is pure arrogance. We are all connected, one way or another, and it is thanks to each and every one of you that I keep on progressing towards what feels as the right path in my life. Thank you for a wonderful 2018 and I wish you and your loved ones the very best on your own personal journeys <3

Back to the question about what were my 2018 accomplishments related to book publishing.

• Signed a contract with the award-winning small press in Malta, Faraxa Publishing
•  The street artist Platon agreed to paint the graffiti and illustrate Where am I from ?
• Planned and executed a Kickstarter campaign where we raised about 10.700 euro to publish this book
• The backers, our supporters, 139 individuals, come literally from all over the world (we even got orders from as far as Australia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Canada and USA!)
• All children, the baby and the mum characters to be featured in the book (except from the main character which we decided not to commission) were commissioned by individuals who all except one are of a multicultural background!
• We received financial support by 3 public sector institutions, namely:
  a) 200 books ordered by David Muscat, Head of the National Literacy Agency, Malta, to be distributed to the public school libraries of Malta
  b) 20 books ordered by Aase Wivestad, Libraries Counsellor, Vestfold Municipality, Norway to be distributed to 13 public libraries in Norway
  c) 12 books ordered by the Central Library of Malta, to be distributed to the public libraries of Malta
• Newspaper features in 3 countries (Malta, Greece, Norway) and other features in Maltese, Greek, Norwegian, Turkish and international blogs and websites
• 2 speaking engagements; one in Norway where I was honoured to be invited alongside writers who have given so much to the Norwegian community like Veronica Salinas and the best-selling author Jan Mehlum, and one in Scotland where I got to spend 4 days with my family alongside the most inspiring and amazing women

While the artist is working on the art to accompany the book, I decided to take a ‘break’ during the month of December, read some books and enjoy the holidays with my family. 1st of January we’re heading to Thailand for 3 months. I always get inspired there and get more things done. These months prior to the publication of the book are far from idle. I actually had never imagined there is so much work involved behind a children’s book. I am learning as much as I can about publishing and marketing books, I am working on the lesson plan and accompanying fun activities for the book (putting back on my teacher’s hat which hasn’t been used since I left my home country), going through other book ideas.

I wish you all Merry Christmas <3 I hope you will get to enjoy the holidays with your loved ones, will be able to get some well needed rest to keep the creative juices flowing, and can manage to be as kind to yourself as you are with the others around you.

Love, as always, Liza.

The post Reflections on the positive things that took place in 2018 first appeared on Maltamum.